Newbie Advice!

[lucasfoster]

Hi everyone,

I am looking to set up a reef tank and Im looking to buy a interpet river reef 94litre tank.
I have no previouse experience of keeping fish what so ever but going scuba diving and fishing has inspired me to go ahead and start a new hobby!

Can any one give me advice on this tank for a complete newbey!

Ive read lots of forums and websites on what to do and have a genral idea of what needs to be done.

My thoughts so far for wen the tank is established is to have some shrimp, crab, snail and maybe one or two other cleaners, one or two clown fish and look into another fish or two (any advice on what to put in?) and then maybe to add some soft coral.

What is the best plan of action for when I get the tank? what other equipment will i need?

Thanks, Luke

 

[seffieuk]

Luke to the salty side - jump on in, it's great here

Ok my first question to you, why the river reef? Have you already bought it?

I think we all start with the dream of having our own Clowns and it is a good place to start. The river reef is just about the smallest size I would put clowns in though, if you havent bought the tank consider the juwel rio 125 litres, the orca 550 126 litres and the D & D which is around the same mark.

Simonas has the river reef, have a read of his journel and take some notes and then ask loads of questions and of course, dont forget to start a journel of your journey to the salty side

Seffie x

 

[lucasfoster]

Hi Seffie
Not bought it yet but it was reccomended by a guy that works at a local waterlife store. Plus its within my price range.
I fist looket at Orcas but he told me he had a lot of people who had problems with them!
My budget is around £100 - £200 for the tank as im aware that it will cost extra for the live rock, salts etc before the actual critters are even introduced however im very prepared to wait a while for them to be introduced!
I shall check out Simonas journal and have a look at the other tanks you mentioned!

Thank you for the quick reply

Luke

 

[seffieuk]

Thank you for the quick reply

Luke

No problem at all - there are many people on here who started their salty adventure with an orca 550, including myself and there are a couple doing it at the moment Its a great tank with certainly no more problems than any other. I suspect your lfs has a few river reefs to sell

I would also say take a look at second hand tanks as well, there are some good bargains out there

If I were starting out again, I think I would read as many different tank journels as possible, decide which I like the look of and then start asking my questions and putting together a list of things I need. I would then start to buy them, some second hand and slowly bring everything together - you need plenty of patience here on the salty side.

However remember that bigger is better, easier to keep water in good condition and you can keep more fish etc. Many of us upgrade within a year when we buy a small tank, so maybe think slightly bigger right from the start but buy things slower

Seffie x

 

[lucasfoster]

They do look pretty groovy aswell

Im goin to a couple of other shops tomro to see what stock they have so i will keep in mind the size!
My initial thoughts were to buy small to get to grips with what im doing first. But if they are harder to maintain then i may try and get a slightly larger one!

Is there any other equipment that I will require when I purchase a tank like the Orca or river reef? or can I begin adding the water and then live rock straight away?

Thanks

Luke

 

[seffieuk]

A basic starter kit will include:

An extra powerhead - many of us use the koralia - you should be looking for 20 x flow as a minimum
Refractometer, buy online, they are cheaper - dont let the lfs talk you into buying a hydrometer.
Test kits, many of us use salifert - ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph to start with (they are not cheap!) - again, probably cheaper to buy online

Live rock - most of us old salties buy rock from someone breaking down a tank - this costs approx £5 a kilo as compared to £10/12

You will need to decide how you are going to get your salty water, make your own or buy from lfs

Phospate remover, such as phosban or rowaphos - buy online
Aragonite sand
extra shells if you are planning on hermits
Temp gauge

Seffie x

 

[lucasfoster]

Fantastic!

Im going to continue searching on these forums, looking for possible tanks then will see how I get on tomoro!
Once I have sorted a tank I will look into sorting all that equipment out!

Probably purchase the water from the shop! I will be more confident putting animals into ready made water than mine
im sure i will have a hundred more questions after tomoro

Thanks

Luke

 

[seffieuk]

Cool, questions are good

Seffie x

 

[lucasfoster]

I visited the abyss aquatics warehouse today in manchester!

And in my excitement I ended up purchasing a 125 litre Juwel Rio tank
along with 4 bags of tropical marine gravel, a bottle of denitrol starter bacteria, five (rather large) bottles of salt water, a thermometer and a £300 deficit in my bank account

Just need to put in an extra bit of protection to where I am putting my tank to ensure it is fine to hold all the weight and i will be starting to set it all up

Ive been told by the person at the store to rinse out the gravel with tap water then add it to the tank trying to get as much of the water out of it! then add the salt water and go bak for some live rock!

