Hello all, let me introduce myself
I am Paul from Dublin, Ireland and I decided to post my tank journal online because since I started using the site, Talkingreef, I found everyone so helpful and non-judgemental, which makes a huge difference when stepping into the unknown.
I have been keeping fish for about 7 years now. It started when my wife’s work place closed down and the office fish tank was left parent less so I adopted three Lionhead fish which I name Axl, Slash and Duff. I had the fish for 2 years and when the Gn’R 3 headed for rock n roll heaven (separately there was no R n’ R massacre) I decided to step it up a gear and to keep African Cichlids.
For the last 4/5 years I have been keeping the Cichlids with varied success. One of my favourite fish, Bellers, turned out to be a bully and killed 12-15 fish in a year. I found out later that this was mainly due to two things, having a tank that was too small and receiving poor advice on the compatibility of fish. So I got him a new friend, a blue lobster called Pinchie (the first Lobster i got climbed out of the tank dropped down the press crossed the room and hid under my guitar amp and died Rn’R).They appear to get on well and now the stress levels in the tank have decreased dramatically.
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Bellers & Pinchie
About two months ago I bought myself a 50 Gallon corner tank with the intention of filling it with African Cichlids. That was until I discussed it with a LFS (freshwater only) owner who informed me that Bellers would always be a bully regardless of the size of tank he was in. He suggested keeping Marine fish instead (which I secretly always wanted to do but thought it best to wait until retirement when I would have more time)
So I went to the Marine fish store for the next couple of weeks, got on the net, downloaded the Talkingreef podcast (which has been of huge help and a credit to Rob and the rest of the guests) and read a great book “The new marine Aquarium” by Michael S. Paletta - a great step by step guide and is very simple for €25.
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After all my research I set up my Juwel “Trigon” 190 litres / 50 Gallon bow-fronted corner tank. The tank has an internal overflow with a heater, filter and power head (600l/h) which cost me €600/$780 from the internet including free delivery, this was nearly €150 cheaper than any shop I visited, who incidentally also refused to deliver!!!!!!!
I then went to my LFS to buy my start up kit which consists of
1. Salt (instant Ocean) €40
2. skimmer (in tank) €130
3. Powerhead (Maxi jet) (1200l/h) €50
4. sand €80
5. Hydrometer €25
6. Tap water filter €100
7. Marine lab €50
Total € 475 / $620
I did a leak test first, then drained the tank and replaced it with filtered tap water, which was a slow process as the flow rate through the filters quite low.
After filling the tank, which took nearly a day in total, I turned on the heater and as soon as the temperature levelled at 24°C / 77F I added the power heads and salt
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I left the tank for a week, monitoring the salinity regularly to make sure it was a constant 1.024. Once that was done I got some live rock (Fiji reef rock) for €350 for 20kg/ $450 for 48lbs and headed home with my now empty wallet.
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Along with the live rock I added an in-tank skimmer, carbon filter (Rowa Carbon POI=1,3 and Rowa Phos PO4 & SiO2 absorber to the tank).
With everything now set up I started to keep a Marine log - something I would highly recommend to any beginner - with the following sections:
Dates of purchases etc,
Record tests for the cycling of the tank,
Conversion chart (salt measurements per gallon/litre etc),
Maintenance record (Rob’s 3 week rotation of power head and skimmer maintenance),
Shopping list (because I always arrive home and I have forgotten something) and
A single sheet calendar so I have an idea of what I have to do on a weekly basis
At present I am doing my Marine lab testing for the Nitrogen cycle and waiting for my ammonia to rise (nearly 2 weeks now and no changes)
pH 8.2,
Alkalinity 2.9,
Temp 25ºC/77ºF,
Specific Gravity 1.023,
Salinity 31,
Ammonia NH3/NH4 ppm 0.25,
Nitrite NO2 0.2 &
Nitrate NO3 7.0
I have also added a new glass thermometer with 0.2 ºC increments as my strip thermometer that came with the tank is not that accurate.
The water movement around my tank is 1800l/h about 10 turnovers per hour, however due to the fact my 600l/h power head is on the flow side (the filter will restrict flow when clogged) so I plan to buy another 1200l/h.
This will be a fish only until I get to grips with the tank and then I will upgrade the lighting etc.
So here is the latest picture of my tank. The shining light at the top you see is my skimmer cup. I thought about modifying my skimmer cup by reducing the height of it so it wouldn’t be popping up through the tank lid (and after some great advice from David) I plan to modify the casing of my skimmer and place it in the overflow unit within the tank thus removing the filter and allow the live rock/live sand to do my filter work for me. Coming from a freshwater set-up it is hard to imagine a tank without a filter but I am willing to take the experts advice.
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So now I have started my research into what fish types I hope to purchase.
I hope my tank will be half as good as Carmie's 54 Corner (check it out if you haven’t already)
Thanks for reading my tank journal and I would welcome any suggestions or feedback you may have.
Thanks a million for all your help so far and stay tuned for more updates.
Paul
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