# My first Marine tank



## Scree (Sep 7, 2010)

Is that too much or will the fact its mainly branched 'rock' which allows good water circulation mean it should be fine?


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## brittone05 (Sep 29, 2006)

Looks okay to me - what are the ratios tank size vs rock weight?

I just went for the amount I felt looked good in my tank when I had my nano lmao


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## Scree (Sep 7, 2010)

Its a 48l tank with about 7kg of rock.. I had read/been told that 1kg per 10l is suggested but have seen so many thriving tanks which are stuffed with rocks that i just had the same view as you and went with what i thought looked good  

If its going to cause an issue for me tho i can always remove some


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## brittone05 (Sep 29, 2006)

I never had a problem with mine hun - live rock acts as filtration in the tank AND I had an external filter with live rock inside and a small internal filter with purigen and carbon in with no problems :d xx


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## Scree (Sep 7, 2010)

cool, the only other thing im wondering about now is a skimmer, reading conflicting views on whether its a requirement for such a small tank?


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## Moogloo (Mar 15, 2010)

You have a RiverReef 48 

Fitting a protein skimmer is an absolute PITA on those tanks, you would have to cut the hood up to fit it on...

If you search for a sponge product called 'PolyFilter', it absorbs proteins, nitrites, nitrates and everything. If you fint it, it is ruddy expensive but the company has recently gone bust! Hoard it! Seriously! 

Cut it into cubes and pop it into filter and keep stocking level to minimum  

Pair of percs, ocellaric or black perc clowns (tomatoes, clarkiis, allards, saddlebacks and maroons etc get waaay too big). Shrimps, corals, crabs, hermit crabs, turbo snails etc

And then maybe a nice blenny like a bicolour blenny or something of a similar size...


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## Scree (Sep 7, 2010)

Moogloo said:


> You have a RiverReef 48
> 
> Fitting a protein skimmer is an absolute PITA on those tanks, you would have to cut the hood up to fit it on...
> 
> ...


Yep, its a RR48  seems a decent enough tank but this is my first step into marine so im still learning whats what..

Thanks, ill keep an eye out for that polyfilter n try to stock up..

As for fish stocks i was planning on a Royal Gramma, Firefish Red and a Yasha Goby, along with the cuc of Pistol and fire shrimp turbos etc..

All thats a long way off tho lol, gota get my rock coloured up and some corals growing first


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## Cockings (Mar 31, 2011)

You wan a minimum of 1kg per 10 litres of water so you have enough adding more wouldn't hurt if you wished but you don't need to

Make sure your flow is good and you don't have any dead spots

Decently get a skimmer only a micro tank I would toy with not having one and that's because you then do 75% plus water changes a week as a rule.

You then want to be doing 10-15% water changes a week

Take your time stocking the tank and becareful you don't over feed you fish and you will be fine.


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## Moogloo (Mar 15, 2010)

Id be tempted to leave liverock as it is, it looks beautiful!! You will always get little more liverock as and when you buy corals 

If you're wanting it to hurry and purple, Kent Marine do a product called PurpleTech which is amazing!!

We used it on a 400L display tank and within 3 months from start the coraline was out of control (tho tbh someone and not me was overdoing it i think!) but the purble covered everything! Tank looked years older than it was in a good way.

It is a calcium supplement in a way that gets the coraline to grow really fast so your calcium levels might end up a little high if you dont keep an eye on them but its definately worth it!


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## Scree (Sep 7, 2010)

Thanks for the responses, i have added two pieces of fiji live rock towards the back of the tank now (ill post another pic soon) and one red/green mushroom coral, but ive decided to leave it mature now as there is a wealth of life comming from my rock, feather dusters, worms, snails and even a small hermit crab & shrimp!!! plus some i could not even begin to describe lol..

water quality seems to have spiked and dropped pretty quickly so im assuming it may rise again soon if there has been any coraline death on the rock.. I'm just gona hold off and maybe get my gramma in about a month or twos time.


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## Scree (Sep 7, 2010)

Few more pics of the tank now ive added some coral and the CUC


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## Cockings (Mar 31, 2011)

Looking good mate nice aqua scaping

If that is candy cane / trumpet coral bottom right you may what to think about raising that in the tank a bit unless you got halide lighting on there. Even then thi I would still look at raising it


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## Scree (Sep 7, 2010)

Yeah i just had it at a lower level to acclimatise it to the lighting, i raised it a bit last night...

As for the scaping, most of the sand work has been done by the pistol shrimp lol, the moment he went in he started shifting mountains of sand... Class to watch him do, only problem is now that the snails tend to roll down the slope and spend ages trying to flip themselves over at the bottom lol


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## Corsetts (Dec 8, 2008)

Looks good :2thumb:

I'm actually a big believer in "less is more" with live rock, I did a study on my own tank by removing a load and monitoring the water (specifically nitrate) over the coming months and noticed a slow but steady drop to <5ppm.
Saying that, your rock looks very dense so it may not be an issue.
Anyway, it looks nice : victory:


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## Scree (Sep 7, 2010)

Got my Yasha Goby in yesterday    

He's paired up with the Pistol Shrimp straight away by the looks of things  plus he's eating 

Hopefuly i can get hold of a Royal Gramma over the weekend now


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## Cockings (Mar 31, 2011)

Just noticed your only down the road from me. Where do you buy your stock from


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## spidersteve (Jan 25, 2010)

Have you replaced the media in the back with crushed rock? I'd also add that the advice to get poly filter in this tank is good advice...48l wont give you much time to react if things go wrong. I would be very cautious of stocking this with fish especially anything remotely territorial. There isnt much room to hide. How mature was the tank before the fungia was added?


