# my first marine setup/attempt **UPDATED**



## bootdink (Jan 17, 2007)

well saturday i picked up a complete marine setup with the hole shabang! i got about 25-20 pounds of live rock,seaclone 100 skimmer,filter(for flow) heater,hood and lights(1 aurora 50/50 and 1 actinic) it came with some button polyp,ricordia mushroom,random blue and brown mushrooms,colt coral and tons of other little surprises floating around(startfish,bristleworms,copopods,mysis shrimp) and i bought 2 sexy shrimp of the guy for 15 bux(canadian)...this hole setup for 300 bux! and i couldnt be any happier with it! here are some pics...let me know your commens as i am new and comments will help alot...some of the pics are a little sketchy!

*before*

















































*after*


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## rchan11 (May 6, 2004)

Nicely done. What kind of fish are you going to put in it?


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## bootdink (Jan 17, 2007)

i dont know if im going to put fish in it right now as its my first tank...and fish equals waste and waste equals more things to worry about right now with salt(if im thinking correctyl) i have 2 sexy shrimp in there right now and if i can i think i want to add more shrimp...stick with the cheap alternatives right now(well some anyways) and thenif all goes well toss in a fish...im thinking maybe some type of gobie in the near future....ill definetly be looking for some more soft corals to add to it right now...just what ever i can find that catches my eye...thanks for the comment!


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## Raptor (Jan 3, 2003)

Nice stuff there, You are smart. I wish more people were like you. Most tend to throw in too many fish and overfeed, and wonder why they have a tank full of algea.
I like an all shrimp and snail tank. You can feed the shrimp and corals some mysis every once and a while.
Gobys and blennies make good nano fish. They are small, and low on waste.


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## bootdink (Jan 17, 2007)

thanks there raptor! i just do my research before i get into things...and like i say where its my first tank and im hearing with your first tank keeping paramters in order is a little bit of a hassle til you catch on ill stick with simple things.. thanks for the commment!


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

just an FYI but even fishless tanks can be plauged with algea and poor coral health, many water qaulity issues can be caused by phosphates intoroduced into the tank by using tap water of even ro water.. a goby would be a good choice since most perform some kind of benificial role, just make sure you fidn teh right fit for your system


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## bootdink (Jan 17, 2007)

i just did a complete test of my well water (with hagen master test kit) and heres what my readings were just from that water

nitrates= 5 and below
phosphates= 0.25 and below
ph=8.0-8.5

obviously these will flucuate a little when introduced to an aquarium but i was pretty surprised for the most part....i think im gonna try to get away with just clean up crews for now and then like i say find a gobie or something to introduce!as of right now im loving the two sexy shrimp that are in there, and im looking for some soft corals to add also to add a little more color...


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

Good job with stacking the LR. Looks very similar to mine, after I moved the tank. Most people simply stack the LR against the back wall, and it gives the tank a very flat look. However, you have stacked it adds dimensions to the tank with mountains, valleys, and LR up to the front glass. Well done.


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## bootdink (Jan 17, 2007)

thank coldfire!







now if i can just find some nice looking corals that might lighting setup can accomodate! does anyone have any thoughts as to some nice(fairly colorfull/vibrant) corals that would be suitable with my lighting(1 aurora 50/50 and 1 actinic, both 20 watts each)? and also does anyone know if instead of getting into metal halides buy another flourescent fixture and add maybe an actinic blue and a coralife bulb or something to up the lighting, or would i have to stick with the same bulbs as now instead of having 4 different bulbs on the tank, if this is possible? thanks


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## Raptor (Jan 3, 2003)

nismo driver said:


> just an FYI but even fishless tanks can be plauged with algea and poor coral health, many water qaulity issues can be caused by phosphates intoroduced into the tank by using tap water of even ro water.. a goby would be a good choice since most perform some kind of benificial role, just make sure you fidn teh right fit for your system


Thats true.
A good RO/DI is a good investment, or getting your rodi water from a reputable place. Never getthem from lfs, They charge the most and never change thier filters. IMO


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## bootdink (Jan 17, 2007)

is a ro/di a MUST? and will very low low amounts of phosphates create algea problems? my phosphates in my normal tap water is below .25 would this cause any problems?

and also does anyone know of some good low light corals? hardy?


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## hyphen (Apr 4, 2004)

it will eventually, yes. i've tried using tap water before and it creates really nasty pest algae. since its not a huge tank you can always get a few 5 or 10 gallon jugs filled from the RO water dispenser at the grocery store. around here we even have water stores.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

you will never have zero phospates infact if you did your tank would not do well, all living things need to have a low level of phosphates, but tap water will inevetable lead to algea problems also phosphate impead or block the calcification process and by many it its consideredto be a leading cause of browning in corals.. two things you can do, phosphate reactor or fuge with macro algea, the fuge is a good way to go, it will diversify the ecosystem of teh tank and ive never heard of a fuge having any negative effect on a tank.


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## bootdink (Jan 17, 2007)

i tested my tap water just for the hell of it and heres the results....

nitrates= below 5
phosphate= at or below 0.25
ph= 7.9-8.2

the hagen test kits are really hard to get an actual color match so that why i put the "betweens" in there... if these wont work then ill invest in a ro/di system and save the hassle of buying bottles of water for every water change...so far everything is awesome!


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## Raptor (Jan 3, 2003)

I use a colorimeter for my po4. Its a piece of testing equipment than can read down to 0.00 po4 pretty accurately. Let me say this, I thought was low before i got it, as all tests like sailferts,seachem ect ect all said around .010 to 0.05 on ave. LOL it was 0.38 I knew i had something wrong as my ro filters went bad and my po4 was climbing but the test kits didnt pick it up. Good rule of thumb IMO is the white bucket test if you suspect things are going on. Fill it with tank water and if it looks discolored you know somethings off if your test kit tells you another. And also algea growth is another, If you see hair algea growing good.

I shoot for since i have something accurate is 0.03-0.05


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## bootdink (Jan 17, 2007)

so far i got no algea growing which is good i suppose...everything seems to be going good...now im just waiting to find some decent lighting so i can add some nice corals


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## CorGravey (Feb 13, 2007)

Looks good so far bootdink


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## bootdink (Jan 17, 2007)

thanks corgrav...i upped the lighting to almost 4 watts per gallon and added some real nice corals...ill get a updated pic here very soon!


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

Sorry, I am slow.

What did you use to up your lighting? PowerCompacts and T-5's are a great way of adding additional lighting to your tank without having to go to Halides.

Also, for the lighting on your tank most Mushrooms, Zoos, and stuff like that will grow under your first lighting set up. Of course, it would be best to place them high on the LR.


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## bootdink (Jan 17, 2007)

for the lighting i have the same light fixture i did before and added a HO t-5 light fixture with 1 24 watt actinic blue and 1 24 watt power glo ... that upped my lighting to just about 90 watts(i like to round up lol) i've rearranged the previous corals and added some new ones that we will see very soon!


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

Sounds like a nice upgrade. I am sure your corals will like the new light.


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## bootdink (Jan 17, 2007)

new pics


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