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Home      Reply		Viewed: 423 -- Replies: 22
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Posted	Starting a marine tank
04-06-2007 19:51 by scott_91	Hi, im planning on converting my tank to marines, but i am on a budget of £250 which for marines isn't that high i know. I did try to do marines a couple of years back but i was very unsucessful and didnt manage to keep fish alive longer than a week due to a terrible nitrate problem which was due to my tap water and a dodgy test kit, so im definately using R.O water this time. The tank is 81x31x41cm so heres my proposition: Arcadia 2x25w overtank luminare £82.00 10 kg of high grade fiji live rock £95.00 caribsea live sand £20.00 Rowaphos, activated carbon and other filter media etc £30.00 Salty R.0 water £25.00 total £252.00 the stock i plan to keep are: 1 x pyjama wrasse or Bannana 1 x common clownfish 1 x cherub angelfish 1 x some other small fish undecided possibly a goby or another clown Do you recon this sounds an ok setup, i know i have no protein skimmer but i really cant afford one but with good filtration and the amount of live rock i was kind of hoping i could pull it off, i have a air powered one but it take up loads of room so im not using it. sorry its a bit of an essay but any help would be appreciated thank you.
04-06-2007 20:04 by JP	Liverock is fine, Forget the livesand, Any sand will become live, Forget the carbon ect it won't be needed (except Phosphate remover), Add a couple of powerheads for flow (Atleast 20X tank volume per hour. Forgeyt the angel tank is to small IMO, And i would advise you to save a little longer and get a skimmer.
04-06-2007 20:19 by scott_91	yeh thanks JP i could get a biostar skimmer for £110 but will a protein skimmer really make my life that much easier because its alot of money for something if it only makes a slight diference and tbo thats the main reason i didnt want to get one.
04-06-2007 20:37 by robert.pope	scott im no expert but i think the skimmer is a important bit of kit as it removes the nasties /*** from the water
04-06-2007 20:37 by JP	IMHO a skimmer is essenital to a marine tank, Unless your running a mineral mud system, It will make a big difference. If your looking for something cheaper try the TMC V2 range, I use one and it is very good, You can pick them up for £30-50 second hand and £70-80 new
04-06-2007 20:38 by JOHANSWAN	the only way to do away with skimmer is a ecosystem with miraclemud wich can cost more than a skimmer ive started with a lee skimmer cost me 2quid and i worked fine for months ive just changed my wooden airblock every 4 weeks
04-06-2007 21:07 by Linda Chenapa	PM me your address and I'll send you a s/h skimmer, it will be an air operated one, if that's any good. Got another one for my tank so don't need it any more
04-06-2007 21:09 by WAYNE	that budget will get blow out of proportion very quickly , just like gordon brown , thiers a lot of expense and its constant
04-06-2007 21:14 by JP	Agree with wayne £250 will be gone in an instant. Thats very nice of you Linda
04-06-2007 21:22 by scott_91	ok thanks for the advise and the offer for the skimmer was very nice Linda but i have already got an air powered one but i dont really like using it as it take up loads of room and the tanks not massive as it is, but i may use it till i can afford a hang on skimmer. I really agree with what wayne said because when i had my first attempt it felt like i was spending loads of money constantly and getting no reward out of the tank, so im a bit weary about trying it again so thats why i want as much advise as possible and i want to really know what im doing before i get started as it turned out to be a very expensive mistake last time with all the fish i lost.
04-06-2007 22:41 by Linda Chenapa	pm me
04-06-2007 22:48 by big cats	its cool that you want to keep marines, but if i were to tell you i was going to keep a red tailed catfish but only had the cash for a 4x2x2 and a couple internal filters what would you say to me ??? i am sure you want to do best by your fish but if you underestimate the need for a skimmer then you should ask what else you may not fully understand with respect to keeping marine fish put some extra cash away ,investigate more and get more advice from the marine guys on here or you risk a repeat of last time,sorry if i sound a little negative but its all about the fish
05-06-2007 07:34 by Linda Chenapa	One of my marine tanks, 8 x 2 x 2, has been running for nearly a year with no skimmer on, all it has is a 6 foot sump,3 T8 lights, a uvs and power heads for movement. No live rock, total cost under £200. It can be done on a tight budget, if I was you I would go for a bigger tank as a larger volume of water is easier to keep. Good luck.
05-06-2007 10:58 by big cats	your absolutely right with an 8x2x2 you have a more stable system and can if you are careful GET AWAY without a skimmer,however if you had a skimmer and/or live rock how much better would it be?
