need help!! - Jireh Marine ready-made tank

[yongshun]

hi pple, im new to this marine hobby...have not bought anyting yet...but im thinking of getting a ready-made filtration box by Jireh...the diamond-reef quick start...is this good enough for a fish with live rock only tank? or anyone can recommend me a better and cheaper lobang?

[ReDDeviLs]

try to gif Aquamarin a call..and voice your concern. steve will be able to help u.

[oqs]

agreed. aquamarin should be able to help you better.

[kianwee]

hi pple, im new to this marine hobby...have not bought anyting yet...but im thinking of getting a ready-made filtration box by Jireh...the diamond-reef quick start...is this good enough for a fish with live rock only tank? or anyone can recommend me a better and cheaper lobang?

[/quote

I've recently been there. If u r referring to the $600 (in tank sump) system with fish and corals in, I think the hardy fishes like damsels will probably survive. If u do frequent water change (10-20%) per week or fortnight, it'll probably work for corals as well. It has a skimmer, some filter floss and some ceramic rings inside there. Dunno if got activated carbon. The display tank is indicative as if u look underneath, they added quite a bit more stuff not included in the package like ozone etc. No chiller with the system so I think the temp is gonna be high (30 degrees if ambient temp is 26-27 degrees even if u use T5 and fan... ). When my chiller went down, I direct a 13k BTU aircon on the tank. Temp can be brought to 25 degrees with direct closeby aircon if using t5.

U probably need to control phosphate level with additives etc as well.

Best thing is to read up more and find out exactly what u are getting. For all in one system, u can try Red Sea Max, HQI by JBJ etc. Iwarna, Pacific Reef, Petmart, Reborn, Aquamarin has these on sale. U can check them out. They do not have chiller so u can check the pasar malam of SG reef to get good deal. Better still, get direct from the seniors who are decommissioning or upgrading.

[raymus]

hi pple, im new to this marine hobby...have not bought anyting yet...but im thinking of getting a ready-made filtration box by Jireh...the diamond-reef quick start...is this good enough for a fish with live rock only tank? or anyone can recommend me a better and cheaper lobang?

bro, if u willing to spend 600 from Jireh , why not consider getting those 2nd hand tank with sump for future in case u holding big equipments?

http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=71365

I think the hardy fishes like damsels will probably survive too.

even after getting the 2nd hand tank, remaining will goes to getting a skimmer which i believe overall cost less than what u spend at Jireh. No offend Jireh.

for a fish with live rock only tank dun really need a chiller. but a proper skimmer and FR will do.

correct me if im wrong:)

cheers.

[yongshun]

ok...maybe will consider to get a 2nd hand jbj nano cube due to space constraint...24g...

however if there's some problem with the light switch, e.g. can't switch off, anyone has any idea where i can send the tank for repair? any recommendations? how much will it cost?

[TayHongSiang]

ok...maybe will consider to get a 2nd hand jbj nano cube due to space constraint...24g...

however if there's some problem with the light switch, e.g. can't switch off, anyone has any idea where i can send the tank for repair? any recommendations? how much will it cost?

I personally went down to ##### before also wanting to start this hobby one month back....they claimed their skimmer is good enough to start this hobby...but when i open up their display cabinet, i saw they have ozoniser running there and chiller installed. And anybody walks past will be easily attracted thinking with the tank and their skimmer ok liao.

[desideria]

Hi,

I personally have the ##### setup and it has lasted since Sept/Oct 2007 till now already and some of my original purchases are still there with the exception of 3 fish and 3 pieces of coral which I probably killed due to a one time major rescaping ( to catch a blasted crab which killed my starfish) as well some other incidents which I am too ashamed to mention.

I don't have any chiller as I place the tank in an area where the temperature can fall to 24 in the night and rise to a max of 27.5-28 (this was during those REALLY hot months) during the day. Avg temp is 26-26.5 during the day. Neither do I have an ionizer but I do agree that the skimmer is VERY VERY basic which I am well aware of so in order to keep my water relatively clean, I do 15% -20% water changes every week. Change the sponge and the air stones monthly. So if you feel you are unable to do frequent water changes then don't get this system. NO way that this filtration system can work for anything bigger than a 2 feet.

