New marine member

[RSmark]

Hi all, i currently have a 90l nano marine, live rock and fish/shrimp. But i'm looking to upgrade to 160l min as a spring project while waiting for the weather to improve.

Currently i have 9KG of live rock, couple of very small damsels and the odd invertebrate. However as im looking to start adding Coral etc at a later date im curious on what bulbs/lighting i should use.

I'd be using an external filter, Skimmer, i think its called a 'wave maker machine'?
and anything else that is recommended.

Am i correct that 10% of the water volume should be 'rock'
IE 200l of water = 20KG of rock?

Thanks for any help recieved.

 

[venne]

hi mate welcome....i can give u a hand if u want 2...

 

[RSmark]

Hi Venne, seen you aquarium and it looks great, can you tell me the best tpye of bulb to use, this is the only thing that bugs me when it comes to coral keeping.

Ive heard of these type of bulbs before, T5 and T8 they ok?

Thanks.

 

[venne]

...t5 is ok...but i would use leds...much less in electrik...and the leds bulbs on the market now r more powerfull as mhd or t5

 

[RSmark]

I'm guessing something along the lines of this?:
ARCADIA ECO AQUA LED MARINE BLUE ETML390 T8 9W 384MM on eBay (end time 28-Feb-11 12:00:04 GMT)

 

[venne]

u need more power for hard corals....

 

[RSmark]

so that'll be fine for the likes of polyps and sponges?
Anything else will require a higher wattage...?

 

[venne]

...a few of them for soft corals ...yes

 

[RSmark]

thats great i can get a few of them to fit on the hood, what about any white light?

 

[venne]

...u should mix them ...blue and white...

 

[ErinCahir]

Welcome to the site!

I had to convert from metric for you (:)) but you should aim for 10-20% for rock.

 

[RSmark]

Thanks Erin, thatts not bad at all, seeing as i got almost half of 20% already.

 

[RSmark]

...u should mix them ...blue and white...

Thats brill will look into that tomorrow.

 

[RSmark]

Couldn't reply to the PM Venne, but will let you know the messurements etc when i got the tank.

 

[venne]

kk....no probs....

 

[Aquatic]

In my own terms, you want to have what, about 1-2 lbs of rock per gallon in the aquarium?

LED lighting does conserve energy but they are also very expensive and a prototype stage technology for aquarists. T5/HO (High Output) lighting is a popular choice and hear people having success with different corals using it. Metal Halide gives an aquarium a natural shimmer effect and looks real pleasing to the eye. The only downside to that is that if your fixture was mounted on top of your tank, it could overheat the water. That's not much of a problem though as that a lot of fixtures are suspended or raised a bit higher from the tank itself.

 

[venne]

...i changed my 2*150 watt hqi mhd to led 5 years ago ...and its the best light i had..

 

[ErinCahir]

In my own terms, you want to have what, about 1-2 lbs of rock per gallon in the aquarium?

He's got it right. 10-20% in metric terms.

 

[Smitty]

Welcome to the site...

 

[RSmark]

Well i brought the tank, a Bow front 'Juwel' 'corner aquarium. 190litres which was about the size i wanted. It also came with both blue and white T5 bulbs.

While i was at it i brought an extra 3KG of rock, a big bag of salt and a huge bag of coral sand.

i didnt know 'Juwel' used silcone glue to bond the internal filter to the sides, so i ripped that out. I've since paid for the following:

900l/h external filter, for aquariums up to 300l
blue/black background(not sure what side to use)
6000l/h wave maker.