The Virgin Salty Set Up

[phishyphil]

So finally, after months of deliberation and should I, shouldn't I moments, I have finally taken the plunge into the saltier side of fish keeping, and needles to say, I am Bricking it in terms of something going disastrously wrong!
 
BACKGROUND
 
Having been around the forum for a couple of years now in the tropical side at least, I have gained valuable knowledge here, and i'd like to think, I have given other's a little bit of help along the way. 
     Like I said, I have been keeping planted tropical fish for the past 3 years and experimented with planted, pressurized CO2, DIY Co2, ferts, Low Tech, High tech tanks and what not, so thought why not try my hand at Marine fish keeping, so here I am!
 
 
THE TANK & SET UP
 
TANK :
The tank is a 25 US Gallon, 36" x 12" x 14" Rimless Rectangle tank which I had laying around from a previous Planted set up. It will be a FOWLR set up to start with. I will not be skimming, sumping, or refuging for the next couple of months, although this is likely to change.
 
FILTRATION :
Filtration will be predominantly from the Live rock in the tank, with additional filtration and support from an External TetraTec EX600 Canister Filter.
 
FLOW :
Flow rate is going to be around the 3000 lph mark (Tank volume is 100 litres) so 30x Turnover, This will be achieved via 1 2500 lph power head and the filter 
 
SAND BED & SAND USED : 
I have gone for ordinary Crushed Coral sand, around 1-2mm in diameter as opposed to the live sand being sold for extortionate amounts in the LFS. Due to size I will not be attempting a DSB and gone for a bed of 1" depth.
 
LIVE ROCK :
Starting with 5 kg of Fiji Live rock, sourced locally from a well known auction site from a Tank downsize.
 
LIGHTING : 
Starting with just 1 x 18w T8 as this is all I had and was starting on a budget (Baby on the way), this is to be upgraded to 2x24w T5 these next coming weeks
 
WATER :
Running with a salinity of 1.023 at a temperature of 25 degrees C with a movement of 30x Turnover
 
INTENDED LIVE STOCK :
2 x ocellaris clownfish
2 x Kauderns Cardinal
2 x Skunk Shrimp
2 x Peppermint Shrimp
8 x Scarlet Hermit Crabs
 
 

COST OF SET UP​

 
So here's the inital cost of the set up :
 
Live Rock : £4 p/kg  (Managed to get this at a bargain price of 5 kg for £20, was originally on for £6 / kg but seller wanted rid of the last of the 30 kg he was selling so said if Id take it all, he would give it me for £20 

 
Sand : £28 for 25 kg from LFS
 
Tank : Free (already owned)
 
Powerhead : Free (Already owned)
 
Salt : £25 Red Sea - Red Sea Max Salt
 
Hydrometer : £8 LFS
 
Lighting : Free 1 x 18w T8 Fluorescent Bulb 
 
 
THE START OF THE PROJECT. . . .
 
Okay so first things first the tank, I needed to scrape off the old black background paint I had used, and remove the glass rims of the tank which proved to be rather tedious. From here, the leftover silicone was removed and water marks scraped off. All this was done by snapping a new stanley blade in half and griping it with Vice Grips (Make shift window scraper) 

 
After all this was done, the tank was washed down with a Vinegar, Lemon and hot water solution, and dried to a shiny sheen. The tank was then placed onto its intended stand and sand added, 1" depth,
 
Saltwater was mixed in a 200 liter storage box and left to stir for 24 hours via the aid of the power head.
The next day the water was added to the tank with the relevant equipment and fittings. Then off I went to pick up my bargain LR. With this, there was a bristleworm in the Live Rock too 

Im assuming this is good?
 
I have also added a couple of defrosted Frozen Sea Prawns to help kick start the Ammonia Spike and get this tank cycled.
 
Tank Shot with Half of the RO Salt water added
 

 
Tank Fully Filled
 

 
Live Rock Close Up
 

 

 
Start of the DIY Canopy Build (Frame)
 

 

 
 
Whats Next....
I have started to create a DIY Aquarium Hood which will have 2 x 24w T5 Fluorescent Lighting. This is in progress and photos will be uploaded on progress.
 
Cycle Tank
 
Add Live stock
 
Look at corals
 
any comments, please comment, If you have seen something that needs to change, please mention it. Thanks for viewing

 

[Donya]

Start of a journal? If so, then I or another mod can move it over to marine journals.
 

