I think it was on the cards for a while, we kept loosing fish for no reason, seemingly out of no where (water quality was excellent other than being a little hard). thb I wanted top re-stock, thinking about going shrimp and snail only.
Your current Fish tank Setups!
- Thread starter Malt_Vinegar
- Start date
Soldato
I tended to lose at least one fish every time someone popped in to feed while we were away. After several years, I simply gave a generous last feed before we left and they then had a few famine days.
Bit more tricky when you're away for more than a week.
I did a stupid one last October, turned filter off as usual to feed my semi-blind 14 years old Leopard Bush fish just before we left, forgot to turn it back on and came back to a dead 10+ year old Rubbernose Plec, four days later.
Bit more tricky when you're away for more than a week.
I did a stupid one last October, turned filter off as usual to feed my semi-blind 14 years old Leopard Bush fish just before we left, forgot to turn it back on and came back to a dead 10+ year old Rubbernose Plec, four days later.
Soldato
My 190L corner tank is ticking over nicely:
5 Golden Wonder Panchax
15 Tiger barbs
5 bronze cory
1 panda cory
1 male bristlenosed plec
The panchax are the latest additions and though they grow to about 9cm, these are young and less than half that. I was concerned about how the tiger barbs would treat them.
As it turns out, the Panchax are quite capable of looking after themselves. They don't get bullied and are happy to mix it up with the barbs at feeding time.
I'm really happy of the spread of fish in this tank.
The Panchax lurk at the surface, often in formation.
The tiger barbs occupy the middle section.
The corys live at ground level.
The reclusive plec lives in his cave!
5 Golden Wonder Panchax
15 Tiger barbs
5 bronze cory
1 panda cory
1 male bristlenosed plec
The panchax are the latest additions and though they grow to about 9cm, these are young and less than half that. I was concerned about how the tiger barbs would treat them.
As it turns out, the Panchax are quite capable of looking after themselves. They don't get bullied and are happy to mix it up with the barbs at feeding time.
I'm really happy of the spread of fish in this tank.
The Panchax lurk at the surface, often in formation.
The tiger barbs occupy the middle section.
The corys live at ground level.
The reclusive plec lives in his cave!
Man of Honour
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- 21 Nov 2004
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Our 3 pink side neck turtles arrive tomorrow morning 
Our water lettuce is growing and dividing like crazy, as are the rest of our plants. At this point, unexpectedly, I think I’m preferring the planted tank to the reef tank.
Our water lettuce is growing and dividing like crazy, as are the rest of our plants. At this point, unexpectedly, I think I’m preferring the planted tank to the reef tank.
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Having 2nd thoughts about this tank.
Starting to wonder how much more work it'll be to make a soft coral tank.
Been nearly 20 years since I've kept marine, so doing some reading.
I'm really tempted, only thing that puts me off is that I'll need to upgrade the lights, which means no hood, which means tons of light bleed in the bedroom.
Starting to wonder how much more work it'll be to make a soft coral tank.
Been nearly 20 years since I've kept marine, so doing some reading.
I'm really tempted, only thing that puts me off is that I'll need to upgrade the lights, which means no hood, which means tons of light bleed in the bedroom.
Man of Honour
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They arrived at 6:45am this morning! They are adorable, far smaller than I was expecting, we had to make some tank and feeder modifications.
First steps:
Finding our feet:
youtube.com
Finding land again (frustratingly the water fall is leaving a lot of limescale on the glass here):
A few more modifications needed to the deeper end tomorrow in case they struggle down there.
Our coral banded shrimp munching on a bristle worm:
First steps:
Finding our feet:
3 July 2024
youtube.com
Finding land again (frustratingly the water fall is leaving a lot of limescale on the glass here):
A few more modifications needed to the deeper end tomorrow in case they struggle down there.
Our coral banded shrimp munching on a bristle worm:
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Man of Honour
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Well waking up to find only 2 out of the 3 terrapins meant taking the rock structure apart. We didn’t anticipate they were such good climbers, or that they’d arrive so small, so after a stressful few minutes we found the 3rd alive and behind the rocks, so we’ve redesigned things until they get bigger. We also added a load more guppies into both tanks.
One of our terrapins decided the water lettuce to be a good chill out spot:
Modifications, left side to reduce the depth at the request of the supplier and to the right, originally meant to be a fish refuge and waterfall, but not until the terrapins are too big to get stuck behind it:
The planted tank is doing well. The shrimp are growing as are the plants:
One of our terrapins decided the water lettuce to be a good chill out spot:
Modifications, left side to reduce the depth at the request of the supplier and to the right, originally meant to be a fish refuge and waterfall, but not until the terrapins are too big to get stuck behind it:
The planted tank is doing well. The shrimp are growing as are the plants:
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Got a silly question with flow in a marine tank.
For soft coral/SPS, I've read I should be aiming for 20x turnover. So for a 60l I should be looking at 1200 litres an hour.
Does that mean if I use 2 powerheads, do they both need to be 1200lph or 600lph?
Also been looking at rock, that ecoreef rock looks amazing! Expensive, but I think I might go that route.
For soft coral/SPS, I've read I should be aiming for 20x turnover. So for a 60l I should be looking at 1200 litres an hour.
Does that mean if I use 2 powerheads, do they both need to be 1200lph or 600lph?
Also been looking at rock, that ecoreef rock looks amazing! Expensive, but I think I might go that route.
Soldato
Recently bought an AllPondSolutions HOB500 - good filter and really cheap, but fills with air and gets noisy, so going to send it back.
Thinking about a canister filter instead, so what's a decent canister filter? Tank is ~80. I've already got some biogravel and some charcoal to go in it.
Cheers
Thinking about a canister filter instead, so what's a decent canister filter? Tank is ~80. I've already got some biogravel and some charcoal to go in it.
