benM

right, sounds like I'd best go and but some actual live rock once I've put the water in then, doh! Would just a kg be enough to start things going with other cured rock or do I need to be buying a lot of the stuff? Good advice on the CUC, I was planning on adding them after the first fish so that they have something to clean up after, but then I guess that all the other live stuff is going to be producing waste as well. I'm thinking I'd like to get some crabs in there as well as snails and then some cleaner shrimp later on but I think that's all going to depend on where I can get hold of things.

yeah, I read up about the ATO units and I've decided that it's something I can make myself for a fraction of the cost of a new one. They're so simple that I could set one up with 2 float switches, a relay and a pump and it shouldn't take more than an hour to do. It's definitely on this list of things to add but I'm figuring on getting everything up and running first and then seeing where I can slot it in without it looking too ugly. For the live rock, currently I'm not keeping it alive, it was delivered dry in a box but had been 'cured'. Apparently that means leaving it in a running aquarium with no light for a few weeks and that it should be rejuvenated when put into water. I'm expecting that to take a while though and thinking that I may even be starting everything from the beginning. As for the patience, I think that must be the one piece of advice that really is #1 entry in every "marine tanks for dummies." I'm currently planning to put one Ocellaris Clown in there in mid Feb. So long as everything has been stable for at least 2 weeks, maybe a little earlier though, and after that the recommendation that sounded most reasonable was one fish a month or one coral a week from then on until the tank was full (with breaks if a mini cycle kicks in to let that work it's way through). I'm figuring on ~4 Ocellaris clowns, a blue tang, 1 royal gamma, 1 lawnmower blenny and some shrimp/snails, with coral going in from ~August (if everything is staying alive well enough by that point). I know 6 months is on the early side for coral but I figure that it'll probably be looking a bit dead in there with only fish and rocks and August will be around the end of my patience Am hoping to put in some anemones after 12 months as I've heard they really need a mature tank, I might look at getting some less hardy corals around that point as well, depending on what the tank is doing. That's all assuming I don't cock it up too much and have to start from scratch at some point, fingers crossed!

With the tank I got: Tank Sump Lights (T5) Skimmer Return Pump Heaters Live Rock And then I've bought the RO/DI filter last night and have this lot being delivered later in the week: Blue Planet LED Track Lighting 60cm Blue Planet LED POD Colour Enhancing Blue Planet LED POD Lunar Blue Blue Planet LED POD Cool White Fluval Sea CP3 Circulation Pump x2 Blue Planet U View Purifier - 24 Watt Seachem Ammonia Alert Seachem Multitest - Ammonia Seachem Multitest - Nitrite and Nitrate Seachem Multitest - Phosphate Seachem Multitest Marine - pH/Alkalinity Hydrometer/Thermometer Aqua One 4 in 1 Scraper 24 Inch Aqua One Easy Reach Tongs Extra Large Aqua One Gravel Cleaner 24 Inch Digital Stick On Thermometer Fish Net 5 Inch/12.5cm Long Handle Hailea Magnet Cleaner Large Coral Sand 20kg TLC Saltwater StartSmart 125ml Red Sea Coral Pro Salt 22KG 660L I'm pretty sure that I've got all the essentials in there but I'm sure that I'll need additional stuff down the track as well. If you spot anything that I'm missing or should be thinking about then please let me know!

Sorry, was clearly using the wrong terminology there. I know to top up with fresh water, I meant my weekly changes there. Not anywhere near to knowing enough yet! I've just had a look at the costs around getting natural sea water (buying water containers is expensive!) and buying Pure Dew and for a 275 litre tank it's about the same price as an RO/DI unit for the first fill, with no view on future fills. So, ordered myself a RO/DI unit, am hoping that's the last bit of kit that I have to buy up front!! Thanks for the feedback guys, appreciated as always

I'm just thinking about fgilling my tank for thefirst time and I'm tossing up between buying a shed load of Pure Dew and buying a load of containers to collect sea water with. Are there any other options in the Wellington area? I'm guessing that there may be people with large amounts of surplus RO/DI that they might sell for a more reasonable price than Pure Dew or an alternative resource available for the initial tank fill. Hoping to use NSW for the top up's going forwarfd but that's a lot of trips to the beach as well!