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## Scree (Sep 7, 2010)

Cockings said:


> Just noticed your only down the road from me. Where do you buy your stock from


I got my Live Rock & corals from Delta Marine in Caerphilly, apart from the Mushroom, that came from Big Blue in Caerphilly GC..

Yasha came from Tsunami Aquatics in Chepstow, they always have great quality fish, got alot of my trops from there and they've done amazingly.

Steve,

Im only planning on a 3 fish Tank, The Yasha, a RG and one other yet to pick unknown. There are loads that i'd like but i know due to the size of the tank im limited. Kinda wish i'd gone for the 94 now by i'll see how i go with this now ive got it.

Media replaced, but, tell me more on the Fungia, i know you want to : victory:


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## spidersteve (Jan 25, 2010)

Scree said:


> I got my Live Rock & corals from Delta Marine in Caerphilly, apart from the Mushroom, that came from Big Blue in Caerphilly GC..
> 
> Yasha came from Tsunami Aquatics in Chepstow, they always have great quality fish, got alot of my trops from there and they've done amazingly.
> 
> ...


Nothing really, Best of luck with it. Fungia's are nice corals but I personally would have let the tank mature first. What has your LFS advised on feeding? I would also let the yasha settle in for a month or two and monitor water quality for a while and hold back on putting another fish in for a while. Thats just me though A small system like that will only support so much life. I've found more than two fish in those to be pushing it, even a pair of percs imo is too much.


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## Scree (Sep 7, 2010)

cheers for the advise..

Im pretty taken by it, its one of the most interesting animals ive ever owned..

The place i bought it from told me it was a very hardy coral and he would feed it by dropping broken up reef sticks onto it..

Yeah, im happy with the Yasha in there at the mo and thinking about it probably wont bother with the RG for a while. In your experience would you say a RG is a suggestable fish to have in there with the Yasha? I'm very taken by a Chalk Bass at Tsunami but have been advised that it and a RG probably wouldnt get on too well.


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## Cockings (Mar 31, 2011)

Be careful with your water quality and let the tank rest for a while after each fish. Becarful and stay away from heavy feeding corals also or you have to much bioload.

I sell corals mainly frags and general a varied range of stuff. If your ever interested give me a shout.


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## Scree (Sep 7, 2010)

i will be.. with the corals i have in there, what others would you suggest? There are a few i have my eye on..


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## Cockings (Mar 31, 2011)

You will be fine with all softies, lobos, hammers, torch possibly acans, gonipora, trumpets, blastos

I would avoid fans unless they are the soft kind but even then I would only have one. 

I got a few things up here I have put an add in this section 

I am also awaiting some really rare zoas should be picking them up next week. All frags


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## spidersteve (Jan 25, 2010)

Scree said:


> cheers for the advise..
> 
> Im pretty taken by it, its one of the most interesting animals ive ever owned..
> 
> ...


We never feed our fungias solids, I've never kept one at home either. as before water quality is going to be the main issue with a small tank. I've never used reef sticks either. What are they? All our hard corals that take solids have frozen fish/cockles/mysis rotated every ten days or so, enriched with vitamin spray as frozen is pretty nutritionless as a food on its own. My tank at home gets phytoplankton every day which everything rolls off of nicely.


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## Cockings (Mar 31, 2011)

D&d do reef sticks which really they give off small particuls when they hit the water however not all corals will take them they seem to upset them.

With the fungi I would the lps feed about once a fortnight just drop it into the water and everything will feed of it fish and inverts also.

If when you feed the fungi it produces mucas or anything don't use them again


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## Scree (Sep 7, 2010)

*More Nano pics*

Hi all, few more pics of the Nano, got some new actnics yesterday so can capture the colours at night  just need a new camera now lol..










FTS










Actnics










Conch chilling near the mushrooms










Purple rimmed Fungia frag with 14 mouths?? (if anyone could confirm lol)










Yasha Goby and the Chalk Bass 










Orange Fungia under actnics










Chalky










Goniopora


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## jamielemon (Aug 25, 2011)

Just remeber tho the more live rock you place in the smaller the water vol of the tank becomes so be carful when stocking


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## Scree (Sep 7, 2010)

cheers jam, yeah think im settled now for just the snails, 2 shrimps and 2 fish.. The branching rock ive gone for is pretty decent as it has a huge surface area in comparison to the volume it takes up. there is a huge 'cave' system behind the front face of the reef with loads of hides and open spaces.

