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Old 11-10-2013, 04:59 PM   #1
Jackyx
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Default Planning for new Setup, assistance needed

Hi bros and sis,

Am new here and planning to start a Marine Tank (FOWLR). Therefore am here to gather more information and do some planning before i start purchasing anything. =D

1) Tank 2' or 2.5' x 1' x ht? (IOS)

- Am going for 2' or 2.5' for the length and wondering what height should i go for?

- Am going for IOS as i cant have space for a sump. I cant find information on this setup. Like how is it suppose to be built(compartments) and whats the size it should be? Am looking at maybe 6" length for the IOS? so its 12" x 6".

(The space i have is 12" x 6".
Minus off 2" for the gap inbetween compartments i am left with 10"
- 3" x 6" for first compartment where my sponge and media is at
- 4" x 6" for 2nd compartment where the skimmer will be. Looking at Tunze 9004 which has a dimension of 4.3" x 3.5". This should be ok?
- 3" x 6" for last compartment where i put the return pump. Looking at Eheim Compact 1000 which is 3.9" x 2.4". Think the space is ok?)

- Or should i just go without the IOS? and just go with lots of LR and get a skimmer?

- Where can i find ready made tanks that are suitable for Marine Fish Keeping? As i see many saying those outside are too thin for doing so.

2) Wave maker

- what i need is a 10x - 20x flow rate in my tank? please correct me if i am wrong

- Will it work if i get a strong return pump to also work as my WaveMaker?

(will there be any Pro/Con with that high of a flowrate going through my IOS compartment?)

3) Lights


- I believe i dont really need any special lighting if i am only gonna do FOWLR right?

4) Temperature

- Am planning to do without Chiller and Fan. If need be maybe Fan can be added at any point of time when need be i guess?

5) Stand for the Tank

- Will i have major rusting issues if i use a metal stand for the tank? Also to note i have a larger freshwater setup which is on a metal stand which is beside the up coming setup. Will it really affect it to a large extent?

Would appreciate any advise & comments you can offer.

Thank you for your time in reading and thanks in advance for your advise and comment. =D

Regards

Jacky
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Old 11-10-2013, 08:03 PM   #2
AYMX
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1) the main thing for thickness in a sw tank is because of the danger of toppling rockwork. So if you do have a steady scaped, it shouldnt be a problem, although not advisable. EheIm compact 1000 is okay for your tank. Whether to go with Ios or not is up to you. HOWEVER, I personally feel skimmer and good cured liverock is a must. As fish tend to have heavier bioload than corals.

2) I dont really understand the back part or your question haha, but the main purpose in having a wavemaker in SW tank is to remove dead spots. In my experience, my 2x1x1.5 only needed a 2k litre wave maker.

3) you are right, generally fowlr lighting is not an issue unless you are keeping deepwater fishes. Any light that pleases your eye should do fine.

4) generally, fishes are quite hardy once acclimated properly. Temperature shouldnt be an issue. (This is only for fishes and nothing else)

5) unless you have a leaking tank, i wouldnt worry too much.

If you need more help can pm me.
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Old 14-10-2013, 01:37 AM   #3
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Welcome to the salty side of the hobby.

1) The dimensions are quite unusual and you may not find something off the shelf that'll match the dimensions you want. Aquamarin carry some nice looking acrylic nano tanks for marine use but they don't match your specs exactly. You can also try shopping around the pasir ris fish farms. IMO, if you opt for a 2'x1'x2', you should do ok with off the shelf glass tanks as well. As mentioned by AYMX, your rock scape needs to be steady as well.

If your using the Tunze 9004, I think you do not need an IOS anymore as the skimmer comes with a surface skimmer attachment. You can use it in conjunction with lots of liverock and good water circulation to filter the water.

2) You would still need a wavemaker to circulate water. For FOWLR, a wavemaker around 20x would be sufficient though you can get one with higher flow rate depending on the amount of rocks used and the rock scape.

3) Just get whatever that suits your fancy & budget to light the tank to view the fish.

4) A fan can be added at anytime, I don't think you'll need to use any form of cooling for a FOWLR setup unless temperatures exceed 31deg.

