KevKapawski Posted December 24, 2010 Author Share Posted December 24, 2010 I also have an UPDATE! PAR38 bulb arrive other day and the lamp arrived today. I have stripped the lamp base off and attached it down the back of the tank. Now the bulb hangs perfectly over my tank lid and beams down into my tank like an angel from the sky. The PAR38 LED bulb is a 6-7000k with approximately 1000 lux and I have also ordered a 20000k, 800lux blue submersible LED spot light that I hope will arrive next week. I reserved a large sun coral with a nice piece of purple sponge attached to it(£25/$38). Just gonna do another water change then do some tests over next few days then collect it on Monday. Pics to follow soon........................ Link to comment
BigBad82 Posted December 24, 2010 Share Posted December 24, 2010 can't wait to see the pics Kev! Link to comment
GPill Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Hello guys, I just bought my first biorb life 60L and I am in the process of setting it up as a marine aquarium. I had many fresh water tanks before but this is a completely new experience and I would like to hear any tips you have? I have read and followed all the previous posts, so far I added my salt water, live sand, heater and powerhead. I have also removed the filter cartridge and added some ceramic media and activated carbon in the house instead. Hopefully I am getting my live rock tomorrow and I am super excited!! Thanks for commenting on this threat it is really helpful and hopeful especially after I was told by all fishstore guys that biorb is not suitable for such a thing... George Link to comment
KevKapawski Posted February 9, 2011 Author Share Posted February 9, 2011 Hi George, Welcome to the world of saltwater You will get alot of negatives when keeping a marine fish tank smaller than 200+litres and then you will always find someone with a larger one who will disapprove of your tank... The bottom line is if you adapt to your tank and ensure it is healthy and stable then it is your personal choice. The LIFE 60 tank is harder to maintain due to the size and the fact that without adding a sump you will not be able to use the traditional equiptment such as reactors and skimmers ect... I would suggest a sump in the long run to get the full potential out of your tan. Also, a light uprade is a huge plus when it comes to maturing your tank and allowing you to stock a variety of corals. To start with I would suggest giving your tank 6 months with just Live Sand and Live Rock and a clean-up crew. Maybe add a mushroom frag or xenia in a month if your tank has finished a cycle and showing correct and stable parametres. I would follow by adding a fish or two a month or so after but ensure you leave it a month after cycle to ensure your tank has sufficient de-nitrifying bacteria to handle the ammonia your new fish will give off, not to mention the ammonia let off from the food you will need to give them. Seems like a slow process but your tank will be alot more stable if you do it slowly. Here is a pic of my tank when finished Any questions just ask Link to comment
GPill Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Thanks Kev! Yeah I have been looking around and I have seen the attitude people have for biorbs but I am willing to give it a go, I am willing to put a lot of love and effort in this... I know that the bigger the better for the fish (coz size matters after all ) but I will be reasonable I am getting my live rock tomorrow so I am very excited, I will upload some snaps soon!! Thanks for your help, George p.s. What happened with the upgrade in your lighting? Have you replaced the LED yet? Link to comment
GPill Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 your tank looks great by the way!! Link to comment
KevKapawski Posted February 9, 2011 Author Share Posted February 9, 2011 p.s. What happened with the upgrade in your lighting? Have you replaced the LED yet? Funny you should ask really as I have just received my replacement bulb today. I now have in terms of lighting: 1x High Power LED 20'000k submersible spot. 1xPAR38 LED 7000k and 24x blue LED strip. All is still pretty compact, you cant see the LED strip as its wrapped around the inner opening of tank and the 20k LED is in upper left corner in replacement of the pump you can see in my pic above. My par38 LED bulb is resting on the opening shining in where the original lighting was. The result is a pretty decent power upgrade with a total power consumption of no more than 40w. The colour is amazing, with the 20k combined with the LED strip it provides lots of blue and its all luminated by the PAR38. I will take a few pics with the finished article. Link to comment
GPill Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Cool looking forward to seeing the pics I just got 5.6kg of live rock today and now its all about reshuffling them around every five minutes until i got the perfect aqua-scape hehe I am thinking of covering the filter completely as it doesn't seem to do any work... also I think I might need another powerhead... I will upload some pictures as soon as I figure my rock arrangement Link to comment
new2marine Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 I am SO happy to have found this forum/thread... about to take my first step into Marine and looks wise the Biorb Life 60 seemed perfect, and after seeing the marine conversion kit I bought the tank. I was just going to get the Marine Service Kit to convert it but after looking at this I think I'll modify mine in a similar way and use natural filtration. Also, thank you for restoring my faith in it as a tank, I spoke to my local Marine supplier and he was well down on biorbs. Other threads on MArine forums were also so negative about them, but you guys have proved it can be done with time and effort. I just wandered, is there a specific brand of sand anyone uses and what model Koralia pumps you used as I was thinking of going for the nano? I'm thinking 10kg of sand and 7kg of rock to see how that goes first Link to comment
