Juwel Vision 260 Reef Tank

[Anemone Man]

Have started to set up my new reef tank. I had a Trigon 350 fish only setup but have caught the reef bug. There were Red Bellied Piranhas in the Vision but they went to a good home. Will be selling my Trigon in the near future if anyone is interested. Heres some pics.

Pic: Vision 260 with piranhas in.

Cheers

Andy

[Anemone Man]

Piranhas gone, tank cleaned and I'm ready.

[Anemone Man]

Oops! wrong picture. Should have been this one.

[Anemone Man]

Finally the tank is full of DI water and salted with Red Sea Salt. (Is this a good salt?) I've put in live aragonite sand and LR and a dried cured coral. The tank is cloudy as you can see.

[Anemone Man]

Sorry about the size of these pictures. I think i've fixed it now.

Tank has been running for about 2 weeks now and ammonia and nitrite still haven't spiked,but nitrate is steadily rising (weird). I've put my damsels in the tank to try to kickstart the nitrogen cycle (obviously they'll be removed when the spike starts). Can anyone suggest why this might be and what i can do to fix it?

[newbee]

Hi

I'm no expert of nothing so i'm probably completely wrong. But I think the reason you haven’t noticed any spikes is because of your live rock. It's not like tropical where you have to wait for the bacteria to colonize in your filter. Its already present in your rock, hence the name live rock. You shouldn't notice any really large spikes just small ones as you add new livestock.

Mart :P

[julesandsand]

Is that liverock - it looks pretty bare to me?

[Elliott89]

It looks like that white ocean rock to me :huh:

I advive you get yourself some liverock

HTH

Elliott

[Anemone Man]

Don't have proper bulbs in the lights yet. I'm still using the freshwater bulbs i used for the piranhas so i wont get any growth on my LR.

It was also in my fish only tank when i treated it for whitespot with copper treatment. Could this have affected it??

Will get the right bulbs asap but am a bit strapped for cash.

Have added 3 red hermits too.

Cheers

Andy :cheers:

[Anemone Man]

LFS has told me not to use my rock in a reef tank because it has been treated with copper based medication (which is probably why it looks so bare too) so all the rock has been removed and I am using polyfilters to remove any copper which may have leached from the rock. I have left my dried cured coral. (I think this will be ok.)

I had bought a Serpant Starfish too so my inverts don't have any rock to hide in at the moment. As soon as my polyfilters aren't blue, i'll start to add LR. I think the starfish and hermits will have to be removed when i introduce LR incase i get a big spike.

I have also added another bag of live aragonite sand to give the cycle a kickstart.

I think I might keep my trigon as a fish only tank as i have all that rock. Do i need a protein skimmer if I'm only keeping fish???

Any advice for either tank appreciated.

Andy

:wave:

[5061litres]

if u are only keeping fish u will need a skimmer.

if u were to only have a coral setup then u may not need a skimmer.
if i were u i would do plenty of water changes to help get rid of the copper in the water. better still would be to start over again.
the salt u are using is fine.

you should really have waited a while and got all the equipment that was needed for setting up a reef before u jumped in. i can see a lot of heartache and losses with this project.
please ask as many questions as u can about any part of this hobbie. people will be most happy to answer them.
read all u can about this hobby before u do anything else to either tank.
please for the sake of all ur new inhabitants.

tony. :D

[weegaz22]

if the rock is from your pirahna setup then it wont be live rock, probably ocean or tufa rock

what are you using to filter the water? as your rock wont be doing it

if you buy live rock make sure it is cured (smell it, if it stinks then its not cured) as this will minimize the spike when you put it into your tank

[julesandsand]

Can I suggest that if you are starting again that you paint the back of your tank black or blue as it will improve the look of the tank.