I am using the German made T5 lights that I got from Reef Depot as I decided that the original light they provided is not "good" enough.

At the moment, what I have in my tank are pretty hardy stuff so which is probably why they can survive but I did have a Tomini Tang which lasted 8 months before succomding to stress/whatever the night I did the major rescaping

- 2 Hawaiian Damsels ( 1 original and the other 2 months old with me)

- 2 Percula clown ( about 2 months)

- 1 Tomato clown (Original)

- 1 Blenny (Original)

- 1 shrimp (Original)

- 1 anamonea ( Original, about the size of your open hand)

- 1 super sun ( doing very well, got it 3 weeks ago and at the moment eating mysis daily)

- 1 Octopi (got it the same time as my sunnies..opening up well)

- 1 Jewel ( Original)

My 2 gripes are that with the filtration system in the tank, it takes up like 20% of the space which leaves me less room to arrange my rocks and corals. My situation is made worse by my anamoea which completely dominated the tank when it opened up before I did a major rescape to shift it from the middle to the extreme corner of the tank.

the other thing I am trying to resolve is all the dirt that gets trapped UNDER the filtration system because it doesn't sit on the floor of the tank so dirt tends to just stay there and pile up. EVery 6 months, I have to lift up the whole thing to clean it and clear the bottom and at the same time do a major water change.

anyway... good luck with your purchase. I"m still learning too!

cheers, desi.

[casperice]

I have the same system too for about 3 months already.

CONS

1. Takes up way too much space for a 2 ft tank.

2. Skimmer is airstone driven and it's efficiency is water level dependant. With my fan on 24Hrs a day, once the water evaporates slightly lower than the overflow teeth, skimmer stops working. So for me, my skimmer only works about 10 hours a day till I top up. And yes , airstone efficiency drops tremendously within 1.5 mths then skimmer stops working too.

3. Stock pump is only 400L/Hr.. flow rate is too low. I swapped mine out for a 800L/Hr and its much more efficient.

4. Bio rings that comes with it are a nitrate factory. Threw them away already. Replaced with Bio Home + Chemi-pure + SeaChem Seagel. Water crystal clear.

5. Due to evaporation, water level in my last chamber (return pump) goes empty very fast. Need to top up daily else chamber will be empty and pump will start spitting out air bubbles. (I think return chamber is too small that's why.) But if you don't have a fan to cool your tank. Then should be ok.

6. Expensive for such a simple "box" that I can DIY if I have the skill. But I have no such skills. kekeke.

7. Initially, I lost like 3 small damsels and cardinals as they always like to squeeze into the sides and back of the box then kena stuck and died. Solved the problem by covering all the gaps with a mesh.

PROS:

1. Its a no brainer setup for beginners. plug and play.

2. Easy to clean / replace sponge and Filter media.

3. With the 800L/Hr outflow, water movement is sufficient but I still bought a Hydor K Nano for increased water movement. My LS love it.

So if your a beginner and knows nuts about setting up a marine tank, you could go for this.. especially if you have a low bioload with none or only a couple of hardy corals. But most probably you will upgrade or change equipment once you gain experience and realise that this system (the skimmer in particular) is not efficient enough in removing wastes.

For my current setup, I have an anemone, blue regal tang, Koran, false perculia, mandarin, 2 cleaner shrimps and a snail. Quite alot of corals. So far all doing very well with no fatalities for the past 8 weeks. Corals are all opened up big big and growing.

I have just changed to a hang on nano skimmer(Rio nano) which works like a charm 24/7 and currently planning to change to a good HOF so I can finally remove the quick start system and make space for more corals + LR.

Anyone interested in the quick start system PM me.

Hope this review will benefit those who are thinking of getting this system. Just my opinion.

[TayHongSiang]

I have the same system too for about 3 months already.

