Dear Fellow Reefers,
Thank you for this great forum. For a while I have been thinking about changing to Saltwater. I have quite a long freshwater experience and I'm currently owner of six discus. However my discus need 150 liter water changes every 2 days and that is no longer doable for me. For a long time I have been thinking about switching to salt, but never did because I believed that it was more complicated. However I'm drawn to the idea of having a reef some day and have decided that it's time. (While still looking for a new home for my discus)
Currently I wish to start simple with a FLOWLR system. Containing of live-rock, sand and a skimmer, which will be the basis for now. (+ testing equipment, salinity meter etc.)
My tank can contain about 48 gallons of water and as you probably know that main expense for a new reefer in the cost of live rock. (Especially in the NL where live rock is about 15 dollars per lb due to the long travel distance.)
However someone on the Dutch Craigslist broke their tank down so that they have the ability to do more travelling around the world. They are willing to sell me their rock (which just got removed from the water and thus is slowly dying) for 20 euro's total or about 22 dollars for a total of 44lb. 44lb would of course (as I learned from this forum) be a good amount for my tank size.
My question consist of two questions. Can you please give me your opinion on this picture of the rock that they're selling? Unfortunately I won't be able to smell it before hand as they'll have to ship it to me because of the distance.
Secondly. I'm going to move to a new apartment in about 3 months (new home is like 100 feet away and two stairwells from my current place). If I purchase the rock, would it be best to wait with setting up my tank until the move is done and keep the rock in a saltwater bath in the meantime, or can I move my tank after 3 months without too many issues? If I setup the tank before I move, then I will only buy 2-4 small to medium sizes fish to prevent the move from being too complicated.
I have two miscellaneousquestions as well;
1. Would a 150 liter / 50 gallon size skimmer be strong enough?
2. I'm not fully sure if I should get live sand or regular sand and there seem to be a variety of opinions on this subject. What is your own personal view? I'd like to start with a 1 inch depth right now and possible increase the depth in the future for sand critters if my tank goes well.
Thanks for all your advice!
-BinaryRun
Thank you for this great forum. For a while I have been thinking about changing to Saltwater. I have quite a long freshwater experience and I'm currently owner of six discus. However my discus need 150 liter water changes every 2 days and that is no longer doable for me. For a long time I have been thinking about switching to salt, but never did because I believed that it was more complicated. However I'm drawn to the idea of having a reef some day and have decided that it's time. (While still looking for a new home for my discus)
Currently I wish to start simple with a FLOWLR system. Containing of live-rock, sand and a skimmer, which will be the basis for now. (+ testing equipment, salinity meter etc.)
My tank can contain about 48 gallons of water and as you probably know that main expense for a new reefer in the cost of live rock. (Especially in the NL where live rock is about 15 dollars per lb due to the long travel distance.)
However someone on the Dutch Craigslist broke their tank down so that they have the ability to do more travelling around the world. They are willing to sell me their rock (which just got removed from the water and thus is slowly dying) for 20 euro's total or about 22 dollars for a total of 44lb. 44lb would of course (as I learned from this forum) be a good amount for my tank size.
My question consist of two questions. Can you please give me your opinion on this picture of the rock that they're selling? Unfortunately I won't be able to smell it before hand as they'll have to ship it to me because of the distance.
Secondly. I'm going to move to a new apartment in about 3 months (new home is like 100 feet away and two stairwells from my current place). If I purchase the rock, would it be best to wait with setting up my tank until the move is done and keep the rock in a saltwater bath in the meantime, or can I move my tank after 3 months without too many issues? If I setup the tank before I move, then I will only buy 2-4 small to medium sizes fish to prevent the move from being too complicated.
I have two miscellaneousquestions as well;
1. Would a 150 liter / 50 gallon size skimmer be strong enough?
2. I'm not fully sure if I should get live sand or regular sand and there seem to be a variety of opinions on this subject. What is your own personal view? I'd like to start with a 1 inch depth right now and possible increase the depth in the future for sand critters if my tank goes well.
Thanks for all your advice!
-BinaryRun