MARINE TANK DIARY

thats for answering my questions, i musta missed em when i checked thread yesterday.

hope ur tank sold, you need some more rock corals n fishies now

Chez, I know you bought this tak already sert up, but if you are starting from scratch how do you cycle a marine tank? I am assuming you dont add ammonia like you do with trop fresh tanks, so what do you do?

I am beginning to wish I had seen this before I bought my new trop tank

Hi FF, you need to cycle a marine tank, however, first you add RO and water and due to some "die off" from the live rock this adds the ammonia to the tank for you and it cycles without adding chemicals if you like.

The live rock then converts the ammonia > nitrites > nitrates like a normal tropical however the live rock does all the filtration work.

Many people advise to remove the sponges/noodles etc from any filter as after a while these become NitrAte factories

Hiya Dave, thanks for that mate. Sorry to be a thicko but, if the live rock does the job of a filter in a normal tank (hokds the bacteria that do all the converting and maintain water stats), why do you still need a filter in a marine tank? Or dont you?

Also, how do the noodles in a filter become a problem? I am guessing that a filter is used to give some extra filtration is it, so how can this be a problem.

Apologies for all the dumb questions but this is good stuff going on here, and maybe a project for the future!

no probs mate, all Qs welcome.

Noodles are not needed as they just harbour more and more nitrates than necessary.

You do not need a filter in a marine tank, you need to have a good flow of water i think its either 20 or 40 times the volume of the tank therefore having the flow pass through as much rock as possible and having no "dead spots"

Hi chez,i will be getting my marine tank in a few month,so beware i will be driving you mad with questions.

She should be an expert by then...

I set up this new tank up leaving in the back chambers.........
2 bags noodles .black plastic like beads, and polishing cloth.
as was told to do so,and our l.f.s has the same set up as me (bought tank there)
so I looked in the back checking...
his tank has been running a few years,

You can also put smashed up live rock in the filter chambers,
and any bristleworms you don't like chuck in there out of the way,
and they do there job in there.without you seeing them.....

the other things I bought My choice,was>a new heater a rubber one
as I want the heater in the tank, so I can see it.as it flashes
when the temp goes up / down to warn you.
plus safe to fish. ie: snails as it doesant get hot.....
and I bought a skimmer,which is working away now.
this takes out the protein's which are harmfull
this you clean out maybe once a fortnight..

I Also added some phosphate remover in the chambers....

I transfered most of the water out of the small orca to the new tank.
and some of the live rock.
and the 2 fish shrimp,crabs.snail.
I Have now added new live rock and got rid of the old.
as alot of the plants on it was dying and looked crap.

you add live rock bit by bit.
I need 2 more peices to finish the set up.
its been a week since i added the new so will add the rest this weekend.

the only thing I am concerned about is a mini cycle happening,
(or new tank syndrome)
so I am checking stats Everyday...
the only thing wrong is the P.H......
I cant get it to 8 its at 7.8.
I have turned the top air spray bar to the top of the tank to break the water
as was told this will help.
and to check stats at the same time everyday as P.H changes durning the day/night.
This is a awkward thing to mess around with P.H.
but we checked the water from the l.f.s.this was low,so it differs from different l.f.s.
Luckily the fish I have are hardy,they have gone through alot bless...

I Do have a power head but I havan't put it in as yet.
this helps stop the dead spots,which I now see coming.(the sand goes yellow in these spots)
the more filtration the better in these tanks,helps the liverock do its job,

the only thing is> some corals like duncan's don't like too much movement so it closes up.
so you spend all day turning the power head so its in the right place.
I Have up to now £150 of livestock..not counting the tank/stand and electrical gear......

water changes unlike tropical
once a fortnight 20-25% here change with heated R.O unsalted pure water.
Stand tub at the side of radiator This warms it....

The Best Advise I Can give anyone reading this is to save money and hassle,
buy as big as you can afford.............
you will only want a Bigger one in the end...

powerhead £29.00

chez, I really enjoy your posts on this, thanks for taking the time to do it.

As for the ph - do you think you will have a constsnt problem trying to get it to 8 (does it really matter??), or is it something that should settle down as the tank settles, new live rock is added etc.

By the way, do you buy your RO water or do you have a ubit? What sort of cost does that involve?

Thanks Diane
R.O PURE 50P A GALLON
SALT £1 A GALLON

AT L.F.S that only do marine...
sometimes you have to order it.but near us is a new aqua shop opening
and I went in to see him and asked about it,he said he will have it all the time.
normal l.f.s don't do it

with my tank only being small I might as well buy it,
it lasts about 3 weeks, so small tub will do me twice.
if you intend getting a big set up I would invest in a R.O unit, you connect this to a outside tap/hose. It Trickles out slowly take ages....
I think these start around £50 but you could sell this water to local people who has marine
get a bit of cash back.lol

the p.h is constant at 7.8 all seems well but the ideal is 8.
for marine
I checked the water from one of the l.f.s. it was 7.7 so this was really low.
I chucked this,and wont be going back..
you can add salt to it.but i was never one at school for chemistry.
but the latest we fetched was at 8. perfect.................
its a funny thing to mess with P.H.
maybe the next water change will bring it up.

sorry chez, the more answers you give, the more I seem to ask questions!!!

