B/day tank setup - Juwel180

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Hi All,Well after tons of reading I am finally posting a thread.
I was given a awesome looking Juwel 180 by my wife for my birthday and this was setup by the store before I came home.The bug has bitten and I am wanting to get it running smoothly.
Specs are:Juwel 180l, 2 X T5 highlights 44w Actinic and marine glow, Juwel built in filter and power head (600l/h), heater, Tetratec 700l/h cannister, Arrogonite gravel, 4kg live rock,5kg bio rock (from LFS tanks), 2 std clowns,1 maroon clown and 2 cleaner shrimp.
I want to run this smoothly but don't have a sump or skimmer.There is little if no space in the cabinet for a sump - unless I make a mini 20cm wide by 20cm deep and 40cm height one) - thats why I went with the Tetratec cannister.
Most forum talk seems to hinge around sumps, protein skimmers and deep sand beds for filtration. So I am leaning towards making a sump, and buying a skimmer.
I want to try do this as neatly as possible and avoid at ALL costs water spills in the cabinet (some clever person at Juwel made the cabinet out of chip board/Melamine) - so cannot afford spills.
I used to run a marine tank about 15 years ago and have gone through all the spills, thrills and waterchanges and know what it's mostly about. I am hoping that there is a cleaner easier way to run this without a: spending a fortune, b: making too much mess, c: turning it into a chore and packing it in again.
Advice for a re-starter?
Where to from here?
Can it be done?
Thoughts or comments?
 
Nice to hear you back,

First thing you need to decide which clowns you like best. That maroon will eventually murder the other clowns, very strong aggressive clowns. Not enough space for territories.

That size tank can run without a skimmer or a DSB, if you are careful and have disciplined and correct husbandry methods.

Obviously adding these items makes your life easy and more "safety" nets.

To me Live Rock is one of your tank's greatest asset and ally, try get as much as you can without impeding the tank's flow.

And lastly but most importantly, where the pics ;)
 
I try to purchase as small a fish as possible.The 3 clowns are tiny and so far the Maroon is the most sedate. I remember Tomotoe clowns being aggresive.Will play it by ear. I like the red colours as well as African clowns.
If I can run this without a skimmer and DSB then it would be great as a starter tank as I am already looking to buy up.
This can be a support tank or something of the sort.
The Juwels are very expensive though and I have spent close to R8000 and don't seem to even have all the essentials.Obviously, it was a gift with the greatest intentions and my wife bought the best she could.But will take it from here.
Pics to come tonight.
 
Quick question on the live rock though. Years ago I would just go down to the beach and collect. Obviously we can't do this anymore. But what about creating live rock (silly idea) but what about either picking up dry sandstone off the beach or buying biorock and leaving it in a rock pool for a few weeks? Has this ever been done?
Also I find the live rock on sale not the best looking, so thats also my motivation to try drop some nice specimens off on a dive and then come back to fetch them.
 
Ok, you need to keep in touch with someone like matt165

Matt runs a very clean and well maintain Nano system without all the hardware.

Water changes are going be essential, so find a good supplier of SW or get an RO unit and make your own.

Also watch your parameters, due too the smaller volume of water, things can go wrong quickly.

And most important, ENJOY ;)
 
Welcome to MASA, i would imagine things have changed a bit from 15 years ago, technology advances etc.

The jewel is a decent sized tank and you don't HAVE to have a sump, many tanks don't and survive rather well. You can use the external cannister for rowaphos and carbon, but remove all the bioballs or filter floss.

As above, good quality live rock are the heart and lungs (and possibly kidneys) of a successful reef tank, around 18kgs would surfice. remember that you should build caves and spaces not walls with it and mount a powerhead down low to maximise flow in around and through the rock.

You may need to use additional lights if you want coral, look for 10,000k T5's to give the corals the light they need.
 
