A ton of questions from new hobbyist.

[CFR]

Hi there!

I'm setting up my nano reef and I thought I could get some help from you guys.
Just got an Interpet Fishpod 120. I know it's for freshwater, but I thought I could modify it to suit my needs. Ideally, I'd like to have some soft and hard corals, 3-4 small fishes and the necessary clean up crew.

I'm about to order the following stuff:

• base rock and some live rock
• Carib Sea Special Grade sand
• API Saltwater & Reef test kits (pH, kH, Nitrite, Nitrate, Ammonia, Calcium and Phosphate)
• 2 Hydor Nano 1600
• 1 external canister filter
• sea salt
• Seachem Purigen
• Fluval Carbon

Please bear in mind I want to keep it as simple as possible. I know that the rock and the sand is the biological filter of the aquarium. So I thought that an external filter with poly filter, Seachem Purigen and Fluval Carbon could provide the mechanical and chemical filtration.

I have a lot of questions, but here are the most important.

1) Do I have to clean, cook or bathe the dry rock in muriatic acid before I place it in my tank?

2) I'm planning to get rid of the canopy but I don't know what kind of lights I should buy. A friend of mine gave me 3 sets of Arcadia T5 leads sometime ago and I was thinking I could fit 3-4 Arcadia LED T5 tubes. I suppose I'll also need a controller.
Or I could buy a decent LED light and forget the diy work. I don't want to break the bank though. What's my options?

3) Do I have to buy a RO/DI filter? I mean, the tank is only 154 lt. Wouldn't it be less of a hassle if I just get the RO water from the lfs?

4) Is there anything else I should buy? Please bear in mind that I want to keep it simple.

Thank you for bearing with me.

 

[diver 807]

lighting I would go for led's as they are so much cheaper to run.be careful of lfs ro water as some are not too particular with changing the filters .

 

[warby]

Hi there!

I'm setting up my nano reef and I thought I could get some help from you guys.
Just got an Interpet Fishpod 120. I know it's for freshwater, but I thought I could modify it to suit my needs. Ideally, I'd like to have some soft and hard corals, 3-4 small fishes and the necessary clean up crew.

I'm about to order the following stuff:

• base rock and some live rock
• Carib Sea Special Grade sand
• API Saltwater & Reef test kits (pH, kH, Nitrite, Nitrate, Ammonia, Calcium and Phosphate)
• 2 Hydor Nano 1600
• 1 external canister filter
• sea salt
• Seachem Purigen
• Fluval Carbon

Please bear in mind I want to keep it as simple as possible. I know that the rock and the sand is the biological filter of the aquarium. So I thought that an external filter with poly filter, Seachem Purigen and Fluval Carbon could provide the mechanical and chemical filtration.

I have a lot of questions, but here are the most important.

1) Do I have to clean, cook or bathe the dry rock in muriatic acid before I place it in my tank?

2) I'm planning to get rid of the canopy but I don't know what kind of lights I should buy. A friend of mine gave me 3 sets of Arcadia T5 leads sometime ago and I was thinking I could fit 3-4 Arcadia LED T5 tubes. I suppose I'll also need a controller.
Or I could buy a decent LED light and forget the diy work. I don't want to break the bank though. What's my options?

3) Do I have to buy a RO/DI filter? I mean, the tank is only 154 lt. Wouldn't it be less of a hassle if I just get the RO water from the lfs?

4) Is there anything else I should buy? Please bear in mind that I want to keep it simple.

Thank you for bearing with me.

buying list:
if that sand is live save your money it will become live in time

don't bother with api tests there cr@p go for salifert. you will need ammonia nitrite and nitrate to start with then later down the line calcium magnesium and alkalinity.

the other stuff sounds ok but you don't really needed branded carbon just good quality granular activated carbon.

the base rock I guess you mean live rock that's dried out looks pale there's another type of rock called ocean rock which is calmed base rock as well. it's very heavy and dense. where as live rock or dead rock is very light for its size as it's porous.

