Garystrain
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Hello everyone,
I suppose I should introduce myself before I dive into the ton of questions I have.
My name is Gary, and I come from Belfast in Northern Ireland.
Ever since I was a child there were always fishtanks around, so with growing up around them (and having my own ones) I do know quite a bit about running an aquarium, the only problem, and what brings me here, is that they were all freshwater tanks.
After much consideration I have decided that I would like to try my best at getting a saltwater fish only with live rock tank set up.. And that's where my questions start..
First of all, after selling and re-housing all my freshwater fish and plants I now have a bare 200 L or about 50 or so imp.gal tank, with t8 lights, heaters, and an Eheim canister filter (professional 3 2073), and all the tests (ph, gh, kh, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate).
I have two power heads, a refractometer, an RO unit on order and I should have them by the first week of January (bloody Christmas post).. I'm also going to place an order for marine salt, but I thought I'd ask the community here which makes are the best ones.. So I would really appreciate your input on that. Then of course the live rock. I was thinking about starting with 20kg plus some base rock, and live sand, but please correct me if I'm wrong. Also, is there any other tests I should buy? Oh and how much live sand should I buy? I already have enough sand from my previous tank for a substrate of around an inch, but that's not live, and I have no idea if it can be used in a SW setup..
Now, I don't have the space or the money for a big sump, so seeing that there are quite a few people on board who use canisters on their SW tanks was a bit of a relief to be honest... Most of my questions are about how set my filter up to work alongside the live rock.
As far as my understanding goes I should be setting it up for mechanical and chemical filtration using coarse sponge, fine filter floss, and carbon, and anything else yous will tell me to go with. I don't quite know the order I should place the materials in the canister, so if there's anybody who has experience on using a canister on a S/W tank it would be brilliant.
Of course down the line when I don't have to be so budget conscious and if everything is going fine with the whole salty malarky, I would most certainly upgrade to a full on plumbed reef setup with sump, refugium etc.. But for now any advice on how to get going would be greatly appreciated...
Thank yous all so much,
Gary
Ps.: Sorry about the book.. I don't mean to be boring, but I thought I'd try to describe my situation the best I can.
I suppose I should introduce myself before I dive into the ton of questions I have.
My name is Gary, and I come from Belfast in Northern Ireland.
Ever since I was a child there were always fishtanks around, so with growing up around them (and having my own ones) I do know quite a bit about running an aquarium, the only problem, and what brings me here, is that they were all freshwater tanks.
After much consideration I have decided that I would like to try my best at getting a saltwater fish only with live rock tank set up.. And that's where my questions start..
First of all, after selling and re-housing all my freshwater fish and plants I now have a bare 200 L or about 50 or so imp.gal tank, with t8 lights, heaters, and an Eheim canister filter (professional 3 2073), and all the tests (ph, gh, kh, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate).
I have two power heads, a refractometer, an RO unit on order and I should have them by the first week of January (bloody Christmas post).. I'm also going to place an order for marine salt, but I thought I'd ask the community here which makes are the best ones.. So I would really appreciate your input on that. Then of course the live rock. I was thinking about starting with 20kg plus some base rock, and live sand, but please correct me if I'm wrong. Also, is there any other tests I should buy? Oh and how much live sand should I buy? I already have enough sand from my previous tank for a substrate of around an inch, but that's not live, and I have no idea if it can be used in a SW setup..
Now, I don't have the space or the money for a big sump, so seeing that there are quite a few people on board who use canisters on their SW tanks was a bit of a relief to be honest... Most of my questions are about how set my filter up to work alongside the live rock.
As far as my understanding goes I should be setting it up for mechanical and chemical filtration using coarse sponge, fine filter floss, and carbon, and anything else yous will tell me to go with. I don't quite know the order I should place the materials in the canister, so if there's anybody who has experience on using a canister on a S/W tank it would be brilliant.
Of course down the line when I don't have to be so budget conscious and if everything is going fine with the whole salty malarky, I would most certainly upgrade to a full on plumbed reef setup with sump, refugium etc.. But for now any advice on how to get going would be greatly appreciated...
Thank yous all so much,
Gary
Ps.: Sorry about the book.. I don't mean to be boring, but I thought I'd try to describe my situation the best I can.