To Kit or not to Kit

[jjn42b]

Hi,

Was talking in work today and some people in the canteen joined our conversation about my new tank. they did not fill me with confidence about their knowledge but they were going on about UV sterilisers, Oxygen generators and other items I've not come across. So wanted to open the debate here:

What kit is worth while?

I guess there will be an element of depends what you have in the tank.
so for me I have a 275L tanks with Sump and in sump protein skimmer, will be looking at having coral and fish once I get through the water cycle.

thoughts and guidance gratefully received

Jason

 

[robert]

You can spend a fortune with minimal benefit. I'm the king of cheap. Sometimes too much so, but you have the basics. Just go slow. Its easy to say but hard to do, but you really don't need much if you let the tank mature a bit before you add a lot to it. Decide what you want to keep and do your research before you purchase. Its sooooo tempting to buy on appearance sometimes only to find you new addition eats your old addition or loves the very type of coral you really want to keep. Quarantine all fish on the way in. Dip all corals. Frag off all rock on which corals come attached and discard.

Its my opinion and my opinion only - no live rock. Start with dead rock. If you start with dead rock - soak it for as long as possible (a couple of weeks, changing the water regularly) to leach out the excess phosphates.

As far as equipment goes - you'll want 1/2" or 5/8" inch tubing (along with a pump to hook it to) long enough to reach from your tank to the sink or wherever your going to drain your water for water changes. Don't think of hauling it around in a bucket.

You'll want an RODI unit - unless your water is exceptionally good. And a TDS meter to tell if your RODI is working properly.

You'll want a large container - enough to hold at least 25 percent of 275L to hold that water your RODI unit makes. An Auto-top-off would be on my list of first things to get.

I assume you have a specific gravity tester (to check salinity) - and the routine test kits. Ammonia, Nitrate, Alk at a minimum - a calcium test kit is nice.

What ever makes routine maintenance easy.

You don't need UV,gfo/calcium/carbon/reactors or canister filters - unless you want them - you will want to use gfo and carbon, but honestly they work fine in a mesh bag dropped in your filter sock. I usually just add scoops of these right into my filter sock and forget the mesh bag.

Don't waste you money on supplements. Most don't do much and you never add anything you can't test for. The only thing I routinely add is baking soda (arm and hammer) if my test kit says its low. Use water changes to take care of the rest -

Get some chaeto and a light for your sump. (you should do that asap as you've got condensation)

My 2 cents - hope some of it helps.

 

[jjn42b]

thanks robert for response really helpful, few bits i had to google but thats just me learning:smile: