My First Marine Aquarium Tank

[Allan Wy Looi]

Hi guys,

Decided to start a new topic for my new tank. As this is my first saltwater marine tank, hopefully while I post my progress, fellow reefers can give me some advices and to help other newbies like me.

I went through a lot of readings on what type of marine I wanna to keep but the more I read the more confusing I get. To be frank I didn't even know what a skimmer does at that time. Luckily a fellow reefer from SRC came to my rescue. Let me do a short introduction of this reefer, he was my drinking buddy for few years and I didn't even know he was such an enthusiastic reefer until I started talking about keeping saltwater aquarium. Come to think about it, the topics we talked about during drinking seems to me nothing informative merely just bullshit. I wish to take this chance to thank the fellow reefer friend because he might not feel much about it but it means so much to me when someone just point you a way. Let me ask him whether he wish to be named or anonymous. LOL.

Patience is the key element to this hobby, that was what he told me. At first, I thought about the only fishes tank but after going to a few Aquarium Shop I felt something is missing without some corals. Therefore I decided on some fishes and some easy to look after LPS.

As this is the first time, I do not wish to spend my money on unnecessary items but for this hobby in the beginning part you really do not have a single clue at all and at times it was so confusing to buy or not to buy.

My first tank is to put in my factory for learning process as i wish to build a bigger one at my new home when it is ready in 2015. This gives me one more year to prepare myself. As this first tank is to be put in the factory, I find it unnecessary to get one with nice cabinets. The money invest in the cabinet I can invest in other more important items. Therefore I decided to DIY my own rack for holding the tank and sump as it doesn't has to look nice. I really enjoyed DIY my items. This give me more satisfaction when I am into the hobby. After reading, I prioritise the different items as some items you cannot be stingy with it as it will create less problems and benefit more in the long run. My opinion is that skimmer, power pumps and chiller are the items on my top priority.

I decided to use Vincent (recommended by fellow reefer whom his tank was built by Vincent too) as my tank maker.

Tank size: 2.5ft (L) x 2ft (W) x 2ft (H)

Before the tank is ready, I look through Pasar Malam for other items needed. I bought some live rocks from some reefers. Later I will show how my landscape of my rocks transformed.

I do not take a lot of photos of my progress as writing in the forum never cross my mind and I regretted it.

Below are some pics for my rack.

Wielding

Spraying

Final Product

[erikokelf]

Seems promising, keep the update coming.

[Allan Wy Looi]

Tank scheduled to arrived on 30 Sep.

In the meantime, I went through Pasar Malam almost everyday for bargains.

Managed to get a secondhand chiller - Arctica Titanium Chiller DBA-075 1/10hp

Secondhand wave maker

Got a small secondhand bio-reactor - Later I find that it is not suitable (from my fellow reefer friend) as the model a bit outdated. He told me not to get any more unnecessary items. LOL.

I went around Aquarium Shop, and the urge to buy something is so strong and I finally gave in and bought a new skimmer, hopefully it is a good one.

The skimmer is Skimz SM161.

Left all the items in the factory, setting up the rack, waiting patiently for my new toy to arrive.

Initial setup

As I have a dog in the factory I scared that it will call my chiller as his home as the chiller is on the floor, decided to get something to hold the chiller.

[Clement Chen]

waiting for ur setup

[Allan Wy Looi]

There are so many different lighting for the tank and some are very very costly. I wanted to DIY my own LED lights for a test run as I have a manufacturer just opposite my factory. My neighbor is a very helpful person and I know he will always help me. I talked to my fellow reefer friend and he asked me why do I go for LED lights. He told me LED lighting for aquarium is different from the ones we use for advertising etc. I understand this that is why I need to do more research on this before deciding on whether to DIY or not.

Suddenly he offered something that touched me. He has a Lumen Aqua LED lights (I don't know what model but it has timer settings where you can leave it to run on its own) where he is no more using. As he is now into SPS, the lighting is no more useful to him and it has been discarded to his storeroom. He is willing to lend it to me. I know the price is not cheap. So now my lighting settled but I will still continue doing my research on the LED lights.

The next thing he taught me is the initial startup water for the tank. I read through a lot of websites and i can say 99% will tell you to use RO water or seawater. After discussing with some fellow reefers, they advise me not to get seawater from the sea as certain places where they collect the seawater may contain harmful substances. Therefore seawater straight from the sea is out of the question which leave me with RO water.

