New 300litres tank

[chris21]

Hello.. all singapore frenz..

I had just set-up my marine tank(300l) using the overflow system with a sump tank below. I used sea -water.. After running over night, the water is clear.

When can i put in my life rock? How to choose and different between cured or un-cured? Any other advice?

How to know whether the bacteria in the sump tank is matured or stable?

After putting the rock, when can i put in the fishes?

Should i put Fish first or live corals first?

Lastly, should i get a protein skimmer now? any recommendation? Brands/model?

Chris/Singapore

[blueheaven]

u buy the sea water from LFS or you go to sea to collect???

[aStRoBo|]

ya..tell us more! normally during cycling period LR shld be placed in.

[terryansimon]

firstly seawater can be bought from Reborn. you pay them a hundred bucks, they come down and give you seawater. unlimited amount. supposedly lah, or so someone told me.

okay Chris. do yourself a favour. get some test kits, namely pH, NH4, NO2 and NO3. try to get Salifert test kits. the cost of it, though astronomical, can be weighed against the sensititivy of the reagents used. also, this is how you'll know whether your beneficial bacteria colony is established enough as it is. *read. NH4 and NO2 must be zero, with NO3 close to zero as possible*

live rocks must be added into your tank to help cycle the tank. whatever die offs there are in the rock, will spur the Nitrogen cycle on. as a safe guard, you can always throw in a market prawn in there. allow the thing to decompose, and you'll get a Nitrogen cycle starting there in no time.

Live rocks come in different types, and two main catergories. cured and uncured. cured rocks basically mean that whatever internal life *excluding bacteria* has been gotten rid of. uncured rocks basically will give you a lot more live, like snails/slugs/shrimps/crabs/whatever. there are different types of rocks, like local rocks, Fiji rocks and all. so far the cheapest I've seen is $6/kg, and the most expensive being Fiji rocks at a whopping $18/kg.

Protein skimmer. for the budget users, a Weipro is good enough. I think for your tank, you may need a 2012. not too sure. can always ask around for Weipro users *not me *

pray tell you have a hydrometer to measure the SG of your water as well?

lastly. patience. and read up more! (=

[Terryz_]

Ya... go slowly, read up more and nothing will go wrong... any do research before you get any LS... Be Patient...