New to marine

[cassapi]

New to the hobby have cycled the tank and just preparing for fish need to add a uv sterilizer first.
I wanted to add clowns to the tank any suggestions on tank mates, looking to add corals too.
It's a 200 litre [emoji225]

 

[ReeferReefer]

Looking good so far. Just take things slow.

I would highly recommend Quarantining all fish if you have the ability. Here is a link on the subject.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-properly-quarantine-fish.170878/

For your tank it would be nice to have a small community of fish. I think a Royal Gramma, Firefish, Starry Blenny and a wrasse would be a nice set up.

 

[LiveWire]

Welcome to the REEF @cassapi!! Plannig in advance is a great start.

 

[LesPoissons]

Welcome..
Out of curiosity, why do you want a UV sterilizer? It's not something most reefers use consistently anymore.
You can do firefish, royal gramma, staghorn damsels for a touch of yellow, you can add an anemone in 6months- 1 yr if you are interested, a small wrasse, blenny, jawfish, or other gobies would all be happy as well. If you dont like the royal gramma you could do a dotty back instead.

 

[Marco S]

Welcome..
Out of curiosity, why do you want a UV sterilizer? It's not something most reefers use consistently anymore.

I would disagree with this comment. When I was researching if I wanted to use one I found a lot of reefers are still using them and that most public aquariums and zoos use then as well. The main thing I found is that they need to be properly sized and the flow needs to be correct in order to have any real affect and that they are only another tool to help control algae and or bacteria and other free floating pathogens and not a magic cure. That being said, they do cost a lot for a good one and I ended up going with a commercial model that was properly sized for my tank and got an adjustable pump so I could dial in the specific flow rate that the manufacturer recommended for Protozoa control.

Things to keep in mind are that a good UV sterilizer can be pretty large compared to something you pick up at Petco so you should plan ahead where you will be installing it ad insure that you have enough space. Also, the pump needs to be properly sized and you need to account for head pressure. You will want to measure the flow coming out of the UV Sterilizer itself and not the flow coming straight from the pump. If you do go with a smaller more affordable model, it will most likely just be used to clear up the water a bit and have no real affect on protozoa control. A UV sterilizer is not required and is not the end all and be all of of disease and algae control, but at the end of the day it is another line of defense and one that I thought was worth the extra cost. I will say that I also use a cheap model UV Sterilizer on my smaller freshwater tanks and they are useful at clearing up the water so it all depends on what you plan on using them for and how much you are willing to spend.

And finally...Welcome to R2R and good luck with your tank!!!

 

[cassapi]

Looking good so far. Just take things slow.

I would highly recommend Quarantining all fish if you have the ability. Here is a link on the subject.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-properly-quarantine-fish.170878/

For your tank it would be nice to have a small community of fish. I think a Royal Gramma, Firefish, Starry Blenny and a wrasse would be a nice set up.

Will set one up and wait for it to cycle before adding any fish, thanks for the link

 

[BadFish619]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[cassapi]

Welcome..
Out of curiosity, why do you want a UV sterilizer? It's not something most reefers use consistently anymore.
You can do firefish, royal gramma, staghorn damsels for a touch of yellow, you can add an anemone in 6months- 1 yr if you are interested, a small wrasse, blenny, jawfish, or other gobies would all be happy as well. If you dont like the royal gramma you could do a dotty back instead.

Hi Maya my LFS told me it was a good idea if I couldn't afford to set up a QT.
Have been reading since then and I think it'll be a good idea to have one regardless.
I have no sump as it's running of a filter so just want to improve water quality as the sponges and filter matures

 

[SPR1968]

Welcome to R2R and the tank looks great!

UV-C sterilisers I think are more popular in Europe, I run one 24/7 but it’s also about the flow rates to be effective

From what I’ve studied it’s all about contact time and if you want to kill of certain parasites, like for example ich, you have to achieve 72000 micro watts/sec and there is a calculation you can do based on the UVC power and the flow rate to achieve this.

The UVC only kills things that pass through it, so of course it’s not 100% effective but it certainly helps, and in reality I can’t see any down side to using one other than changing the bulb every 12 months.

The following is a quote from DD (David Saxby’s company) which I found helpful when researching:

‘’For water clarity we suggest a U.V intensity of 30,000 microwatt's/sec/sq.cm and our U.V sterilisers are designed to deliver this at the quoted flow/contact rate through the unit.
The mistake that many hobbyists make with our and other manufacturers U.V systems is not getting the flow rate right through the UV and connecting any old pump to it.If flow is increased the bacteria/algae or parasites do not get the correct U.V exposure and many happily pass right through the unit.

