Tank Journal Archive

[craige]

Hey my names craige im from tasmania and have all ways wanted to have a saltwater tank so i finely went and brought my first one witch is an AQUAONE AR850 165L with the usual wet & dry filter and an AQUAONE 8000 WAVE MAKER for water circulation​

Introduction:

Reefing Since:1/12/2012

System Objectives: get an established fish only tank then start adding corals

Type of reef: The wow factor

Display System:

Initial Fill Date: 1/12/2012

Display Tank Dimensions: 440W 840L 580H

Display Lighting: 3x t8

Stand: aqua one

Hood or Rimless: hood

Sump Design: N/A looking at going with a refugium

Filtration: baisic wet&dry that came with the tank

Support systems:

NSW or ASW: ASW

Display Water circulation: AQUA ONE WAVEMAKER

Return Pump: N/A

Skimmer: N/A

Evaporation Top Up: manual

Chemical additions:

Calcium Addition: N/A

Alkilinity Addition: N/A

Magnesium Addition: N/A

Prodibiotics Addition: N/A

Coral Food Addition: N/A​

So far my tanks only in the cycling stage with a few small pieces of live rock waiting for any traces of ammonia to drop before i add some more larger pieces​

 

[chimaera]

Nice start! If you can get some, add more live rock now otherwise you'll have to wait another cycle period.

 

[daveH]

I agree with chimaera, put the amount of rock that you think you will eventually require in now, otherwise you will need further cycle periods if you keep adding rock.Even if you don't put any corals in for a while.
Should be a nice setup when you get things rolling. :)

 

[craige]

Thanks for the advice i was told by the guy at the local aquarium said not to add any more live rock till my ammonia had dropped

 

[chimaera]

The only possible benefit in that would be if your live rock had coral etc on it - having some cycled rock might help lessen the impact a little. But better to go with a larger batch of rock and cycle away.

 

[craige]

so ive been thinking of also adding a refugium sump eventually but would like it to fit in my cabinet out of site this is what ive come up with let me know what u think

 

[craige]

thanks for the response chimaera i only have a very small amount of ammonia between 0-0.25 atm. how long roughly till my base rock starts to seed

 

[MagicJ]

Hi craige - good to see you started your TJ.

Which one is your 'local aquarium' ?? To be honest, you are better off learning the basics from people who have been through the same process and have nothing to gain by offering their advice or opinion. Ask your questions here first and then use that knowledge in conjunction with that offered by the LFS to make up your own mind.

Thanks for the advice i was told by the guy at the local aquarium said not to add any more live rock till my ammonia had dropped

I can think of no logical reason for saying this ....

thanks for the response chimaera i only have a very small amount of ammonia between 0-0.25 atm. how long roughly till my base rock starts to seed

If you are measuring ammonia then the cycle has started - but, how confident are you of the measurement as it can be difficult to identify colour changes in the tests at low levels. It doesn't hurt to throw in a small piece of seafood i.e. prawn etc to kickstart the cycle.

Whereabouts in Hobart are you? I can probably find a few frags of some relatively easy corals when you are ready.

 

[craige]

hi magicj im in kingston. mostly i will go out to new town aquarium as it is on my way home from work but my tank was brought from kingston aquarium and pet center they are the only 2 stores that i know of atm down my way that sell saltwater fish. i am rather confident that it is reading a slight level of ammonia. i tested for nitrates and nitrites yesterday but they are still at 0 as i was amusing they would be.:)

 

[SpikeHoover&Rocky]

IMO I would strongly suggest you add as much LR in at the start as you can afford/require.

Possibly over kill but I have 9Kg in my Aqua One Aquanano Marine 36. That has a display area of 30L (Kind of a LR tank at the moment though.) I am planning for a bigger aquarium so hopefully reduce my cycle time when i transfer the rock over.

My thought is around 1Kg/10Ltr so I would think you should be aiming for around ~16Kg. You have to remember this will essentially be your filter. Also what have you got running in the filter compartments of your AR850?

 

[craige]

Hi SpikeHoover&Rocky in the filter compartment i have the supplied black filter sponge the carbon canister filter and bio noodles

 

[craige]

Well called in to the LFS on the way home tonight and brought 4kg of live rock and another 1.5kg of base rock for $80 and did a bit of Aquascaping and found something in the bottom of the live rock bag PIC2 was wondering if any one could identify it for me and should it be in my tank??? also checked for ammonia again so uploaded a pic of the results so people can see for them self

 

[Buddy]

Collecter urchin?

 

[firebird]

Hi SpikeHoover&Rocky in the filter compartment i have the supplied black filter sponge the carbon canister filter and bio noodles

I suggest you take these all out- the carbon that comes with this tank is an inferior grade for salt water. The black sponge usually has carbon in it too-you don't want it if this is the case- are the bionoodles like matrix??
in essence for a saltwater tank your live rock and sand if you use it will be your main filter
Also NO bioballs in the sump-are nitrate producers.

 

[firebird]

Collecter urchin?

yup
are nice to keep but hope it lives through the cycle

 

[SpikeHoover&Rocky]

Hi SpikeHoover&Rocky in the filter compartment i have the supplied black filter sponge the carbon canister filter and bio noodles

So as firebird suggests... All the stuff that comes with this "in built filter" you want to ditch. Bio noods are ok...ish... but IMO I would swap it out for some matrix or better. essentially all the dividers in the top of your tank i would remove and either use LR rubble possibly a bag of better carbon as required and other marine aquarium things... possibly a bag of phosban.

you are on the right track and as a fellow noob to the marine aquarium world you are doing ok. chimaera and MTG will correct me if wrong :)

 

[firebird]

Rowacarb is a much better carbon to consider
Inferior carbon has been linked to causing HLLE in fish

 

[MTG]

i like the zeovit carbon, that stuff is potent !

 

[SpikeHoover&Rocky]

Also, what is your ammonia??? this is probably more relevant at this stage in your setup. you will be looking for a spike of ammonia then nitrite and nitrate.

Hope the little urchin survives. it is awesome. never got anything that good in my LR :( just a flipping Manta Shrimp

 

[craige]

firebird i have just taken a few photos of the filter setup and bio noodles. so you are not recommending using this filter ever to start out with or would it be a good idea to change the black sponge to a more suitable one. so far i only have 4.5kgs of live rock atm and about 3kgs of bare rock that im trying to seed looks like some have got some purple algae on it all ready. any help will be greatly appreciated i really want to make a go of this