Do you know if marine tanks have the same rule of thumb as freshwater. People always say that the ph (in freshwater set up) isnt so important as fish can adapt to most readings (other than really extreme).

In marines is that a big no-no? Does the oodd 0.2 difference make a hell of a difference, and if so is it the live rock that gets affected or the fish?

ideally its 8 > 8.3
I think the corals are effected first.

Malc has just checked stats on both tanks.
both are fine... p.h on Elvis's is 7.5

I'm getting brown algae on the live rock and sand now
it doesan't look very nice, my lovely new tank is now mucky looking
I hope this isan't the start of a mini cycle with putting the new live rock in

I beleive its called cyanobateria (bacteria)
so added the power head now, to try and get more flow.
I Think the brown is dead spots.

do you get diatoms in Marine like trop? You maybe could get an algae muncher to keep things at bay?

Hi chez, the brown algae is due to the lighting and new tank syndrome i believe. As lonmg as your ammonia is 0 it will be fine, remember the rule about water turnover idealy it should be 40X (20X minimim) original volume so you should be looking for 3920L turn over per hour to be sure there is no dead spots. best positioning is top corners pointing slightly down to substrate but not directly at it. Id personally have them pointing to the rockpile.

Yes youre right the corals are the worst hit by PH jumps. its best to aim for 8, anything aboe is a bonus. Corals with usually sulk away of they are not happy have you noticed this chez?

With todays homegrown fish they are more hardy to PH like tropicals. Hope you sort the water out Chez.

ah yeah diana you just jogged my memory..many people purchase algae blennies to graze and control the blooms, a good CUC will also help devour this.

CUC??

Clean Up Crew (hermits, snails, shrimp)

i dont intend getting a marine setup myself would like one be too much for
me, but wow what a thread chez really enjoying reading all posts



dekker

GeordieDave wrote:

Clean Up Crew (hermits, snails, shrimp)

Of course!!!

Hope all is still going ok with your marine tank chez. Time for a few more pics methinks!

I Will add some more pic's next week as I need some more live rock
and you can only add this in small amounts,

I Have taken out the white ceramic (noodles)bags you get with the set up
as read somewhere they horde bacteria and mess with your nitrAtes,

the only thing I Have in the back chambers now is>

no 1> Skimmer

no 2> phospate remover and a small white polishing pad.

n0 3> nothing only the tubes for the internal air flow.

I Will put some broken peices of live rock in chamber 2 when I get some
all this will help with the filtration.

other than that all seems ok.
apart from I got like brown stringy cobwebs stuck to the inside of the glass
I keep going in and getting them out,
I fed the corals with some coral food called mysis, and then this happened,
so stopped feeding them for now to see what happens.
as it only appeared when I fed this food.

or it could have been something to do with the 2 new peices of liverock
I added too much too soon.
so maybe got the end of a mini cycle...
at some point my sand went brown this only lasted a couple of days
now its fine.


The clowns are funny.....
I Put the blues on about 8 and they both swim to the top of the back
of the left hand side of tank.where the skimmer is.they do this every night.
one lays flat against the back facing down towards the bottom of the tank.
the other treads water at the side of him..lol
then one swims out now and again then back to the other
then when the blues go off they stay put in that place till morning...lol

when I got up first time I saw this I thought the one on the back flat against the tank
was dead..
funny little fish... no wonder they are called clowns..

Thats interesting stuff chez

So in this tank then there are no filter pads to clean is that right? It is just the rock that somehow converts the ammonia and the skimmer that oxygenates the tank?

Hi Bob right in the chambers there's
skimmer,
a black big filter pad. I persume this is to catch the big particles
phospate remover we bought,and a small white polishing pad the white pad is like you have
for tropicals, but you change this when you do a water change.

I Will add the live rock bits in this chamber too.

in the last chamber is 2 pumps.... that pump water in the tank.
the top one I have directed it to the surface as you need to aggitate the surface water
Something to do with the P.H here I think. and breaks up the scum/NitrItes.???
which in turn pushes it to the skimmer.
you can have a wave pump if you want, and you don't have bubbles in this tank..?
I Think these are a NO - NO in Marines....

This just leaves the bottom one which sends the flow round the tank.
this wasan't enough to me for the live rock/corals, so added the power head.
the corals need some movement.
you can put a heater in this chamber, but I choose not to as I Have bought a rubber heater
which flashes when the temp drops or rises too much to warn you
and if its in the chamber you wouldn't see it.

Live rock is the main thing in a marine tank I believe this is your filter....

really enjoying reading these post chez all very interesting stuff.


dekker