Converting From Tropical To Marine (40imp Gl)

[diet]

Hi all I thought i would Start a diary on my conversion from Tropical to Marine,

I have a Rio180 Tank which at the moment is a community set up, i'll get some pics in around 2 weeks (buying a new camera as my daughter smashed my £300 one ) of it so you can see the whole process.

Today whilst listing severeal of my unwanted items on Freecycle i also posted that i wanted any Marine equipment.

Well a very kind guy emailed me and on Thursday I'm going to be picking up;

1 x 175W pendant style metal halide light
1 x skimmer

severeal powerheads
Salt
some additives
and a few other bits and bobs he can find.
Severeal KG's of now base rock (its in a bucket full of water in the backyard)

I was stunned when he said i could have all this for free, when i placed my add I only expected at best to get food, additives and some left over pipework etc etc.

This guy used to work for a marine equipment importer and he used to run a tank before he moved but has lost interest and was going to skip the lot untill he saw my add.

Im so over the moon about it all, Even if half the stuff is not good enough you cannot argue seeing as its free,



I Have been thinking as to wheather or not i would need a sump and if so how big as i only have space for something 10inches long and 13 inches deep, If i did get a sump does the bottom of the tank need to be drilled or does the water for the sump come from the top of the tank? If it does come from the tank i think i wont drill anything instead i will run a vacum sort of system and let the world of physics take my water to the sump and then return using a small pump.

Thanks

Daniel

 

[SkiFletch]

Great to see someone as excited as you about this Daniel

In regards to your question about the sump, it's gonna be tough to have one in a space that small. Is your stand one of those with the pesky dividing wall in the middle?

And about overflow. You can use siphon-methods to go over the side of the tank, but these are notorious for loosing/breaking siphon and spilling water all over your floor. A drilled back, side, or bottom is a significantly safer option for running the tank. And its really not that difficult to do. Sounds really daunting to drill glass, I know, but its quite easy.

Good luck and keep the updates comin

 

[diet]

Hi Ski,

Yes the stand has the dividing wall i did think about drilling a few holes through and running a joined sump......but then i would have nowhere to stash all my lil bits and bobs.

I Think i may not do a sump this time as ive seen a few tanks here that size that dont have one,

I do have an external Filter at the mo, if i clean it up replace with new Media and sponges and allow it to cycle as a new filter will i be able to run that as well to;
1) add flow
2) to allow it to clean the water a little bit.

On thursday Night i will type up all what i have been given, then i'll let u guys say which is worth keeping etc etc.

Cheers

daniel

 

[robbhp]

great find mate you are well on your way now

dont forget we love the pics

rob

 

[diet]

great find mate you are well on your way now

dont forget we love the pics

rob

Dont worry i'll get on too the pics soon, this time i'll keep my 1 year old daughter away from the camera as she has broke both my digital and webcam
And laughed grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[shibby]

yep i love to see pictures! same tank as im currently attempting to set up
im on a go slow though, since i only work at weekends! and tbh i like doing the research as much as buying and setting up the stuff

 

[diet]

yep i love to see pictures! same tank as im currently attempting to set up
im on a go slow though, since i only work at weekends! and tbh i like doing the research as much as buying and setting up the stuff

I intended on a go slow to....... caused by the lack of funds, but because of my luck i might be able to bring the tank forward by a month or two..... im intending to to pickt he brains of everyone here and am currently watching other thread about ppl setting up to watch out for any useful info and any mistakes to avoid.

I canny wait.

 

[shibby]

yeh there are some really helpful people, i found reading through lots of threads alot more helpful then most websites i found! must of spent many hours reading threads, so i dont make expensive mistakes or buy things i dont actually need.

canny quite a geordie word! and an awesome word at that lol.

and good luck were probably be going at it at the same pace!

 

[diet]

Ive been to late but was that RO Unit any good?
http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-Osmosis-filter-w...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[diet]

Ok been and collected my freebies.
This is what i got

175w halide Light is a little dated and although in full working order i am going to pass this back on again. as i dont like the look of it.

The 2 power heads work great, allthough a little low on the l/h of what i needed at 920l/h each.

System 2000 Wave Machine thingy,

a 'CPR' Skimmer i have no idea what module it is, but its a HOB style It is missing its powerhead though and the guy is looking for it, for me.

a small tub of Reef Success Calk
a small tub of Re-Mineral Marine
a small tub Fishvits Colour.........Improves the colour of the fish etc etc??
a magnesium and calcium test kit
an alkaline test kit
and severeal syringes etc etc.


So what is your verdict on that lot..... what is useful to me and what is not,

Cheers guys

 

[diet]

Heres some photos of the skimmer,

It says its made in California by a company called CPR??
Sorry the skimmer is dirty, just thought i'd try and help with the id as much as i could.

Side Pic


From the rear



From the front(as if you were in the tank looking right at it)



So whats the verdict then is it a go or no???

 

[SkiFletch]

CPR makes an OK skimmer. The acrylic work and ease of operation is great, but the volume of microbubbles created just isn't all that large. It'll work for sure, but may struggle with higher nutrient loads.

 

[diet]

cheers ski, so basically ok for now but uprgrade if u can.

Ive just been thinking about the lighting etc, what wattage to gallon ratio shoulw i be looking at?
as i have no idea you see lol,

Daniel

 

[SkiFletch]

Ummm, there's no watts/gallon ratio here in saltwater. For a 4' tank (which I assume your tank is), common marine lighting options would be 260watts of Power Compact (PC) on the low end, 216watts of T5 (4x54watt individual reflectors) on the medium range, and either 324watts of T5 or dual halides (150, 175, or 250) on the high end. Wattage means little, its all about Photosyntetic Available Radiation (PAR) that gets to the corals. While the PC lightingmight seem better than a 4xT5 setup from a wattage standpoint, the T5s actually have more PAR on the tank as their reflectors are much more efficient.