HI guys, I have finally bit the bullet after a few months or debating whether I should pursue this hobby. Rather than start from scratch as the price does tend to put me off I thought I'd start off with an established setup and bought one from eBay off a guy who lives local.
The setup seems fine. It's a 4ft Juwel 240 so about 55 gallons if I am not mistaken. It has about 40 Kilo's of Live rock and 4 fish, A Blue Tang, Foxface, Blue Damsel and clown fish. No corals. I have done the water tests and everything seems fine and the fish are doing well. I would like to add some corals at a later date, But I want to get used to looking after this lot first. However I do need some cleanup crew, any suggestions on what I need? I was thinking some shrimps of some sort, maybe peppermint shrimp as I have Aiptasia and some crabs.
There is also a 3 ft sump tank that holds around 40-45 Litres. The sump is empty at the moment however so I need to stock this up. Heading to the lfs today to see what I need. I am guessing some miracle mud and some Algae or seaweed of some sort. The main problem with the sump tank is the return pump, It's an Aqua Medic or3500. The thing is so noisy it's drowning out everything else in the house. Are these pumps usually so noisy?
If I was to look for a replacement do you guys have any suggestions, I want something that is quite as the tank is sitting in the lounge. I was looking at the Eheim 1262 or 1260 as I have read that these are quieter than the Aqua medics. I am not sure what size I would need though. Would the 1260 be enough for my tank? or should I get the 1262?
Any suggestions will be appreciated.
The setup seems fine. It's a 4ft Juwel 240 so about 55 gallons if I am not mistaken. It has about 40 Kilo's of Live rock and 4 fish, A Blue Tang, Foxface, Blue Damsel and clown fish. No corals. I have done the water tests and everything seems fine and the fish are doing well. I would like to add some corals at a later date, But I want to get used to looking after this lot first. However I do need some cleanup crew, any suggestions on what I need? I was thinking some shrimps of some sort, maybe peppermint shrimp as I have Aiptasia and some crabs.
There is also a 3 ft sump tank that holds around 40-45 Litres. The sump is empty at the moment however so I need to stock this up. Heading to the lfs today to see what I need. I am guessing some miracle mud and some Algae or seaweed of some sort. The main problem with the sump tank is the return pump, It's an Aqua Medic or3500. The thing is so noisy it's drowning out everything else in the house. Are these pumps usually so noisy?
If I was to look for a replacement do you guys have any suggestions, I want something that is quite as the tank is sitting in the lounge. I was looking at the Eheim 1262 or 1260 as I have read that these are quieter than the Aqua medics. I am not sure what size I would need though. Would the 1260 be enough for my tank? or should I get the 1262?
Any suggestions will be appreciated.
If you can't get plants at your LFS, or not enough you'll want to check out places online. It seems like most places have very few plants right now. But I've had some pretty good luck getting plants on Ebay. I keep mine right in my main tank as I don't have a sump. After awhile the plants are very nice looking and the fish seem to enjoy picking out pods. 
