Our Journey To The Salty Side - Part One

[seffieuk]

Hi

Well have taken the plunge after about a year of reading about Marine nano fish keeping. have just bought an orca 550, arrives in about a weeks time. I plan to take things slowly not least because of the huge expense. Could someone give me a shopping list of their recomendations please. I have kept tropical/brackish for a few years now but am a complete newbie with marine.

Test kit - which one
rock - which would be the best
live sand - again which one
salt - any preference
hydrometer -

etc, etc

thanks in advance

Seffie

 

[johnnyjtaylor]

Test kit - Salifert ones are well respected
rock - try to get cured live rock,pick the type you like the look of
live sand - don't bother to get live, I don't think its very live when you get it, just get coral sand it will become live soon enough
salt - I personally use aquamedic reef salt but have heard good things about Seachems.
hydrometer - Don't get one get a refractometer instead they are much more accurate(ebay always has them cheap)

Marine tanks are great,you'll love it

 

[mutantbigman2000]

i agree pretty much with the above.

live sand is a gimmick. just get coral sand and the rock will seed it soon enough.

Also budget for powerheads. I have a koralia 1 and a koralia nano. They are both very quiet.

What corals were you hoping to keep in the orca as the spec i've seen only lists the lighting at 2 x 24 watts.

 

[seffieuk]

Hi

You are right about the lighting - I had assumed, maybe foolishly that i would be able to keep a few of the hardy species, but to be honest will be guided by you guys. I have read loads but reading is no match for experience. I hope not to make too many mistakes if you will all give me a hand. I assume that I could upgrade the lighting without too much difficulty?

I suppose what i am looking for is a shopping list of MUST, SHOULD, COULD things lol (sorry, can't help myself, i'm a teacher!)

Want to have live rock, couple of clown fish (sorry, but i bet most people start here)
perfect clean up crew?

How would you stock?

Believe there will be about 120 ltrs of water before the rock etc is added (am I right that I should have about 25 kilos of rock?) How much sand?

thanks for the help so far

Seffie x

 

[seffieuk]

RHS-10-ATC

Salinity: 0-100‰
Specific gravity:
1.000-1.070
Salinity: 1‰
Specific gravity:
0.001

±1‰
Specific gravity:
±0.001

Is this refractometer ok, it's on ebay for 18.99 + about four pounds postage?

There is live cured rock for sale on ebay as well, is this a good way to go, it is much cheaper than in the lfs? People are closing their tanks or down sizing. How long is too long for transportation - just thinking about how far i should travel before it causing a vast die back which i would like to avoid?

Just looking for a powerhead now and a spare heater - thank goodness for ebay!

What about water containers - i notice that a lot of people in my area buy their RO water from Swallows, my lfs? Is RO water required for set up or can i put in tapwater with conditioner like i would in a brackish tank? Mix the salt in the tank, Then after a couple of days add rock and then the sand?

questions, questions................

Reef master test kit about £22 again on ebay?
Nutrafin Test Kit about £40? ebay
Or buy seperate test - seems costly?

what size water drum should i buy for mixing the water and salt? - probably a silly question!

Seffie x

ok, will not buy live sand - that will save me a few quid )

 

[johnnyjtaylor]

The refractometer should fine. Live rock gets more dieoff the longer its out of the water(starts very quickly in half an hour or so) , if you go for stuff thats got to be sent to you it will no longer be fully cured and you will have a much longer cycling process. When I got mine I bought fully cured rock from the closest LFS, it wasn't the cheapest way by far but it was out of their tanks and into mine in less than half an hour, the result of which was very little die off and the tank was cycled in just a few days. Go for the RO water,none of the nasties of tap water(assuming your doing a reef tank not a fish only which would be fine with dechlorinated tap water).
Don't know about 'Reef Master' kits but Nutrafin ones are a bit poo(putting it nicely), the cost of the individual Salifert kits is well worth it.As for water containers food grade plastic is the way to go(no nasties leech out of it), those buckets sold for home brewing with lids are perfect.
Yes you can mix your salt in the tank first off, give it a day or two with everything running to make sure it all works(temp etc). Others do various things to place their rock in the tank but I personally would put a small covering of sand on the bottom(1cm or so) , lay the rocks on it ,then put some more sand around the front/sides to make it look how you want.

As for the amount of rock roughly speaking a kilo to every 8 litres, I don't know how big an orca 550 is but as your in the nano section I'm thinking its not big enough to need 25kgs.

