new to here~ have a few questions~ before startin

[ryan84]

First i like to say hi to every body in this marine forum.

MY questions is this

1) can marine aquarium can keep only corals and fishes but without sand?

2)what is Chiller,protein skimmer,Hydrometer. what are these use for in marine aquarium?

3)can i set in a ious tank?

4)where to get cheap live rocks and fishes?

5) how to start?

that all~

thanx for answering my answers...

[wolfie]

firstly...

good on u tt u're actually askin' 1st!

I'll answer ur qns 1 by 1...

Qn1: cannot... sand is an impt part of setup... juz like u'll nv see the ocean w/o sand.

Qn2: Chiller is s/t like an air-con... brings down ur water temperature while a protein skimmer is mah chiam like a filter... it 'skims' out bad stuff and a Hydrometer is s/t which u use to test the sality of ur water... (ie: hw salty ur water is)

Qn3: yes u can but a internal overflow is definitely not enuff... do a search on "sump" and read more abt it here in SRC...

Qn4: there're alot of places to get cheap stuff... LR, LS, equip etc. See wat u need... there is no "one-stop" answer to tis qn...

Qn5: research first! read up on tis hobby and den commit...

For wat ever quries u might haf, do a search for it first in SRC... Read up all the past comments and explanations... And dun worry... the 'old birds' here wil help u out one... rite?

[Achilles Tang]

Hi and welcome to SRC!

To answer you:

1) can marine aquarium can keep only corals and fishes but without sand?

Actually, that is possible... it's called the Berlin method... just lots of Liverock. Modified Berline uses a good skimmer to help in reducing wastes. This method calls for extreme discipline and is restricted to very slow and very little stocking of livestock.

2)what is Chiller,protein skimmer,Hydrometer. what are these use for in marine aquarium?

Chiller... to cool water. Skimmer to skim out dissolved organics via foaming action that helps to export such stuff out of the water. Hydrometer allows you to measure the salinity of salt content in water.

3)can i set in a ious tank?

??? Dun get you.

4)where to get cheap live rocks and fishes?

You have to hunt around... LFS usually sells some stuff cheap and some stuff expensive.

5) how to start?

Go research the internet on 'beginners guide to reefing'... you have enough reading to last you years!

Good luck!

[Wind]

Hello fish lovers...

Just posted the first forum....

I had been in this hobby not long about 6 month...

I am having some problem too...

they are as listed.....

1) there are a lot of crabs coming out from the LR that were in the tank, how to get rid of them?

2) my tank's nitrate is very high.... but the fishes are all doing alright.... loss quite some fishes liao... how to reduce it???

I am using a 2 ft tank... using canister.... have a rotating power head and a skimmer....

the fishes that are in my tank are a blue tang, a yellow tang and a 3-stripe damsel and a red spotted hawk fish.... a boxer and a cleaner prawn...

waiting for all your helpful advises...

thank first....

enjoy the hobby...

[piero]

Yr tank set up how long already???

[Wind]

The tank had been step up for about more then 4 months or more liao....

forgot the day i set up my tank.... <_<

[spade]

Wind,

U may want to hv a look at the references posted by bawater on nitrates

[Wind]

thanks....

the idea of using sugar interest me... might go and try it out...

but the main thing is that i do not know what is the main problem of the out break of the high nitrate in the tank....

it might help temporary only....

and i don't think a 2 ft tank will need to us a sump or refrigum will be suitable for me...

anymore suggestion???

there is another possible method the chemical mention that reduce is used to reduce the nitrate...

i am using the polyfilter and the de-nitrate stone thing in my canister already....

worse of all my blue tang now is having ich....

HELP!!!

[bawater]

First of all, warm welcomes to SG reef.

ryan, ious can be used but its mainly designed for fish keeping. Fish only will be fine.

the concept is basic,sort of like a canister built out of glass in the tank. But there are so many variations of ios i don't know if all of them work well apart from the basic mechanical filtration/biological & a place to put some chemical filtration- nothing much else u can use them for(& they take up precious real estate of total tank volume).

wind- i do not condone the sugar method, i tried it but only once out of Curiosity.if i remember,Hon has too.

Although no harm was done to me-Do it at your own risk to your livestock.

Personaly, a 2ft is easy- just keep up regular water changes to dilute the nitrates to acceptable levels.Readings of 50-100 mg/ltr is not unknown to FO setups. When u got new fishes,U need to acclimatise fish to these levels slowly. (a 2ft is abt 50ltrs, a 10% change is only 5ltr)

Purigen is another chemical media u can consider.

Here are the links for u guys again:

nitrogen cycle

filtration methods

nitrate control

[woonming]

maybe u would like to try a tank with fishes only with LR that way itis kinda easy then later when u are comfortable u can add in corals

[etan]

Wind

If u find the crabs bothering u ( or ur fishes), set a crab trap, sure to work. Get a small glass container, bottle, (best would be the brands chicken essen bottle),put in a piece of prawn and lean it against the LR at night aft swithing off the light. Next morning sure to find crab inside the bottle. Repeat until no more.

I agree for a small tank regular water change will be enough to control the nitrate. I do mine only once a month for my 2ft tank of 6mths and I never hv casualities.

[Wind]

thanks etan...

i will try that....

the crabs had been hurting my fish...

once i caught one crab holding on to my blue tang stomach, manage to catch it on the spot...

lucky my blue tang recover after that...

so now scare scare all those crabs that we hiding in the LR...

[ryan84]

here is my ious tank...

wonder can or not?

is a 3ftX1.5FTX1.5FT

6mm thickness..

can work on marine ?

[ryan84]

..

[Sinn]

umm...

u cant keep a blue/yellow tang in a 2 foot tank wind..

they will outgrow yer tank very fast....

[eprouve]

6mm for 3 feet... sounds a little dangerous. Should be at least 8mm... to 10mm. Being a convert from LH keeping, you have to understand that SW is actually heavier than FW, not to mention the weight of LRs.

I started with a 2 feet 6mm tank, when I changed to 2.5 feet, its 8mm now. I'm sure the others would agree...

Try selling off your tank in a FW fish forum (like AquaticQuotient) and then buy a 8mm 3 footer. Also you ahve to make sure the stand is sturdy enough and the flooring is even.