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06-09-2012, 02:38 PM | #1 |
Dragon
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 2,433
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Beginner office nano tank
Hi all,
After resisting the urge to start a marine tank for years, I think I'm finally ready to take the plunge for a simple tank for my office. Just wanted to seek some advice on whether my plans are feasible I am just intending to keep a simple setup, starting with FOWLR only, but hopefully eventually adding some simple corals. The corals I'm thinking of adding are based on recommendations given by Practical Fishkeeping magazine over the years as nano-friendly and beginner-friendly corals. Here's what my plan for the tank is: Tank Ocean Free Nano Space 2 (27 litres) Filtration 1st compartment: Dymax IQ Skimmer (with limewood airstone replaced) 2nd compartment: Chemical filtration (Purigen/Chemi-Pure Elite/GAC) - Please recommend 4-5kg Live rock Water DD H2Ocean Natural Reef Salt (20%/5 litres wc every 2 weeks) Flow Stock Ocean Free 200 litres/hour pump in 3rd compartment Tunze Universal Pump Mini 300 litres/hour pump in tank for added flow Substrate Either CaribSea Ocean-Direct Pacific Black 5lb or CaribSea Super Naturals Tahitian Moon 5lb - Please recommend Lighting Stock LED for now Upgrade to PAR30 (3W2B) or Par38 (14000K) before adding corals - Please recommend Livestock Clownfish (Ocellaris or Percula) - 1 pair Red-Legged Hermit Crab - 1 Trochus Snail - 2 Cleaner Shrimp - 1 Corals (future) Zoa Mushroom Torch Please recommend others And that's the plan! Any and all feedback/advice is greatly appreciated! |
06-09-2012, 03:21 PM | #2 |
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 3,635
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Welcome to the wonderful world of marine fishkeeping.
Its great that you have done some research and have come up with a sound plan to setup your first tank. This is a step forward in the right direction. For chemical filtration, if you have plans for corals in future, I think chemi-pure elite or GAC would be a good choice. If opting for GAC, please check that the GAC is suitable for marine use. For the substrate, I would say its up to your personal preference which one to use. For me, I just opt for the normal coral sand sold in LFS. For the livestock, the hermit crab might attack the snails for their shell as it outgrows its own shell. You can look into soft corals like pumping xenia or star polyps as they are relatively easy beginner corals.
__________________
A fishtank is just like your computer. When your tank crash(OS crash), its time to cleanup(reformat hard drive) and setup(install OS) again and add new livestock(re-install software). |
06-09-2012, 04:54 PM | #3 |
Dragon
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 2,433
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Thanks for the quick response Kalib! The differences between the 2 substrates I think is that the Pacific Black is aragonite based while the Tahitian Moon is quartz. I want a black substrate as I think it will bring out the contrast in colour of the clownfish and corals more.
For the chemical filtration, there are 3 compartments in the media basket provided with my tank. What do you think of Purigen, CPE and Rowaphos in the 3 compartments? Or should I replace one with a marine GAC? The hermit crab choice was made due to some research, where I read that the Blue-legged hermit crab is very prone to attacking snails for their shells, while the Red-legged hermit crab is less prone to do so. Do you have any advice in this regard? |
07-09-2012, 09:38 AM | #4 |
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 3,635
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Your welcome. Doing my bit to help the community.
For the substrate, my preference would be an aragonite based substrate though I would say its really up to your preference if you prefer a black substrate. By CPE, i'm taking your referring to chemi-pure elite. I think the rowaphos is not needed. I've read the specs of CPE and it seems to be able to cover the function of rowaphos. Maybe you could use a combination of Purigen, CPE and GAC instead. I wouldn't really be able to advice if blue legged ones are more aggressive than red legged ones or vice versa as I've not specifically done research into individual species. From what I know in general is that as these crabs grow, they will change shells and could attack snails for them. You can introduce empty shells into the tank to reduce the probability of this occurring.
__________________
A fishtank is just like your computer. When your tank crash(OS crash), its time to cleanup(reformat hard drive) and setup(install OS) again and add new livestock(re-install software). |
07-09-2012, 10:33 AM | #5 |
Dragon
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 2,433
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Thanks again Kalib! I will go see if MadPetz has the Indo-Pacific Black since that's a black aragonite substrate. Roger on the Purigen + CPE + GAC...will do that!
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10-09-2012, 11:03 AM | #6 |
Dragon
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 2,433
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Well I've come into office over the weekend, cleared the freshwater setup out and done some basics - filled the salt water (using H2Ocean Pro+ by D+D) and poured in the live sand (using CaribSea Arag-Alive! Oolite). Decided to go with 10lb of sand instead of the initially planned 5lb (encouragement from Ken @ MadPetz and my wife to have a deeper sand bed).
After leaving it overnight, the water is still cloudy, and there's alot of foam on the surface of the water - is this normal? I thought the water would have cleared overnight. The foam only appeared after I put in the sand (couldn't wash the sand as it was supposed to be live sand with bacteria). Trying to find some time to go get live rocks to put in, but (1) it's hard to scape when the water is cloudy; and (2) I was recommended to go to Coral Farm to get Fiji rock (expensive!!!) but it's such a faraway place that I can't go get it during lunch time - will have to wait till Saturday to do it. I will be relying on the live rocks, bacteria from the live sand and Microbe-Lift Nite-Out II to cycle the tank. Hopefully it won't take too long. |
10-09-2012, 01:59 PM | #7 |
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 3,635
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Its normal for the water to be cloudy after adding sand. You can add filter wool to the filter to help speedup the clearing process. When I setup my 4ft tank and added in the sand, there's also some foam on the surface and it took many days before the water cleared up.
If your adding in high quality liverock like the fiji rock, its better to add in after cycling has completed as high ammonia,nitrite levels during the cycling process could kill off much of the life on these rocks.
__________________
A fishtank is just like your computer. When your tank crash(OS crash), its time to cleanup(reformat hard drive) and setup(install OS) again and add new livestock(re-install software). |
10-09-2012, 02:38 PM | #8 |
Dragon
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 2,433
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Thanks Kalib, I thought live rock was supposed to speed up the cycling process. I'll wait till next weekend to put in the live rock then. The live sand was supposed to have come with beneficial bacteria and I will be dosing Microbe-Lift Nite-Out II as well as putting fish food in every day to seed the cycling.
However, if live rock and live sand is going to be my only source of bio-filtration, will I be hampering the full cycle by not putting live rock in? I have no other biomedia but the sand bed to host the bacteria. edit: Aside from Coral Farm, is there anywhere else that sells quality live rock? Marine Life is pretty accessible from my office, but I want to get quality LR since it's going to be my main source of biofiltration (IQ Skimmer is supposed to be so-so only) Last edited by illumnae; 10-09-2012 at 02:41 PM. |
10-09-2012, 05:06 PM | #9 |
Dragon
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,085
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Bro...I have a map listing here...
http://goo.gl/maps/qdcH4 I have not been to coral life....but it looks pretty far for me.... I stay in AMK....so I normally visit - Aquamarine (closes ard 11pm) - WONG LOY KEE AQUARIUM (opens at 2:30pm till 1am or so) |
10-09-2012, 05:08 PM | #10 |
Dragon
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,085
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I visited some farms in Pasir Ris over the weekend....quite disappointing
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