KevKapawski Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 I just wandered, is there a specific brand of sand anyone uses and what model Koralia pumps you used as I was thinking of going for the nano? When it comes to sand I wouldnt worry too much about the brand, just make sure its live sand. Also, with the pump I would go for one with around 900 litres per hour. You could go for a bigger but any more and you will have too much flow. Two small pumps, one pointing up and one down should do you. Good Luck and keep posting updates, with pics if you can. Link to comment
GPill Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Hola amigos, These are my first water readings: Ammonia: 0.00925p.p.m. Nitrite: 0.1p.p.m. Nitrate: 3p.p.m. pH: 7.8 (I think) Alkalinity: Normal according to the test temp: 26.4 C What do you think?? Cheers, George Link to comment
KevKapawski Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 Ammonia: 0.00925p.p.m.Nitrite: 0.1p.p.m. Nitrate: 3p.p.m. pH: 7.8 (I think) Alkalinity: Normal according to the test temp: 26.4 C That looks about right for a new setup like yours. It looks like you may have had a little cycle as you have traces of ammonia, nitrite and finally some nitrate. You will need to wait until your de-nitrifiying bacteria has eaten all that Ammonia and Nitrite before it will be ready. After the cycle has finish and no ammonia is detectable, I would start some weekly 10% water changes. Did you use RO water or tap water? as you may know tap water has nitrates in it and could throw your results. Temp seems about right but PH is a little low, could be due to low SG. What is your SG/Salinity? Depending on what type of inhabitants you intend on having I would bear in mind the below info regarding SG: The tropical Indo-Pacific has an average specific gravity of 1.022 - 1.025. The Caribbean has an average specific gravity of 1.023 - 1.026. The Red Sea has an average specific gravity of 1.028 - 1.035. The specific gravity changes in each area are due largely to rain fall. I keep my water at 1.025 and tend to have good results. Any pics yet Link to comment
GPill Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Hey Kev, I have used RO Water from my local fish store which was already 'salted' so I would suspect it didn't have any traces of any of these ions... I didn't have a test for salinity so I don't know about that...any good suggestions for salinity test kits? Now about stocking I am not sure yet, but surely some clown fish my partner is crazy about seahorses so if we can get our hands on them they are on top of the list! Here's my first picture;I am getting some more rocks tomorrow though so it wont stay as it is ) Picture appears rotated...:/ Link to comment
KevKapawski Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 Buying pre-mix saltwater is good and easy, only problems is it is three times the price you would pay if you was to buy the water and salt yourself and mix it. If you can afford it along with the other expenses of keeping a saltwater tank then stick with pre-mixed. For testing Specific gravity or the Salinity of the water I would get hold of a refractometre or a hydrometer. Both do the same thing, but the Refractometre is more accurate and a little more expensive. I would make it a high priority to invest in either of them as without knowing your SG/Salinity you will not know if it’s too high or too low. Over time SG raises as water evaporates, this could change in less than a week and other problems will follow. Also, once you have inhabitants such as fish, corals and inverts you will need to keep your SG stable as rapid changes could stress or even kill them. Sea Horses, I would do a little more reading on how to care for them. As I did, you will rapidly find that they are considered one of the most challenging species in the hobby. They require perfect water conditions with zero stress levels or fluctuations in the water parameters. I too was drawn to sea horses but soon realised that I would need to devote the whole tank to them and a whole lot of water testing...far from worth the effort in my opinion. Do some research on them and keep us posted. I like the clown fish as they are usually very active and more importantly look amazing. Things to remeber when buying clown fish is that it is best to buy one, two, four or more... If there is three for example then the smallest would be bullied buy the two biggest or so I have read! I have also read that the will automatically change sex in order to balance out the male/female ratio in a school of fish. When I bought my clowns, I bought two. One slightly larger than the other. This I am told is best as the larger one is likely to already be female and the smaller will be the male. Do you have plans for more Live Rock? Your rock looks good but when buying it try and get the dark and ugly looking rocks. Ones with growth on and preferably coralline algae. This will boost your tanks maturing process and add lots of interesting creatures to your tank. Link to comment
GPill Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Yeah I did some reading today about the seahorses today and it seems possible but then again I am gonna have to let the aquarium mature a bit more and see how it goes!! About the water, it was actually quite cheap to buy it from the FS, I paid 12£ for 54liters which is actually quite cheap I guess... And yeah I was planning on getting some more rocks but probably dry ones; I already have 5.6kg of live rock in there although you can really see it as it is... more pictures coming soon By the way there is a few polyps on the rock and a little snail which i have seen once and now it is gone :/ Can't wait to start getting stuff in there Link to comment