Thanks, I will do.I bought a few 25l drums and have them stocked with R/O from the LPS.Will be doing regular water changes with mixed salt and R/O.Just got to get the right ratio's.
Also my wife is really into this and we are both very excited,we have been sitting in front of the tank randomly checking out the clowns, schrimps etc.
Have noticed a few very small thin legged starfish around and a centerpede. Should I be worried?
 
Thanks Wee-man. Whats rowaphos? Obviously going to have to take those other items out the cannister.Why remove the filter floss? Doesn't this keep the water clear?
Also your thoughts on the live rock que I posted?
I am looking into mounting an additional ballast on the lid, and putting in two more lights, but the ones I have are pretty strong and I forgot to mention I have 2 X reflectors on them as well.Not the ideal lighting colour I like but am going to look around for other T5 colour spectrums
 
Thanks Wee-man. Whats rowaphos? Obviously going to have to take those other items out the cannister.Why remove the filter floss? Doesn't this keep the water clear?
Also your thoughts on the live rock que I posted?
I am looking into mounting an additional ballast on the lid, and putting in two more lights, but the ones I have are pretty strong and I forgot to mention I have 2 X reflectors on them as well.Not the ideal lighting colour I like but am going to look around for other T5 colour spectrums


Rowaphos is a brand name for a phosphate remover (sorry) filter floss clogs very quickly and is a pain to keep changing, carbon will do a good job in "polishing the water"
Liverock is used because it has very porous qualities, as i said above it is an integral part of the reef set up and as such i always advise people to get the very best, it can make all the difference to how much you enjoy the hobby.

T5 spectrums, look for the 10,000 kelvin rated lamps - or even 14,000k.
 
I will look at replacing the bio balls with Rowaphos in the cannister or built in filter.I have 2 sets of carbon in the built-in filter and cannister. Is this enough?
Live rock is just sooo expensive.I'm paying R110/kg, and it's not even nice looking.Is there cheaper in Dbn or what are the alternatives?
 
I will look at replacing the bio balls with Rowaphos in the cannister or built in filter.I have 2 sets of carbon in the built-in filter and cannister. Is this enough?
Live rock is just sooo expensive.I'm paying R110/kg, and it's not even nice looking.Is there cheaper in Dbn or what are the alternatives?

Not sure where to get cheaper, try our sponsor section (i live in the UK so not much help with local stuff) bio balls just interfere with the liverock so they are best avoided.

What else is is the built in filter? if you have a cannister you shouldn't need both and it would look better without it too.
 
Will ask around on the forum for live rock prices.Pity about the Bioballs, I like th eidea. Can't belive the LFS didn't mention this to me.
The built-in filter and cannister have pretty much the same components i.e Floss, Filter foam (few layers), bio balls (not in the built-in) and carbon. Basically a duplicate at a bigger rate.
Was playing with the idea of removing the built-in filter (create space and appearance) and then building a mini sump.
I also want to use the cannister inlet in the tank to create a overflow into a cup and then down to the cannister as this will help clean the surface up a bit.
 
Welcome to MASA :)
Eco Aquatics (sponsor) stocks some awsome liverock.
When i ran my canister some years back,i filled it with pieces of LR, Activated carbon and Phosphate remover (Rowaphos). Ditch all those bioballs,filterwool etc from the Canister.
 
THanks Mekaeel.Will look into that this weekend.I gather details for EcoAquatics are somewhere on the forum?Want to run past there and take a look.Also what are your thoughts on bio rock?
 
great, thanks again.Will make contact and get some LR as well as put it into the cannister and built-in. Want to get a few more fish as well.
 
OK,glad to hear that.Thought that might damage things - so thats a relief.Will use the uglier pieces to put in the built-in filter and cannister.Made contact with Eco-Aquatics (flo) to go past on Sat to look at LR.So am quite excited.Will post a few pics tomorrow as I am taking some tonight.Not much, but it's at least a before pic:)
 
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Any reason why I am not allowed to post pics?
I folllowed the online instructions, resized all my pics and then went to Quick upload - but it's telling me to log-in as a: I am either not logged in or b: don't have access.
Any ideas?
 
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