 

[mutantbigman2000]

i have bought 2 lots of live rock off ebay. both have been fine.

The key with ebay is to ask a lot of questions.

Try and find a local (ish) seller and fire some questions their way.

A local seller in my area was selling 3 lots of 10 kg. I emailed saying that i only needed 5 kgs, could he accomodate this and i went to get it. got over 6kgs for £30

I got my test kit from ebay. I had a big lump in my paypal account so i just got as much stuff as i could.

Couple of powerheads. t5 controller. you name it.

i was even tempted to get some cuc on there but the postage makes it about as expensive as my lfs.

 

[seffieuk]

oh this is so very exciting...........

need less rock than i thought, about 15 kilos - that put a smile on my face

Back to look round ebay - and find someone within eight miles of me - fingers crossed - what questions should i ask?

Seffie X

 

[johnnyjtaylor]

need less rock than i thought, about 15 kilos - that put a smile on my face

Not to mention £100 back in your pocket

Just be a bit wary of peoples old rock off ebay, chances are it will be fine and come from a healthy tank but you never know(I guess the questions to ask would be about the health of the tank , to make sure its all been kept running and why they are getting rid of it). A LFS should do you 15kg for about £150,even if they have it priced at more they should do it for that if you say thats all your prepared to pay(I always like a few quid off when spending lots).

 

[seffieuk]

There is some on ebay in kent - it's about twenty five miles away. he has said he will put it in water, would that extend the travel time? my sister also needs 15k so it would be perfect

http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...rksid=p3907.m29

Seffie x

 

[mutantbigman2000]

Back to look round ebay - and find someone within eight miles of me - fingers crossed - what questions should i ask?

Seffie X

8 miles seems a bit optimistic. I settled for about 30 mile radius.

forums are also a good place to source items from.

Ask questions relating to the maturity of the rock and conditions it comes from.

 

[john.o]

Test kit - which one
rock - which would be the best
live sand - again which one
salt - any preference
hydrometer -

etc, etc

thanks in advance

Seffie

Hi and welcome to the salty side

Shopping list…. Pretty much as Johnny.t

Test kit - which one Salifert there really is a difference between a good test kit and well a middle of the road one my API kits kept giving me different readings. {then again could of just been me}
rock - which would be the best cured live rock Indonesian / Fiji or tonga which ever one you like the look of really {or a mix}
live sand - just get coral sand it will become seeded soon enough
salt - any preference I use RED SEA CORAL PRO salt priced around about 7 kilo bucket for £19.95 or 22 kilos for £55 and I mix with RO water which most aquatics shops sell {about 30p per gallon} if not you mite want to consider buying a ro unit {about £75 for a ro man 50gpd unit} depends on what your keeping really Fish Only WLR or Fish & Corals WLR
hydrometer – get a refractometer {take a look at my journal page2 post 36 I found out to my expense again}
you can get a really good quality one for £30 including delivery from a uk supplier here’s the link

http/www.reefstore.co.uk/deltec_refractometer.shtml

you will also have to add more water flow in the tank if you are going to be keeping corals. Possibly some thing like a hydor koralia 1 at (400 gallons per hour) and a hydor flow deflector that would give you plenty of random and chaotic flow or 2 hydor koralia nanos @ {240 gallons per hour each} at opposite ends of the tank that would do the same thing
Hope this helps best regards

 

[johnnyjtaylor]

There is some on ebay in kent - it's about twenty five miles away. he has said he will put it in water, would that extend the travel time? my sister also needs 15k so it would be perfect

[URL="http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...rksid=p3907.m29"]http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...rksid=p3907.m29[/URL]

Seffie x

Looks like a bargain! Go get yourself some buckets with lids!! Yes the water would extend the travel time, you should have no problems if moving it in water

 

[seffieuk]

ok, chap says i can have the tank as well to keep the rock in for when my tank arrives. however, just a thought, how much is this stuff going to weigh and would a normal car be able to transport it?

he says i will need three 25 ltr tubs which he will fill with water and then of course the tank and the rock............ i have no concept of what 27 kilos of live rock would be

also, what would i need to keep the rock alive, heat? anything else?

this is so scary!

Seffie x

 

[mutantbigman2000]

they will be ok in transport in the water tubs he has suggested.

Once they are home though they will need to be kept at tank temp and will also need plenty of flow over the rock to keep them live.

tank would also double as a quarantine tank for you or you could put it back on ebay.