[weegaz22]

Originally posted by julesandsand@Jun 21 2005, 16:29
Can I suggest that if you are starting again that you paint the back of your tank black or blue as it will improve the look of the tank.
or as a temporary measure buy backing paper

[Anemone Man]

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the advice. I have been reading marine books for about a year now so have a reasonable knowledge.(I Think!!) I thought i had everything i needed to set up my reef. I didn't realise that you cant use rock which has been in a tank with copper treatment present. I didn't even consider it! I knew you cant treat a tank with corals/inverts in, but didn't know rock absorbed it. I feel a bit stupid now.

Anyway, all the rock has been removed from the tank and put back into my fish only tank which i am now going to keep. Couldn't bare to throw out all that money in LR even if it is dead. Copper test kit reads nil and i have been using polyfilters for a couple of days now and it is still pure white, no signs of any blue/green. I am hoping this will be sufficient. I will continue to use polyfilters on an ongoing basis just incase, but nothing in the tank now has been subjected to copper so I think it should be alright.

Having convinced myself that there is no copper in the tank, purchased 5kg of LR, really colourful stuff, from LFS today. Inverts have been left in but levels will be tested daily and if ammonia spikes they will be removed to a bucket until the tank cycles. LR will also make inverts happier as they now have hiding places. Hopefully nothing else will set me back.

I am not going to buy anymore livestock until i have more live rock and a fully cycled tank!!!

Any more comments appreciated.

Andy

:cheers:

[Anemone Man]

Hi Weegaz & Julesandsand,

To clear matters, the copper treated rock came from my fish only set up, not my piranha tank. I hadn't noticed but when it was pointed out by others i noticed my rock had lost a lot of colour since i bought it. It used to be all purple and green. I think the copper must have killed it off.

My only filter at present is my new LR but my inverts aren't going to produce much waste anyway.

The LR i bought didn't stink so i assume it's cured.

Thanks for the idea to paint the back of the tank but i considered it when setting up and decided against. I think unpainted, the tank looks cleaner.

Forgot to say got proper bulbs last week. 1 blue moon 1 Triton.

Keep the advice coming guys, i seem to need all the advice i can get.

Cheers again.

Andy

:cheers:

[5061litres]

with a marine tank the cycle is different to one in a tropical tank. the ammonia spike that u talk of is usually unheard of in a marine tank as said before, we use live rock which is already alive. if the rock comes from a shop that has already cured it, then no spikes of any kind should be found.
i setup my new tank with 60kgs of live rock. the very next day i had fish in it. now thats not to say that everyone should follow my lead, i'm just sayin what i did..

i can't believe though, that u have been reading marine books for a yr now and didn't know that u can't use copper in a marine tank...very strange.

the rock which u have(the white stuff) really dosen't look like live rock. again, as said before, it looks like tufa rock or base rock. it looks too white to be live rock. can i ask how much u paid for it?? that wil give an indication as to what it is.

tony.

[Anemone Man]

Thanks again tony, i have explained my confusion with the copper in my last post. The rock was bought as fijian live rock from local LFS at £12/kg and was very colourful at first. As previous post, i think the copper must have killed it because you are absolutely right, it does look very white and washed out now. I won't make the same mistake again. I can say that for sure.

New rock is looking very much alive i'm glad to say.

Cheers

Andy

:cheers:

[5061litres]

now all u need to do is get a skimmer and some more lights, some carbon and some rowaphos.

tony.

[Anemone Man]

pic of my new LR

I think it looks much better than the old stuff. Anyone agree/disagree?

[Anemone Man]

Starfish seems to like behind my powerhead.

[wayne g]

i may be wrong but that thatlooks a lot like a green brittle star in that last shot.
if it is a green brittle be careful,as they get bigger/mature then can predate on fish.
i had to take mine back to the lfs after losing four fish in one week.
awesome predators!
:ph34r: :evil:

[Anemone Man]

Thanks Wayne.

I bought it as a serpant starfish and thought this was just another name for a brittle star.
Is this the case or are they different??

Thanks for the advice about the fish. I'll keep an eye on him.

Any more advice / questions welcome.

