New setup rating

[madlan]

Hello everyone!

Im new to marine keeping, but i have kept many exotic animals, and tropical fish for many years, i now have the cash and space to setup a small marine tank, i have been reading every website and book i can find, and are about to setup my first marine system, i know theres no right or wrong way to do marines, no set ways like freshwater! so i thought i would post my proposed setup, in the hope of some feedback.
heres my setup so far:

I have a

48"(L)x18"(H)x15"(W) All glass tank.

STM T5 double tube system with gull wing reflectors

Eheim 2777 wet/dry filter
containing 4 litre Ehfisubstrate

Prime 10 external filter
containing activated carbon and phosphate remover

Fluval 104 external filter
empty, used to power small fluidized sand filter

Red Sea Prizm Skimmer

200watt tronic heater with full guard

Marine Enviroment salt

2 power heads at each end

RO water only will be used
========================

Heres the questions!

1. Any comments on the above setup?!?

2. I plan to setup the tank this week,
then order 20KG of live rock, due to the very
high price here (£200) is it possible to add a box a month, i have been told 3 boxes (60KG) will be the minimum to provide a stable reef setup, and lower nitrates.

3. I plan to use a 3" layer of Live Aragonite, should this be added before or after the Live rock? due to the ammonia produced by the live rock while cycling, will this damage the bacteria in the sand?

4. At what time should the cleanup crew be added?
hermits, turbo snails etc?

5. Will the ehiem filter be too good at reducing ammonia and nitrites? not leaving enough for the sand/rock, if so would reducing the medium in the filter help?

Thanks in advance for any input/advice!

Alan. *celebrate

 

[BrianH]

1)You seem to have a pretty good grasp for a beginner.
Since your going the live rock and live sand route I would not add any type of mechanical filtration. The LR & sand will handle all of your biological filtration. If you already have the cannister filters I would run them empty for water movement or filled with base rock. You could also use them for chemical filtration ie carbon etc.
The problem with these filters with media is that they process ammonia into nitrites & then nitrates too efficiently and your tank will be left with high nitrates which can be deadly to inverts.

2) Yes you can add a box a month. Just be aware that you will not be able to add any critters until the last batch of rock has cycled.

3)What type of live sand are you buying? Does it come in a bag, out of a tank or out of the ocean? Bagged live sand is not really live sand and you can add it before during or after the live rock. If your buying sand out of an existing tank or from the ocean I would wait until your tank has fully cycled, (and your done adding live rock) until putting in this type of sand.

4)Wait until your tank has fully cycled (nitrites at 0).

5)See point 1

 

[madlan]

This is the live rock to be used(link), its meant to be fully cured, does this affect adding critters before the last box? i was hoping to at hermits and snails after about 1 month of introducing the first batch of live rock. the cured rock is about 20min away from me, so there should be little die off if i can get my setup close to the LFS, im even using the same salt as their curing tanks..

Im also cycling some sintered glass in the prime10, its conected to itself, i add a few drops of ammonia daily, in the hope this will build a stong nitro bacteria level, i intend to flush this with fresh salt water, (same temp pH etc) to remove the nitrate rich water, then connect it to the main tank were the live rock is to be placed, im thinking this will remove any ammonia from die off, and speed up the whole process. Maybe even keeping more critters alive on the rock that might have died in the ammonia spike?

How much rock would you recomend? tank is 200Litres. 60KG?
Thanks!

Heres a link to the live rock, detailed info for you:
http://www.reefkeeper.co.uk/acatalog/Carribean_Live_Rock.html

Heres the live sand info link:
http://www.naturesocean.com/bioactive.htm

 

[sinasster]

60kg seems a little much, more like 60 lbs. than you can decide if you need a little more after that, It all depends on how you stack it. I prefer a staggered stack with lots of little openings and cliff and overhangs for your fish and inverts to swim into. some people prefer a tight stack like a brick wall with little openings.

If you plan on a reef tank, than I would recommend a wet/dry sump style over those three filters and two power heads.

 

[BrianH]

According to my calculations (converting metric into US measurements) you would need between 25 & 40 kilos of live rock for your tank (200 litres=52 US gallons, 52 lbs= 24 kilos). Are you planning on picking up the live rock yourself? If you are, the rock may not cycle. Bring some SW with you to transport the rock home in. I would still be safe and test the water to make sure you have no ammonia and nitrites. If you have no ammonia & nitrites after 2 weeks, you should be safe to start adding critters. However, if you plan to add more rock at a later date you may experience an ammonia spike and lose some of the animals.

Is the price for the rock (195 for 20 kilos) in pounds sterling or Euros? If its pounds, it seems quite expensive, but it does look like some quality rock.

IMHO the sand your buying is not live sand. I believe you'd be better off buying regular (dead) sand. The live rock will bring the bacteria needed for biofiltration into the tank and will eventually populate the sand. I would start with regular play sand and try to get a cup of sand from local reefers tanks to help bring more life to your sand bed. Or perhaps the store your buying the live rock from sells true live sand.

I'm not familiar with sintered glass so I can't help you with this. However. I do know that regular glass contains silicates which would fuel algae growth if it is released into the water column. I would check into the sintered glass before adding it to your aquarium.

Brian

 

[wayne]

My 5 pennies worth.
1. You will be relying on live rock, live sand for filtration, why do you need 3 externals for filtration. I'd stick the eheim, but run phosphate remover in that. It's nice to feel you're over filtered, but externals will need a lot (several times a week) maintenance ele they become after a few months nitrate factories. Fluidised sand is just more hassle than it's worth in my opinion unless you plan an incredibly dirty tank, have lots of time for maintenance and never expect to go on vacation for more than a few days.
Your tank is approx 200 litres before adding sand or rock, so say 160 after that. YOu don't need 60 kilos of rock, maybe 30 if you assume 1.5 to 2 kilos per 10 litres. I don't know anyone who recommends a number as high as 3 kilos per 10 litres, indeed , most people now are commending less, but opening up the structure with caves, arches and so on to get better water flow. Plus you're running a DSB in plan, so you could probably get away with 20. Adding rock three times in 20 kilo lumps is a lot of bother as you will get dieoff, and will need to cycle out an ammonia spike each time.
Can you find a remora rather than the prizm, though I don't often see them in Britain, or a bakpak. No disaster if you already have it, but they're a bit noisy.
Go to 4 inches of sand, try to find a cheap source of oolitic sand, then seed it with live sand.
But generally I think you're well on the right lines.
Where do you live in Britain - it might be worth travelling a bit to a good retailer like tmc, stm or robs marines, waterzoo, someone like that. Did you see Philip Hunts series of articles in Practical Fishkeeping?