Moving to the salty side?

Thanks for the info. He is still on the MIA list so will have to wait to have a look at it. Iv gone from converting my 250l to marine to getting a 750l 5 foot! lol There is a voice in all our heads whispering bigger bigger bigger!

Stephen.

Strange i get the same voice in my head going bigger ,bigger, bigger .

Hey guys,

Been awhile so bit of an update on the move to the salty side! My 250l clearseal and equipment is all sold mostly to lads on here (thanks all) so i went ahead and ordered a Red Sea reefer 425 XL deluxe from seahorse. Big thanks to Daniel over there who was very informative and helpful. Should have the tank in a week or two. Im doing so online shopping for skimmers, return pumps and dosing units. Any recommendations would be helpful. Looking at a Bubble Magus Curve 7 skimmer? The seem to be well priced and well reviewed.

Anyway will keep you updated.
Stephen.

Bubble magnus skimmers are a good choice mate.

Have a good look around for your equipment and you will find some great cheap things online.

Are you getting the reefer with the LED lights as well as they are fantasic top of the range Hydra 52's

Yeah it comes with the led's but i think the are the new hydra 26 HD not the 52's. Will order the skimmer and return pump today.

Ohh just looked at the specs there, ya they are 26's. Still one of the best light units you can buy.

Instead of the spec'd 4000L an hour return, get about a 6k and then you wouldnt have to run it full power and should stay lovely and quite for you. Just taught i would add that in

Happy days matey
Your going to love doing the new setup!

Trust me I'm loving planning my new wee setup!
I'm not sure if it'll work but I can send you the setup I have on my primes for the 26's! Great setup and I know a few people that use the exact same setup and their corals love it! I've not really bought corals for mine because I was never happy with the size and setup! I've spent a year kinda in a limbo state with it trying to decide what I was doing and now I'm upgrading and changing

Thanks Hammie,

Im actually thinking of building my own custom made LED unit to fit my tank, been emailing back and forth with a company in china about building it lol. Would work out for my 5ft tank of about 350euro with custom colors, custom lenses, full length of my tank, with ultra low sound fans. The company officially uses CREE leds and seam to have quite the following in US and Europe.

I can also custom name my unit as well think thats the fun part lol

We all require a build blog Stephen...

Lots of photos and views will be greatly appreciated....Share your ongoing experience and opinions as to how things are moving along as well.....

Will be watching with great interest....

Best of luck with the new project....Remember!!! Patience is key.....Enjoy the whole experience.....Building a new tank is probably the most enjoyable part of the hobby....Make the most of it....

Thanks guys. Am enjoying it so far! Am looking at some of the Jecod stuff. Gets very good reviews, anyone using there return pumps or wave makers? Would the JECOD DCS 7000 be good for the reefer? Flow rate is 5000lph to 7000lph. What kinda lph should i go in a pair of wave makers? Was thinking about getting the Jebao SW-15?

No problem doing a build blog gunnered but not sure many people on here would be interested? Seems to be quite in here of late.

Stephen

Hi . Cree leds are brilliant , i have a couple of torches that have them just incredable amount of light from a single led

Stephan,

I currently use 2 rw8's on my 5ft (powerheads) wifi controlled as master and slave making it really easy to use. Also for the price they rock lol. If i were you the RW8 i say would be enough x2. I have mine running at 100% for my 5ft so i could probably go to the rw15. I had Rw20's for my 5ft and they were just massively overpowered. I had the RW8's running on the 3ft clearseal i had and moved them to the 5ft and has worked well

I have used their returns without any issues before as well. Had more issues with more expensive return pumps. a DC pump is the best way to go.

I would be interested in a build blog as it allows you to ask questions and get help as well while your getting up and running as it gets people interested in your build. Everyone loves a new tank

hammie wrote:

Happy days matey
Your going to love doing the new setup!

Trust me I'm loving planning my new wee setup!
I'm not sure if it'll work but I can send you the setup I have on my primes for the 26's! Great setup and I know a few people that use the exact same setup and their corals love it! I've not really bought corals for mine because I was never happy with the size and setup! I've spent a year kinda in a limbo state with it trying to decide what I was doing and now I'm upgrading and changing

I know how you feel, i have wanted a marine tank for many years but only getting around to it now. Is there much to programing the 26's? My email is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. can you send the setting there? Much appreciated and i will let you know how i get on with them.

Sukahn wrote:

Stephan,

I currently use 2 rw8's on my 5ft (powerheads) wifi controlled as master and slave making it really easy to use. Also for the price they rock lol. If i were you the RW8 i say would be enough x2. I have mine running at 100% for my 5ft so i could probably go to the rw15. I had Rw20's for my 5ft and they were just massively overpowered. I had the RW8's running on the 3ft clearseal i had and moved them to the 5ft and has worked well

I have used their returns without any issues before as well. Had more issues with more expensive return pumps. a DC pump is the best way to go.

