PH Marine Fish Tank Thread
Discussion
Thought I'd start this up and see if anyone else on PH keeps marine fish? I've got a medium sized tank with a Clown, Candy Wrasse, Chalk Goby, and Starfish. Other inverts are a Blue legged Hermit Crab, and some banded Trochus. There quite are also various small critters in there that I didn't put in there who must have stowed away on coral frags I bought.
So what have you got?
So what have you got?
Only got a small 120 Juwel tank at the moment, with two clowns, Royal Gramma, firefish and a goby. There are few fire and peppermint shrimps, a handful of hermits and snails, three urchins and a star fish.
Also got a selection of soft corals and a couple of bubble tip nems, that the clowns plain ignore.
The Juwel is not a bad little system as a starter, but I have had to employ a nitrate reactor to keep the levels down. the T5 lights work OK for the size and stock level, I feed them every other day water test once a week, and change about 25 litres per week.
In August though, we take delivery of a 1200 litre reef system - The lights and pumps have arrived, and 100kg of live rock is cooking away in a water butt in the garage, the floor is being strengthened and tiled next month in advance of the tank arriving. Excited does not come close...
Also got a selection of soft corals and a couple of bubble tip nems, that the clowns plain ignore.
The Juwel is not a bad little system as a starter, but I have had to employ a nitrate reactor to keep the levels down. the T5 lights work OK for the size and stock level, I feed them every other day water test once a week, and change about 25 litres per week.
In August though, we take delivery of a 1200 litre reef system - The lights and pumps have arrived, and 100kg of live rock is cooking away in a water butt in the garage, the floor is being strengthened and tiled next month in advance of the tank arriving. Excited does not come close...
I got rid of the T5 lighting and rigged up a DIY Cree LED lighting system with a mix of Royal Blue and White LEDS, it's unbelievably bright and needs a dimmer and a huge heatsink. But draws a lot less power than the old T5's.
S11Steve I saw that you said you're using a using a nitrate reactor have you tried the organic carbon dosing methods, usually in the form of vodka? I use vodka dosing with around 1.5ml a day and my nitrates are zero, previously I struggled to keep on top of this but vodka seems to work well. I actually automate the entire system now, there are a couple of float switches that detect water levels and automatically top up with RO water as needed. There's a peristaltic pump that comes on for a few minutes a day and drops in around 15ml of RO water that's mixed with vodka and trace elements for the coral twice a day. I did buy an Arduino board so I could integrate all these systems into one and add in some sunrise/sunset dimming on the LED's as well as controlling the moonlight LED's and maybe adding in some randomising to the nano powerheads... That way I could get rid of all the separate timers and power supplies and tidy everything up as well as pulling data off to monitor the system (I'm an engineer, we love our stats), but I think I'll wait till I upgrade the tank later this year.
S11Steve I saw that you said you're using a using a nitrate reactor have you tried the organic carbon dosing methods, usually in the form of vodka? I use vodka dosing with around 1.5ml a day and my nitrates are zero, previously I struggled to keep on top of this but vodka seems to work well. I actually automate the entire system now, there are a couple of float switches that detect water levels and automatically top up with RO water as needed. There's a peristaltic pump that comes on for a few minutes a day and drops in around 15ml of RO water that's mixed with vodka and trace elements for the coral twice a day. I did buy an Arduino board so I could integrate all these systems into one and add in some sunrise/sunset dimming on the LED's as well as controlling the moonlight LED's and maybe adding in some randomising to the nano powerheads... That way I could get rid of all the separate timers and power supplies and tidy everything up as well as pulling data off to monitor the system (I'm an engineer, we love our stats), but I think I'll wait till I upgrade the tank later this year.
I did start manually dosing with NoPoX (which smells like cheap vodka mixed with methanol!) to reduce Nitrates, but this was also reducing the oxygen levels in the tank - being a nano system it's a fine balance, so the anaerobic reactor with a trickle flow has had the best results for me.
I've got a pair of 36" LED panels from DSunY - full spectrum, Bridgelux LED with a Wifi app to control the colour and lux level at various times - it also has full seasonal and lunar cycles pre-progammed for extra geekery. I was looking at the V2 Illuminaires, but for a 6ft tank this was likely to cost around £800, on top of the pump, skimmer, phos reactor, wavemakers, rock, substrate... floor reinforcement... etc etc. If the DsunY are rubbish, then I'll upgrade as the tank gets more stocked.
That said, I'm trying to keep it simple - with regular water changes instead of dosing to maintain trace levels. We're still planning on just fish and softies, but will need to look at our methods as the stock levels increase. At the moment, the feeding and dosing is the easy bit in a small tank, and water chemistry is slightly more engaging. I suspect it will be reversed when we increase the water volume tenfold.
I've got a pair of 36" LED panels from DSunY - full spectrum, Bridgelux LED with a Wifi app to control the colour and lux level at various times - it also has full seasonal and lunar cycles pre-progammed for extra geekery. I was looking at the V2 Illuminaires, but for a 6ft tank this was likely to cost around £800, on top of the pump, skimmer, phos reactor, wavemakers, rock, substrate... floor reinforcement... etc etc. If the DsunY are rubbish, then I'll upgrade as the tank gets more stocked.
