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My Marine Tank ...

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Decided to convert my Juwel Lido 120 to marine. Haven't had a marine tank for 20+ years, and with the short research I've done, they appear so much easier, with the products and knowledge out there.

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Stripped out the entire tank this afternoon, and went shopping ..

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RO water dripping away, and should get the tank filled tonight :happydance:got approx 40-50mm of fine crushed coral sand.

ONLY planning to house a pair of clowns (platinum jibdcb), a anemone....perhaps some harlequins :beer:...still researching on compatibility and other invertebrates etc...

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Planning to add some live rocks tomorrow & over the next few weeks, and start the cycling process...... Appreciate any advise, thanks.

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  • BlueBolts
    BlueBolts

    Anemones have settled and looking amazing....still formulating a feeding/maintenance schedule to ensure phosphates are kept >0.02.... Can't wait for my marine lights to arrive, and get the anem

  • BlueBolts
    BlueBolts

    Having added another G3 recently, turnover now is x66 of water volume....LOL, anemone are loving it :-)

  • Any questions or problems let me know. Looks like you are off to a great start mate. My credentials....

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I love harlequin shrimp I want to get a pair one day

Looking forward to the updates BB. Love those shrimps. Had a marine tank 3 years ago, failed miserably lol. Newbie mistakes, use tap water for top ups and water changes (+marine salt).

That is a great looking tank! What's the stock lighting on it like? And what led you to choose a sand bed of that depth?

If you ever decide you want to add some coral to the tank just let me know and I can send you some, you helped me out with some shrimp way back and I'd love to return the favor. The harlequins are beautiful shrimp, from memory a guy was trying to breed them in Australia a year or two ago.

Awesome stuff BB, I can't wait to see this setup next! :encouragement:

The main & toughest thing about harlequin shrimp is that they feed on starfish, they feed on the sticky feet of the starfish, pretty expensive diet. :dejection: Blood shrimp are what I want to get, super sexy. :victorious:

Offcourse owning all the freshwater shrimp isnt enough for Marcus he has now gone marine...keep us updated cheers!

  • Author

Tank all cleaned, filters changed ..... Reduced the biological filter (removed media) by 50%, and replaced with mats to increase the mechanical side of the filtration....added carbon and planned to replace every 4-6 weeks. Substrate is approx. 50mm thick. There seems to be so many conflicting opinion of thickness of substrate (anaerobic), and the removal of the biological side of the filter, for a anemone/low stock fish setup.... Still reading & learning

Will be picking live rocks today....

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Our marine tank is set up with 40-50mm of substrate and we have Strombus snails which dig around in the bottom keeping the gravel turned over and preventing anaerobic buildup.

My understanding of Marine is limited (its my other half's tank) but i think you can do them whichever way, they just each have different benefits and risks.

Any questions or problems let me know. Looks like you are off to a great start mate.

My credentials....

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  • Author

Wow, that's freakin awesome....can you share your filtration, media, maintenance schedule...etc

Any questions or problems let me know. Looks like you are off to a great start mate.My credentials....032_zpse866b139.jpg

Some lovely coral growth there!

Marcus- I only use the same salt as you do with RODI. I always do 10 percent weekly water changes and can confidently go up to six weeks without a water change during vacations. I have a calcium reactor to maintain magnesium calcium and alkalinity. Protein skimmer yes, Brightwells phosphate E for phosphate reduction and a handful of activated carbon in a filter sock in the sump. Nothing else, no special feeding of coral etc etc. What you see was grown from tiny frags, built the live rock from dry base rock from AOA - cheers @Ben

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Awesome stuff dude, that tank looks amazing! :encouragement:

Great work Marcus! Good to see you haven't wasted anytime making the decision to get this setup!

Look forward to seeing how it develops!

look forward to watching the progress. I would love to try a marine tank but too scared lol too much unknown

  • Author

Wow Nils, that bare tank & rock positioning just screams creativity, and the outcome is the absolute proof. Unfortunately my aquascaping skills is left to luck and plagerism, and even they are not enough :-( very inspirational.

Picked up some live rocks today. Intending to get 12 kg (120lt) tank (1kg = 10 lt ratio), but only got 7kg, and will introduce the remaining live rocks over the next few days/weeks

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I've seen your tank journal on another forum Slin, absolutely stunning!

@BB, I picked up a pair of snowflakes today from Photon Clownfish and I had a bit of a chat with him. They're working on breeding some platinums and I got to see some of his premium snowflakes today, it doesn't look like they're to far off of it. He said people weren't having any luck breeding any of the imported platinums and that there is talk that they were steralised so that they wouldn't breed. They're currently the only breeders of designer clownfish in Australia as well. However I believe I did see a platinum clown for sale online recently. Your scape looks great!

