My very first marine tank

J

johanpm

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Hi all,

The tank is finally up and running (Boyu LT550)

I went shopping today and bought the LR, crushed coral and SEIO 350.

I have left the back of the tank stock standard for now. Just one question...

I keep on reading that I should remove the bioballs and ceramic rings. Should I put anything in its place in this tank? I suppose its better to make the changes now, considering the tank has only been running for 1 day.
 
oh, almost forgot...

There are a few reasons I've decided to get the tank.

Firstly, I've always wanted a marine tank.
Secondly, my 3 year old had Nemo on his list to santa.

I know it might sound corny, but if he wants nemo, he'll have nemo.

So, not sure what fish and corals I"m going to have yet, but will def have nemo. :)
 
Great, good luck with the new tank. I think the best is to remove the biobals and ceramic rings as they trap detrius. Rather add live rock rubble or maybe try to make a space for algae like chaeto...
 
Great start johan - remember our previous posts .... take it slow or you will be dissapointed! Livestock is a nono for at least a month - let your tank settle in - what we guys call a "cycle" - it basically means the water has enough gogga's in them to deal with anything that shouldn't be in the water. Like building up ones immune system to fight off diseases and nasties.. sit back and enjoy the cycling process - there will be lots of things going on till you ready for fishes. Also pics will help alot - before you do anything else let us "look" at what you got going so far and fix anything before it goes too far (if need be)
 
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Thanks for all the help and support.

Here are some pics...

The back -- From right to left
1st compartment - big black spunge and skimmer
2nd compartment - heater
3rd - ceramic rings and bioballs
4th - pump and something else - could be a uv light in a pipe, not sure
 
Ok first of all welcome. Secondly i love nano tanks and thats all i have had so far in my experience with this hobby.

please remove the bio balls and ceramic rings as these are old school and dont really work all too well with filtration.

u might want to considder buying yourself some phosfate remover.

other than that for a nano ive learnt buy smaller pieces of live rock as this helps in creating better scaping than big pieces.

goodluck with this truelly amazing hobby and feel free to ask any questions
 
i wouldnt do that as a dsb needs to be at least ten cm's deep to be effeciant and then it also needs to be big enough.

add about 1kg of rock per every 8 liter of water the tank can hold. a good thing is to get smallish pieces of live rock and put that in one of the chambers.

what i saw another guy do is put the skimmer in first chamber, liverock rubble in second phosphate remover in third and then two pumps in the last, the one pump pumps back to the first chamber and the other pump return to the tank, in this way the filtration in the back compartments filters twice.
 
Hello Johan and welcome to MASA,

You've already received some good advice from the other members.
Just a few more thoughts from my side:

1.The black sponge in your filter compartment needs to be cleaned(washed) regularly ( every 3-4 days) , otherwise it will become a Nitrate factory.

2. The Bio balls & creamic rings have to go as already stated by others. Put some Phosphate remover & carbon in there.

3. Insofar LR rubble in the filter compartments is concerned: IMO this could become a detritus trap and eventually lead Nitrate spikes etc. The flow through the back of the Boyu filter compartments is not great ( even if you add another pump), so it is very likely that detritus will eventually settle in and between the LR rubble.

4. From your picture, I notice that you have the Seio facing downwards onto the LR. Rather angle the Seio in such a way that the flow is directed towards the front glass. In this way the flow will bounce off the glass and create a more random flow. Remember that you want a chaotic type of flow in the tank and not a unidirectional flow. Your LR and the critters on it, will also appreciate not being blasted directly with a strong flow.

5. May I also suggest that you invest in another SEIO pump. The current Seio you have is too weak to provide sufficient water turnover. Put the Seio's on opposite sides of the tank and angle them towards the surface and the front glass.

6. As already stated: Be patient and take it slowly with the tank. Read as much as you can .

Good luck , and enjoy the adventure

Just a thought .;)
 
A very warm WELCOME to MASA Johan! Great to have you on-board mate! Good start! Well, well - now THAT is more than enough water flow in a nano tank then! Both the SEIO m530 as well as the Dual SunSun 6000.....
 
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