KevKapawski Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 54litres for £12 is cheap. I usually pay £10 for 25litres. Its 40p a litre for ready mixed at my LFS Personally I would get another 1-2kg of Live Rock as the benefits are huge in comparison to dry rock, but you will be okay with what you have. Also, the more rock goes into the tank the less overall water there is in your tank, in the long run this is going to be really difficult to keeping nitrates low and parametres stable as dry rock takes some time to become Live Rock. As the setup me and you are using is without skimmers or sumps then Live Rock is our only filter with the water changes. The more Live Rock the faster the ammonia will disappear. At the moment it will just sound like dribble from me but in a month or so when you start adding living things you will understand what I mean. I am now seriously considering turning my 35litre backup tank into a sump for my tank...I will no doubt be starting it before end of the year... It will be difficult to resist adding fish and corals in first few weeks but you will just be wasting your money as nothing will survive or it will just suffer until your tank stabilises. Best thing to keep your eyes entertained until your fish arrive is to add some cleanup crew such as snails and hermit crabs, but make sure you buy some empty snail and crab shells from the LFS or you will find your crabs eating your snails for there shell. Keep us posted and be patient Link to comment
GPill Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Evening! Well I had to go for dry rocks after all because budget is a bit tight... But we did manage to build a nice reef after a lot of deliberation So far we put in 5.6kg of live rock and 5.1kg of dry rock so I think that is about it! I also put in there 4 dwarf hermit crabs and they look pretty happy! One of them has changed his shell twice today which kept us staring at the tank all day Reading are exactly the same so we added some buffer to fix the low pH. More updates to follow!! It seems like I am doing something wrong with the picture uploading... the look right before I post them but then again the appear rotated on here... Link to comment
KevKapawski Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 Evening!4 dwarf hermit crabs and they look pretty happy! Hi mate, The scape looks very nice! Regarding your hermits, as your tank has no algae or detrius they will be without food. Your Live Rock will provide little food but that wont last long. At this stage I would avoid adding any meaty foods as the ammonia it lets off is huge and although you have had a cycle that would kick of another cycle. I would suggest dropping in some 'New ERA Marine Pellets', they are about £5-£10 for a large tub and that will last you all year or failing that then any marine fish food for omnivores. Here is some useful info: http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/hermitcrabs/a/feedhc.htm Good luck and keep the updates coming Link to comment
GPill Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Hi mate, The scape looks very nice! Regarding your hermits, as your tank has no algae or detrius they will be without food. Your Live Rock will provide little food but that wont last long. At this stage I would avoid adding any meaty foods as the ammonia it lets off is huge and although you have had a cycle that would kick of another cycle. I would suggest dropping in some 'New ERA Marine Pellets', they are about £5-£10 for a large tub and that will last you all year or failing that then any marine fish food for omnivores. Here is some useful info: http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/hermitcrabs/a/feedhc.htm Good luck and keep the updates coming Cheers Kev! We bought some crab pellets for them so they should be fine! they have been having a blast and they do love exploring the rocks!! they even got their names today hehe Link to comment
GPill Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Evening boys, I was wondering how long does it take for the tank to cycle? I have been doing my tests and it looks pretty stable at the moment: ammonia: 0.0145 Nitrite: 0.1 Nitrate: 3 ph: 8 temp: 26.5 alk: looks normal maybe 1.9 something What do you think? Link to comment
KevKapawski Posted February 16, 2011 Author Share Posted February 16, 2011 ammonia: 0.0145Nitrite: 0.1,Nitrate: 3,ph: 8 temp: 26.5,alk: looks normal maybe 1.9 something What do you think? Hi Mate, looks like your PH is getting there so on that note a thumbs up! There is still traces of ammonia and nitrite which means the tank has not finished transforming the polution into safe water. Do you have any 'Stress Zyme' or simular? If you are not aware this is a good bacteria addative, It boosts the Bio-logical filtration. I used to add a cap every three days for about the first six months. I would strongly recommend this as it has many benefits for both tank and the inhabitants. Certainly not safe for any fish or corals but cant imagine your far off now(hold tight) Link to comment
GPill Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Hi Kev, Yeah waiting is very difficult but I am determined to do this properly so I am hanging in there... I was just thinking of adding some more invertebrates to keep me busy I had a sachet of stress zyme that came with the tank so I used that one for now and I should be getting some more soon. Cheers Link to comment
BigBad82 Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 I used "special blend" instead of stress zyme.....stinks tho! When your talking about inverts, be careful of adding shrimps early on as they're the most sensitive, be best to put off til later. Link to comment
GPill Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Cheers mate, I better wait then! I guess I am gonna have to stick to the non-smelly option since the tank sits in the living room and we are gonna have to deal with the smell all the time. Any suggestion for fish and CUC for the near future?? Link to comment
BigBad82 Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 well i'd start off slowly by adding maybe a sand sifting snail maybe a super tongan nass or cerith and a couple for your rocks and glass like astrea, turbo or black foot trochus. what sort fish you got in mind for this tank? just you want to be adding more shy/passive species first. Link to comment
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