05-06-2007 11:47 by Alan	As a minimum you require the following to run a tank succesfully. Live rock ultimately equating to around 1 kilo per 2 imp gallons. Pumps to turnover at least 10 times per hour personally I always say 20 times per hour as a minimum. Remember with marine live rock and the skimmer are the filter for a basic set up unless opting for an ecosystem method I would strongly advise against leaving off the skimmer. For price look at the following equipment sold by www.stm-shop.co.uk Marea circulation pumps the cheapest is £17.50 or something close to that and will circulate 2400 litres of water per hour. You have got 23 imp gallons or 103 litres of water roughly so I would suggest the following shopping list: Deltec mce300 £131.58 this is rated to a max of 300 litres and would be more than adequate on your size of tank I recomend this skimmer as it is a hang on type and will therefore not take up valuable space in your tank. I have just bought one of these for my 255 litre tank and can strongly recommend it very easy to set up and works very well producing a stinky brown sludge very quickly I have been running my tank skimmerless for a couple of months due to the last skimmer packing it in and me deciding I am not cutting any more corners. One other thing get this skimmer now and you will be able to upgrade to a 55 imp gallon tank without changing the skimmer. Live rock 10 kilos £94.50 Live sand 20lbs for £20.99 (this maybe to much for your tank you will only need about an inch depth talk to the shop for advice on this) Marea 2400 £17.69 this will give you a water turnover rate of 23 times per hour. The above covers filtration and would set you back a total of £264.76 Lighting I would go for a twin T5 unit as a minimum T8's you can make do with but I wouldn't recommend it and to save on costs don't go for a luminaire go for the ballast and tube option and put it in a hood. Not sure how much this would cost you to be honest. I would also recommend getting yourself a small RO unit from www.ro-man.com and get yourself a refractometer for measuring salinity as mixing your own salt water and having your own RO unit will also save you a considerable amount of money in the long run. I would save your pennies for a few more months and not rush out and do it half cocked. Very bad idea to rush into a marine without the minimum required equipment best to do it right first time it will save you money in the long term.
05-06-2007 11:49 by scott_91	Thanks for all your help, do you recon if i save a bit longer get a biostar protein skimmer or something like that and 5 kg of live rock that would work? because that way i could add small pieces of rock every now and again and that would solve the problem pretty much as id have a skimmer just less rock to begin with. Also i have a hood on my tank that has a 20 watt bulb in or something like that, could i just use that as then i will save £80 on the overtank lighting and solves the problem completely, the only problem is i cant put any more lights into the hood as its all plastic and noting will fit.
05-06-2007 11:52 by scott_91	Thanks alan, we posted at pretty much the same time so i didnt get chance to read your post lol
05-06-2007 13:06 by Alan	Scrub the biostar for £20 more you get a far superior skimmer with the deltec mce 300 that can handle a larger tank. As far as the hood goes you could probably get materials yourself and build a hood for less than £20 if you went to a timber yard don't bother with b&q or Homebase they will charge you 3 times more than they should.
05-06-2007 13:13 by scott_91	thats not a bad idea, thanks alan, that way aswell i can fit my skimmer easily into the hood which will save mr jigsawing big holes in my plastic one.
05-06-2007 20:52 by Jim Son	Alan i admire the way your OCD benefits the members of this forum mate, i mean that, no a mickey take honest. I also get the feeling you talk from experience rather than making wild guesses based on very little evidence mate, keep up the good work pal
06-06-2007 08:32 by Alan	Generally I do only talk from experience and if I'm not I say I'm not. Cheers Jim Son.
06-06-2007 09:03 by WAYNE	alan how the cardinals got any young yet?
06-06-2007 11:46 by Alan	They spawned but had no luck with the fry unfortunately, I'm hoping now I have got a decent skimmer in there that the power feeding I am doing will enable the male to carry full term. Have a few niggles to sort on the tank too, running skimmerless for so long has resulted in a lovely hair algae out break got about 120 hermits in there as well as 25 astrea and 10 black foot turbos need to add a few more and once that is all sorted hopefully they will spawn again. Also doing a series of water changes to improve the water quality further and get all the balance of the water spot on. Great fun keeping a reef most of the time. Still haven't got the tank to the spec I want going to add another 10 kilos of ultra grade live rock from TMC as well plus another circulation pump probably a marea 2400 to boost the in tank circulation from 17 times per hour to 26 times per hour in fact I may even go higher than that with a bigger marea pump. Plus about 50 black foot turbos their grazing is unbelievable.

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