Making the change to marine

[Jesseboy]

Howdy. well after keeping discus for a while now I'm making the swap to a marine tank. my sister is gonna grab my old tank setup. I have on order a Octapus Biolife 2" by 2" by 2" cube. comes with a stand and hood and sump. also got a skimmer and everything else i need to get started. Not sure exactly what i am going to keep yet. I'm trying to do as much research as i can before i start so i get it right the first time. I'm thinking something along the lines of a reef with some hard and soft corals. some clown fish. maybe an anemone. I got quad T5's i dont know if that will be enough light for an anemone. I have also been looking at some of the pics of the clams on here they look so good. are they hard to keep? i would love to get one. From what i can gather the best thing to do it to take it very slow with stocking. let it completely cycle with a small amount of live rock. then add more later on to try and prevent die off. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Jesse

[nicholas76]

GDay Jess

and congrats on your move towards marine mate they are just as fun ) if not more ) then Discus ;)

As with most things mate if you take short cuts and dont spend the time on research and money needed to buy quality parts you will at the end of the pay the price.

In short mate T5's wont cut it for any anemone, despite what others tell you. Clams are the same.

You will need a well estabilished tank regardless so your awhile off yet!

The more live rock the better , including a sumped setup with a refugiam.

A calcium / Kalk reatcor is the way to go for those corals and clams too

try these forums for detailed info

http://www.reefaquariumforum.com/forum.html

http://www.masa.asn.au/

[Jesseboy]

Cheers Nicholas

Looking forward to getting it all setup. Have you seen the biolife cubes? it comes with a sump. would it be easy to modify for a refugium? also whats the best substrate to use for the refugium? i was looking at that mud you can get. i heard thats alright. So if i'm looking at getting clams in the future i will need MH then. what about 8 T5's? I have a spare C02 setup from my discus tank so thats half way to a calcium reactor.

[nicholas76]

no havent seen the bio cubes , what they look like? refugiam is rather handy and IMO easier then setting up others type of bio filtration.

in terms of setup for the fuge just get a finer particle sand and set it up deep in a chamber! specifics youll find on those forums i mentioned.

Im told yeah T5's can be used but ive seen results with my 250 watt 20,000k Metal halides and i know what looks better without a doubt. the better the colour the more light demanding the clam will be IMO.

if your planning on keeping durable softies then yeah t5's are cool

sweeet! setup that CO2 for calcium mate, you can then go for acros if you upgrade your lights too!

[Jesseboy]

awesome mate cheers

the cubes look really nice. they are about 220 litre plus the sump. they are on the reefshop.com.au website. kinda like a redseamax but much nicer looking. 12mm curved glass corners. hidden wier. cant wait. i guess ill get the tank up and running with the T5's then once its well established ill look into Metal halides.

[nicholas76]

fyi

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=143396#143396

[Jesseboy]

Mate those clams look sensational! cant wait to get some of my own. I ordered my tank a few weeks back, still hasn't been posted. getting a bit impatient now haven't had a reply of when they will be sending it.

[nicholas76]

send me a pm

who you buy it from ?

[Tommo]

Jesse , marines there is only one word if you want to do this right , and that is take your time "in everything mate " there is no rush at all :)


cheers dude Andrew

P.S if you need live rock / live sand / places to buy things let me know i can help you out dude :)


As buying from LFS A) ARE expensive and B) Give wrong adivce , well this is what i have found out :)

Where are you located Dude ?


Cheers