Any advice on what else I may need to invest in when I go back?

Thanks

Luke

 

[seffieuk]

Whoa...............

What sort of sand is it?
You put the water in first, bring up to temp and then add the salt - leave for at least 24 hrs with the powerheads going, check SG and then add live rock.
Then comes the sand

In the 125, which by the way is a nice tank, you need two powerheads, one for either end. A refractometer to measure SG

Take the starter stuff back, you dont need it its a waste of money.

Seffie x

 

[nick87]

Great advice from seffie

Only other thing missing is a protein skimmer.

 

[seffieuk]

Only other thing missing is a protein skimmer.

Indeed, you have time to look around for a nice second hand deltec 300

Are you going to take out the black filter box?

Seffie x

 

[lucasfoster]

I was givin "Fine Tropical Marine Gravel"

I am purchasing a support braket tomro just ensure were im putting it will take the weight!
Tomoro night I will be putting the water in then i will have to sort out the Live rock!

"Take the starter stuff back, you dont need it its a waste of money."

By this do you mean the bottle of bacteria?

Is the protien skimmer neccessary while just live rock and then shrimp snails etc are in the tank? can i wait till i add fish before fitting the skimmer?

Well the person at the shop told me the filter included will be ok for upto 3-4 fish any more i will have to upgrade to an external one! I was planning on doing this a little later on! so i was going to keep the black box.

Also ive heard alot about RO water for rinsing the gravel as apose to tap water! any advice on this?

Thanks guys uve been a great help so far

Luke

 

[john.o]

Take the starter stuff back, you dont need it its a waste of money."

By this do you mean the bottle of bacteria?

Yes the die off on the live rock during transportation will start your tank cycling obviously the longer the rock is out of water the more die off there is going to be. Which in turn will affect the cycling time

Is the protien skimmer neccessary while just live rock and then shrimp snails etc are in the tank? can i wait till i add fish before fitting the skimmer?

yes but the sooner you can add one the better

Well the person at the shop told me the filter included will be ok for upto 3-4 fish any more i will have to upgrade to an external one! I was planning on doing this a little later on! so i was going to keep the black box.

I personally would remove the black box the media in there {sponge ect }will just become a nitrate trap, the live rock will be your main biological filter

Also ive heard alot about RO water for rinsing the gravel as apose to tap water! any advice on this?

Tap water or RO
Most water utility companies treat their water with chlorine and/or add chloramine to prevent potential bacteria outbreaks. The problem here is that a lot of dechlorinating products on the market will remove basic chlorine elements, but may not break the chloramine. Therefore you need to make sure you are using a dechlorinate that "specifically" states it will remove chloramines. Also it is not unusual for some tap water to contain high concentrations of Phosphates, nitrates and silicates, and If these are not removed from the water before using it, you are just adding unwanted elements that give rise to all types of algae blooms in saltwater systems, and it can also often contribute to persistent problems with higher than normal readings of these chemicals when testing the aquarium water.

At the end of the day it depends on what you’re keeping really Fish Only WLR treated tap water or RO or Fish & Corals WLR RO water ONLY!! IMO


Thanks guys uve been a great help so far

No problems keep the questions coming and we will all get you there in the end

Luke

 

[nick87]

I was givin "Fine Tropical Marine Gravel"

I am purchasing a support braket tomro just ensure were im putting it will take the weight!
Tomoro night I will be putting the water in then i will have to sort out the Live rock!

"Take the starter stuff back, you dont need it its a waste of money."

By this do you mean the bottle of bacteria?

Yes

Is the protien skimmer neccessary while just live rock and then shrimp snails etc are in the tank? can i wait till i add fish before fitting the skimmer?

Not neccesary but very beneficial.

Well the person at the shop told me the filter included will be ok for upto 3-4 fish any more i will have to upgrade to an external one! I was planning on doing this a little later on! so i was going to keep the black box.

The live rock is going to be your filter, no need for the black box or an external filter (Except maybe to hold phos remover and carbon)

Also ive heard alot about RO water for rinsing the gravel as apose to tap water! any advice on this?

RO water is probably better but i've always used tap water to rinse my sand

Thanks guys uve been a great help so far

Luke