I'd look at a decent led unit in all honesty unless you want to be changing tubes every 9-12months. nothing wrong with t5 some of the best sps tanks use them.

ro water can be hotly debated imo it's worth buying your own you know the water is 0tds where lfs tend not be bother as much some lfs water has been upto 40ppm tds.

another piece of kit I'd recommend is a skimmer and you will need one rated roughly twice your tank volume. don't just go buying any ask on here for recommendations. iv just out a tunze 9004 on my small tank very quiet and sits inside the tank.

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[CFR]

Thank you for your input.
The T5 tubes are LED.

 

[warby]

Thank you for your input.
The T5 tubes are LED.
View attachment 134244

there also expensive £30 per tube x 4 £120 I'd bet you can get a second hand controllable led unit for around that price. tmc ilumenair 600, maxpect razor, evergrow it2040 e.t.c. plus I'm not 100% sure if the led tubes are capable of growing sps corals which is what I presume you mean by hard corals. unless of course you mean lps corals?

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[CFR]

That makes sense! Thanks warby!

 

[CFR]

Has anyone tried this light ? Any thoughts?

 

[merser]

Never seen those before but I think If you buy cheap you may buy twice. My ten pence would be the same as warby's look for a tried and tested second hand led to get started. They're always around in the classified etc.


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[CFR]

Never seen those before but I think If you buy cheap you may buy twice. My ten pence would be the same as warby's look for a tried and tested second hand led to get started. They're always around in the classified etc.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'll keep that in mind. Thanks merser!

 

[CEECH]

As stated by [MENTION=20322]warby[/MENTION] i would go for one of the above lights he mentioned.I would for sure go for a skimmer as this also helps with the filtration.. As for test kits i hope you have not purchased the api they are pretty much useless.With a external filter you may find it hard in the long run to have sps. Marine specific tanks are much better and easier to setup other trying to converta fresh water tank. you wont save any more and most likely will run into more problems.depending on how long you plan to keep this tank as upgrades usually come fast lol .

 

[CFR]

I'm shopping around for a RO/DI system and I came across this one. Is it as good as a full size RO/DI of the same gpd output?

 

[chippypah]

You want to speak to Toby [MENTION=11655]LittleOcean[/MENTION] don't like the compact ones as no pre filters.

 

[LittleOcean]

Yeh, I don't recommend compacts purely as they cost mor in replacement filters long term, the full size units give you better value and are cheap to replace and protect the membrane , which is the expensive part alot better than the smaller pre-filters.

 

[CFR]

Thanks for the advice guys!
Do you reckon I'm going to need a booster pump as well?

 

[chippypah]

All depends on your water pressure, you could always put one in if needed later on.

 

[LittleOcean]

got both pumped and non pumped in stock > LittleOcean Aquatic products

as chippy said you can always add a pump later , for me i just run my unit over night fill up the garden barrel and then turn it off

 

[CFR]

Yeah, that makes sense Little Ocean.

On another note, I'm expecting a delivery of 10 kgs of Pukani rock tomorrow. The tank is new, not cycled yet. I'm testing it for leaks right now.
Should I cure the rock in a bucket, cycle the tank and then put the rock in the tank once it's cured, or it's ok to put the rock in the tank and cure it while the tank's cycling?
Cheers!

 

[CEECH]

Yeah, that makes sense Little Ocean.

On another note, I'm expecting a delivery of 10 kgs of Pukani rock tomorrow. The tank is new, not cycled yet. I'm testing it for leaks right now.
Should I cure the rock in a bucket, cycle the tank and then put the rock in the tank once it's cured, or it's ok to put the rock in the tank and cure it while the tank's cycling?
Cheers!

I would add the rock when you are cycling the tank as it will also help to seed your rock. Do you plan on using any bacteria booster ? For example colony or something like this ?

 

[CFR]

I'm sorry for the late reply.
I've decided to prepare the rock accordingly before I add it to my tank. That means soaking in bleach and, if necessary, in citric acid.
I'm not going to use any bacteria booster. I'll add 1-2 kilos of live rock and ammonia if needed.

Speaking of live rock. Where should I purchase it from? LFS or online?

 

[saltyseadog]

I have a TMC skimmer which was on my 97l tank if you want it? I paid £100 for it and it was only on my tank for about 2 months.... worked really well!

Yours delivered for £50