cresta57

Any experts lurking that can give out some tips on setting up a tank?
Anyone recommend any good books?
Thanks

The Bloke

Tired of getting pinched by the water-police with out-of-date charts, so you think it might be safer to fish in your livingroom, which is closer to the beer fridge and you don't need a chart to find?

cresta57

Hummmmm...................now you mention it

jensteve

Hi
Some pointer for you,
buy the biggest tank that will fit in because if you like fishkeeping you will soon wanting to upgrade so saves time.
Use live rock, it will mature your tank like super fast, plus has fab qualities such as corals etc start growing on it so you may not need to buy as many corals etc as you would with a totally bare tank.
Metal halides and the like are major expensive here, think about flood lights and putting the bulbs from the proper lights into them as a saver, if not spend out on some good lighting, I have previously had floro tubes, 2 tritons and an actinic, they worked well and I got some fab algae clusters in the tank, yes not all algae is bad!
Expect your tank to take upto 6 months to settle so don't go too mad and spend hundreds on fish and coral during the settling in process, this is when your tank will have fluctuations of brown and red algae, it does settle though without using chemicals.
Don't over filter, this can be just as bad as under filtration, a good canister filter will be great, if you have fish as well put a protein skimmer in, keep it simple is my best advice and then play later with all the new products available.
I can't wait to set up another marine tank over here, I already have figured on a 6x2x2 as the smallest possible tank size for us.
Have fun
Jenny

benny the ball

Yeah, remortgage your house.
You wont need a filter if you have enough live rock and plenty of water flow (Berlin method). Fish will need a good skimmer (get one for a larger tank than you have so you are not on the edge). If the weather gets hot where you are you will need some method of keeping the water down to temperature like a chiller as the lights (metal halides are best for corals, T4's will do if you have enough of them) will cause the water to heat up as well as a heater to keep the temp up at night / cold days. You'll need a source of water like a reverse osmosis unit for weekly water changes and obviously salt to mix with it. You could use natural water but you cant guarantee the quality and you are putting it in a confined area so any contaminants effects will be multiplied. As has also been said, the larger the tank the better. This is more so if you are just starting as a larger volume of water will withstand any changes better than a nano tank (typically 80 litres and under) and less likley to crash and kill your expensive stock.

benny the ball

Oh yes and try www.reefpark.co.uk very helpful and lots of info and links

Loz4Oz

Sorry to jump in on this thread but I will be shutting down my system soon as we're about to put our house on the market. Would it be worth bringing all my equipment out to Oz (skimmers, heaters, pumps, MH lights... etc). Are prices expensive over there? And would there be any implications for getting this stuff through customs?

Cheers, Loz.

PS. Try this link too, lots of good stuff on there.
Ultimatereef

cresta57

Thanks for the replies guys, the tank I'm investing in is already well established with rock corals and fish. I'll post a couple of pics later.
Regarding the reverse osmosis, everyone I've spoken to here just goes down to the beach and collects a 5 gallon drum of fresh salt water for water top ups / partial changes.
Here's a list of the spec:
Tank: 1000 x 500 x 500 (230l), 70l Refuge 30l Sump
Custom made cabinet and hood
6000LPH Return pump
1x 250W Ablite lowbay Metal Halide 14000k Corallights bulb (bulbs about 8 months old)
1x Seio 1100 @ 4400LPH
2x Aqua clear 802's @ 1500LPH
45+Kg Live Rock plus some enviro rock
1 x Yellow Tang
2x Clarkii Clowns
1x H. Crispa Anemone
1x colony x Orange/green Zoas
1x small colonly Green Zoas
Red, purple, green, brown Coral morphs (not sure on numbers theres a few here and there around the tank)
1x Star polyps
1x Green/gold Anchora
2 x Torch Coral
Few other bits and pieces of corals through out the tank....
Here's a pic

Loz4Oz

Hi,
you'll need to top up your levels with fresh water, RO if possible, as you'll be replacing water which has evaporated.
I know that people run tanks successfully in the UK using natural seawater for partial water changes. If I do set up another tank once we're in Oz that's what I'll be doing.

HTH, Loz