Equpment List

[idlefingers]

I've been researching quite a bit during the past week, read my beginners book, ordered two more and have been looking at possible equipment to buy.

I've worked up this list which obviously won't all be bought at once (obviously RO water & live rock are at the end of the line). To start with the tank (200ltr / 50g) is going to be FOWLR closely followed by reef. In my research so far, I've only touched on fish and invert choices so haven't come to any decisions yet and don't feel educated enough to!

So, with that in mind, how does this list sound? Have I missed anything? Is the equipment good quality?

• 25-35kg Live rock
• TMC V2 Skim 400 Skimmer (Rated for 400ltr tanks)
• Aragonite sand
• Red Sea Salt (I'm thinking of getting a big tub to save money later - get a free book with it from aquatics online, too!)
• Refractometer
• 2 x Hydor Koralia 2 (2300lph/341gph each = 23x turnover?)
• Lights to replace the current tubes in the tank (will upgrade later) - 1x marine white 1x blue actinic
• RO Water from lfs
• Marine test kits - Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Calcium, Alkalinity, PH - I read these were the essentials?
• Mag float
• Thick rubber gloves

I'm sure I must be forgetting something! There's a whole load of thing's I plan to get later as I progress and upgrade; sump, ro unit, better lighting, etc..

Obviously when I start considering the fish and invert side of things, there's all the foods & additives involved with that which I haven't thought much about yet. That's next on my list!

Thanks for any help!

 

[Unseen]

whats the thick rubber gloves for?

 

[rictheredneck]

erm a few lil pointers, if your goin for a sump i'd set one up from the beginning get your tank drilled rather than try and add one at a later stage. id up the flow rate although its in the 20 times rule of thumb bracket it would be better to have more to the 30 times flow rate that 20 times for when it becomes a reef. the lighting i reckon you could put together a halide for near the same price as 2 tubes if you got a flood light and replaced the bulb even if it is a cheap bulb you can upgrade to a better one once it starts to become a reef.

sounds like your goin well though good luck!

whats the thick rubber gloves for?

http/www.fishforums.net/Zooanthids-A-WARNING-t79056.html

i dont use gloves though im a daredevil! grrr lol

 

[idlefingers]

whats the thick rubber gloves for?

I read it's good to have them nearby when handling live rock because of hitchhikers and then once I get sessile inverts, apparently a lot have stings.

 

[idlefingers]

erm a few lil pointers, if your goin for a sump i'd set one up from the beginning get your tank drilled rather than try and add one at a later stage. id up the flow rate although its in the 20 times rule of thumb bracket it would be better to have more to the 30 times flow rate that 20 times for when it becomes a reef. the lighting i reckon you could put together a halide for near the same price as 2 tubes if you got a flood light and replaced the bulb even if it is a cheap bulb you can upgrade to a better one once it starts to become a reef.

sounds like your goin well though good luck!

whats the thick rubber gloves for?

http/www.fishforums.net/Zooanthids-A-WARNING-t79056.html

i dont use gloves though im a daredevil! grrr lol

I'm going to price up getting the tank drilled and am looking into the cost of all the sump stuff but worry about how high the bill is running up before even looking at fish and inverts. I haven't completely ruled it out yet but cost is a big factor.

With the lighting, I don't want to add halides straight away because I'm worried about the heat involved and the lack of space I currently have in the hood to put fans in. I was under the impression there were some, easy to care for, beginner type soft corals which would be suitable under the fluorescent bulbs (2 x 30w)? Then, once I pay off the credit card bill for the first batch of purchases look into upgrading my lighting and looking into better corals. Would that work?

With the powerheads, adding a koralia 1 at 1500lph would bring it to 6100lph in total which is just a tad over 30x turnover. Would that be sufficient, then?

Thanks for the help!

 

[AK77]

Its definitely a good idea to get the sump and drill all sorted out now, rather and decide to do it 6 months down the line.... that's when you really have headaches setting stuff up.

With regard to the lighting and the hood... you ideally don't want a one anyway. It inhibits the tanks ability to cool down by water evapouration. I removed the flaps and the light unit from my Rio 180 and purchased a couple of MH floodlights, which I wall mounted. You can get 300W of MH lighting for under £100 delivered, which definitely isn't bad.

 

[Musho3210]

you'll love thick rubber gloves, i use those coralife ones, keeps my oils away from my tank, keeps my skin away from saltwater (it gets all itchy) and protects it from harmful things in the tank.

Have you considered a wave maker for the koralias, problem is only the seios safely work with the koralias, and seios are rio.....

Heater?

