Dixon1990 Posted December 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2007 i already have plans fo my spare 3'. But if i do decide to use my spare 3' for marine,what type of skimmer would i need? and what other equipment would i need? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilknieval69 Posted December 3, 2007 Report Share Posted December 3, 2007 Skimmer - get the best you can find, for whatever money you put aside for one. as i said, budget three to four hundred dollars for a decent skimmer. Reef octopus are alright, and are probably in your price range brand new, otherwise look around for a second hand deltec mce300 or 500, even 600, or find out how much they are new. Deltec is pure quality, and you get what you pay for. Other things you will need will be a heater (any heater will do but i'd buy a brand new one, of a good reliable brand, because you do not want a heater to fail in a marine tank and cost you hundreds if not thousands!) powerheads. For a start, aim at around 30 times flow for the volume of your tank. Any powerhead will do realy, but if you want quality, again go for a tunze nanostream or two. the smallest ones are down around $100 now so aren't too bad. Lighting is a major part. Metal halide or T5. in a 3ft tank you wouldn't realy want to much around with T8's as they just aren't powerful enough. i think you can buy a double T5 ballast and end caps on trademe these days for $100 or so, which is not bad. then you need rock, which as wilson mentioned earlier (i think) you should get first and get it cycling. Put it in a barrel/container of saltwater, in the dark, with a string powerhead to keep things moving, and change the water weekly. this will start your rock cycling and help prevent a cycle happening in the tank which will cause all sorts of weird algaes (which you will get anyway mbut no as bad) Sand is your choice. either do bare bottom or use sand just for aesthetics. BB is best easier to keep clean. Um, thats about it realy. theres all the other things, but those are the main things you need to start with Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted December 3, 2007 Report Share Posted December 3, 2007 Why don't you listen to the people who have been there, done that, and know that it is extremely hard to do, and extremely hard to make it look good? If you are going to do a marine tank, don't even try doing anything under a 3 foot tank, preferably over 200L's. Yes people will say 'but i have this size tank and its fine' but its not easy to look after, and requires a lot of effort. Trust me, i tried to do a 60L tank, an even after spending $600 + it failed on me because i still didn't have the correct stuff. Answer this question - Do you have $1500 to dedicate to a marine tank? If yes, then go for it, but get a bigger tank, if no, then don't even try. Yes I can remember that, we were all trying to talk Evil through setting up his tank, and, I've got to hand it to him for keenness and positive attitude! He did actually get it going and for a while things were OK, kinda. But in the end the lack of funds and ability to get the required equipment was the finalising factor. However, if you really want to do this Dixon, just set up your 20 litre tank with some seawater diluted with 10% fresh water, a heater, the little skimmer you are planning, and somehow incorporate some Seachem Phosguard to keep it clean. Put in some cured coral rock and for corals just grow mushrooms and zooanthids. Some of these are low light and can grow simply with light from a window. NO FISH. 2 or 3 small rockpool shrimps, not too many as they have to be fed. NO OTHER LIVESTOCK. If you can keep this running OK for several months, you may be able to try some other corals, but ask here first so we can tell you if it's suitable. Don't take what I say as an endorsement of this 20 litre plan, but at least you could get you feet wet in this marine hobby, and maybe move on to bigger things in the future. If you do set this tank up drop me a pm and I will send you a couple of suitable mushrooms for it in the post. But I'll only bother to send them if the tank has a functioning skimmer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilknieval69 Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 in the end the lack of funds and ability to get the required equipment was the finalising factor. And that is it. I thought 'yea i can do it cheaply' but in the end, found out the hard way that i couldn't do it cheaply, and that i messed up majorly. I had a small tank, skimmer, HOB filter with carbon, powerheads, did water changes etc, but in the end, it came down to me not being able to afford test kits, supplements, good equipment, good lighting and pretty much everything else you need, and it crashed. I even managed to kill 5 frags that Wasp very kindly gave to me ( :oops: ) I still want to do a marine tank, but i will not be doing another one until i buy my own home, and have a spare 4 grand (at least) to throw at a marine tank. Next time i do a marine tank it is going to have the best skimmer i can get, gunna be as big as i can make it, and im not gunna skimp on anything, simply because i know that trying to do it realy cheap, is destined for failure. Wasp has a good point, and if i were you id take him up on his offer for the mushys etc, but remember, even to get a 20L going and to keep it going, with just a few small mushrooms, you are still looking at probably around $400-$500. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