That said, I'm trying to keep it simple - with regular water changes instead of dosing to maintain trace levels. We're still planning on just fish and softies, but will need to look at our methods as the stock levels increase. At the moment, the feeding and dosing is the easy bit in a small tank, and water chemistry is slightly more engaging. I suspect it will be reversed when we increase the water volume tenfold.
Tyre Smoke said:
Watching this thread with interest. I've got freshwater tropicals which I've had for years, but have got a marine tropical 'itch'.
I know it's a world of difference and a lot more work, but I think I want to have a go at it.
Same here. I've kept exotic reptiles for years but always wanted a small marine tank, never felt confident enough to take the plunge though I know it's a world of difference and a lot more work, but I think I want to have a go at it.
Jasandjules said:
I used to keep a 400 Gallon Reef tank, bred seahorses, and kept a 500G or so fish only with puffers, lions and the odd moray... I've also kept the odd mantis.
Ok I think you win marine fish tops trumps, I've got a Clown Fish!Always thought about getting some sea horses ( the dwarf ones ).
Reminds me now I am doing less travel with work I need to set up my tank again, I would love to recreate the habitat and species of critters I have seen in the red sea at Dahab.
Think i might give the stonefish a swerve though. I saw what happened when a fat yank ignored the hotel guidance and stood on one.
Think i might give the stonefish a swerve though. I saw what happened when a fat yank ignored the hotel guidance and stood on one.
Timmy40 said:
Ok I think you win marine fish tops trumps, I've got a Clown Fish!
Always thought about getting some sea horses ( the dwarf ones ).
I didn't mention the 6*2*2 FO, the 3ft tank with a frogfish nor the 2ft cube with copepods etc to feed the mandarins in the reef and the seahorses.........Always thought about getting some sea horses ( the dwarf ones ).
Sea Horses are fantastic to have - but they can be short lived and my goodness they are stupid - they just watch the food go past their noses........... Mind if you can get them onto frozen......
Jasandjules said:
Timmy40 said:
Ok I think you win marine fish tops trumps, I've got a Clown Fish!
Always thought about getting some sea horses ( the dwarf ones ).
I didn't mention the 6*2*2 FO, the 3ft tank with a frogfish nor the 2ft cube with copepods etc to feed the mandarins in the reef and the seahorses.........Always thought about getting some sea horses ( the dwarf ones ).
Sea Horses are fantastic to have - but they can be short lived and my goodness they are stupid - they just watch the food go past their noses........... Mind if you can get them onto frozen......
Last night, after a 5 hour struggle through some tight doors, this bad boy finally arrived.
6ft, by 3ft by 2ft soon to be reef system. The floor has been heavily reinforced - the tank and cabinet is somewhere around 500kg as it stands, and was a hell of a job for three of us to get it in. It will be another 3-4 weeks before it gets wet, still waiting on a few bits to arrive before it is ready to cycle, although 125kg of rock has been cooking in a heated water butt in the garage for the last 8 weeks, so shouldn't take too long to settle down.
I've got 180cm DSunY led lights, Jebao wavemakers and return pump, Skimz SM201 2000l skimmer ready to go in, auto top-up and temperature controller is on the way. It will initially be stocked with the contents of by 120l Nano tank, but as more corals and live stock are introduced over time I'll be adding various reactors. For the immediate future it will be peaceful community and soft corals, but things do evolve over time.
If anyone thinks of getting a tank this size, I'd seriously consider having it built onsite!
6ft, by 3ft by 2ft soon to be reef system. The floor has been heavily reinforced - the tank and cabinet is somewhere around 500kg as it stands, and was a hell of a job for three of us to get it in. It will be another 3-4 weeks before it gets wet, still waiting on a few bits to arrive before it is ready to cycle, although 125kg of rock has been cooking in a heated water butt in the garage for the last 8 weeks, so shouldn't take too long to settle down.
I've got 180cm DSunY led lights, Jebao wavemakers and return pump, Skimz SM201 2000l skimmer ready to go in, auto top-up and temperature controller is on the way. It will initially be stocked with the contents of by 120l Nano tank, but as more corals and live stock are introduced over time I'll be adding various reactors. For the immediate future it will be peaceful community and soft corals, but things do evolve over time.
If anyone thinks of getting a tank this size, I'd seriously consider having it built onsite!
3ft tall, I can just reach the bottom when stood on step stool! Once the sand bed is in and rock scaping is done it will be a bit more manageable. At least I know the kids won't be dipping their fingers in it.
It'll be a couple of weeks before I can fill it, but I've got the LED lights in place to see how they work.
It'll be a couple of weeks before I can fill it, but I've got the LED lights in place to see how they work.
Finally got the tank full of water, all pumps, lights, heaters, skimmer and powerheads working as they should.
I have some live rock in the sump, and tonight's task is aquascaping around 100kg of rock that has been merit alive in a heated water butt in the garage.
I'm surprised at how quiet it all runs compared to my 125l sumpless tank.
I have some live rock in the sump, and tonight's task is aquascaping around 100kg of rock that has been merit alive in a heated water butt in the garage.
I'm surprised at how quiet it all runs compared to my 125l sumpless tank.
Aquascaping is tedious. Tank is cycling nicely, skimmer is bedded in and starting to lift out the muck from the initial blooms, and all seems to be running along as expected. If water tests permit, I'll be adding the clean up crew next weekend, but want to finish the rock work before any beasties move in.
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