I would be interested in a build blog as it allows you to ask questions and get help as well while your getting up and running as it gets people interested in your build. Everyone loves a new tank

Nice one Shane thanks again for the info. I will order 2 RW8's and a DCS 7000 return pump tomorrow. I ordered the skimmer today and got an email saying it was out of stock but i could have the bubble magus G7 instead at no extra cost or wait a week for the curve 7 so i went ahead with the G7 dont know much about but it seems to be very similar to the C7 but has acrylic gearwheels as gates for outgoing water. I have never set up a skimmer so looking for the a steep learning curve!

Yeah i will do a build log when i get the tank and bits and bobs.

Stephen.

I have 1 rw15 running at 100% on my 3ft
And will be running 2 rw15 on my trigon 350! I always over spec equipment to run on less power as they last longer! Think of it like the engine of your car!!!! You never run that on max revs for a long period of time as it won't take the abuse! For me the price difference is worth buying the next model up and running on slight less percentage! Which is why I'm looking into my lighting for the upgrade now too! Thinking possibly a hydra 26 or 52 with 2 primes as suppliment to the bigger light!

Setting primes or hydra units is easy.....
Getting the settings right can take hours or even days! They are sooooooo programmable that there are infinite variations in what you can do! But that also means there's an endless supply of mistakes that can be made in relation to colours etc and algae growth etc etc etc

I'll be honest and say I didn't come up with this file but I have found it great! And really do recommend it as a starting point! Obviously you can amend it to suit your needs if deemed necessary! I didn't have to!

I'll email it when I get a free moment in work today! Have a play with the lights and then upload the file! See what you think! The lights do come on early and stay on until half 10 or 11 pm but there's a long ramp up and ramp down cycle plus the storms do look cool!

hammie wrote:

Setting primes or hydra units is easy.....
Getting the settings right can take hours or even days! They are sooooooo programmable that there are infinite variations in what you can do! But that also means there's an endless supply of mistakes that can be made in relation to colours etc and algae growth etc etc etc

I'll be honest and say I didn't come up with this file but I have found it great! And really do recommend it as a starting point! Obviously you can amend it to suit your needs if deemed necessary! I didn't have to!

I'll email it when I get a free moment in work today! Have a play with the lights and then upload the file! See what you think! The lights do come on early and stay on until half 10 or 11 pm but there's a long ramp up and ramp down cycle plus the storms do look cool!

Thanks very much. No rush in sending the settings. Probably wont have the tank set up for a few weeks yet. Looking forward to playing around with the lights!

Stephen.

Ok so i ordered 2 SW-15's wave makers, DCS-7000 return pump. G7 skimmer is on its way and tank is on its way. Is there anything im forgetting? Or that would come in handy? Or is there anything i should do while im setting up the tank to save hassle down the line?

Thanks,
Stephen.

Reactors would be a thing that i would say you would want as well. They make removing phospates easier and also running carbon in a reactor is a great way.

Filter socks lol. They are little bracket aqua one filter socks in seahorse that are 13 euro for the holder and sock and only 7 euro per additional sock, but i think the red sea comes with a sock holder you will just have to see what sock fits in them.

Auto top up unit if one doesn't come supplied.

Other than then the lights i think you will be sorted, the hydra 52 would be the way i would go with the primes if needed.

So now you know what you need ,its time to remortage the house and tell the wife shes getting a reactor for christmas , ha ha

2 reactors, phosphate and carbon reactors!
Uv steriliser (I swear by them)
Plenty of carbon and phosphate removers! Have a read about some of the all in 1 pellets! Some of them get great reviews actually!
Maybe a dosing pump for down the line when the corals start to take over! Small bottle of iodine, small bottle of slime remover and emergency bottle of am colony and agent green!
Obviously test kits! A good refractometer and I'll stop there before I scare the absolute sugar honey ice tea out of ye!!!!

Cheers lads, holey moley the bank account will be getting hit hard so! I suppose i could be spending it on loose women, drugs and alcohol oh hang on anyone want to buy a reefer 425xl? New in the box! lol

I will up date when i get the tank and bits and bobs.

Stephen

I think the tank is a better investment than a woman really!!!!!

Quick question guys. Live rock or dead rock?

Stephen.

If using dead rock
Make sure it's soaked with ro for a couple of days, ro to be changes 100% every 2 to 3 days and then an agressive phosphate remover used!
What I do is ro for about 2 weeks changes daily or every second day, then use salt water to soak and add agent green to kill po4

If you use live rock, be prepared for hitch hikers both methods have their merits
I prefer to use dead rock personally!!!!

I'm going with hammie on this one.

I set tanks up using love rock, even tho it's fun figuring out what you get from it the pests are just not worth it.

I set up my latest tank with dead rock and it's alot better in my opinion.

I know nothing about Marines at all but I seem to remember Neil mentioning this product....Just an interesting video now that you guys are saying to use dead rock instead of live



This thread is very very interesting to a Marine numpty like myself...

I always keep an emergency bottle of colony and agent green! Never used the outbreak tho

Get aquaroche instead.
No more carefully stacking rock into good shapes, they come in good shapes already.
No bugs, great placements for corals, and price wise ( if you buy off the shelf stuff, not the stuff Bohrio got!) it's not that bad on price.

Go aquaroche!!