2 x Kauderns Cardinal

 
Not sure whether I've already commented about this in any of your other threads; if I did, sorry for being redundant! Watch the fish as they mature unless you know you're getting a mated pair. If you end up with two males they may have a go at each other after a while. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. 

 

[phishyphil]

Start of a journal? If so, then I or another mod can move it over to marine journals.
 
 
 

2 x Kauderns Cardinal

 
Not sure whether I've already commented about this in any of your other threads; if I did, sorry for being redundant! Watch the fish as they mature unless you know you're getting a mated pair. If you end up with two males they may have a go at each other after a while. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. 

 
Hi Donya, Please could you move the thread then

 
 
Wasn't too sure on the Kaudern's. but after what you have said this I will only look at buying a mating pair or a M + F with the hope they become one.
 
Can you see any other problems with this set up? really want to be getting it right,
 
Would 2 x 24w T5 Be enough?
 
I was thinking of the following set up :
 
1 x 14000k White Bulb
1 x Blue actinic
1 x Moonlight LED Strip
 
OR
 
1 x T5 Special Aqua Bue 50:50
1 x Marine14000k
1 x Moonlight LED Strip
 
OR
 
1 x T5 Special Aqua Blue 50:50
1 x Blue Actinic
1 x Moonlight LED Strip
 
Which would be the best set up?
Could I eventually upgrade to easy corals with any of these set ups or would I need more?

 

[Donya]

The rest looks ok to me. You'll want more live rock of course, but you did say it was just a starting amount. 
 
 
 

With this, there was a bristleworm in the Live Rock too 

 Im assuming this is good?

 
Missed this before, sorry. Bristleworms are in general good (although not to touch obviously! Use gloves with the rock) but not universally good. Large individuals have a bit more chewing potential just from the size of things they can fit in their mouths and even the smaller ones can sometimes reach pest proportions in some tanks when the ecosystem has gotten unbalanced for a long time. In most tanks they are beneficial scavengers and also stay fairly small. Just to be on the safe side though, many hobbyists (myself included) will manually remove large individuals if they become more active and start roaming where they can be snatched easily.  
 
 

Would 2 x 24w T5 Be enough?

That's pretty standard for softie tanks. Many soft corals will do fine under that and some LPS will as well. As for the exact spectrum, all of the various things you've proposed would probably work for hardy corals, although in general there is preference with only two bulbs for one white and one blue. Experimenting beyond that you might run into a coral or two that gets fussy; it's hard to predict since we don't know in many cases exactly what range of lighting conditions a given coral will thrive in.
 
 

1 x 14000k White Bulb
1 x Blue actinic
1 x Moonlight LED Strip

That's pretty much the default in marine.
 
 
 

1 x T5 Special Aqua Bue 50:50
1 x Marine14000k
1 x Moonlight LED Strip

 
 
This might look a bit washed out if 50:50 means half white half blue. Actinic bulbs also usually claim to hit an important spectrum band for photosynthesis, so it would be decreasing the amount there. However, I'm dubious about how important that band actually is for many of the easier corals since I've seen a number of them respond just fine to freshwater fixtures for which the spectrum coverage is supposedly rather different. Someone else might be able to clarify that issue more.
 
 
 

1 x T5 Special Aqua Blue 50:50
1 x Blue Actinic
1 x Moonlight LED Strip

 
This will sort of be flipped the other way appearance-wise if I understood the 50:50 right before. Tanks that look very blue will have a deep water look. Usually this kind of extra blue look is done with 4-bulb setups to have at least one full white bulb and then 3 blues or 2 blues and a purple or something. Some of that is out of paranoia for providing enough light in all areas of the spectrum but a lot of it is probably appearance-based. Having set up an accidental very blue 2-bulb fixture once on a similar size tank, I can tell you it looked very dim compared to 50/50 white/blue and had me wondering at first whether both bulbs were on properly. 
 
 
 

Could I eventually upgrade to easy corals with any of these set ups or would I need more?

 
Easy corals, yes. If you want to go for more demanding things, then I would recommend looking at marine LED fixtures rather than upping the bulb count for T5s because of the heat output (an issue because of the small water volume). 

 

[phishyphil]

Wow thanks so much. Really helpfully this Levels are dropping well. Rock was fully cured so already hit high and low ammonia and nitrite, now nitrate hitting .20 do once that hits 0 consistently for week I'll look at adding my stocking. What should I add first?