Converting Tropical To Fish Only (Fowlr)

[rcracer20071]

Hi folks,
Some of you will know me from the Converting Tropical To Fish Only section from within the Saltwater Hardware section. I am finally taking the final steps in transforming my Juwel Vision 180 litre tropical tank into an artificial reef that will host live rock and saltwater fishes. For the past year I have been slowly buying bits and bobs to start this transition such as powerheads and a better tank with good lighting and an external filter, for more details refer to the link above where i have been seeking advice on what setup I should have.

This is what my tank looked like just one and half weeks ago when I still had the tropical fish.

This is how my tank looks now (04/09/2010)

For a fullsize image of the new look use This link.

Step 1 Pic.
Step 2 Pic.
Step 3 Pic.
Step 4 Pic.
Step 5 Pic.
Step 6 Pic.

31/08/2010 - I took my tropical fish back to the fish shop, I then took out the sand, ornaments and drained off all the water. I then cleaned the tank, filters, lights etc in tap water (no chemicals)

01/09/2010 - Updated my artificial reef, which took the rest of the week to complete.

03/09/2010 - Added coral sand and added back the artificial reef. I then added tap water to see how the new artificial reef looked.


My next step will be to purchase RO water, salt and some live rock.

 

[seffieuk]

Can I be really nosey and ask why you just dont jump in feet first and have a 'real' reef? I will be interested to see it develop but have to admit it is not to my taste.

Seffie x

 

[rcracer20071]

hi, i prefer the artificial reef because i have a limited budget and fish only is supposed to be easier and besides if it all goes horribly wrong i will be able to clean the reef and start again.

 

[rcracer20071]

I have finally finished my artificial reef and am now looking forward to getting the salt fish. Let me know what you think of my tank design.

For a fullsize image of the new look use This link.

 

[simonas]

I can;t say I;m a fan of the plastic design but I can understand why your doing it as corals can be costly.

what lighting do you have as you can get from marine websites with free frags etc and people selling the cheaper corals ver ycheaply you could get some xenia, zoas and maybe a toadstool without breaking the bank and it would look so much better than the plastic

and once you were happy with amrines corals etc you would definately get hooked and want more! ha

 

[Harry1996]

i agree with simonas wouldnt buying fake coral cost more that real coral? corals can be from £18 plus or frags £10 plus. but looking good so far

 

[Pearsondesign]

i have to agree with the others.
fake corals are expensive, get covered in algae and dont move the same way real ones do.

ive been looking at fake corals for my predator tank with triggerfish etc, but so far none of the ones ive seen do the job i want them too.

it oes look very nice and colourful though, but like they said above, this can be achieved with the basic soft corals and polyps.
if your having FOWLR then youll no doubt end up with some button or mushroom polyps on the rocks, so why not just go down that route anyways?

 

[Harry1996]

its your choice at the end of the day most people do go for a reef after a few months though what fish are you going to get?

 

[rcracer20071]

Hi,
Thanks for all your replies, The cost of converting the look from the original picture (one with fish in it) to the latest cost me £50 for the artificial coral / anemonies and £15 for the artificial rock which i thought was not too bad on the cost front.

The latest news / update is that a friend gave us a protein skimmer and the excess water from a water change, so we added the water and brought some salt. I check the saltality of the water this morning and it is 1022.5

We are planning on getting:
Goby x1
Firefish x1
Clown Fish x2
Banggai Cardinal x1
Dwarf Angel Fish (maybe)
Royal Gramma x1

I personally like all the critters, crabs, shrimp and starfish more than the fish. So do you think my tank is suitable for this volume of fish? (obviously we will build up a suitable amount of live rock for this stocking level)

 

[rcracer20071]

13/09/2010 - Added 25 litres of Water from a friends tank when he did a water change and added salt (into the fish tank) to get the right mixture. I borrowed a high power wave machine to circulate the water to mix in the salt. I left this going for 24 hours and then started up the protein skimmer. I checked my salt count each day, each day I noticed my salt count was increasing. I beleive this was mainly due to evaporation because the lid could not shut due to not having the holes for the protein skimmer, so I cut the holes in.

 

[rcracer20071]

I dont think I have ever watched an aquarium cycle by testing the water, but here goes, do these look correct?
18/09/2010 - Added live rock
19/09/2010 (Day 1) - Salt - 1.022, PH - 8.0, Ammonia - 0.00, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 0
20/09/2010 (Day 2) - Salt - 1.024, PH - 8.0, Ammonia - 0.10, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 0
21/09/2010 (Day 3) - Salt - 1.024, PH - 8.0, Ammonia - 0.25, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 0
22/09/2010 (Day 4) - Salt - 1.024, PH - 8.0, Ammonia - 0.25, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 0

 

[rcracer20071]

Here is my latest results is this what you would expect, nothing appears to be changing?

23/09/2010 (Day 5) - Salt - 1.024, PH - 8.0, Ammonia - 0.25, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 0

 

[-Nemo-]

Hasn't really been too long to worry yet, cycling length has many variables to it. How much live rock did you add? Was it cured/where did you get it from?

 

[rcracer20071]

There is about 4kg of live rock and i beleive it was probably cured already.

 

[-Nemo-]

There is about 4kg of live rock and i beleive it was probably cured already.

I would get AT LEAST 6kg more live rock in there. More would be better.