Already considering getting a 200l tho lol, just wants more floor space for brains blasto's n plates


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## Cockings (Mar 31, 2011)

Cracking job fair play really liking the layout and the corals look great the candy cane and fungi ate mint


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## Scree (Sep 7, 2010)

cheers mate, been playing about with flow and placement all day whilst trying not to disturb things _too_ much lol

Got a yellowy white candy cane too but its just so bright under any light every photo is over exposed, you can see it half way down the front middle..


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## Cockings (Mar 31, 2011)

When did you place the goni in there they are a fussy coral so they will take longer to respond than other corals. Also there is micro species of goni which doesnt not stretch out as much which yours looks like. That looks similar to the ones Delta has had in and if its is its defently a micro.

I would be inclined once its settled in to raise it to the middle of the tank keeping it in moderate flow to.

Hope this helps


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## Scree (Sep 7, 2010)

it was from Delta, got it on friday.. Im sure its been out as extended as it was at delta but the mrs swears otherwise lol.. I know it was nowhere as extended as yours anyway, its real nice glow under the actnics tho, happy with it..

Im looking for some blue zoas n some more acans now, plus maybe a few acropora..


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## Cockings (Mar 31, 2011)

If I was you I would stay away from Acropora especially as you work away you systems parameters had to be spot on practically daily

Stick with softies and lps you won't go wrong. I have and a few sps And maintaining the system is a nightmare without dosers etc and then my flame angel took a liking to all of them.

In my opinion they are a pain and no way near as nice ad lps except for a few


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## Cockings (Mar 31, 2011)

If I was you I would stay away from Acropora especially as you work away you systems parameters had to be spot on practically daily

Stick with softies and lps you won't go wrong. I have and a few sps And maintaining the system is a nightmare without dosers etc and then my flame angel took a liking to all of them.

In my opinion they are a pain and no way near as nice ad lps except for a few


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## Scree (Sep 7, 2010)

Cockings said:


> When did you place the goni in there they are a fussy coral so they will take longer to respond than other corals. Also there is micro species of goni which doesnt not stretch out as much which yours looks like. That looks similar to the ones Delta has had in and if its is its defently a micro.
> 
> I would be inclined once its settled in to raise it to the middle of the tank keeping it in moderate flow to.
> 
> Hope this helps


Raised the Goni towards the top of the tank last night and its already opened right up this morning, seems to like the light levels high..

The Zoas and Acan i got from you are amazing, settled right in, the Acan was puffed right up with its tents out last night..

Let me know if you do get hold of any more of the pink zoas i saw there if you would, plus your torch next time you frag it... :2thumb:


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## Cockings (Mar 31, 2011)

Glad you like them all i will


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## rum&coke (Apr 19, 2009)

Looks good to me, too much live rock just turns it into expensive base rock IMHO :2thumb:


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## Scree (Sep 7, 2010)

Few more pieces added over last week or so..

Palm Tree Polyps;



















Fungia;










And a stunning Red/ Blue Green Acan from User Cockings;










Also, Chalky came out posing so thought it would be rude not to take a pic


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## Scree (Sep 7, 2010)

Seems one of the Palm Polyps was a little unhappy with the placement and has detatched itself from the plate it was sat on last night, the rest seem happy enough tho and are all fully extended this morning 

Anyone keep these or have any experience with them? im wondering if im best sticking the loose one down or if left will it reattach itself to another surface?


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## Scree (Sep 7, 2010)

Couple more pics, think ive got the corals in final their places now, just waiting on a few more zoa frags to be delivered today 

Yasha in the cave waiting for food










Chalk Bass lurking 










And finaly the Yasha popping out of one of the hides in the sand that him and the pistol shrimp have made;


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## jamielemon (Aug 25, 2011)

i would place your trumpet coral closer to the tank


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## Scree (Sep 7, 2010)

Youve lost me, its in the tank. It should be closer?

Its been moved since that pic was taken, its more towards the powerhead behind the Acan..


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## Scree (Sep 7, 2010)

Few more pics i took the other day


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## owlbassboy (Jun 26, 2008)

aye its alright........ lol


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## Scree (Sep 7, 2010)

Just a few updated tank shots;























































Hope you like


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

Looks great! How are you finding the RR48L? Are you using the standard lighting?


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## Scree (Sep 7, 2010)

Cheers Si, its a good little tank. Running it without a skimmer which means it requires some attention but its worth it.

As for the lighting i have the standard T5's and blue leds plus extra led strips ive added. Considering a LED tile soon although i may just hold out on that untill my new build.

Added this fella last night, settled straight in 




























Plus a few other shots i got.


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## Penny (Dec 12, 2006)

Just like to say your tank is looking amazing ive kept salt water tanks in the past and I'm hoping to get back into it one day


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## davesbray (Feb 12, 2011)

awesome tank!!! where did you find those pink zoas? also love the duster worms, i never have any luck with them tho


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## Scree (Sep 7, 2010)

Thanks both, you should deffo get back into it Penny, great hobby and so interesting to watch.

Dave, ive had one duster die on me due to my pistol shrimp constantly dragging it into his cave, the Yellow one still seems fine tho. The pink Zoas came from a LFS, great colour to them, im well happy


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