Joining to the marine community

i just bought a second tank and am planning on going marine in it.
Bought it from a guy that has a marine setup in it at the moment but he is getting a bigger tank.
The tank is an Aqualantis and I plan on pretty replicating his setup cause it looks like it was doing really well(pic below) I will keep yous updated.
I was just wondering what is the best way to move the tank... What I mean is,he will be taking all the live rock and stuff out. If I get live rock straight away and leave the filters in place should the tank be \"ready to go\" ?

No.
The new rock will have to mature. Were the filters just mechanical
or biological to.

he had some live rock in the filter also. I am going to ring him later tonight and have a chat.
From the pic it looks like a thriving tank so I am going to replicate it. As soon as i know more i will post

hi damo

welcome to the marine community, the best fish keeping gang in the world hahaha

i would just start from scratch if i was u, i wouldnt bother trying to use that chaps mechanical filters at all, u shouldnt use a mechanical filter for any longer than a week or so anyway because when its catching detritus and food and that it will hold it in the media (sponge, bio balls, ceramic rings etc...) and go biological in no time, that means the nitrifiing bacteria that builds up through nautural processes will make a nitrogen cycle take place within the sponge etc.. that means the waste wil be broken down and turned in to nh4 (ammonia) then no2 (nitrite) then no3 (nitrate) which u dont want to happen in the sponge because the nitrate cant turn into nitrogen gas without the air loving bacteria nitrobactor (correct me if im wrong guys) being present, so unless u have a trickle filter u will be left with high no3 which isint harmfull but not a good thing to have loads of because it can stop growth etc...

if i where u i would get the tank, put RO water into it, get the best, seaside smelling live rock u can get (1kg for 1 gallon roughly) and stack it up in the aquascaping u like the best and put ur sand in with an extra cup of the guys sand from his established tank, then buy ur self some nh4 no2 and no3 test kits and test away till u know theres a cycle happening, it doesnt usually take long say 1 week to 2 months, it is the worst part about the whole thing but be patient and keep testing

before u know it u will be researching ur first fish or coral depending on what lights u get

the research bit is really the most important part, really though, and 1 little tip ill give u is DONT LISTEN TO ANYONE IN A LOCAL FISH SHOP (UNLESS ITS SIMON IN FISH ANTICS ) AND IF U DO LISTEN TO THEM RESEARCH WHAT THEY SUGGEST BEFORE U BUY,really important tip that

hahaha have fun

the guy i am buying the tank from also pointed me to simon in fish antics.
when i speak to the seller later i will know more

okay damien

thats cool talk to u later

okay
picked up the tank today.
got the coral sand with it.
Do you guys buy your marine water or make it up yourself ?
I need to get a powerstream , where did u guys get yours
The guy I bought it from had it running for 18 months and never used a skimmer.
He also said not to put all the live rock in at once.

I am basically looking for opinions on the best way to proceed.
I plan to use the same as him , so no skimmer

So at the moment I believe i need a powerstream , a pump , water and some live rock.
I read some people suggest putting in fish first before the live rock ?
Maybe some mollys to cycle the tank

hi damian,
best advice i could offer is dont rush anything. get yourself a good book and start reading. i dont know whyy he would say not to put the live rock in all at once. that was the old way of thinking, if you add liverock bit by bit you can get ammonia spikes so its way better to add it all at once, let it cycle and then add fish, you wont need mollys with live rock.
you read about some people adding the fish before the live rock. i believe this was fr.jack, the reason being you can not medicate a tank with live rock, however if you quarintine properly you wont have this problem.
you want the tanks flow to be 10-20 times the tanks volume. if you meant nanostream they sell them in fishantics.

i make up my own marine water, unless you live beside a fish shop it would be a pain in the arse buying water every week. you need a container or bin to mix and age the water, preferably for a week, with a mall powerhead. a 25kg bucket of salt should cost you around 90 quid. i use tap water and have never had a prob but i do run carbon 24/7. id nearly throw out the substrate and get new stuff.

take your time and dont make any rash desisions/purchases....AND QUARINTINE!!

if you havent already read this have a look: www.irishfishkeepers.com/cms/component/o...w/id,17962/catid,20/

all the best
fran

My mate who is new to fishkeeping dove right into marines after keeping trops for about 6 months.
I've been at him to sign up here for ages.

We went to a certain new LFS on sunday and the chap there sold him a 'biofilter'.
Now from what I know about marines (SFA) you don't want a biofilter setting up in your tank as they are nitrate factories.
I didn't want to say anything in the shop and my mate is a buy first think later kind of guy (like I'm not!).
So my question is similar to this chap here, when he mentioned a biofilter above, why would a Marine stockist sell you one if it is bad (eventually) for the tank?

