My First Marine Tank - Established Set Up - Gifted by Dad

[Hodgy_2k5]

Hi All,

Other than Hodgy please call me Richard. I can happily say that my dad has gifted me his Juwel Rio 300 (4x2x2 - 350L) marine set up. I have a bit of an idea of what I need to do as we originally set a tank up between 8-9years ago in a Rio400 but was too big for dads living room, so he bought the Rio 300 and we sold off the original Rio400. Naturally everything was transfered from the 400 to the 300.

There's verious things I'd like to change as time goes on and money allows. As you can see the tank is mainly cabbage coral, dont get me wrong I love it but theres just too much. This was originally two small frags and over the years has grown massive. When we moved the tank, various pieces broke off/split when we disturbed the live rock but has allowed me to start fragging pieces which will be up for sale shortly. Ideally what I can get for the cabbage coral will be used to introduce new corals and help maintain the tank.

Set-up
Juwel Rio 300 - 350L
TMC V2Skim 600
Fluval 406 External
All Pond Solution 1000lph External with UV
TMC Aquarays (x2)
Arcadia Overtank Luminaire OT2
2x Hydor Koralia 3200lph
1x Jebao Flow Pump (lph unknown)
1x Jebao Wave Maker (lph unknown)
1x Fluval E Series Advanced Electronic Heater 300w (set to 25'C)

 

[Hodgy_2k5]

Current Livestock
2x Clowns (both orginal from when the tank was set up 8-9years ago)
4x Blue Damsels
1x Humbug (5-6years)
1x unknown blue fish (right of pucture)
1x Regal Tang - new edition 2weeks ago, couldnt say no to the kids (Dori)
1x Teddy Bear Crab

 

[Phil077]

Welcome to the Salty Box. Nice softys there

 

[Phil077]

You might want to re think about moving the teddy bear crab. I Was told there not reef safe.
Maybe I'm wrong :whistling:

 

[Hodgy_2k5]

Teddy Bear crab must have been a hitch hiker years ago as we never seen him until he was around an inch in diameter and he's now around 1.5-2". However he doesnt really cause many issues apart from disturbing the cabbage coral when he climbs.. However that said I've organised that he will go off to our local lfs when i purchase my clean up crew as we think he was what seen the original clean up crews off over the years.

 

[CEECH]

:sign0016: to the forum, cool looking sodie tank there is plenty of them could not see the blue fish you talked about in your pictures. Get a snap of the fish and i am sure we can get an id for you

 

[CEECH]

:sign0016: to the forum, cool looking sodie tank there is plenty of them could not see the blue fish in your pictures very well. Get a snap of the fish and i am sure we can get an id for you

 

[steve861uk]

:sign0016: and nice looking tank Big Thumbs Up

You say the heater is turned off with the tank stabilised between 23 and 35 Deg C. That's a big swing in temp and in this hobby stability is the key - especially when you start introducing other corals and to keep your fish free from stress. You may want to consider a temp controller with your heater plugged into it as well as some cooling fans (for when the warm weather comes).

My controller is set to fluctuate between 25.3 and 26 with it being kept quite stable around 25.5 most of the time (so the most it will ever change is 0.7 of a degree over a prolonged period of time). This is the beauty of having a controller :dance: Below is the controller I use but a lot also use the STC - 1000:

Inkbird ITC-308 UK Digital Temperature Controller Thermostat fan water control | eBay

My girls would love a teddy bear crab....but not so sure about the tank mates :w00t:

 

[Hodgy_2k5]

Sorry I have a major typo on there 23-25' was what it was meant to say.

 

[steve861uk]

Sorry I have a major typo on there 23-25' was what it was meant to say.

3 Degrees is still quite a big swing, unless you have a really stable temp within your home. The benefit of a controller is that once you set it, it will deliver an ear splitting alarm to let you know that something is not quite right (too cold - i.e. the heater is not working, or too hot - the cooling fans are not cooling).

 

[Hodgy_2k5]

3 Degrees is still quite a big swing, unless you have a really stable temp within your home. The benefit of a controller is that once you set it, it will deliver an ear splitting alarm to let you know that something is not quite right (too cold - i.e. the heater is not working, or too hot - the cooling fans are not cooling).

Cheers Steve I really appriciate that. I've had a look at cooling fans and cant really see one being better than another, is there anything anyone would recommend?

 

[warby]

Cheers Steve I really appriciate that. I've had a look at cooling fans and cant really see one being better than another, is there anything anyone would recommend?

the more expensive ones use better quality fans which turn out to be quieter. iv used some of the £20 4 fan unit off the bay and they are ok. lasted about 12 months until the salt corroded the 5mm power jack so I just bypassed it and it carried on working.

Sent from my s6 using Tapatalk!

 

[CEECH]

if you are going for cooling fans what warby has mentioned about are good but i would buy a stc controller that you can hook up the cool fan and your heaters to . This will keep the temp in your tank much more stable.

 

[Hodgy_2k5]

I've been doing some reading on these. As soon as I've had some £££ come in either from wages or selling some of the cabbage coral, I'll definately be buying these.

Got my RO-Man moved to my house yesterday and will be setting up tonight to do a decent water change tomorrow night/wednesday. I'll upload some pics once I have it installed in the shed. Bought a qaulity adapter off Amazon yesterday which converts my hose to RO 6mm (1/4") pipe. Big Thumbs Up

 

[Hodgy_2k5]

Current Shopping List:
- salifert phosphate PO4 test kit
- salifert Nitrate NO3 test kit
- Cooling Fans
- Inkbird ITC-308 UK Digital Temperature Controller
- new heater
- new light tubes
- salt

Desired Livestock
- clean up crew (cleaner shrimp, hermit crabs, snails)

- More Mushrooms
- Kenyon
- Zoas
- another toadstool
- pulsing coral

- Copperband Angel
- Juv Emperor Angel
- another regal tang
- powder blue tang
- pair mandarins
- couple of gobys
- couple of wrasse
- Sand Shifter
- Red Star Fish
- Blue Star Fish

- Nem

 

[warby]

what size is the tank?

Current Shopping List:
- salifert phosphate PO4 test kits - don't bother not accurate. go for the elos or nyos kits.
- salifert Nitrate NO3 test kit
- Cooling Fans
- Inkbird ITC-308 UK Digital Temperature Controller - personally I'd get the simply aquaria temp controller.
- new heater
- new light tubes - led's?
- salt

added some changes that I'd make.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[CEECH]

As above i would not go near salifert for p04 and for temp controller simply aquaria temp controller or stc 1000 if you are a diy person. I made a nice case for mine and can be used for heating and cooling. Let me know if you need any help if you decide to go that route

 

[steve861uk]

Beware the pulsing coral (Xenia)....can spread like a weed if not kept in check.

Inkbird controller is plug and play (so NO diy), however I don't think there's an option to replace the temp probe (should it fail). So it's swings and roundabouts :w00t: depending on your own requirements. The simply aquaria controller does what the inkbird does.....but for TWICE the price Hysterical

 

[Hodgy_2k5]

Been having a look at the local LFS this week. So tempting but managed to refrain from buying anything livestock wise whilst im trying to sort levels etc.

In reference to the light tubes which I currently have, can I buy LED's which fit/powered by the luminaire?

 

[Bluez_01]

:sign0016: to the forum, sorry its a late welcome. Big Thumbs Up