Starting my purchasing

[Sub-Zero]

Hey all,

Here is what I have bought so far:

FOWLR Setup (Skimmerless):

Aqua One 620T

Hydor Korilia 1

18W Marine blue 12K and Triphosphor 7.1K.

My testing equipment includes:

Hydrometer

Thermometer

I already had a API Master Kit, but added:

Calcium

Phosphate

Carbon Harness & General Hardness


Other Equipment that I have got is things like Fish nets, algae scrapper and magnet, small breeding tank and various nick-knacks from my cichlid tank.

Filter Media:

Underworld Polyfilter
Purigen
PhosGuard
Matrix
Matrix Carbon
Possibly HyperSorb

Substrate

Water

So far that is all the equipment that I have bought and got. Just to get some Live Rock (1kg of rock per litre???)


Any ideas on what equipment I would be needing for the near/long term future? I know additional tester kits would be needed, plus re-newing some of the filter media from time to time. I was told that I would need to does the tank every 15 days with something called "Bio Clean" it basically replaces lost minerals. I just cant justify the cost every 2 weeks or so.

Matt.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

...I was told that I would need to does the tank every 15 days with something called "Bio Clean" it basically replaces lost minerals.

And I'm guessing it's the store that would sell you that "Bio Clean" that told you that! You're right... there's no reason to dose with that stuff. A properly cycled tank, especially a FOWLR, only needs regular water changes with a good quality salt mix to give it what it needs. 10% every week is a good starting place in my opinion, and is pretty easy to do on a tank your size.

A kg/liter for rock might be a little full. Maybe start at 0.5 - 0.75 kg/liter and see what that looks like.

Didn't see a heater on your list, but you want one. Don't rely on the temperature in your house to keep things stable.

Looks like that unit is the kind that has all the filtration stuff in the hood, and I'm not sure where the return water gets pumped back in. But just make sure when you position the Koralia for extra flow that you don't end up with any dead spots.

Also... with these completely hooded units, you could have an issue with low pH stemming from poor gas exchange at the surface of the water. You don't have much of a choice with these units, but just be aware of that possibility if you find yourself fighting low pH down the road.

Oh... and welcome to AquariumAdvice!

 

[Sub-Zero]

Thanks for the Welcome,

The heater is included in the tank bundle (200w Glass heater),

Here are the instructions that better explains the filtration. The filter return is in the right hand top corner.


Matt

 

[fijiwigi]

Welcome to the site. Are you planning on using RO/DI water?? As soon as I started using RO/DI a bulk of my algae problems went away.

 

[Sub-Zero]

Cheers, No I was planning on using Caribsea Seapure water. here is my theory:

To fill a 130L tank would require 7.8 4.4US gallon botles... £104.00, pour it in wait for temp to get to 27/28, sorted

Using RO water: Buy a RO unit of some sort (£80-150) enough salt mix (£18ish for 10KG) roughly needing 6-7kg of salt. Hydrometer (£12.00) even though I have one already. I have been told that It would be benifitial to re-minerilise the RO water. (£13.49) addition things like buckets, tubing, powerheads and heater to prepare the water. total cost £143.49-213.49

Using DI water: Similar list, however little or no waste water, cheaper to buy the DI unit itself plus less time to produce the required amount for initial filling and further WC's. Total cost: £130-150.

Next option was to buy Salted RO/DI water from my LFS which is about £6/pl plus the extra cost of re-mineralising.

Bottled water just seemed, even though more expensive, overall cost would be cheaper, plus less faffing about.

What are your thoughts?

Matt.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Might be cheaper if you're just looking at filling your tank once, but look at the costs for a year doing weekly 10% water changes. Think you'll find the premade salt water is the most expensive route you can go.

No need to "remineralize" your water using RO/DI. The salt mix will do that for you.

 

[Sub-Zero]

Thanks for the heads on about the re mineralising. Most decent synthetic salt mix will do just perfectly, they where defo trying to sell me something.

They also tryed to flog something called "Bactinettes" made by Soll. This was only mentioned when I said that I going to use base rock instead of live rock. Live rock is now on the list.

Next thing, 10% weekly water changes... I am only bringing this up as I have not done a water change on my cichlid tank for over a 6 months now and my levels are perfect, ie 0ppm amonnia 0ppm nitrite and 15ppm nitrate, my PH is constant 7.8 and my tank in other cichlid keepers eyes "overstocked" I only feed once a day. I have upgraded the filtration media and water turn over dramatically though. My fish have spawned 4 times in 2 years and besides the weekly glass scrapping, the tank is spot on.

Would you recommend a weekly water change even if the water parameters are still with the required range?

All the best,
Matt.

 

[roka64]

Wes, trace elements will be used by some of your critters and to promote growth and health, that would be best.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

For a FOWLR, you won't have any corals gobbling up trace elements - but you will have coralline algae that will eat up calcium and carbonate (alkalinity). The drop in alkalinity over time could cause you pH problems. In addition, your pH would probably drop quite a bit with no water changes. If you have snails and crabs, then they need minerals from the water to maintain their shells and health.

Soooo... yeah, I'd recommend not going longer than 2 weeks on water changes. If you go 6 months, you're pretty much guaranteeing you'll have problems.

Regarding "base rock" versus "live rock"... base rock will become "live" a month or two after it's put in the tank. When you cycle the tank you'll be building the population of bacteria on your rock and sand. The bacteria is what makes it live.