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ChocolateFrog said:
Seems I'm being talked into a CO2 system 
If I'm spending some money what an I best getting for a 200L tanks.
No point getting something, If I'll want/need something a bit better in a few weeks.
I have a 180l tank and the D-D system that uses disposable cylinders. One lasts about 18 months, and I use the Halfords welding ones for about £17 - much cheaper than the "aquarium" ones though the actual cylinder and contents are identical.If I'm spending some money what an I best getting for a 200L tanks.
No point getting something, If I'll want/need something a bit better in a few weeks.
(Make sure you get pure CO2 cylinders, not CO2 / argon mix!)
sambucket said:
Been tasked with buying a family fish tank. No further instructions given!
Went to browse today and thought the UV tanks with Corel gardens were really nice. Am I right in guessing this is not an ideal first step into this world?
If you mean Marine, then yes, its not really for the noob, and it gets expensive, fast,Went to browse today and thought the UV tanks with Corel gardens were really nice. Am I right in guessing this is not an ideal first step into this world?
Freshwater tropical community is the best place to start I would say, and dont buy small - larger volume sof water have more stable parameters, so better for the occupants.
Also, do your research online, as a lot of LFS have utterly clueless staff IM sorry to say.
sambucket said:
Been tasked with buying a family fish tank. No further instructions given!
Went to browse today and thought the UV tanks with Corel gardens were really nice. Am I right in guessing this is not an ideal first step into this world?
I've kept freshwater of various types for nearly 30 years, including some fairly 'technical' variations... Went to browse today and thought the UV tanks with Corel gardens were really nice. Am I right in guessing this is not an ideal first step into this world?
I setup my first marine tank with corals earlier this year.
Quite simply, don't do it as a first tank. Whilst I'm sure there are people out there who have and it's gone well overall - the odds are so low, the research needed is so great and I'm bloody certain the losses and costs along the way have been significant!
Sway said:
I've kept freshwater of various types for nearly 30 years, including some fairly 'technical' variations...
I setup my first marine tank with corals earlier this year.
Quite simply, don't do it as a first tank. Whilst I'm sure there are people out there who have and it's gone well overall - the odds are so low, the research needed is so great and I'm bloody certain the losses and costs along the way have been significant!
Ive kept fish for the same period as you, and even got as far as buying a 250 Reefer - and still bottled it and bailed out. The amount of grief Ihave seen folk have with Salties really puts me off - plus evryhting is £££££I setup my first marine tank with corals earlier this year.
Quite simply, don't do it as a first tank. Whilst I'm sure there are people out there who have and it's gone well overall - the odds are so low, the research needed is so great and I'm bloody certain the losses and costs along the way have been significant!
Turn7 said:
Sway said:
I've kept freshwater of various types for nearly 30 years, including some fairly 'technical' variations...
I setup my first marine tank with corals earlier this year.
Quite simply, don't do it as a first tank. Whilst I'm sure there are people out there who have and it's gone well overall - the odds are so low, the research needed is so great and I'm bloody certain the losses and costs along the way have been significant!
Ive kept fish for the same period as you, and even got as far as buying a 250 Reefer - and still bottled it and bailed out. The amount of grief Ihave seen folk have with Salties really puts me off - plus evryhting is £££££I setup my first marine tank with corals earlier this year.
Quite simply, don't do it as a first tank. Whilst I'm sure there are people out there who have and it's gone well overall - the odds are so low, the research needed is so great and I'm bloody certain the losses and costs along the way have been significant!
That's a 52l tank.
Now, some of that is absolutely discretionary (but not that much really. Auto water changer is the main bit there, I've gone for much better test kits than the norm, etc.).
Going a tad bigger (so something like your mooted 250) certainly isn't five times as expensive. In fact, I'm planning to upgrade to a cool large footprint but super shallow peninsula next year for about £1500. That'll be 900 front to back, 600 wide, 300 tall with sump. Extra light (once I've bought one for my current tank), bigger return pump and skimmer, and eventually more livestock.
1 week in with my nano aquascape, so far so good.
I've made small adjustments to the lighting settings to as to not stress the young plants. The photo period is about 6 hours with a short ramp up/down at either end, but I'm limiting it to 75% power at its peak.
CO2 is running at 1 bubble/sec, I added an aftermarket solenoid powered by a timer plug, so it auto switches on/off during the lighting period only.
With the heater, I started the thermostat to aim for 24 degrees, however I'm mindful that the Monte Carlo at the front is more susceptible to higher temperatures than the other plants, so I've lowered that to a target of 22 degrees, which a bit more leniancy of when the heater turns on/off.
50% water change and dosing 1ml of Tropica Premium and Specialised each day.
I've made small adjustments to the lighting settings to as to not stress the young plants. The photo period is about 6 hours with a short ramp up/down at either end, but I'm limiting it to 75% power at its peak.
CO2 is running at 1 bubble/sec, I added an aftermarket solenoid powered by a timer plug, so it auto switches on/off during the lighting period only.
