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Ryan20A
01/15/2018, 03:03 PM
H all my name is Ryan in new to the forum :fun2: I've been keeping freshwater fish for over 7 years now and have kept lots of different fish, everything from predator tanks to African cichlids and discus! Some of my favourites I've kept were my ogre catfish and Congo puffer, basically I like anything that's a bit odd looking :lol: I've also kept a quite impressive breeding group of 15 synodontis lucipininnis and a couple of pairs of breeding discus. Recently I decided I wanted more of a challenge and decided to sell up everything I had and go marine! I have just bought an EA Reef Pro 900S from my lfs and I am very excited to set it up! I'm planning on setting it up as a soft coral reef, I'm a total beginner to marine but it's something I've been researching for months on end. I like the idea of using the carib sea life rock for my aquascape, has anyone on here used this? Id be interested to hear some opinions from people who have! Also if anyone had any suggestions on some easy to keep soft corals (the more colourful the better!) And also any suggestions on a stock list would be a great help! (A pair of clowns and a yellow watchman goby are two species of definitely like to keep!)385753

Hydrus
01/15/2018, 07:23 PM
Welcome! I love the tank and stand! What lights are you going to run on that?

JUNBUG361
01/15/2018, 09:42 PM
Hello & welcome. Dimensions of the tank you have?

Uncle99
01/16/2018, 12:59 PM
I used carb-sea dry rock, dry and already encrusted for 90% of my rock and just 1 live rock which I inspected, rinsed, inspected and removed any potential hikers......
The 1 live seeded the others just as quick as all live and I prevented any of the crap, that comes on live rock, which I find later and have to remove, crabs, worms, one live rock I got was a phosphate factory......you don't know where this rock came from and how it was treated. What was even better is the rock was already encrusted purple, so when cycle completed, the rock even looked real old, very purple....so love this stuff...a bit expensive.

Ryan20A
01/17/2018, 02:41 PM
Thanks for the replies everyone! My tank measures 900mm x 500mm x 600mm and holds 276 litres of water (including the sump) i was thinking about running 2 ai Prime hd's, I don't know much about lighting but these are within my budget and seem to get only good reviews. Uncle99 sounds good to me! How did you find the rock to work with/aquascape? Love the established look it has compared to the bright white rock.

Uncle99
01/18/2018, 12:56 PM
I had no problems, I don't glue any rocks down but I make sure they sit very still, just in cases I have to move something....this rock was great...over a year now and they are stunning....and I don't get no hitchhikers....don't like them....always trouble somewhere down the line and then I can't get them out.
For lights I just got two VISPARSPECTRA from Amazon...160 Canadian and delivered....never been happier....

Ryan20A
01/18/2018, 02:56 PM
It definitely sounds the most appealing to me, I definitely want to avoid hitchhikers as I'm new to all this so don't really know what's good/bad so it would just be more hassle. Ok check them out that's a fair bit cheaper than the ai prime lighting which totalled around £500 with brackets!

Uncle99
01/19/2018, 12:45 PM
Yup, aka, Chinese Blackbox, some like, some don't, they claim they are of poor quality including the LED chip, but my corals love them by expanding and multiplying, and My SPS are turning from brown to blue again......For great for the price.

Many people will tell you that most hitchhikers are OK, but Even after 25 years, I can't tell for 100% so I ban them....had a red leg hermit, catch a clown from the bottom of the belly, so NO crabs either.....snails I love....that my whole CUC, snails and me.....for years now, I have not lost anything!......makes me wonder if some of the hikers that were safe....were NOT.....

Ryan20A
01/19/2018, 02:32 PM
I would definitely be wary of them, really? :eek1: i love crabs but it seems a lot of people have trouble with them...even the ones that are meant to be safe :uhoh2:

rjjr1963
01/20/2018, 05:37 PM
Thanks for the replies everyone! My tank measures 900mm x 500mm x 600mm and holds 276 litres of water (including the sump) i was thinking about running 2 ai Prime hd's, I don't know much about lighting but these are within my budget and seem to get only good reviews. Uncle99 sounds good to me! How did you find the rock to work with/aquascape? Love the established look it has compared to the bright white rock.

I run two AI Primes on my 40 breeder. I'd want something more powerful for a deep tank like yours.

Uncle99
01/21/2018, 07:53 AM
What I found quite interesting is that my LFS, corals only store, uses the Chinese Blackbox instead if the AI Primes.....but don't get me wrong....AI Primes are fantastic lights.....just in Canada.....run $400 to $600 each.......the only difference so far is no software, just an auto timer and intensity switch for the white and blue channel.....no lighting storms for my fish!

TheNanoReefer03
01/21/2018, 12:14 PM
Hi! Great tank and Stand! Chinese Leds are the way to go if you are short on cash.