Hi Didhno,a biofilter wiil produce as an end result nitrate.This is fine in a fish only system,as they can tolerate much higher levels then corals .Either he assumed you where going fish only or he did'nt ssk you the right questions or he was'nt bothered either way and just wanted to make a sale.

id say he was just going for the sale, most of them are at the end of the day

i would say there are only 3 shops to buy from and 1 shop to listen to and buy from, all the rest dont care or else the owner cares and the staff dont understand hahah

yes as i was saying in the post above somewhere u dont want no3 in ur tank if ur keeping coral, as kerion says the fish can put up with higher levels and some softies actually use it to grow i beleive but its best to get it down as much as possible, a caulerpa sump is brill at doing this for ye!!!

get rid of the substrate the guy gave u with the tank damian, its useless to u, u cant wash it and ur bets of starting from scratch

add all the live rock and then a day or 2 later test for nh4 (ammonia) u will be on ur way then

UPDATE.

Bought the substrate and a big bag of salt today.
Waiting to hear back from Dave about when the Fiji rock will be ready.

Do you guys use one type or live rock or mix and match ?

Is Indo better than Fiji or just the same ?

they say that fiji is the best as its light weight , more porous etc.

i would go with what looks best for ur tank

i have all fuji but thats only because the lfs only stocked that ye know

i think u get more surface area for ur money though because its lighter than the other stuff

but the other stuff looks better

u should maybe get some dead reef rock for a base maybe 5 big peices and put ur live rock on top of it, make sure to put ur base rock (dead or live) right onto the glass base of the tank and put ur sand in afterwards, just incase u have any fish or anything in the future that burrow and could cause the rock to come crashing down into the side of the tank

u can add different types of liverock on top of ur fuji base (which will make up the majority of ur rock) so it gives it a nice individual look to ur tank, add small reef bones or just unusuall shapes to give it a person touch maybe, should look cool

kieronr wrote:

Hi Didhno,a biofilter wiil produce as an end result nitrate.This is fine in a fish only system,as they can tolerate much higher levels then corals. Either he assumed you where going fish only or he did'nt ssk you the right questions or he was'nt bothered either way and just wanted to make a sale.

Thats what I thought, it was my mate that bought it for his tank, not me!
I'll warn him off setting it up.
Thanks!

buleetu wrote:

hi damo

welcome to the marine community, the best fish keeping gang in the world hahaha

i would just start from scratch if i was u, i wouldnt bother trying to use that chaps mechanical filters at all, u shouldnt use a mechanical filter for any longer than a week or so anyway because when its catching detritus and food and that it will hold it in the media (sponge, bio balls, ceramic rings etc...) and go biological in no time, that means the nitrifiing bacteria that builds up through nautural processes will make a nitrogen cycle take place within the sponge etc.. that means the waste wil be broken down and turned in to nh4 (ammonia) then no2 (nitrite) then no3 (nitrate) which u dont want to happen in the sponge because the nitrate cant turn into nitrogen gas without the air loving bacteria nitrobactor (correct me if im wrong guys) being present, so unless u have a trickle filter u will be left with high no3 which isint harmfull but not a good thing to have loads of because it can stop growth etc...

hahaha have fun

I know you put hahaha before and after your text, but you are joking for the benifit of the beginners or I viewers that dont have such a good sence of humour as you have as may be one in the will think this is a dead serous post.

sorry there fr jack


but i havent the faintest idea what ur talking about in the last post there

i guess i was just in a good mood when i wrote the post i wasnt trying to say hahaha for anyone but my self

all i was saying was welcome to what i feel is the best fishkeeping community in the world nothing more nothing less, not trying to be funny or serious or anything else

i also just pointing out to damien why he shouldnt bother with some old sponges or what ever,and that they need to be replaced every week if there used at all

what was it u were trying to point out to me with that last post anyway,im curious now

then no3 (nitrate) which u dont want to happen in the sponge because the nitrate cant turn into nitrogen gas without the air loving bacteria nitrobactor (correct me if im wrong guys) being present, so unless u have a trickle filter u will be left with high no3

---

No worries, Qes what mechanical filteration do you propose to keep the visable dirt at bay?, by the way you are right NO3 will rise, as with the through flow of water through the sponge NO3 cant change to a gas, but thats why you have a deep sand bed or porous living rooks or a semi sunmerged trickle where wate rflows very very slowely through the bottom chammber, which is basically a sagnating pot below the water surface.