Cheers
For flow don't worry too much about absolute numbers. You just want to avoid dead spots and blasting corals directly with high flow. In my 3ft tank I have 2 AI nero 5 and 1 AI nero 3 and they ramp up/down randomly between ~40% and ~80%.
I'd stay away from any TMC gear including their rock. There are some horror stories about the rock in particular on ultimate reef.
Oh dear, looks like I need to do more research into rock then, I was kinda hoping to use artificial rock.
Can you recommend a good brand for power heads? I like the look of those AI Nero's, but even the 3 goes up to 7,000 lph. I know it's adjustable, but it seems a bit overkill for my tank.
Can you recommend a good brand for power heads? I like the look of those AI Nero's, but even the 3 goes up to 7,000 lph. I know it's adjustable, but it seems a bit overkill for my tank.
Soldato
lots of hang on backs do that just give it a tilt so any air pockets fill, you will see bubbles coming out, give it a tilt back and forth till the bubbles stop and it will be quiet. Also becaus eit cant prime itself make sure to fill it to the brim before switching it onRecently bought an AllPondSolutions HOB500 - good filter and really cheap, but fills with air and gets noisy, so going to send it back.
Thinking about a canister filter instead, so what's a decent canister filter? Tank is ~80. I've already got some biogravel and some charcoal to go in it.
Cheers
For a cannister on a small tank i like the Oase filtosmarts, the thermo model gets the heater out of the tank and you can get some nice stainless steel pipes or lily pipes if your after that clean look. https://www.swelluk.com/oase-filtosmart-thermo-external-filters#thermo-filtosmart-100
My smallest tank with a cannister is 150l which has an eheim classic 600 on it they are great no frills filters, pretty bullet proof too https://www.swelluk.com/eheim-classic-external-filters-plus
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I have no idea what to do about which rock type to use.
As always, ask a question and get 20 odd conflicting answer, some people like the man made stuff, others treat it like it's the devils kidney stones.
Was thinking of going half live rock, half marco rock. But now, I'm not sure if I should just bite the bullet and go full live rock.
I've read you should use roughly 1lb of rock for ever gallon of water, so say 12 gallon tank, 5.4kg, round it up to 6 to be safe.
As always, ask a question and get 20 odd conflicting answer, some people like the man made stuff, others treat it like it's the devils kidney stones.
Was thinking of going half live rock, half marco rock. But now, I'm not sure if I should just bite the bullet and go full live rock.
I've read you should use roughly 1lb of rock for ever gallon of water, so say 12 gallon tank, 5.4kg, round it up to 6 to be safe.
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Man of Honour
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2 power heads, no dead spots, flow will depend on the coral, even individuals of the same species tend to like different flow. Took months to get ours right. We over spec'd ours, but then run them very low so that they are nice and quiet.
If you can afford it, live rock every time. Massively shortened the cycle, skipped the ugly phase and immediately populated the tank with an full ecosystem of cool stuff.
Our terrapins are still doing well, big water change today. Still fine tuning feedings and the tank setup, but we’re nearly there I think. Here’s 2 of the 3:
Planted tank is doing well, but plants not growing quite as quickly as they should be, so have adjusted the lighting to provide more blue and green light. Frogs next.
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My bank balance has taken a bit of a hit setting up this very small reef tank.
So far I've bought.
RODI System.
AI Blade Coral Grow 21" Light.
AI Nero Blade 3 Powerhead.
Small HOB Filter.
H2Ocean Compact Auto Top-Up.
Tomorrow I'm going to go to a fish shop and pick up some dry rock and live sand.
Hopefully get it all setup over the weekend and get the cycle started.
Seems near impossible to get live rock now, so just gonna stick with the dry stuff now. Least I don't have to worry about a mantis shrimp hitching a ride.
So far I've bought.
RODI System.
AI Blade Coral Grow 21" Light.
AI Nero Blade 3 Powerhead.
Small HOB Filter.
H2Ocean Compact Auto Top-Up.
Tomorrow I'm going to go to a fish shop and pick up some dry rock and live sand.
Hopefully get it all setup over the weekend and get the cycle started.
Seems near impossible to get live rock now, so just gonna stick with the dry stuff now. Least I don't have to worry about a mantis shrimp hitching a ride.
Man of Honour
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Seems near impossible to get live rock now, so just gonna stick with the dry stuff now. Least I don't have to worry about a mantis shrimp hitching a ride.
or a Bobbit worm.
Ours came with loads of bristle worms, but they are great clean up crew and snacks for our coral banded shrimp. The clam that appeared was pretty cool too.
Went for Caribsea rock in the end, definitely looks the part.
Do you think that aquascape is o.k. Planning on putting my nero powerhead sort of front left, hope the flows o.k
All going well, I'll get the RO unit setup tomorrow and get the sand and water in.
Do you think that aquascape is o.k. Planning on putting my nero powerhead sort of front left, hope the flows o.k
All going well, I'll get the RO unit setup tomorrow and get the sand and water in.
Well, I have everything I need except water now...
Tried to setup my RODI unit and don't have enough water pressure, need at least 60 PSI, but both my showers and even my outside tap are only giving 40.
I could try connecting it to the mains, but I don't want to go putting holes in my pipes if I'm going to be getting the same results.
Feeling a bit up **** creek without a paddle at the moment.
Tried to setup my RODI unit and don't have enough water pressure, need at least 60 PSI, but both my showers and even my outside tap are only giving 40.
I could try connecting it to the mains, but I don't want to go putting holes in my pipes if I'm going to be getting the same results.
Feeling a bit up **** creek without a paddle at the moment.
Man of Honour
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We just buy ours, but it does get expensive in the long run.