My Second Venture Into The Salty Side :)

[rabbut]

I would guess about 1/4 or a liter. You can leave more coke bottle if you have bigger pouches though

 

[Truck]

also i was chatting to the guy in my LFS today and i was talking about SG and i said i would like it at 1,025 and he said this is a little high for the fish, after a bit of reading i found that 1.023 would be better could someone clarify?

and i bought some reef crystals, they had 50*25kg buckets bought in for the display tanks and they had 3 left over, so i snapped one up at a meer £20 pounds STEAL!

i have a massive 2 litre sock at the moment so would probably 1/4 fill it leaving me with 500ml of rowaphos.
which corals will need marine snow?

out of these?
mushrooms (recordia and plate mushrooms)
xenia
zoas
sun coral (will need BS etc also)
leather

 

[rabbut]

The leather and Xinea will both need the Marine Snow Mushrooms and Zoas shouldn't, and I'm not 100% on the Sun Coral, but don't think they do...

£20 for a 25KG bucket Did you do what the guy in the MacDonalds advert does? You realy should feel like you robbed them at that price

The salinity of a natural reef is 35PPT, or about 1.026 SG. Keeping it lower reduces the pressure on the fishes liver to remove excess salts. It will increase the fishes suseptability to bacterial infections though... There is always a trade off and argument on whats best... Personally, I keep mine at between 1.025 and 1.026

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Truck]

The leather and Xinea will both need the Marine Snow Mushrooms and Zoas shouldn't, and I'm not 100% on the Sun Coral, but don't think they do...

£20 for a 25KG bucket Did you do what the guy in the MacDonalds advert does? You realy should feel like you robbed them at that price

The salinity of a natural reef is 35PPT, or about 1.026 SG. Keeping it lower reduces the pressure on the fishes liver to remove excess salts. It will increase the fishes suseptability to bacterial infections though... There is always a trade off and argument on whats best... Personally, I keep mine at between 1.025 and 1.026

All the best
Rabbut

okay thanks where can i get marine snow as the LFS dont have it ill look on ebay.

i know it was a steal and the 8 kg box was £25

i walked out with the biggest smug grin on my face
what does PPT stand for? and is how the refractometer measures it? and then we convert it?

ill stick with 1.024 (in the middle )

instead actinic tubes could i use blue LED's of ebay? and what sort of colour will 18k tubes produce?

also last Q, how often do you replace you rowaphos?

wow sorry for all the questions but youve been a great help thanks everyone for all the time and effort you have put into your answers

 

[rabbut]

PPT = Parts Per Thousand. This is the natural measuring unit of a Refractometer, though most have SG marked on the other side of the scale

You can use Blue LED's instead of Actinics if you like 18K lamps will likely be fairly blue already though The Marine Snow I get from work, but that's a long way for you to travel and they don't yet have that product (or many other fish tank products for that matter) on their website. Ebay would be a good place to try, followed by a Google product search. Avoid any of the sites that BigC posts in his link below though first... If they are in the list, don't buy from them as you may loose your cash

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Truck]

PPT = Parts Per Thousand. This is the natural measuring unit of a Refractometer, though most have SG marked on the other side of the scale

You can use Blue LED's instead of Actinics if you like 18K lamps will likely be fairly blue already though The Marine Snow I get from work, but that's a long way for you to travel and they don't yet have that product (or many other fish tank products for that matter) on their website. Ebay would be a good place to try, followed by a Google product search. Avoid any of the sites that BigC posts in his link below though first... If they are in the list, don't buy from them as you may loose your cash

All the best
Rabbut

okay thanks for that, im going for some arcadia white T5 tubes. and then 24 1 watt LEDs in blue

just bought some MS of ebay

 

[SkiFletch]

All the best
Rabbut

Dude, that is so deliciously ghetto/bodged/etc I LOVE it!

 

[Trod]

Sorry to do this to you truck as I know your not ready for fish yet but rare ocean have a Blue assessor in stock, but at least you know they can get them http/www.rareocean.co.uk/rareocean/index...;products_id=79

 

[Truck]

Sorry to do this to you truck as I know your not ready for fish yet but rare ocean have a Blue assessor in stock, but at least you know they can get them [URL="http/www.rareocean.co.uk/rareocean/index...;products_id=79"]http/www.rareocean.co.uk/rareocean/index...;products_id=79[/URL]

i asked maidenhead yesterday if they could get one in and they said

"we will be able to get one in but it may take time for us to source one"

so i should be okay but £50! for the assessor!

 

[Truck]

dies any body know how much coral sand i should buy? will 20lb be enough for 81*36cm or for you imperial people 32*14 inches

 

[TigerIssey]

I just used a 20lb bag in a 30 x 12 got about an inch of substrate, you will probably just get away with that

 

[Truck]

I just used a 20lb bag in a 30 x 12 got about an inch of substrate, you will probably just get away with that

ah i was only thinking 3/4 of an inch so 20lb should be sufficient, YAY just shaved another £20 off the set up costs, thank you

 

[Truck]

ive just ordered:

8 kg of coral sand
hikari marine S pellets
king british flake food
deltec refractometer
thermometer (glass)
and the book: an essential guide on marine fish.

i will buy THE BOOK at a later date


im now planning costs for CUC, does anyone know how much CUC should cost per snail or crab and what quantities and species should i use?

and another few Q's

how much should i pay for a tank bred pair of juvinile occelarris clowns?

and would this be okay adding every things in this order?

cycle complete of course
week 1, 3 turbo snails 3 cerith snails 3 nassurias snails (would add more in the future
week 2, 4 scarlet red crabs
week 4, 2 clowns
week 5, skunk shrimp
week 6, 2 peppermint shrimps

if i add them with bigger intervals in between will it affect my cycle? or wouldnt it matter? as i would be strapped for cash so would have to do things slowly.

how good are the dwarf blue hermits at cleaning? and are they aggressive?

and if i were to buy my CUC off ebay what are the survival chances? has anybody else done this?

 

[rabbut]

For CUC, I ordered mine from Ultimate Aquatics, and it all arrived in very good condition first thing on the day I asked for it to be delivered

Blue Legged hermits are well know for hunting down and hyjacking the shells of snails and other hermits. While this behavior can be reduced by providing other "dez rez's" it is not guarenteed to cut the behavior out completely

With adding stuff after the cycle, ideally you want either the whole CUC or your first fish in to minimise die-off and the chance of a mini-cycle on later additions If you are strapped for cash and don't mind doing the cleaning manually, look at getting the clowns first and the rest later I would be looking to pay upto £16 each for TB clowns round my way, regardless of species, if the are juviniles. Most TB clowns that are available for sale are juvis though, and haven't paired up. Pairs will be upto £120 if nice and a proven pair...

I think that's all your questions answered thus far, let me know if I missed any

HTH
Rabbut

 

[Truck]

cheers rabbut, i will take ultimate aquatics a look, so if i wack all my CUC in at once, will i be able to add fish two weeks later? or i can just wait that bit longer to ensure ill have enough, do you know of any other places?