This is of some interest when trying to kill the white spot parasite as a greater U.V intensity of 72,000 microwatt's/sec/sq.cm is required to kill it. So with this in mind we have to take the standard flow rate of the unit for 30,000 microwatts and divide it by 2.4 to give you a flow rate for 72,000 microwatts exposure time.

So you will need to divide the suggest 500l/hr flow rate by 2.4 giving a new flow rate through the unit of 208 l/hr to kill the white spot. This will give a 0.6 times turn over for a 350l aquarium so it maybe worth going for the 20 watt unit and running it at 416 l/hr giving you over 1x tank turn over an hour but giving the correct kill intensity for white spot.’’

Hope this helps you decide

 

[ylreefer]

Welcome..
Out of curiosity, why do you want a UV sterilizer? It's not something most reefers use consistently anymore.
You can do firefish, royal gramma, staghorn damsels for a touch of yellow, you can add an anemone in 6months- 1 yr if you are interested, a small wrasse, blenny, jawfish, or other gobies would all be happy as well. If you dont like the royal gramma you could do a dotty back instead.

Some nice colour here, I would however err on the side of caution with a dottyback. They can be real aggressive. I had one in my old set up with 2 anthias and a six Line Wrasse. He absolutely tore into the wrasse to the point of him not eating for 3 days. He also attacked the bigger anthias and tore off the lower half of one's tail. He and the six Line went in together after 30 day in QT. He was removed and now lives in the sump until i can rehome him. Just my experience but from what I've read recently other seem to agree.

 

[ylreefer]

I would disagree with this comment. When I was researching if I wanted to use one I found a lot of reefers are still using them and that most public aquariums and zoos use then as well. The main thing I found is that they need to be properly sized and the flow needs to be correct in order to have any real affect and that they are only another tool to help control algae and or bacteria and other free floating pathogens and not a magic cure. That being said, they do cost a lot for a good one and I ended up going with a commercial model that was properly sized for my tank and got an adjustable pump so I could dial in the specific flow rate that the manufacturer recommended for Protozoa control.

Things to keep in mind are that a good UV sterilizer can be pretty large compared to something you pick up at Petco so you should plan ahead where you will be installing it ad insure that you have enough space. Also, the pump needs to be properly sized and you need to account for head pressure. You will want to measure the flow coming out of the UV Sterilizer itself and not the flow coming straight from the pump. If you do go with a smaller more affordable model, it will most likely just be used to clear up the water a bit and have no real affect on protozoa control. A UV sterilizer is not required and is not the end all and be all of of disease and algae control, but at the end of the day it is another line of defense and one that I thought was worth the extra cost. I will say that I also use a cheap model UV Sterilizer on my smaller freshwater tanks and they are useful at clearing up the water so it all depends on what you plan on using them for and how much you are willing to spend.

And finally...Welcome to R2R and good luck with your tank!!!

I'm inclined to agree with Marco here, obviously everyone has their own preferences but I myself do have a UV installed on my 110g reef.

I don't run it 24/7 and in fact not even everyday. Mostly because I haven't bothered fitting a timer yet but that is the plan and to have it run a few hours during the evening daily.

Do I need it? Probably not. I do QT every fish I buy for 30 days min but having it there just gives me peace of mind that I have the extra bit of useful equipment should I need it. Have I used it? Sure I have. I had a bacterial bloom 4 weeks into the cycle, the uv cleared that up in 24hrs.

I have it so I use it. But if I was on a budget I wouldn't go out and buy one as a matter of urgency.

 

[reef lover]

Welcome to r2r !

 

[Sharkbait HooHaHa]

Welcome!

 

[cassapi]

So tanks coming along and parameters really good, small amounts of diatoms showing but cuc doing well.
Question I have is that the clowns like the top corner of the tank is this normal?

I have a jeboa wave maker.

Changed lights to fluval marine full spectrum leds.
Parameters from yesterday were
Nitrate 0
Nitrate 20
Phosphate 0.25
Calcium 450
Ph level 8.1
Salinity 1.025

 

[Marco S]

Perfectly normal for Clownfish in my experience. Mine hosted the top corner, (right beside the heater) in my copper QT and the top middle, (right beside the heater again) in my Prazi QT. When they went into the DT they were a bit confused, (since there was no heater I assume) and hosted the back near the overflow until I put a heater, (For redundancy) in the tank and they found it and now host right beside it.

 

[vetteguy53081]