I called my usual distilled water supplier for my factory to check the price. I needed around 370 liters of water and it will cost me around $160. My fellow reefer friend told me that he is using a RO/DI Purifier. As we need to conduct water change every 1 week, in the long run it look more feasible to have your own RO/DI Purifier. He introduced me to Madpepz and the one I got was around $200. It will seems irrational to get the distilled water from my supplier for my initial tank and buy RO/DI Purifier for later water changes usage. The only problem I have to solve is to get enough big pails to contain the RO water. I called a few supplier that supply industrial drums which cost around $40 to $120 for a 80 litres drum. I was in a paradox whether to initally get the distilled water from the supplier or the Purifier. As I need about 5 drums initially and the cost of the drums together with Purifier doesn't make sense to me.

This I am not lying, while I was thinking about it, I went to a nearby hawker center with a market to get some food. While I was there, I saw a lot of big drums where they use to hold vegetables and I ask one of the stall if I can buy any used cheap ones but they told me, their drums are all comes with HOLES. They told me you can get it very cheap from Toyogo. Immediately, I went down to Toyogo at Toa Payoh, and to my surprise it is cheap, 3 x 100 litres pails with LIDS (most of the industrial drums are without lids, with lids are usually expensive ones) cost around $70.

My problem for water solved , get the RO/DI Purifier and get the pails.

Still waiting patiently for the tank to arrive.

[Admiraltian]

Detailed write up on your setup progress. Camping here.

[Allan Wy Looi]

Hi fellow reefers,

If in any way my knowledge is wrong, please do correct me regardless positive or negative.

Now comes to the part of the sand. There was quite a debate for me when I asked around for the purpose of the sand.

Some told me not to put any sand as this is my testing tank, without sand it is easier to maintain but I still want the tank to look nice. Without sand, I just felt something is not right. Finally, I decided to go with a tank with sand. So what type of sand should I use, size, colour? Most of them argue that I need not buy live sand as anyway I am going to cycle my tank for a long time, so there is really not a must to buy live sand.

I always like the feeling of mystery, dark for a marine tank. After talking to my fellow reefer friend, he suggested me to get black sand, with a thin sandbed.At this current moment, I am still adjusting to the cost of this hobby, I just cannot bring myself to buy very expensive sand for god sake, this is just sand (this going to change soon). Therefore I camped on Pasar Malam waiting for reefers to sell black sand. It is so scare and even when one comes by it will be sold very quickly with little quantity.

Times passing very fast and my tank is going to arrive soon. I cannot wait anymore, therefore I went out to aquarium shops looking to buy black sand. I came across one where the owner told me the black live sand I was looking at is for refugium but I was so desperate I asked him if I will to put in the main tank is it suitable? He said yes and told me he is giving me discount $50 for a bag (around 6kg). I was thinking $100 for sand as i needed 2 bags. I just couldn't wait and control myself, I just bought the sand. LOL. One reefer told me that the live refugium sand has a lot of nutrients in it and might encourage the grow of algae but since I bought it just put it in, he was joking that I might be good in maintaining no algae grow. I was joking with a friend of mine during Happy Hours that we should all just fly to Langakawi where there is a Black Sand Beach and acquire the black sand back to sell at Pasar Malam as I never thought I will buy sand for $100. But now as times goes, I understand this hobby $100 is nothing when buying stuffs. LOL.

[Kakani]

There are so many different lighting for the tank and some are very very costly. I wanted to DIY my own LED lights for a test run as I have a manufacturer just opposite my factory. My neighbor is a very helpful person and I know he will always help me. I talked to my fellow reefer friend and he asked me why do I go for LED lights. He told me LED lighting for aquarium is different from the ones we use for advertising etc. I understand this that is why I need to do more research on this before deciding on whether to DIY or not.

 

Suddenly he offered something that touched me. He has a Lumen Aqua LED lights (I don't know what model but it has timer settings where you can leave it to run on its own) where he is no more using. As he is now into SPS, the lighting is no more useful to him and it has been discarded to his storeroom. He is willing to lend it to me. I know the price is not cheap. So now my lighting settled but I will still continue doing my research on the LED lights.

 

The next thing he taught me is the initial startup water for the tank. I read through a lot of websites and i can say 99% will tell you to use RO water or seawater. After discussing with some fellow reefers, they advise me not to get seawater from the sea as certain places where they collect the seawater may contain harmful substances. Therefore seawater straight from the sea is out of the question which leave me with RO water.