land_lubber Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 Sand is your choice. either do bare bottom or use sand just for aesthetics. BB is best easier to keep clean. Can you prove that sand has no other benefits other than aesthetics? :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilson Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 place for sutff to hide/live ive got lots of worm things in my sand thatturn over top layer and feed on leftovers that live in the sand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilknieval69 Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 Nope, not at all. infact i do know that sand does have other benefits, but in my opinion (and partially experience) it is much easier to keep the nutrients low in a BB system then it is a system with a SSB or a DSB. DSB's do work, but will crash unless looked after properly. BB is easy, and works. that is all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilson Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 i can look at the side of my tank and SEE worms and there holes i can also see amphipods digging into the sand you carnt tell me that a bit of sand is bad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tHEcONCH Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 Its about balance - critters are good, but detritus is bad - both live in the sand. Even with critters, I still syphon loads of muck out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilknieval69 Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 Has your sand got diatoms on it? Does it let out heaps of crap when you stir it? If the answer to either of those two questions is yes, then there you go. With a BB system the crap may settle on the bottom yea, but then what you do is have powerheads pointing everywhere which doesn't let it settle and it eventually gets pulled out by the skimmer. What good are worms in sand to a marine tank anyway? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon1990 Posted December 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 Would this one be alright for a 90-100L?http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pets-animals/Fish/Pumps-filters/auction-129950431.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilson Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 http://www.redseafish.com/Product.asp?d ... &proID=121 thats the one i have the air stones cost $6 and need to be replaced every 4 to 6 weeks you will need a good air pump on it i have 400L/h Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilson Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 dixon this could be a good idea for you. http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pe ... 081499.htm needs a skimmer tho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilknieval69 Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 An air driven skimmer would not really be good enough for a 100L tank no. That link that wilson gave looks alright, and would be a good starting point, but as wilson said, needs a skimmer (which as i've said) you will need to budget around $400 for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilson Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 http://www.deepblueaquarium.co.nz/skimmers.htm B100-F would be good for a tank that size Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilknieval69 Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 Yep that would be fine, and is only $250. reef octopus is an alright brand (this is speaking not from experience) but you do need to get one that is rated for a tank volume much over yours to get good results Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilson Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 ive been thinking about that skimmer for my tank ill need to see how much my lfs can get it for Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilknieval69 Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 It would be awesome for your tank, but i highly doubt that your lfs could beat Deepblue's price Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilson Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 they might even if its a bit more i try to support my lfs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
land_lubber Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 What good are worms in sand to a marine tank anyway? Apart from being live food, breaking down crap in your sandbed and turning the sand over.....Yeah they are pretty useless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilknieval69 Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 Apart from being live food, breaking down crap in your sandbed and turning the sand over.....Yeah they are pretty useless. So why not just have no sand, then you don't need the little worms that add bioload to your tank to turn it over for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markoshark Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 I'd personally think that having a ssb in a tank with manderins would be beneficial :? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilson Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 yup it is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasmine Posted December 5, 2007 Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 What about a 2 ft cube (60cm x 60cm x 60cm)? Would that do ok for a reef tank? Already got a skimmer, cannister, heater etc etc in it. Just need to buy a light. What sort of light would I need to buy? Something to fit under the hood. Sorry to hijack this thread! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted December 5, 2007 Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 Hi Jasmine, a 60 cm cube is small but OK, my first "reef" was 60 cm x 30 cm, less than ideal but had it for a couple of years and was able to keep a number of soft corals and small fish. For lighting, i would recommend either a 150 watt metal halide, preferably with a 14,000 k bulb, or some flourescent tubes. A new 150 watt MH is fairly expensive but they can often be purchased 2nd hand on trade me for perhaps 50 bucks or so, but you would have to replace the bulb with a marine suitable one. If you decide to go with flourescent lighting, a general rule of thumb, if the plan is to grow corals, that you need a minimum of one watt per litre. This will not be enough for all types of corals, but will be enough for quite a few. You need to use marine suitable tubes. The cannister is not a good idea for biological filtration if you want to grow corals. Instead, put cured coral rock in the tank, the bacteria in the rock do the filtration. The reason for this is that using a cannister for biological filtration allows nitrate to build up to levels that are harmful to the organisms we keep in a reef tank. BTW it is hard for people who have been fresh water tank keepers, to adjust to the idea of not using a cannister. But a marine tank will do better without one. And before getting all set up, it is a good idea if you can, to find some nearby reef keeper and see if you can look at their tank. You will learn heaps just by doing this and can help you get started on the right track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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