Setting up Tropical Marine

[slappers]

allot of breakage's

[PENEJANE]

hmmmmm not a good choice then if its just me ordering lol

Anyway as for the blue light. What would be the best one to get?As in what name, or is it just called a coral blue light? For now I am just going to set up the one light (dbl tube). As mentioned before they are T8 sized tubes. Can I get 10,000k white tubes and a suitable blue tube for these?

The company I am working with has been very helpfull but I can only go so far as I don't know all the information. Its for a 2ft light fitting.

Cheers

[PENEJANE]

ok I am at the point (after reading pages upon pages of lighting stuff) that I need someone to tell me the correct kelvin ratings that I am needing.

I am getting things from 6,700K - 10,000K for the white tube and 7,100 for the blue. What should the kelvins be?

I want 1 white and 1 blue. I have read that there are also tubes called 50/50 tubes. Would two of these do a better job than the two seperate ones? What would the kelvin ratings of the 50/50 be?

BTW once I have all parts sorted I am hoping to do a photo diary of my tank setup in hopes to help thoes that are looking at going marine with as much information about products as possible as I go along

Cheers

[wasp]

For marine, "white" is 10,000k, and "blue" is 14,000k, or more. Less than 10,000k is for fresh water.

[wasp]

I should have added, if you are getting floros, you don't really need to worry about what specific k it is, they are generally classed as "marine white", or "marine blue", the blue also being refered to as actinic.

Wether you get blue, white, or 50/50 is just personal choice. However remember that if you get either blue, or white, you can mix and match if the effect is not quite to your liking. Also, the white tubes put out a lot more light that is actually useful to the coral, the blue put out less but is pleasing to our eye. So predominantly white, with some blue, or not more than 1/2 blue, is the most common formula.

[PENEJANE]

The reason for why I ask about the kelvin rating is because I am getting the tubes from a wholesaler, not a petstore so going in there and asking for one marine white and a marine blue I could end up with some real funny looks lol :lol:

Cheers for that wasp

[rossco]

Get used to the funny looks if you want to be a real reefer!

[PENEJANE]

lol I am not setting up a large reef tank :lol: just something to house two clowns, a shrimp or two and a couple of corals to add colour to the back drop. Nothing on the levels of what you guys have as thats just beyond me at the moment lol.

:bounce:

[rossco]

Yup, EXACTLY what we told ourselves (and our spouses) when we first started!

[PENEJANE]

HAHAHAHA yeah I know. I done the same with our fresh water tanks. I just wanted one of thoes little 30 ltr Jebo tanks with the light, filter all in one unit. I am soooooo glad that hubby talked me into the bigger 2ft tank there and then or I am sure that wouldn't of lasted. But then again it didn't last long lol I am now up to 9 tanks! haha, 2 sitting empty and another 3 to go and pick up

But the cold water and tropical marine tanks are going to be our personal display tanks in the living room. The rest are going into the spare room/shop

cheers

:bounce:

[evilknieval69]

This has been a good thread for me reading through it aswell Pene as i am going to be setting up a Tropical Marine tank soon. I have just bought a 112L tank which i am hoping to use.

Could somebody please tell me what kind of skimmer i should get. Im wanting a HOB skimmer.

I dont have any clue about them but I want something that is cheap but does the job......

As Pene I only want 2 clowns, a shrimp and maybe another smaller fish like a damsel.... Also only a few hardy corals...

I will use a blue and a white light, possibly a third white....

Also i notice Wasp said to PM jetskisteve or Reef... Will one of them sell me a suitable skimmer etc...???

Thanks

Rogan

P.S. Sorry for hijacking your thread pene...will start my own once i start buying things

[rossco]

One thing I have learnt in this SW thing - "one that is cheap" isn't usually found in the same sentence as "one that will do the job". :lol:

We call Jetski and Reef our saltwater genie's cause if you rub them the right way they can make anything you want appear!

[evilknieval69]

lol...well then....

i will PM both of them and ask what they can do for me.....

[PENEJANE]

HAHAHAH Evil all is good. As long as others are finding this useful then its a bonus.

Cheers Maybe we can do a diary together of how each others tanks have turned out later down the track.

[jetskisteve]

so true Rossco although now & then a second hand item pops up

[slappers]

[Feelers]

On the skimmer front most ppl here have good skimmers - mostly deltecs. Reef and jetski both import them, and they are quite pricey (they are really good though)

I believe some people have tried the queen turbo skimmers - and I think thats a no go(modifications needed to make it even skim).