  • Author

Thanks for the info....sterilised imports ? Grrrrr, that reminded me of imported discus 25+ years ago that were sterilised too :-(

Not sure about the fluval background....inherited it from the freshwater setup, paid $ for it, and didn't have the heart to rip it out. Hope I don't regret not doing it.

Looks very very cool Marcus... CONGRATS!

If the background is one of the ones that is porous it will work well, the more room for good bacteria the better.

I setup a 50ltr for the wife about 7 years ago and the only issue I had was when the anemone died( noone told me you had to feed it) apart from that it's been rather easy maintenance.

I went to 5-6 shops that either said you can.spend thousands or keeping simple depending on the shop, then I found an old guy who had marine since the sixties and got a couple of tips, i haven't had a problem since.

Mines a very basic setup where the live rock is the filtration, the biggest expense was the light.

I went with an aqualina power compact.

Basic coral and a pair of occy clowns.

I bought a small in tank protein skimmer and have only used it once before it went in the leftover fish stuff box.

It's a simple tank with an overhead filter I filled with small pieces of live rock that runs off a 1000lph pump, slow flow over the filter and fast in the tank.

I do 20% weekly waterchanges with fresh sea water. And didn't have to cycle because it was live rock with sea water.

I don't run any substrate as i was told it could cause issues in the long term.

If i.was to give any tips they would be;

Use live rock not base rock as the bacteria colonies are already established In live rock.

Use sea water, don't mix your own, it's better for the coral, always have enough sea water to do a 100% change if needed and have all the additives on hand.

Don't put fish in yet. Although with my method we were able to we shouldn't have.

Establish a clean up crew of snails, shrimp before adding any fish.

Certain fish eat different types of algae.

Always have peppermint shrimp to control any aptasia that may be on the liverock and blennys eat any green algae

Always allow spaces for flow under and around the live rock so you don't end up with dead spots with no circulation as they create nitrate pockets

Cheers mick

Ps I have a few spare red morphs and some sun bleached base rock if you want it pm me because the wife wants an upgrade( after the new shrimp rack is finished lol)so I will be splitting whatever morphs are left to spread around the new tank and I have too many reds.

If the background is one of the ones that is porous it will work well' date=' the more room for good bacteria the better.

I setup a 50ltr for the wife about 7 years ago and the only issue I had was when the anemone died( noone told me you had to feed it) apart from that it's been rather easy maintenance.

I went to 5-6 shops that either said you can.spend thousands or keeping simple depending on the shop, then I found an old guy who had marine since the sixties and got a couple of tips, i haven't had a problem since.

Mines a very basic setup where the live rock is the filtration, the biggest expense was the light.

I went with an aqualina power compact.

Basic coral and a pair of occy clowns.

I bought a small in tank protein skimmer and have only used it once before it went in the leftover fish stuff box.

It's a simple tank with an overhead filter I filled with small pieces of live rock that runs off a 1000lph pump, slow flow over the filter and fast in the tank.

I do 20% weekly waterchanges with fresh sea water. And didn't have to cycle because it was live rock with sea water.

I don't run any substrate as i was told it could cause issues in the long term.

If i.was to give any tips they would be;

Use live rock not base rock as the bacteria colonies are already established In live rock.

Use sea water, don't mix your own, it's better for the coral, always have enough sea water to do a 100% change if needed and have all the additives on hand.

Don't put fish in yet. Although with my method we were able to we shouldn't have.

Establish a clean up crew of snails, shrimp before adding any fish.

Certain fish eat different types of algae.

Always have peppermint shrimp to control any aptasia that may be on the liverock and blennys eat any green algae

Always allow spaces for flow under and around the live rock so you don't end up with dead spots with no circulation as they create nitrate pockets

Cheers mick

Ps I have a few spare red morphs and some sun bleached base rock if you want it pm me because the wife wants an upgrade( after the new shrimp rack is finished lol)so I will be splitting whatever morphs are left to spread around the new tank and I have too many reds.[/quote']

Your post was informative for someone who wants a marine tank but has no idea how to look after one!. When you say use sea water do you mean sea water as in straight from the ocean or am i missing something? I have always wondered if you could like just take water from the sea and put it in your tank >< lol

  • Author

Several LFS that I've been to suggest natural sea water, and is sold for like 20cents a litre, which is much cheaper then mix RO/Salts. The natural seawater sold have been filtered for algae and other pollutants, so definitely a good alternative

Several LFS that I've been to suggest natural sea water' date=' and is sold for like 20cents a litre, which is much cheaper then mix RO/Salts. The natural seawater sold have been filtered for algae and other pollutants, so definitely a good alternative[/quote']

So do they take it from the sea and filter it ?

Most of the natural sea water is collected around 10km off shore and is put through a uv filter to kill any baddies in the water.

Cheers mick

We have an IBC under the house, there are a couple of local suppliers who collect and deliver seawater to your house so we get a delivery maybe once in 6 months.

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