If you are getting an RO system go to RO-MAN as it wil be the best in the long run and save you a bomb.I use a 4 stage DI unit and it is superb and gives me 0 tds for as much water as I need for my marine and fresh water stuff.

hiya, i cant see what lighting you've got and how you converted it.

Look like T8's to me... yes? Have you got 2 x whites and a blue?

i'd definitely get an RO unit... LFS run their RO filters into the ground and you'll quite often find the the TDS of the water is shocking...

and and if youar egoing to get RO from LFS, salt it yourself, shops will often use the lowest cheapest grade salt possible and that lacks the minerals and elements your fish (and more importantly corals need)

I've also seen then chuck the salt in and sell it as dissolved 10 minutes later, not what i'd want in my tank.

with your own unit (£80 ish for RO-MAN) you can control your water, how much you have.. and when something goes wrong and you need to a WC in the middle of the night.. you can.

I believe live-rock.co.uk is a good place to source rock from... perhaps get the bulk from there but maybe cherry pick some of the final pieces so you can pick shapes you like.

Live (if thats the right word) finally delivered and installed along with substrate. All pumps and filters running.
Next thing will be a clean up crew, (in a few weeks), any suggestions cos it appears every time I look at suppliers sites, sites, magazines their appears to be contradictions with what should be the first inhabitants, between hermit crabs, snails, shrimps or a mix of all three. Any advice greatly appreciated.
We are not having a brittle star!

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The bald headed grey beard
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live is the right word!

You can add cuc once your ammonia and nitrite are at a steady 0, and your nitrates are below 20 although you really want them below 10 if possible..

as for what to add first it doesnt really matter. People tend to add snails first as if there are going to be any losses they'd rather it was snails than anything else...

but if you have taken it slow and you know your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/temp/pH and salinity are correct then there's no reason why you should have any losses at all.

If you are going to add hermits get some extra shells (from the beach and boil) and put them in the tank as hermits fight each other to the death for shells and also kill snails for shells... they are good at cleaning the tank up though so worth having as long as they can move home when they want too.

Shrimp are good.. can be annoying if you want to get into serious corals though as they steal food from the corals, but most people have them. Cleaner shrimp being the most popular.
Stay clear of boxing shrimp, very violent and have been known to attack fish.. not worth the risk IMO... blood shrimp are supposed to be quite shy..

snails... get two types.. the ones that climb around on the glass and the ones that bury themselves in your sand and spend time trundling along under your sand turning it over.

Best to leave the big bad cuc like cucumbers etc for now, extremely delicate and can wipe out your system if they die...

Stars... i'd never have one due to worrying about them dying of starvation. They should only be kept in very mature systems and even then seem to suffer...

you will however somewhere along the line end up with tiny brittle stars in your tank, they hitch hike in on coral and fresh live rock... they are harmless, and are so small that they do not starve.... i have hundreds now thanks to trading corals with otehr reefers.

Glad you aare taking it slow still, try and research every fish and coral before adding it to the tank... impulse buying is never a good thing with marines and can lead to use problems.

I have a problem!
This thread will list everything that goes on in the tank, it will no doubt make some people cringe, and possibly a few laff. but hopefully it will generate a worthwhile discussion, for both newby's like me and experianced marine keepers.

When the live rock was eventually delivered, and it had been placed in the tank, silly beggar here put the lights on for 12 hours a day, thinking this would help the rock to "settle" down and the coraline to grow.
It would appear to have been a big mistake, a lot the coraline that was on the rock has turned white, and I now have orangey/brown algae all over the rock and substrate.(see piccy).
As light is the main cause of algae I have turned the lighting down to 5 hours per day from 12. I am reluctant at this point to introduce any "livestock" as the only test that is returning a "proper" reading is ammonia, all the others are too high still.
I am going to try and brush some of this algae off and get rid via syphoning and the filters.

More to follow.

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The bald headed grey beard
Wherever you go there you are!

piccys of algae

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The bald headed grey beard
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its really not that much of a problem, honest.

Its normal for tanks to go through this in the early stages...

can you give me a rundown of your test results?

Once you have a settled tank and your cycle is complete you can begin tackling the problem from a clean up crew point of view, but clearly not until you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and a low nitrate reading.

Also, do you know what our phosphate reading is? That and your nitrate reading will be the biggest indicator as to how mcuh algae you are going to have to tackle.

looking good dave , and everything seems to going as it should ,as tigerbeee said dont worry about the algae(turn your lights on briefly in the night ) to see if you have any livestock already , as they are normally come into the tank hidden in your liverock ,also you should start to see lower lifeforms scurrying about on your tank glass

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senile old git

Readings taken last night, I've being doing them on alternate days since the rock went in on the 3 June.

Temp - 27
SG - 1.0215
PH - 7.5
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - way over 3.3
Nitrate - 110
Phosphate - 1.0
Hardness (KH) - 150
Oxygen - 8

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The bald headed grey beard
Wherever you go there you are!