Setting up Tropical Marine

[JDM]

I am able to get a hold of a 200ltr plastic drum for about $20-30 but to full it and bring it home is the problem there lol.

hi penejane,

i use 10 x 20 ltr drums for collecting and storing my sea water, i got mine from pay less plastics and the were about $15 each. there great as you can easly fill them and carry them, can even get a tap for them!

i find it cheeper than mix (even with the 80kms round trip) and imo better for the same reasons you mentioned. :bounce:

cheers

james.

[wasp]

Reverse osmosis is a filtration system that you run the tap water through, it will cost $300.00 plus. Alternatively you can use a deionizing filter which would cost somewhere around $100.00 or so.

If you do not wish to set one of these up, it would be better to take JDM's advice & get a big bunch of seawater all at once, this would be better than using salt mix, but mixing it with tap water, because the tap water will likely contain more pollutants than the seawater. Only proviso is you collect the water when there is an offshore wind so there are no waves to stir up dirt, and the water is nice and clear. Also our seawater is more salty than on the coral reefs, you dilute it by 10% with fresh water. IE to 20 litres seawater, you add another 2 litres fresh water.

However you still have to consider what to do about your top up water, used to replace evaporation. If you keep adding unfiltered tap water, you will get a buildup of phosphate and others which will in a few months cause problems in the tank. BTW, normal household water purifiers do not remove phosphate, it has to be RO, or DI (deionised). It is this type of thing which is why setting up marine always costs more than we at first think.

Before getting too discouraged though there is no reason why you cannot get started, then buy a water purifier in a few months time. Sooner the better though.

[LYNDYLOO]

Hmmmmm PJ,

Sounds like you have got lots and lots of things to think about, setting up this new Marine Tank of yours.

Good Luck with it all Hun, and I do hope it all goes well.

Lynda

[misnoma]

Given the size of the tank, and the waterchanges you would do, at $5/10L bottled water could be an option - you're looking at 700 litres of water for the $350 a unit would cost... Especially if you're able to get NSW most of the time.

[PENEJANE]

Yeah I might look into the 10ltrs of bottled water. Even at $5 a month it still cost the same for salt for my other tanks per month lol.

When there is a will there is a way. Now I just got to change the will before hubby kills me! haha

:bounce:

[PENEJANE]

Ok old thread I know but still comming back to the thought of starting my own salt tank.

In regards to a pico tank what size (gallon wise) would be suitable for 13 watts (unfortunatly still only 6400K) of light. I have one of thoes Jebo clip on lights but it only has the daylight bulb. I was thinking of putting this on to my 27ltr (7.2gal) tank and turning that into a salt tank with a HOB filter big enough to provide suitable filtration/water movement as well as house some extra coral rock and a heater. Or would this size require two lights of this wattage?

Cheers

[wasp]

You need somewhere around a watt a litre, so for your 27 litre, 2 of those 13 watters would be sweet.

However, in a tank that size a watt a litre may actually be overkill as it will not be as deep as a typical marine tank, the light will be closer. Also 6,500 k puts out more useable light for the corals than the 10 or 14 k that's normally used.

Maybe you could just try the one 13 watter & have a few lower light mushrooms etc & see what happens.

Go ahead! Doit Doit

[PENEJANE]

ok the tank is 40cm long x 24.5cm deep x 28cm high. By the time I have about 1 inch of sand that will be 2.5cms off the height and not everyone fulls the tank right to the rim so it will be another 1-1.5inch from the top also. If I can get away with just the one then bonus

With using a HOB filter what filtration would be best? Like how many times do I need to turn the volume of the water over per hour.

When the time is suitable would I be able to have any shrimps in there and maybe 1 fish?

How much rock would I be looking at?

Cheers

[suphew]

Without a skimmer fish and shrimps could be a problem. But then again big water changes wouldn't be a problem. I just baby sit a pico tank for a local, had it about 6 weeks, there is an old post here somewhere for it. It's about 6-7liters, the owner tried to keep a shrimp in it but pulled it out after only a couple of weeks. But other than that the tank is stunning has a nice mix of softies and hard corals all doing really well. For lighting he has 2 9w power compact bulbs, and for water movement a HOB filter with carbon, and PO4 resin.

[PENEJANE]

Well as mentioned before this tank is 27ltrs. Its got curved corners on the front glass. I was thinking of putting in a piece of thick black plastic (normal glass thickness) with some slots taken out of it at one end to hide the heater and HOB filter intake (if possible) from main view of the tank. Would this be ok? Or am I better to just leave it as open as possible?

For a living things I was thinking of just a shrimp and maybe one small goby if they are available down here. But if I can't get one then I will jsut stick to a small shrimp.

Another question...... If I was to go down at low tide after a hot day when the rock pools are pretty warm and get an anemone or two would it survive? I thought if I was to get it when the water is close to the same temp as the tank then it wouldnt' be so much of a shock for it. Just an idea hehe.

Cheers.

[suphew]

If your not planning on keeping corals then you sholdnt have two many problems fish and shrimps only need water a bit cleaner than your average fresh water setup, it's the corals and anenomies that need the really clean water and high amount of light, and even then there are some soft corals that do well in low light and will handle dirtier water.

You want as much water movement as you can get with out blowing the water out of the tank, rule of thumb minimum is about 20X tank volume so your 500lph filter would only just do it, really you would want to add some power heads, maybe on timers so you get some more random movement. There are a few reasons for this, most corals require lots of water movement, the live rock needs water movement to do its job, and it stops rubbish settling on the rock and bottom so it can be removed (usually by a skimmer). Think about how much water movement there is in the sea to get an idea.

It is possible to keep some creatures from rock pools, shrimps and snails are commonly kept, and someone was posting the other day that they had sucessfully kept rock pool anenomies. But they don't live as long, and its a bit hit and miss, for ten shrimps you collect 1 or 2 might last more than a few weeks, the longest I have had them last is about 6 months. Rock pool fish don't seem to last longer than a day or two.