5) That depends on what type of metal stand. Wrought iron stands would almost surely rust and I won't recommend using them.
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Old 14-10-2013, 02:35 PM   #4
Jackyx
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AYMX View Post
1) the main thing for thickness in a sw tank is because of the danger of toppling rockwork. So if you do have a steady scaped, it shouldnt be a problem, although not advisable. EheIm compact 1000 is okay for your tank. Whether to go with Ios or not is up to you. HOWEVER, I personally feel skimmer and good cured liverock is a must. As fish tend to have heavier bioload than corals.

2) I dont really understand the back part or your question haha, but the main purpose in having a wavemaker in SW tank is to remove dead spots. In my experience, my 2x1x1.5 only needed a 2k litre wave maker.

3) you are right, generally fowlr lighting is not an issue unless you are keeping deepwater fishes. Any light that pleases your eye should do fine.

4) generally, fishes are quite hardy once acclimated properly. Temperature shouldnt be an issue. (This is only for fishes and nothing else)

5) unless you have a leaking tank, i wouldnt worry too much.

If you need more help can pm me.
Thanks bro AYMX for your many advises both here and in PM.

Quote:
Originally Posted by KaLiB View Post
Welcome to the salty side of the hobby.

1) The dimensions are quite unusual and you may not find something off the shelf that'll match the dimensions you want. Aquamarin carry some nice looking acrylic nano tanks for marine use but they don't match your specs exactly. You can also try shopping around the pasir ris fish farms. IMO, if you opt for a 2'x1'x2', you should do ok with off the shelf glass tanks as well. As mentioned by AYMX, your rock scape needs to be steady as well.

If your using the Tunze 9004, I think you do not need an IOS anymore as the skimmer comes with a surface skimmer attachment. You can use it in conjunction with lots of liverock and good water circulation to filter the water.

2) You would still need a wavemaker to circulate water. For FOWLR, a wavemaker around 20x would be sufficient though you can get one with higher flow rate depending on the amount of rocks used and the rock scape.

3) Just get whatever that suits your fancy & budget to light the tank to view the fish.

4) A fan can be added at anytime, I don't think you'll need to use any form of cooling for a FOWLR setup unless temperatures exceed 31deg.

5) That depends on what type of metal stand. Wrought iron stands would almost surely rust and I won't recommend using them.
Hi bro KaLiB, first of all thanks for replying to the thread =D

1) The tank i am actually in discussion with a Tank Manufacturer at the moment. Just not sure if its possible to get the dimension for the IOS i mentioned.

Didnt know i could ignore the IOS if i use the Tunze 9004 however, dont i need a constant water level area for the Skimmer?

Also do you guys use any media for SW? Like any good to have or must have? Or i can just rely on my LR and Skimmer?

As for the Tank height, what would you guys recommend? 1, 1.5 or 2?

2) Got it, will be getting a wave maker to achieve 20x

3) Okie. But normally u guys get lights with white and blue right? Planning to get LED lights. Normally which is more impt? The Blue or the White?

4) Yea will monitor the temp during cycling to decide on that i guess.

5) Already gotten a Stainless Steel stand. Hopefully it will last. Just hope it doesnt affect my 6ft Mild Steel stand that is just right beside it.

Thanks =D
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Old 14-10-2013, 11:53 PM   #5
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Your welcome.

1)Yes, you'll need to roughly maintain a constant water level for the skimmer by topping up the tank with freshwater when water level drops due to evaporation. Its good practice to maintain the water level as evaporation can lead to SG swinging in small tanks which will stress the livestock. Generally, you don't have to top up a lot of water each day unless you are using a fan.

I use only LR, skimmer & filter wool to filter my FOWLR tank.

I would go for 2' depth personally. 1' is a little too shallow IMO for any interesting rock scape.

3) Unless your planning to use a cheap LED lightset, those powerful LED lightsets for reef aquarium are generally overkill and not worth investing in for FOWLR IMO. Generally for marine tanks, white is more important than blue. IMO, for FOWLR, lighting isn't as critical and you just need enough light to light the tank to view the fish.
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Old 15-10-2013, 01:46 AM   #6
Jackyx
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KaLiB View Post
Your welcome.

