New to Marines

[Psychotic Madman]

Hi all, new to this. Have many years experience with freshwater. I used to breed Malawis years ago with tanks everywhere in the house housing holding females, young fish in various stages of growth, and my show tank, 100 gallon. I have now decided to have a go at marines. Got a 11o ltr freshwater at the moment with just a few run of the mill fish in it. I am hoping this will go in the new year. I am limited by space, so bought myself a full set up, 2nd hand of course. I have got
Aqua One 150, 120 ltrs. Stand with sump and all pipework.
Bubble Magus c3.5 skimmer.
Luminaire v2 with brackets.
DCP 2500 Jecod pump.
TMC 6000 wavemaker.
Heater.
Filter socks.
Luminie light for the sump.
Jump Guard and cover glass.
All this is practically new, with all instruction booklets and all remotes for the items that need them. I paid £295 for all this lot, and am now in the process of putting together everything else i need. One thing that is confusing me is which rock to get. I have about 35 kilos of ocean rock, but am not sure this is the best thing for my project. I have seen marco rock, tufa rock, puka rock, DD rock, Stax rock, and fiji rock. Can anyone give me any pointers as to which is the best to use? I will be starting a journal when i set up the tank and will be asking for much more advice. I want to take my time and do this right. If anyone has any advice on the equipment i have or anyone thinks i need to upgrade anything, please comment. Thanks. Chris.

 

[lavoisier]

Welcome to R2R. Glad you are here. Normally the lighter, more porous rock is to be preferred.

 

[Twoddler]

Welcome from Accrington reefer, go with the rock you like the look of best , #Lavoisier porous is good

 

[Psychotic Madman]

Thanks for the replies. I have about 30kg of ocean rock that came out of a Malawi tank, just waiting to be cleaned properly, i will be looking at both types when i get round to setting up. I was advised that the marco rock was probably one of the better rocks to use. I wont be setting up for a couple of months yet, still got to get rid of my freshwater set up. I think when i start i will do a journal. Just in case i do anything wrong, then members here can put me on the right track. Still wondering about the substrate, any suggestions?. Chris.

 

[WirelessMike]

Welcome to the reef! Glad to have you. Porous rock is the best bet. Have heard good things about Marco, but I personally have never used it. Ton of knowledge on this forum to help you be successful

 

[Twoddler]

Thanks for the replies. I have about 30kg of ocean rock that came out of a Malawi tank, just waiting to be cleaned properly, i will be looking at both types when i get round to setting up. I was advised that the marco rock was probably one of the better rocks to use. I wont be setting up for a couple of months yet, still got to get rid of my freshwater set up. I think when i start i will do a journal. Just in case i do anything wrong, then members here can put me on the right track. Still wondering about the substrate, any suggestions?. Chris.

I used this https://krakencorals.co.uk/coral-sand-1mm-25kg-bag.html
Cracking little shop aswell, only do marine and very friendly, no pushy sales. I'm not a fan of live rock or sand, bit of a lottery with pests.

 

[Psychotic Madman]

Thats why i have gone for dry rock, because of the pests associated with live rock. I will be getting my sump media seeded in my stepson-in-laws sump, but he has reseeded his rock, so should be safe.

 

[PatW]

Just be sure that your rock is calcium carbonate also called limestone and hopefully from a coral reef . Most dry rock is old reef rock from reefs that were left high and dry thousands of years ago.

I used dry rock. I had problems with cyanoalgae. It stayed tenaciously. For some OTHER reason, I tossed in some bacterial cultures of various sorts and the cyano just disappeared. I think it was so stubborn because my tank had an impoverished microfauna. Of course, I could be wrong. But it would not hurt to seed your tank with some stuff.

I would strongly suggest that you get an auto top off unit. It really helps to have one and keeps your salinity levels much more stable.

Another thing to get is an RODI unit and a food safe container to store the RODI water. Having one will give you a source of pure water for you auto top off and for mixing fresh salt water for water changes. RODI units have huge advantages. You do not have to run to some store to get water. You have water all the time. You know that your water is pure. And your water is considerably cheaper than what you can buy. An RODI unit will pay for itself (depending on how much you make) in a pretty short time. I think mine paid for itself in 6 months.

 

[Peace River]

#WelcometoR2R!!! You may find this BRS video helpful:

 

[GoVols]

Thats why i have gone for dry rock, because of the pests associated with live rock. I will be getting my sump media seeded in my stepson-in-laws sump, but he has reseeded his rock, so should be safe.

Chris,
Welcome to Reef 2 Reef!

I may staff with live rock, but the last batch of Caribbean came with six mantis shrimp... ;Dead

 

[KrisReef]

Ocean rock, as in rock from the ocean or something else?

If you can get Fiji rock, that is probably your best bet for additional substrate, imo.

If you want to avoid pests, do you have enough space to put all of your rocks in a large bin, add water and let that circulate with bottled bacteria. Add a pinch of fish food every few days and let the biological processes get started in a dark bucket?

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[Psychotic Madman]

Not really got the room to do that. I have ordered my rock. I intend to cycle the tank for at least 2 months, then add the fish slowly, maybe 1/2 per month till i am happy with them, then start with the corals, will only be soft coral i think.