 

I called my usual distilled water supplier for my factory to check the price. I needed around 370 liters of water and it will cost me around $160. My fellow reefer friend told me that he is using a RO/DI Purifier. As we need to conduct water change every 1 week, in the long run it look more feasible to have your own RO/DI Purifier. He introduced me to Madpepz and the one I got was around $200. It will seems irrational to get the distilled water from my supplier for my initial tank and buy RO/DI Purifier for later water changes usage. The only problem I have to solve is to get enough big pails to contain the RO water. I called a few supplier that supply industrial drums which cost around $40 to $120 for a 80 litres drum. I was in a paradox whether to initally get the distilled water from the supplier or the Purifier. As I need about 5 drums initially and the cost of the drums together with Purifier doesn't make sense to me.

 

This I am not lying, while I was thinking about it, I went to a nearby hawker center with a market to get some food. While I was there, I saw a lot of big drums where they use to hold vegetables and I ask one of the stall if I can buy any used cheap ones but they told me, their drums are all comes with HOLES. They told me you can get it very cheap from Toyogo. Immediately, I went down to Toyogo at Toa Payoh, and to my surprise it is cheap, 3 x 100 litres pails with LIDS (most of the industrial drums are without lids, with lids are usually expensive ones) cost around $70.

 

My problem for water solved , get the RO/DI Purifier and get the pails.

 

IMG_1656.jpg

 

Still waiting patiently for the tank to arrive.

 

 

Your red pail seem small is that pail 100 litres? The industry blue tub for 100-120litre cost around $28.

[Allan Wy Looi]

Finally the day has come for the tank to arrive.

Few days before I bought some live rocks from a fellow reefer.

My fellow reefer friend came to visit me and brought the lighting he is going to lend to me. He saw the rocks and was laughing, it definitely will not be enough.

See how pathetic the rocks are.

I called Vincent for advice on where to get the rocks and he suggested me to get it from Ah Beng located at Pasir Ris. I forgot to ask for the address therefore I google it and find a contact number whom I thought should be Ah Beng because the contact person listed on the net has Beng ending on his first name. I called to check the operating hours and to my surprise the caller told me that they opened everyday from 9am to 10pm. I was so happy as I can go there after work. After work, I went with my wife and she asked me are you sure that they are opened till 10pm and I replied with confidence yes, as I have already called them. I was joking with my wife that Ah Beng really very hardworking that opened early till late everyday and we must learn from him. LOL.

When I got there, everyone now should have guessed the shop was closed. I called Vincent to double confirm my location, he was laughing because he said cannot be that Ah Beng opened till so late. Till today I cannot find back the contact I called no matter how I googled it. Surely the caller must be playing a prank on me. But nevermind this time I got the contact number and the next morning I called to see if they are opened and I went down to buy my rocks.

My new landscaping with more rocks in. ( I did not take the picture when the rocks first landscaping, this is my final product.)

The tank is up and running but no lights yet. I wanting to get those brackets from Hardware Store but find that it might not be strong enough to hold the lighting. Therefore back to the draw board another DIY bracket holder for the lighting.

Final Product

[Allan Wy Looi]

Your red pail seem small is that pail 100 litres? The industry blue tub for 100-120litre cost around $28.

Oh no, I thought I got a bargain, there is even cheaper. Ya that is for holding 100 litres. I should have started the thread from Day 1 when i decided to start the hobby. Now missed out on another good deal. Actually i bought a few unnecessary things hopefully lesser in the near future.

[Allan Wy Looi]

One week after the initial tank setup with the help of the fellow reefer, he asked me to get the Bacteria King. He will give me some live bacteria to help me jump start the tank.

Finally can put in a dead prawn to start the cycle.

The waiting is so tough for the first timer. I really wish to throw in some livestock but been suppressing myself not to.

While I was waiting I did some reading on algae and it seems the algae scrubber looks very useful. I decided to DIY myself. I will post more pics later as I was not in the factory while writing this. Below just the outside of the scrubber. Please give me some advice on my design. Thanks.

[Snoopyhamburger]

One week after the initial tank setup with the help of the fellow reefer, he asked me to get the Bacteria King. He will give me some live bacteria to help me jump start the tank.

The waiting is so tough for the first timer. I really wish to throw in some livestock but been suppressing myself not to.

http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php%5D'>http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php]

Patience is the key to success...cool tank! Camping for updates!

[Allan Wy Looi]

My testing readings:

NH4 - <0.25

NO3 - 100 (so high)

NO2 - 0

Is this normal? I read that NO3 is the final stage of cycle but it can't be so high right?

Is it now I have to find ways to reduce NO3?

Hope some reefers can help?

I am using Salifert test kit.

Shouldn't my NH4 high as my prawn still decomposing in the tank?

Thanks.