CONS

1. Takes up way too much space for a 2 ft tank.

2. Skimmer is airstone driven and it's efficiency is water level dependant. With my fan on 24Hrs a day, once the water evaporates slightly lower than the overflow teeth, skimmer stops working. So for me, my skimmer only works about 10 hours a day till I top up. And yes , airstone efficiency drops tremendously within 1.5 mths then skimmer stops working too.

3. Stock pump is only 400L/Hr.. flow rate is too low. I swapped mine out for a 800L/Hr and its much more efficient.

4. Bio rings that comes with it are a nitrate factory. Threw them away already. Replaced with Bio Home + Chemi-pure + SeaChem Seagel. Water crystal clear.

5. Due to evaporation, water level in my last chamber (return pump) goes empty very fast. Need to top up daily else chamber will be empty and pump will start spitting out air bubbles. (I think return chamber is too small that's why.) But if you don't have a fan to cool your tank. Then should be ok.

6. Expensive for such a simple "box" that I can DIY if I have the skill. But I have no such skills. kekeke.

7. Initially, I lost like 3 small damsels and cardinals as they always like to squeeze into the sides and back of the box then kena stuck and died. Solved the problem by covering all the gaps with a mesh.

PROS:

1. Its a no brainer setup for beginners. plug and play.

2. Easy to clean / replace sponge and Filter media.

3. With the 800L/Hr outflow, water movement is sufficient but I still bought a Hydor K Nano for increased water movement. My LS love it.

So if your a beginner and knows nuts about setting up a marine tank, you could go for this.. especially if you have a low bioload with none or only a couple of hardy corals. But most probably you will upgrade or change equipment once you gain experience and realise that this system (the skimmer in particular) is not efficient enough in removing wastes.

For my current setup, I have an anemone, blue regal tang, Koran, false perculia, mandarin, 2 cleaner shrimps and a snail. Quite alot of corals. So far all doing very well with no fatalities for the past 8 weeks. Corals are all opened up big big and growing.

I have just changed to a hang on nano skimmer(Rio nano) which works like a charm 24/7 and currently planning to change to a good HOF so I can finally remove the quick start system and make space for more corals + LR.

Anyone interested in the quick start system PM me.

Hope this review will benefit those who are thinking of getting this system. Just my opinion.

Just to add-on.

I agreed....if you just want to have a simple tank and some hardy fishes, nothing complicated (no corals, just some live rocks, you can purchase that Jire system and kick start this hobby for a 2ft tank.

But it's not enough to support anemones and some of the corals which you see in the display tank at Jire.

For that price of protein skimmer selling at $188 using air stone....you can get a Dymax or Jebo protein skimmer which only cost you between $50 - $90 and is much more powerful.

If you have the time, go and talk other shop owners like Reef Depot at Sin Ming Rd or Henry at Hong Leong Gardens@ West Coast and seek some advice.

My advice is shop around first b4 you rush into it.

[yongshun]

Hi pple, bought a JBJ 28G nano already...very satisfied with it...bt thks for the input

[Ketchup]

Hi pple, bought a JBJ 28G nano already...very satisfied with it...bt thks for the input

Grats.. show us some pics:P I'm desi's hubby actually:)

[yongshun]

Grats.. show us some pics:P I'm desi's hubby actually:)

juz click on my signature...it leads to the thread for my tank

[sa1tfish]

I recently dropped by Jireh Marine, saw the eco-easy tank for beginners, advertised as 'all in one' and quick start system for a 2ft or 3ft tanks. The 2ft tank with cabinet comes with $1,199 and the 3ft tanks with cabinet comes with $1,499. The system is supposed to allow you to jump start the hobby easily.

I saw 2 display tanks and the corals and marine fishes thrive in the tanks, thought i can't tell if the setup is exactly the same as the eco-easy, or extra equipments are needed. If anyone has such a system at home, hope to hear their experiences.

[erikokelf]

IMO there's no quick start system for reefing bro. I would suggest you do more read up before buying the setup.

[sa1tfish]

yes i do think that to have all basic elements figured out before getting a set-up, the more i read i find something missing, so i guess won't rush into setting up my reef tank yet.