Hi all new to marine and new to this site !

sorry if this question has been asked

Im thinking of getting a Orca tl-450 13gl, My first question is are they any good? and second what sort of number of fish are we talking about i was thinking 3 maybe 4 small fish over time , but been told 1 maybe 2.

cheers
morrsion26

there's an article here.. http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/modules/ ... /article.php?articleid=68 that you may not have seen. Aslo is you search on here (top right) there's a few threads. Otherwise I'm sure someone will answer your question specifically..

I am new to this about a month ago, and I have an Orca TL-450 and IMO they are an ideal starter tank for marine fish, its not too expensive, its an all in one and a basically good little tank.... Well thats what I think anyway.

I have been told you can keep upto 3 fish and a forth one maybe much later, but you can also have your Clean up crew made up of Shrimps, Hermit Crabs and Snails which are also very fascinating to watch

I dont think you'll be dissappointed if you get one I'm amazed by mine every day, it really is a fascinating hobby.......

Hope that helps

Sorted mind made up

What xtras would u say u'd need?

If your mixing your own water, you will need Sea Salt, you will also need some Marine Gravel of some sort, A Hydrometer to check your Salt Levels, a Thermometer and a Marine Testing Kit to test your Water Levels, all of these things you should be able to get when you buy your tank and ask them at the shop and they should advise you more on these things......

Thats probably all you should need for the time being

Having just set my Orca up (2 weeks ago) i can tell you exactly what you will need.

Tank
Stand
RO Water (Excess for top ups)
Sea Salt
Substrate (I used live sand)
Tank scraper/magifloat (for cleaning the tank glass)
Buckets (for mixing RO with Salt)
Thermometer
Marine test kit (im using the Sera Master Kit)
Hydrometer
Fine Filter wool (collect all the crap in the tank)

Sounds strange but i would also recommend buying something to mix the water and salt, i brought a spoon type kitchen utensil. Worked a treat!

I think thats about it, if you can get hold of it i would highly recommend picking up last months and this months Practical fishkeeping magazine as they have some good tips on setting up a nano reef, especially in this months one! If you can't get hold of them everyone on here will be glad to help!

Hi all,

Im just setting up my TL-450 as I type!! (If you know what I mean!)

Im about to clean it out with some plain water and then check for leaks etc.

Im going to add about 6kg of live rock - what quantity have you gone for?

I have heard that a magfloat is not good on an acrylic aquarium - is this the case?

Finally - do I need to take the foam out of chamber 4 to regularily rise as with a tropical set up or do i just leave well-alone?

Many thanks in advance - pics to follow

Don't take anything out of the chambers but the filter wool that you should put in with the ceramic noodles needs to be taken out and rinsed every few days as do the balls in the heater compartment.

Mag floats are fine on acrylic and glass in my opinion, i have one for my coldwater tank which is acrylic and it's fine. But the Orca is glass so you shouldn't need to worry about whether they are ok for acrylic.

I have 6kg of indonesian live rock in mine.

Thanks Swanny - I honestly thought it was Acrylic....... oops my mistake!

Thanks for the advice - i'll get myself some of the filter wool this weekend. Sorry to be a nuisance but also, do the ceramic 'noodles' stay in their little net bags or should they be emptied into the 1st chamber?

Im nearlyconfident that i know what im doing!

The ceramic noodles should be in the rear left compartment, keep them in there and add the fine filter wool in the compartment as well.