I would highly recommend you getting your own RO/DI filter, that way you can ensure you really are getting pure water and it will pay itself off FAST. If you want to save some money now, just get the RO filter, you can later just buy a DI canister and hook it up.

 

[rictheredneck]

erm a few lil pointers, if your goin for a sump i'd set one up from the beginning get your tank drilled rather than try and add one at a later stage. id up the flow rate although its in the 20 times rule of thumb bracket it would be better to have more to the 30 times flow rate that 20 times for when it becomes a reef. the lighting i reckon you could put together a halide for near the same price as 2 tubes if you got a flood light and replaced the bulb even if it is a cheap bulb you can upgrade to a better one once it starts to become a reef.

sounds like your goin well though good luck!

whats the thick rubber gloves for?

http/www.fishforums.net/Zooanthids-A-WARNING-t79056.html

i dont use gloves though im a daredevil! grrr lol

I'm going to price up getting the tank drilled and am looking into the cost of all the sump stuff but worry about how high the bill is running up before even looking at fish and inverts. I haven't completely ruled it out yet but cost is a big factor.

With the lighting, I don't want to add halides straight away because I'm worried about the heat involved and the lack of space I currently have in the hood to put fans in. I was under the impression there were some, easy to care for, beginner type soft corals which would be suitable under the fluorescent bulbs (2 x 30w)? Then, once I pay off the credit card bill for the first batch of purchases look into upgrading my lighting and looking into better corals. Would that work?

With the powerheads, adding a koralia 1 at 1500lph would bring it to 6100lph in total which is just a tad over 30x turnover. Would that be sufficient, then?

Thanks for the help!

with the sump it really a personal choice from now on. i dont have one for the same reasons as you setting a tank up costs an arm and a leg but when i move house and take the tank down i'll be adding one though.

with regards to the lighting as previously mention i personally wouldnt have a hood us in the uk dont really have much of an issue with the heat build up. i only position a fan on them on the hottest of days. there are softer corals that will will live under that lighting but when the upgrade comes you will have a tank of softies that are established that could pissed and start stinging your new (usually more expensive) additions.

this is my old tank with the 400w halide. i got it for £30 off ebay with a 20k bulb. wheras i bought 1acintic tube from the lfs and it cost me £26. you see where im coming from? again its not the prettiest light goin but for £30 i can keep most light loving corals the tank was setup for clams... (also note the skimmer i got the 600 very impressed with it)

with the power heads you could upgrade to 2 koralia 3's instead of the koralia 2's which would give whereasyou a cool 32 times turnover rate. kinda depends on what price your getting them for might be cheaper adding the koralia 1 like you said.

 

[idlefingers]

How do you deal with dust, etc with an open topped tank? That's my biggest worry. My house is quite dusty and hairy (thanks too my dog) and seeing how quickly dust builds up on the hoods of my current tanks I worry about what it would be like on an open topped tank.

I'm going to have a shop around and see how much I can get a halide for. What kind of wattage should I be aiming for?

Musho3210, I forgot to mention I already have a heater for the tank. And I've looked at wavemakers but like a lot of other things am put off by the price. I came to the conclusion that I could make upgrades like that later.

 

[SkiFletch]

As for the dust and dog hair, leave it. That's what a protein skimmer and vaccuming during water changes is for . Running open topped is no different than running fans to help with evaporation from a dust standpoint. Either you've got fans blowing dust on the surface of the water, or you've got it just settling naturally. Either way it gets in the tank.

For Halides, how long is the tank, and does it have any center crossbracing on the top?

 

[idlefingers]

Oh, okay. I thought you put fans in there to extract. Shows what i know!

The tank is 100cm long, 45cm wide and 50cm tall (39" x 18" x 19" ish) and doesn't have a center brace (well, it does have a metal bar going across the hood but if it's going to be hood-less then that won't be there!)

 

[SkiFletch]

so the metal bar isn't holding the top of the front pane of glass to the back pane of glass? If that's the case your best ptions options IMO would be a single 400watter like ritch's, or dual 150s or 175s.

 

[idlefingers]

yeah, the metal bar is only holding the hood. 400w my god that's bright!

Would getting such a bright light not limit the beginner corals I could get at first? I'm not wanting any LPS or SPS corals at first because I've read they're harder to keep and need more supplements to the water which I want to build up to doing over time once I have a better understanding of it all.

 

[AK77]

I'll send you a PM with regard to the lighting mate.

 

[Musho3210]

if you like halides, and are not planning on sps. then 150-175 watts are good enough. Having 150-175 also gives you a chance to maybe go on to a little harder to care for lps one day.