With the heater, I started the thermostat to aim for 24 degrees, however I'm mindful that the Monte Carlo at the front is more susceptible to higher temperatures than the other plants, so I've lowered that to a target of 22 degrees, which a bit more leniancy of when the heater turns on/off.
50% water change and dosing 1ml of Tropica Premium and Specialised each day.
otolith said:
Sway said:
Auto water changer is the main bit there
What have you got, and how does it work?Essentially, you fill it to the brim with new water.
It has an inlet and an outlet, and effectively for an hour or so it becomes part of your system and flows water through it until everything is completely mixed. You then bin what's in the container once done.
The main criticism of it is you "waste" good water, but for me with my 12.5l tank I 'waste' about 2l per change which is buttons compared to the ease.
Water levels don't change, nor do temps. It mixes my fresh saltwater without needing another container/airstone/etc. I can do it on a work conference call. As such, I simply don't skip or skimp on water changes and I'm certain the tank benefits from that.
Pic from early days of tank - hence containers everywhere whilst I was doing daily changes post cycle!
Ah, OK, I see. Yes, I have often considered that sort of thing to make changes easier, though I always wanted one with some sort of elastic membrane between the clean and dirty sides so that as you pump water out it sucks it in.
I was thinking more here about the AWC or even Apex Neptune systems, though - I am often away from home, so automatic top up and water change perhaps even controlled remotely would be good. It would make EI dosing of the planted system really painless even when I'm not home.
Not cheap, though.
I was thinking more here about the AWC or even Apex Neptune systems, though - I am often away from home, so automatic top up and water change perhaps even controlled remotely would be good. It would make EI dosing of the planted system really painless even when I'm not home.
Not cheap, though.
Much cheaper way of doing it is via something like the d-d P1 doser (or rather, a pair) or the new dual head one they've got coming out.
Won't be a true "continuous" water change, as the heads aren't rated for continuous usage - but breaking up say 25l into ten 2.5l changes throughout the day should be entirely feasible. Daily swaps of Jerry cans though! They're cheap enough compared to an Apex that it doesn't matter if there's the requirement for replacements a couple of times a year. Smaller changes would be even simpler and longer lasting.
A pair can be calibrated together and checked every now and then.
I know a couple of people using this approach, works well for them.
Won't be a true "continuous" water change, as the heads aren't rated for continuous usage - but breaking up say 25l into ten 2.5l changes throughout the day should be entirely feasible. Daily swaps of Jerry cans though! They're cheap enough compared to an Apex that it doesn't matter if there's the requirement for replacements a couple of times a year. Smaller changes would be even simpler and longer lasting.
A pair can be calibrated together and checked every now and then.
I know a couple of people using this approach, works well for them.
Related comment - I'm about to embark on the next phase of reef keeping - dosing!
I've now got four stony corals in my small tank. They seem to be doing well - 24hrs after doing my weekly water change yesterday, I've just checked my alk and it's dropped to 6.5dKh (from 8!)...
Seems they're growing fast - and my lax approach to testing alk needs correcting pronto.
So, I've ordered Tropic Marin All For Reef. It's the first "single part" dosing scheme I've ever seen. In theory I can drop this in manually once a day, and keep all my levels pretty stable between water changes. Sweet.
It's possible that my macros will get out of kilter over time (uneven uptake of say mag versus calc, etc.) - so TM quite handily sell all the component parts of AFR so you can mix your own brew and maintain the single part dosage... Also has all the trace elements I could want.
Appropriate glass bottle being bought tomorrow, then I start dosing 2.5ml a day for a week (monitoring alk daily) - if it's still dropping, I up my 1ml a week until levels stabilise.
Once happy, then I'm grabbing a P1 doser and will get that to spread the doses over 10 microdoses through the day...
Wish me luck! This feels a lot scarier than any of the freshwater additives/dosing I've done before...
I've now got four stony corals in my small tank. They seem to be doing well - 24hrs after doing my weekly water change yesterday, I've just checked my alk and it's dropped to 6.5dKh (from 8!)...
Seems they're growing fast - and my lax approach to testing alk needs correcting pronto.
So, I've ordered Tropic Marin All For Reef. It's the first "single part" dosing scheme I've ever seen. In theory I can drop this in manually once a day, and keep all my levels pretty stable between water changes. Sweet.
It's possible that my macros will get out of kilter over time (uneven uptake of say mag versus calc, etc.) - so TM quite handily sell all the component parts of AFR so you can mix your own brew and maintain the single part dosage... Also has all the trace elements I could want.
Appropriate glass bottle being bought tomorrow, then I start dosing 2.5ml a day for a week (monitoring alk daily) - if it's still dropping, I up my 1ml a week until levels stabilise.
Once happy, then I'm grabbing a P1 doser and will get that to spread the doses over 10 microdoses through the day...
Wish me luck! This feels a lot scarier than any of the freshwater additives/dosing I've done before...
otolith said:
If you go CO2, get a system you can run off a fire extinguisher. Much cheaper in the long run.
Definitely! My CO2 system has been running almost a year off the same 2kg fire extinguisher. I’m using an inline diffuser too which I think is more efficient than an airstone diffuser and the bubbles are much smalller.
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