first marine idea

[aer0]

Hi all,

Im new to FNZAS and also to marine, ive been keeping freshwater for some time now but am looking to "jump ship" after becoming near obsessed with looking at reef pic's online and visiting my LFS'

Ive done loads of reading online including the marine tutorial that is a sticky in this forum...

So, as im a married man with a mortgage and two children money isnt exactly free flowing for me but I have managed to free up some funds to put towards a marine/reef setup.

As said earlier I also keep FW, as part of this I have developed MTS (Multiple Tank Syndrome) thus meaning ive got 3 tanks at home and two tanks at work running currently, along with 2-3 smaller ones stashed away in the garage, its these smaller ones im thinking of pulling out and turning into my first little marine nano setup.

In my stash ive got one thats around 40l and another around 30l thats a total volume of around 70l, lets say 60l of usable volume... I know this isnt much but i'd like to keep it lightly stocked and more of a coral reef tank than a fish tank

My thoughts are to have the 40l as display and the 30l as a sump of sorts concealed in the stand ill build.

The 40l has no drain hole so ill either have one drilled (is this possible) or have to use an overflow weir type setup to take the water out and down to the sump.

The 30 is a plastic tank, that doesn't really matter as it will be out of sight and will just be the sump.

IDEA:

The display tank will be rock and probably a small bed of sand for aesthetics after it all settles down, the rock providing a home to coral and inverts to keep the place clean as well as all those good little processing powerplants that come with nice live rock to keep that cycle running...

Lighting will either need to be bought or one of my spares put into use... ive got a "masterpet" light that has two tubes, they both need replacing so maybe I could replace them with something suitable for marine keeping? the current tubes are T8 YZ10RR25 10W 220VAC/50Hz Ø25x331mm not sure if I can find something suitable or not

The sump will be below the display concealed in the stand ill build to fit it all nicely.

Being that the sump is small ill need to plan it quite carefully, its going to contain the return pump (flow rate of 10x tank vol per hr), heater and skimmer as well as the live rock... as much as I can fit as I understand the more the better as far as the sump goes?

Water will likely either be fresh/rain water dosed with red sea coral salt (LFS guy tells me its the bizzo) and/or water taken from the sea at high tide.

Ill also pickup the required test kits and a refractomiter

I have a few brief questions I hope can be answered

1, is using a plastic tank as a sump a bad idea?

2, suggestions on sump configuration?

3, any suggestions regarding using sea water (other than adding fresh to bring the salinity down slightly)

4, is my idea around lighting ok? replace my bung tubes with what to suit?

5, what test's will I need before starting out and can I use some of my current FW ones i.e. "API freshwater master test kit"

6, is a 300w heater overkill for 70l?

7, do i bother lighting the sump?

How does that sound to you all much more knowledgeable people than myself? have I overlooked something or forgotten something?

Many thanks

aer0 (sam)

[reptilez]

I have a few brief questions I hope can be answered

1, is using a plastic tank as a sump a bad idea?I did it with my freshwater tank and it worked well

2, suggestions on sump configuration? skimmer, live rock,heater,return pump

3, any suggestions regarding using sea water (other than adding fresh to bring the salinity down slightly)

4, is my idea around lighting ok? replace my bung tubes with what to suit?Use T5's or Halides, T8's aren't that good

5, what test's will I need before starting out and can I use some of my current FW ones i.e. "API freshwater master test kit"the card for the readings are different then the API Saltwater test kit

6, is a 300w heater overkill for 70l? heats are not that much to buy new, a 100w would be perfect.

7, do i bother lighting the sump?do you want to grow macro algae in the sump?

[reptilez]

Also use RODI Water not rainwater or just standard freshwater, they usually have a high TDS reading so it will not be beneficial to you in any way and can cause algae, and problems down the track, Pure Dew water from the supermarkets is good or you can invest in an RODI Unit. With a tank that small you can get away without a skimmer as long as you do enough water changes.

[reuben.a]

heaters are only designed to heat up to their set temperature, so any heater 100w and above will be right. and a 300w should actually end up being more energy efficient as it wont be on as much because it takes less time to heat the water. :thup: it makes no sense buying a brand new one when you already have one haha :slfg:

[reptilez]

heaters are only designed to heat up to their set temperature, so any heater 100w and above will be right. and a 300w should actually end up being more energy efficient as it wont be on as much because it takes less time to heat the water. :thup: it makes no sense buying a brand new one when you already have one haha :slfg:

The size of the heater though may end up being a problem

[aer0]

Awesome thanks for the feedback so far

One thing i forgot to mention was water movement via a power-head of some sort, from what I understand the requirement here is an item with watermovement of approx 20x the tank volume per hour i.e. 40l tank, required power-head throughput of 800l/h is that correct?

You are right on all counts regarding heater, its way overkill and it probably wont fit in my sump, ill make use of some of my smaller (~100w) spares.

After much looking today i cant seem to find suitable replacement tubes for my lights that will suit marine, i may have to purchase some new t5's or LED's

Is there any problem with collected seawater and TDS or does that not apply in this case, i would then use Pure Due for freshwater topups to ensure salinity is constant.

Im going to get in contact with Port Nicholson Glass regarding getting my tank drilled for the sump piping and after talking to Craig at LFS ill be building a small overflow box out of acrylic and having this in the corner of the tank for surface skimming down to the sump.

I think I will go the route of the skimmer, better to be safe than sorry just relying on water changes, LFS has a Fluval suited to upto 170 litre for around $200 that should fit nicely into the sump.

Stand and sump designs will be measured up and drawn this weekend im feeling good about this

[reptilez]

Bubble Magnus make good skimmers, have a look on the deepblueaquarium website, they have cheap skimmers.

No need for a TDS Meter If you are using NSW, if you are going to buy an RODI Unit then it is a must.

800lph would be good :bggrn:

[blueether]

heaters are only designed to heat up to their set temperature, so any heater 100w and above will be right. and a 300w should actually end up being more energy efficient as it wont be on as much because it takes less time to heat the water. :thup: it makes no sense buying a brand new one when you already have one haha :slfg:

Thermal losses from the tank are going to be the same no matter what the heater size is so there is no real gain from a bigger heater other than it will heat faster

[reuben.a]

good point. but if you have a 300w heater lying around you might aswell use it

[reptilez]

good point. but if you have a 300w heater lying around you might aswell use it

He say she already has a 100w spare, which would fit nicely in the sump :fshi:

[aer0]

being that this will be my first tank with a sump, would insulating the sump with 30mm thick polystyrene or simialr to keep the heat in be a good idea?

I was planning on getting the tank drilled today but after putting more thought into it last night I think I need to plan its location a bit better, ill have to think about how/where the overflow box is going to be.

Stand building will commence this weekend, ill post photos to keep you all happy

[reuben.a]

sorry i didnt see that haha :ton:

[spoon]

May find it easier to make overflowbox from glass depending on what sort you need. Acrylic doesn't stick to glass very well. Given its a small tank I wouldn't bother with insulating it , will likely detract from the over all aesthetics of the tank.

[aer0]

thanks spoon, im only thinking on insulating the sump tank, this is going to be hidden inside the stand anway

[aer0]

So it would appear this tank might go on hold for a bit... or atleast take a bit longer and more thought before i jump in... ive got my eyes set on slightly larger tanks

I have started buying bits for a larger tank setup, scored some t5 light fittings and a RedSea test kit on trademe

In the mean time, to get me started on that salty bug, I bought a fluval edge 23l, ive seen them used as nano marine tanks before so im thinking this will be me to start with!

So ill be upgrading the stock halogen's to LED's, i think i can buy replacement 'bulbs" as they are MR11 fitting... any suggestions on a direct replacement for marine?

Will i also need few blue LED's for coral colour?

As i wont be able to fit a skimmer ill be doing weekly water changes.

Should be picking up the tank this week some time and am super keen to get it started on cycle using LR

in the meantime, here is a video with the same tank

[Phantom]

So it would appear this tank might go on hold for a bit... or atleast take a bit longer and more thought before i jump in... ive got my eyes set on slightly larger tanks

I have started buying bits for a larger tank setup, scored some t5 light fittings and a RedSea test kit on trademe

In the mean time, to get me started on that salty bug, I bought a fluval edge 23l, ive seen them used as nano marine tanks before so im thinking this will be me to start with!

So ill be upgrading the stock halogen's to LED's, i think i can buy replacement 'bulbs" as they are MR11 fitting... any suggestions on a direct replacement for marine?

Will i also need few blue LED's for coral colour?

As i wont be able to fit a skimmer ill be doing weekly water changes.

Should be picking up the tank this week some time and am super keen to get it started on cycle using LR

in the meantime, here is a video with the same tank

I did exactly that. Started off with a fluval edge. I got 2 x MR11 cool white LED lights for it, but also made my own LED lighting to complement them. I have a thread on here with a bit of info. viewtopic.php?f=5&t=53458

[livingart]

bigger is better

[Phantom]

bigger is better

Agreed. Didn't take me long to move onto a 450L marine and ditch the nano. I only did the fluval edge while I was waiting for my insurance payout.

[aer0]

Thanks for the link Phantom, ill have a look through, where did you locate your MR11 replacements from?

agreed bigger is better, it will happen just not as fast...

[Phantom]

Local company, I mention them in the thread. I also got some from the US, but they weren't nearly as bright.

[aer0]

flag that, i read your thread, found the site and ordered them already!

Guessing you are no longer running your Edge tank? did you ever upgrade the filter at all? did you strip out the content and add LR into the filter or anything like that?

Being the tank is so small i wont need much in the way of water movement, many of the powerheads I see for sale are pretty big, how do i get away with doing it on a smaller scale?

[Phantom]

I used the filter, it provided the air exchange. I put carbon, phosguard and purigen in it. I used a small aqua one pump in the tank. You can see it on my thread. Did a 10% water change weekly. Had it running with a couple of soft corals, shrimp and fish for about 3 months.

I did make a guard out of polycarbonate that prevented evaporation near the LEDs. Also served to prevent salt build up around them. Mounted my additional LEDs on small heatsinks, secured onto 2 metal strips that stretched between the sides of the raised section.