So, after all the faffing around I got myseld a second hand tank, it's an Aquareef 275, the cube looking thing. It's in a bit of a filthy condition but came with a load of live rock as well, more than enough to do the whole tank and have a load in the sump for biological filtering. So far I'm well chuffed and have spent the afternoon rinsing off the kit and trying my hand at aquascaping on the kitchen side, fun fun fun I've also ordered a load of other stuff, sand, poweheards, water test kits, lights etc etc. which has made my credit card look rather sad but I'm looking forward to the delivery When that lot gets here I'm thinking I should start to fill the tank as everything will be ready. Now I've got the problem of getting water form somewhere. I'm thinking that NSW might be the best bet as it would le a lot less expensive and hasselous than getting a RO/DI unit but I'm wondering if there are any other options? Or, does Wellington happen to be the only city on the planet to have water that's ok for the tank coming out of the taps? Or is there some strange underground water trading scheme?

I'm not specifically looking for new, but the options around Wellington are very limited as we seem to have 0 shops around here and trademe is the only place I can look for setups. There are a few on there but they're either the wrong size or out of my price range. The plan for now is to get a new setup and consider it to be a starting point. I'll definitely hook up some LED's in the end as I do a bit of electronics tinkering anyway and can wire those all up through a phone app to be controlled remotely, will probably set up a web cam as well but that's a different story I'll also be upgrading just about everything in the sump, and possibly the sump itself over time, hopefully with a lot of DIY stuff rather than store bought for the electronics but store bought for the rest. I'm also thinking that I should get a couple of cheap powerheads to start myself out but I was planning on getting those at the same time as the fisah rather than during the cycle. Going on your comments about dead spots I guess I should get them earlier rather than later so that I don't have so much filth to content with down the line. Just wondering, are there any places that stock marine equipment in Wellington? the closest places I can find that actually hold stock are in Auckland and I can't get the places down here to do price matching with them so I'm a bit stuck in the middle at the moment ...

Thanks for the feedback guys I've decided to go for an aquareef setup instead as they come with the sump and all the other kit you need to get started, I don't see the point in starting out with something that's not going to do the job properly re. sand, it seems your saying that any kind of sand will need to be kept clean somehow or it'll start throwing nasties into the water. Is there a good method for that? I'm presuming that the gravel siphon idea for freshwater won't be that effective, and I'd rather use something living to do it I guess, just not sure what the options are ...

I haven't kept fish in quite a few years but am starting to think that getting together a tropical marine tank would be a good fun project to get involved with. I've spent most of yesterday reading through lots of information about tank cycles and equipment etc. etc. I feel like there are a few holes between what I'm seeing in the beginner guides and what I'm actually planning, so I'm hoping to find a bit of help. My intention is to get an AR980 that I've spotted for cheap at pet centre (down to $550) which states that the filter in the lid is sufficient for maqrine, but I really doubt that's true having read up a bit and I'm expecting to add a skimmer onto the side of the tank as well (sump planned for much later on, when funds allow) Would the hood filter, a skimmer (specifically the "Aqua One Proskim G220") and 2 or 3 powerheads be enough for this tank? Sand is crazy expensive and for a 99x47cm tank it's going to cost a lot to cover the bottom properly. Is there any reason that I can't use sand from a beach? Seems crazy to pay for solmething that I can pick up for free just about anywhere so I'm assuming that there's a reason to pay, it's just not that obvious to me The main part of kicking off the tank cycle seems to be the addition of live rock or sand, but it also seems that NZ import laws don't allow that to happen making it quite difficult to come by. Is there seomthing I'm missing here or do I need to try and befirend someone with some spare rock/sand as the only way yo start the cycle? I'm intending to leave the tank to cycle for about 2 months before putting any livestock in there and to then start out with a pair of clowns, followed by a blue tang a month or so after and then a few anemones and some additional clown in another month or so. At that point I'll decide what other livestock I'm interested in keeping as I'll have made sure the missus has the nemo setup she's after :-p