First Try at Marine

[AquaObsession]

Hi guys,

Decided to have a try at marine. I have some experience with planted fish tank (all freshwater), but never tried marine.

Decided for a very simple setup since i am on low budget for the moment (will start work soon). I am using most of my existing equipment for the moment.

Tank: 2*1*1 feet (5 plan acrylic)

Filter: Jebo 838 (1200/h)

6 kg live rocks (no sand)

1 small air pump (I dunno if air pump is needed for marine)

ph: 8.53 (American Marine Pinpoint pH monitor)

Salinity: within the green band. not acccurate since i do not have any digital reading meter for that . (with ME salt)

Others such as nitrate, etc I have not tested yet. I've read earlier it is useless to test when the tank is newly setup.

I have put a piece of prawn to help in the cycle. Water used was tap water, I was told I can use that for small tank setup by AM. Hopefully they are right, but i saw all those DI/RO system there. Maybe because mine is intended to be a FOWLR, am I right?

Live rocks have already been placed in the tank, and intended period of cycle maybe 3 weeks or so, then I will do some testing.

No lights for now, I do not want to get any algae as I saw in some readings. But most probably will get a 2 feet 8000-10000k 36 or 50 watts PL. (those magnum series)

I intend to get a small skimmer, but I am confused. I only know about surface skimmer, this is what I use in my freswater tank. But in marine, i came across protein skimmer, calcium skimmer, phosphate skimmer, double chambers, etc etc. Can i just go for any small cheap protein skimmer. Do we have those hangon? Just asking.

Let me know if I have done anything wrong till now. I am trying to see if I will be able to keep fish, and have a good control of water parameters before moving on to bigger projects when I start work. Should this fail, I will focus on my freswater planted tanks. Will be doing more readings again today!

Christophe

[Nitro]

Hi AO,

Juz a suggestion... u might want to think about what u want to keep in marine? Cuz what u keep, does in a way makes a difference to what basic and low end to extra and high end equipments are needed.

Like for my(can take a look in memebers tank forum) mixed reef and without SPS or demanding corals, I've got a a chiller, a H&S skimmer(smallest model of this brand), a DSB refugium, 8 T-5s, 2x Maxijet and 2x Eihem powerheads connected to a Redsea wavemaker for current.

Hey I also from freshwater fish/planted tanks to marine, mixed reef ;-) Both have their beauty, I must say.

[AquaObsession]

Just want to ask if I am keeping a FOWLR tank, I do not need to both about Ca, Mg, Po etc etc, right? These are for reef tank (live corals) right?

Christophe

[Nitro]

Hi dun think can really say that cuz it might affect the well being of the fishes on the long term. I've saw a list of which marine lives need what chemical compound in particular but that doesn't mean that the marine live dun need other chemical to really flourish. U'll still need to bother abt the rest of the chemical till certain extent.

[hammy]

Just want to ask if I am keeping a FOWLR tank, I do not need to both about Ca, Mg, Po etc etc, right? These are for reef tank (live corals) right?

Christophe

Hi ,

I guess Ca, and Mg does not really affect fishes so much , however it does affect alkalnity which in turn affect your pH which is a imporatnt parameter for fishes.

So u have to keep your Ca and Mg at reasonable range.

i would advice u to go for a small skimmer like the prizm as it really help in the long run . Po4 will cause algae to bloom which affect the aestatics of the whole tank, do keep it to minimum.

cheers

[AquaObsession]

To Hammy: I plan to get good skimmer , one maybe which i can use for a 3-4 feet when I upgrade later! THinking of the weipro 2012, or even a hang on model I saw at AM yesterday - red sea hang on. Yesterday I went to buy a cheapo skimmer (dymax) using airstone, run it for the day, well, ..will leave that off for now until cycle.

To all:

I just want to check something on filtration. I am running a Jebo 838, used currently for my fresh water tanks. I have washed it well. 4 compartments filter. top layer sponge, second-4th layer : ceramic rings and biohome. These are the same media as in my FW tank. However I have remove the sponge filter in the 2nd-4th compartment for greater water flow.

However, I've been doing some reading in this forum, and in many threads, I saw the advice against the use of ceramic rings/bioballs, etc as they are nitrates factory. I know in FW the denytrying bacteria will break up ammonia into nitrites and then into nitrates. Well, plants absorbs the rest of the nitrates, or if in a fish only FW tank, I can do water change etc.

How does it work for marine? WIll i have to remove all the media and use sponge only? Do i have to clean the filter regularly? tap/salt water??

Sorry to ask so many things, but in FW i used to only clean my cannister filters say every 3-4 months, sometimes 6 months?

My tank is just 2 feet, and intended to be a FOWLR only. Wanted to start with this first before 'upgrading' to more complicated stuff as I start work in July.

CUrrently I have only 6kgs of live rocks in the tank, no sand. Intend to add another 5kgs soon. Will LR, with a filter with sponge only be enough?

Those using cannister filter, how do you guys do?

Cheers, Christophe

[Qxnviolet]

I ran my ex 3 FT tank with a cannister too, wouldn't do any recommandations to you but i washed my filter about once a month, which clearly wasn't enough judging from the amount of "crap" that gets trapped in the sponge.

If you are seriously considering a better skimmer, try getting the DELTEC MCE600, its a hang-on skimmer too....abit too much of an overkill for your 2 FT, but definately much much better than the Prizm.

And lastly, its advisable to add your rocks all at one go in case the new rocks you add starts another ANN cycle.