Andy.

[wayne g]

have a read of this from my own experience a while back.
http://www.marinefishuk.co.uk/portal/forum...t=green+brittle (http://www.marinefishuk.co.uk/portal/forum/viewtopic.php?t=450&highlight=green+brittle)

and beware...."the freaks come out at night!!!"
:lol:

[Anemone Man]

Thanks again wayne, interesting reading. I couldn't get rid of him on the off chance but i will definitely keep it in the back of my mind.

Cheers

Andy

:thumbsup:

[Anemone Man]

More advice please. I have the juwel reflectors on my lights. Could this be detrimental to my water quality?? I don't know what Juwel make their reflectors with. (I'm thinking metals specifically).

Andy

[Anemone Man]

Hi,

Just a couple of pictures as at today.

I'm still looking for an answer on my reflectors. Any comments appreciated.

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/26062005.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/26062005(001).jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/26062005(002).jpg

Andy.

[Anemone Man]

not much LR, i know, but it's all i can afford at the moment. :(

[Anemone Man]

Hello fellow reefers,

haven't updated this thread for a while so i thought i'd bring it up to date.

Since my last picture my tank has come a long way. I've now got 20kg live rock (much better than 5kg) I think about the same again will be perfect. On my new rock i've acquired a toadstool leather and a mushroom coral. I've also bought a malu anemone.

I've added a couple of blood shrimps, a flounder, and a pink scooter blenny.

Looking a lot better. Can't post a picture unfortunately coz i'm not at home just now but will put one on soon.

I have also added T5 lighting and my corals seem to appreciate it.

As always, any advice / questions welcome.

Andy

:thumbsup:

[Shinken]

Im a little concerned about the anemone keep an eye on it! idealy they need water which is a bit more stable than a new tanks water.

But other than that it looks fine, how many t5 bulbs you have? what wattage?

[carl]

I know that when I was setting up my reef I used the uncured live rock but it was still of such a good quality that it was coping with any of the die off occuring. In the end I used a large slab of cod to kick off the cycle and get it maturing.

First fish went in at 5 months after a large cleanup crew and corals etc.

[Anemone Man]

Thanks guys,

I will keep an eye on my anemone. He seems to be looking ok though. I got 2 x 55w Triplus T5 bulbs. Makes a huge difference. My mushroom polyp is reaching for the sky now. Didn't do that before. All my LR has already been cured and seems to be doing fine.

Got a clam and a pair of percula clowns today. Will post pictures later today.

Cheers

Andy

:thumbsup:

[Anemone Man]

New pics as promised.

My new pair of nemos. (Told my 4yr old daughter it's nemo and his dad, ha ha!!)
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/DSC01081.JPG

My new clam. Can anyone ID it for me??
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/DSC01082.JPG

My tank today. Getting there slowly.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/DSC01083.JPG

My Mushroom Polyp. Doing well under my new T5 Lights.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/DSC01087.JPG

One of my Blood Shrimps hanging upside down.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/DSC01089.JPG

My Malu Anemone.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/DSC01100.JPG

As always, comments/questions welcome.

Cheers

Andy


:thumbsup:

[bigray]

nice clowns the clam looks like a blue maxima

[Anemone Man]

Thanks Bigray,

It's not often you see a pair of real perculas in Edinburgh. It's usually black perculas or some other type so I had to have them.

I know i'm going to sound like Bob Holnes (Blockbusters for anyone who doesn't know) but can anyone tell me, do clam shells grow with the clam or do i need to provide bigger shells for it as it grows??

Thanks again reefers

Andy

:thumbsup:

[weegaz22]

Originally posted by Anemone Man@Aug 18 2005, 19:54
but can anyone tell me, do clam shells grow with the clam or do i need to provide bigger shells for it as it grows??


they grow in their own shells, they use calcium from the water to build up the shell, much in the same way an sps coral uses calcium to grow

[Anemone Man]

Cheers Wee Gaz