1)Yes, you'll need to roughly maintain a constant water level for the skimmer by topping up the tank with freshwater when water level drops due to evaporation. Its good practice to maintain the water level as evaporation can lead to SG swinging in small tanks which will stress the livestock. Generally, you don't have to top up a lot of water each day unless you are using a fan.

I use only LR, skimmer & filter wool to filter my FOWLR tank.

I would go for 2' depth personally. 1' is a little too shallow IMO for any interesting rock scape.

3) Unless your planning to use a cheap LED lightset, those powerful LED lightsets for reef aquarium are generally overkill and not worth investing in for FOWLR IMO. Generally for marine tanks, white is more important than blue. IMO, for FOWLR, lighting isn't as critical and you just need enough light to light the tank to view the fish.
Thanks again bro.

So i guess i dont really have to worry much about the water level for the skimmer so long i top up everyday.

Will be going with a rimless 2x1x1.5.

As for Filter wool, what filtration u using for those? HOB?

Guess i will have to do some shopping for the lights =D

Anyways is a do i need sand? Or can i go bare bottom? What are the pros and cons? If bare bottom what Oyama should i have for the bottom? Planning on black for back ground.

Thanks alot. Am getting closer to starting my first Marine Tank!
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Old 15-10-2013, 12:18 PM   #7
KaLiB
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Your welcome.

I'm using a sump for my FOWLR tank so I have the filter wool in the first compartment.

Its really up to you whether you want a sandbed or bare bottom tank. Very briefly, the pros of going bare bottom is that you can easily vacuum out accumulated detritous while its generally not recommended to vacuum a sand bed. The downside of going bare bottom is that you are restricted by the choice of fish. For example, certain species of wrasse require a sand bed to hide in when threatened.
My choice is to have a sand bed as its aesthetically more pleasing as well.
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Old 15-10-2013, 01:14 PM   #8
Jackyx
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KaLiB View Post
Your welcome.

I'm using a sump for my FOWLR tank so I have the filter wool in the first compartment.

Its really up to you whether you want a sandbed or bare bottom tank. Very briefly, the pros of going bare bottom is that you can easily vacuum out accumulated detritous while its generally not recommended to vacuum a sand bed. The downside of going bare bottom is that you are restricted by the choice of fish. For example, certain species of wrasse require a sand bed to hide in when threatened.
My choice is to have a sand bed as its aesthetically more pleasing as well.
Thanks once again =D

What if i go for bare bottom, what colour oyama would u recommend? Am thinking of going black the same as the background i am gonna get. But am afraid that it wont look good. Have been looking into everyone's tank and haven seen any with bare bottom haha.

As for rimless tank, should i get black or transparent silicon? Any feedback on these?

Gonna confirm these stuff before i place my order later in the day.
So excited and cant wait hehe.

Thanks. =D
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Old 15-10-2013, 03:27 PM   #9
KaLiB
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I don't know of any bare bottom setups using oyama for the bottom actually. I personally don't use oyama so I'm not sure what colour is good. I think bare bottom setups are not as popular.

Most of us just use black silicone for our custom made tanks. IMO, black looks neater as well.
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Old 15-10-2013, 11:34 PM   #10
Jackyx
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KaLiB View Post
I don't know of any bare bottom setups using oyama for the bottom actually. I personally don't use oyama so I'm not sure what colour is good. I think bare bottom setups are not as popular.

Most of us just use black silicone for our custom made tanks. IMO, black looks neater as well.
Okie placed order for my tank. =D

Few question on starting.

1) Live Rocks go in right in the beginning ya?

2) When does the Skimmer go in? During cycling or only after cycled?

3) I believe Wavemakers are suppose to be the first to start working? Please do correct me if i am wrong.

4) Advise on choosing, what to look out for and anything to note regarding buying of Live Rock.
(Planning to go all the way to Coral Farm to get their Live Rock which i have been reading many bros good comments.)

Thanks =D
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