fluval m60

Bobby105 · Oct 20, 2019

hi everyone
i am new to all of this. i have been doing some research on marine tanks and i think i know the basics that i need to know to start one now. i have read about nitrites and nitrates, ph levels, ammonia, palytoxins, acclimating, salinity etc. i also looked at some different ways the tanks can be setup and desided that i want an aio tank. i want to start with a 130 litre ish tank but a reasonable condition and priced fluvial m60 has became available that i could buy. but the tank has some algue in it and a bit of salt creep mainly on the aio sump at the back of the tank. this doesnt bother me though really as im happy to clean it but the tank has 2 clowns with it. one clown is 1 year ish old and the other is a few weeks old assuming from time bought so a bit older and there is no coral in the tank. i am wondering though how do i move the tank and clean it after without streesing the fish. my lfs is open for a few more hours so should i go and get some ro water so i can mix up 50% of the tanks volume ready for when i get it cleaned and running again. i dont have an airator or any backup tanks so how long would the fish be able to be kept in the container for roughly and do i need to cycle the tank before putting the fish back in and will me cleaning the tank effect the fish badly as i could just bring it home refill it and maybe put the fish back in before cleaning it and then worry about cleaning it a few days later? or do you think i should leave it an wait for a 130l tank? i am thinking of the m60 to grow some corals and to learn some more before i go to a bigger tank?
thanks

reef lover · Oct 26, 2019

Well it's been a week what did you decide on doing?

Bobby105 · Oct 27, 2019

I ended up getting it. Fish are fine and I added a clean up crew yesterday. Just need some more rock and then I will wait a few weeks to make sure I can keep the water parameters good and if I can I’m going to ad some soft corals. I’m going to buy some rock from a running tank and transport it back in a bucket of water so it shouldnt start a cycle in my tank again. I’m trying to find corals that don’t contain palytoxins though and so far the only one I have found is pulsing Xenia. Do you know any others?

dvanrij · Oct 27, 2019

Bobby105 said:
I ended up getting it. Fish are fine and I added a clean up crew yesterday. Just need some more rock and then I will wait a few weeks to make sure I can keep the water parameters good and if I can I’m going to ad some soft corals. I’m going to buy some rock from a running tank and transport it back in a bucket of water so it shouldnt start a cycle in my tank again. I’m trying to find corals that don’t contain palytoxins though and so far the only one I have found is pulsing Xenia. Do you know any others?

It was my understanding that the palytoxin was strictly within the palythoa/zoanthid species. Xenia grows like weeds man. I bought a tiny piece and have a jungle now. I’m starting to scrape it off rocks it’s leached to. Mushrooms specifically ricordeas can be placed to make a multi color garden. They’re eaSy to keep as well. Most of your leathers are easy to keep too in my experience. Good luck!

Bobby105 · Oct 27, 2019

ok i will have a look into them now. might be worth having a mushroom instead of the xenia. thanks

reef lover · Oct 27, 2019

Lots of good safe corals.
All mushies, leathers, large polyp stony coral small polyp stonies and anemones.

Bobby105 · Nov 2, 2019

ok i have looked into some corals and here is a list of some i am considering. if i go with any invasive ones like the pulsing xenia i will put it on a rock far away from the main rocks. i am thinking of Pulsing Xenia, Hammer Coral, Kenya Tree, Leather Toadstool Coral, Candy Cane Coral and once i can master some of them im concidering a montipora. at the moment i have been buying the salt mixed from my lfs but i have bought an rodi unit and im probably going to get h2ocean salt as i think its in the middle kh wise at 9.8 and ok calc and mag levels my tank is about that at the moment and i know thats a bit high but i thought with red sea coral pro being at 12 kh and some salts being around 8 kh that the h2ocean was alright for being in the middle. let me know what you think and if there is anything i should be doing before getting the corals other than dipping them pleaae let me know. im also thinking of ricordeas possibly and some anemones maybe.

reef lover · Nov 2, 2019

I would wait on the nems for a bit, but other than that sounds good!

Bobby105 · Nov 3, 2019

ok. i have also noticed that the tank heater seams to have quite large fluctuations in temperature so I'm going to buy a new heater and use the old one to cure the live rock i bought. the one in the tank at the moment is 100w so should i go with another 100w or should i go for 2 50w heaters or higher watts?

reef lover · Nov 3, 2019

Get 2 that equal to what you need so one alone cant fry the tank if it malfunctions.

Bobby105 · Nov 6, 2019

alright i got my RODI unit and salt so now i can just make it all myself hoping to get some coral in a few days but my test kits are out of date and i want to guarantee the water is perfect before adding the coral i have been looking at api saltwater test kits and they seem ok but i think red sea or salifert would be better do you think i could use api for now as its cheaper or is it worth the investment for the salifert?

Bobby105 · Nov 13, 2019

ok so i decided to hold of on any corals for a bit as my tank has started to get algae

but i got 4 hanna checkers for a great price and my salifert test kit said no phosphates which i didnt believe as i have read they are not very accurate for phosphate. my hanna checker has high readings which i believe is right and i have just looked up what can cause higher phosphates and i think its because im only using frozen food (mysis) and not straining it. im doing a water change anyway tommorow so i am thinking about just doing a larger one and starting to strain my food before feeding. just wondering what other things could be causing higher phosphates and how can i get rid of them faster and keep them low/within a good range . im running my skimmer quite dry so maybe i should set it to do more wet skimming?

reef lover · Nov 13, 2019

Frozen will contain some but was your rock dry rock? Was it cured? Been shown they can leach for ages.

Bobby105 · Nov 13, 2019

Yeah the tanks about a year old I recon as I was told one clown was about a year old and one a few weeks. I also just thought now I have been stiring my sand up a bit this week and last week mainly during water changes but this week after a water change as I made a sift to try and get the algae out of the sand. Didn’t do this for long though as it didn’t work well but that could have also added to it I think? Still havnt added the new live rock as I it need curing so still only rock in there is what’s been in there for I assume a year ish.

reef lover · Nov 13, 2019

Ok did some rereading...when you moved the tank did you replace the sand or rinse the old? If not and your stirring it up your def releasing whatevers in there back into the tank.

Bobby105 · Nov 13, 2019

Yeah still the old sand. This is my first tank so I was a bit worried about the fish when moving the tank etc. I also didn’t want to mess with it too much as I didn’t want to do anything wrong. I have been using a sand cleaner every water change so far so do you think I should just continue doing that for now and not touch the sand other than that during water changes? Or not touch the sand atall maybe even replace it? Is it possible to replace it in a running?

reef lover · Nov 13, 2019

Would have been easier o.n you if youd replaced it...but keep cleaning a small section each water change and try not to disturb it all at once and it should level out for you.

Bobby105 · Nov 13, 2019

ok thanks for all the advice i just ordered some cheato that i will put in a basket at the top of the tank to help reduce the phosphates for now and i have made a new baffle and have some acrylic to make a media basket so when i get a chance i will sort the design error out in the back sump and possibly ad a refugium for the cheato.

Bobby105 · Nov 27, 2019

ok i have made a media basket so now i am getting better filtration i have also added some phosphate remover media and i have made a mini refugium in the back of the tank which is slowly bringing the phosphates down. i also checked my water out of the rodi unit and it says 0.00 ppm but after it goes into my container before mixing salt in it says 0.05 ppm. do you think this is too high as i think it should be 0.00 ppm really but im not sure? is it ok to have a small amount like 0.01 ppm or 0.05 ppm before mixing in the salt?