You have a few options, the weirpro 2014, the weirpro 2011.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pe ... 310807.htm

Notice the person above paid $300 for the 2011 two months ago, its the model down the 2014 - and I bought my 2014 online new for $140.

Moral of the story dont buy them from shops.

Dont buy a queen turbo skimmer. Other options are the jebo hang on back skimmer (I havent heard much of a review but it would probably be ~ok but worse the the weipro). That red sea prism thing which I geuss is around $300 (not worth it at that price).

There are the needle wheels on www.deepblueaquarium.co.nz , they are the next step up, and I dont think anyone has tried one yet?

Do you guys have a price your're looking to pay? If you can go second hand, do.

[suphew]

Think you should check out the light again, if you are sure you want to go T8's try and use the the arcadia water proof one, salt water kills most office type batton fittings. (as I have found out). remember to that the wattage (which is what your interested in to see how bright the light is) changes alot bewteen T8 (lowest) T5, and then MHeg a 3 foot T5 is 39watt, a 3 foot T8 is about 20w(?), so to get the same brightness as a 150Wmh you will need 4 x 3 foot T5.

Its possible to get the kevin or colour bulbs in any of the 3 type of lights. Power compact are differnet again, seem to be very difficult to get bulbs for.

Also as the kevin ratiing goes up the brightness of the bulb is less for a given wattage (just to confuse you more). I would suggest you start with a 10,000K (In any of the light fittings) and if you use multiple fluros then add 1 actinic. FYI most of end up with a mix of MH and T5 in the long run.

[speed]

If you are really on a TIGHT budget! I don't think starting up a marine tank will help. I have a 2.5 foot tank and my budget was $1000 and OH BOY.... was i wrong! So be prepared to spend more $$$ and here's a pic of how my tank looked like 1 - 2 months ago.

I initially had 2 NEMOS. One got sucked in by my EHEIM compact powerhead!! stupid thing $#@%$@ and the other jumped out of my tank while i was away from home back in my country!!

Good luck with your new tank! And for those who've seen my thread. I am going to get a new lens soon and i'll take better photos for you guys to enjoy.

[PENEJANE]

Well as perdicted at the very beginning my husband and I got into a full argument over bloody fish and ended with me sleeping on the couch. Thank you very much for all the interesting support and for awesome information but unfortunatly (since he is the one that works and I don't) I am not allowed to do a tropical marine now :evil:

So I will just stick to my fresh water fish and maybe in a year or two I could give it another shot that is if I manage to make enough money from my bettas to get my camera (first goal) and how well they sell I might be able to do it again to fund a bigger marine.

Cheers once again guys

Evil you may now fully hijack this thread! hahahahahahaha

[cookie extreme]

Tank is looking good speed, i see all the corals are doing well.

[chimera]

Well as perdicted at the very beginning my husband and I got into a full argument over bloody fish and ended with me sleeping on the couch

:lol: you wouldnt be the only one!!!

[ghostface]

insert "sleeps with the fishes" joke here

[Bubbles]

Ah yes, this phenomena is ofter referred to as the warm tank, frosty partner syndrome

We've all been there!

[wasp]

Actually Penejane I can see where your partner is coming from. Anybody will of course be happy to see their partner start a hobby that they enjoy, but it is natural that a spouse is going to get concerned if they see the hobby is going to cost many thousands of dollars.

When I started I told my wife the tank was going to cost $300.00. I wasn't lying, in my ignorance that's what I believed at the time. ( Funny now huh! )

I now believe a reasonable quality 4 foot tank can be set up for a bit over $2,000.00, ready to go, but without the livestock. That is based on what my current 4 footer actually cost. That is with a quality skimmer, but some shopping around and a few wholesale purchases are need to achieve that. Also, it has actually cost me a lot more than that due to trying to go cheap & buying a lot of equipment that is now in the back of a cupboard. Hence the importance of good advice and I commend you for making thorough enquiries before starting.

So back to the relationship front, The best way to handle it is to have a budget plan so it is not all an unknown to the partner, all of us are uneasy with the unknown. The way I handle this issue is my wife is not happy with what I have spent on the tank. However, every now and then she wants to spend a large sum of money on something. I usually let her, but use these opportunities to point out that it has to cut both ways & I am allowed some things I want also. That way both partners can see it as working together so both can have the things they want.