Equipment

We stock a huge range of equipment from most leading suppliers including :-

Algarde, API, Aquarian, Aquatic Solutions, Arcadia, D&D, Deltec, Dennerle, Eheim, Hikari, Interpet, John Allan, Juwel, Kent Marine, Norfine, Rowa, Tetra, TMC, Tunze, Underworld & Waterlife.

As Well as stocking a huge range of equipment we also try to keep most of the necessary spares for the products we stock.

To set up a marine tank you will need the following items

Aquarium
We suggest a minimum tank size of about 22 gals (100 litres), however larger is preferable. Much of the equipment required for a marine system of this size will be the same as for one twice the size, so there is little extra cost in going for a larger tank. The larger the tank, the more stable the environment, making maintenance easier, and ultimately a large aquarium will allow more livestock to be stocked.

Heating
Conventional heater thermostats are all that is required, we suggest the use of two lower wattage heaters rather than one higher wattage one. This reduces the risk of loosing stock due to heater failure. and also gives a more even temperature throughout the aquarium.

Sump filters these again sit under the main aquarium, but unlike canister filters, which work on a "closed system", sump filters work on an "open system" they are ideally suited to larger aquariums. The main problem with sump filters is getting the water from the aquarium to the sump. Although there are hang on overflow systems available which work with a complicated system of syphons, a drilled overflow & weir system is more commonly used. These have to be installed when the tank is being constructed. The other main concern with sump filters is ensuring that they don't overflow in a power cut, or when the re-circulating pump is turned off for maintenance We suggest that the surface area of the sump should be at least 1/2 the surface area of the main aquarium. Even then in a power cut the water level in the sump will rise by 2" for every 1" the main aquarium drops by, plus the amount of water in the pipes running to & from the tanks.
Other filter systems include undergravel - now generally considered out dated and inefficient, and various other systems such as "miracle mud", "plenums" and "natural" systems which are best used only by experienced marine keepers.
Protein Skimmer what ever type of filter you settle on we very strongly recommend the use of a protein skimmer. A Skimmer will remove a lot of the fish waste before it is filtered. This has the effect of reducing the build up of nitrates, so reducing the frequency with which water changes are required. They also increase the aquarium oxygen levels, help established the pH, and help protect against the sudden & catastrophic die back of the filter bacteria. Unfortunately protein skimmers are large & bulky items. One of the major advantages of sump filters is that the protein skimmer can be accommodated in them. Unfortunately many sump filters are poorly designed with the protein skimmer located in the last chamber. This is far from ideal, since the skimmer is intended to remove waste before it is filtered, the skimmer should be in the first & not the last chamber. If you are not using a sump filter, there are many skimmers designed to fit directly in the aquarium, and others such as the "Prizm" range of skimmers which are designed to hang on the back of an aquarium.

Lighting
If you are running a fish only tank, the main concern with lighting is to provide sufficient light to see the occupants at their best, one or two standard fluorescent tubes is all that is required.
For reef tanks brighter lighting is required, as the corals contain photosynthetic algae, which need light for them to grow.
Undoubtedly the best lighting systems for reef tanks are metal halide lights, these are bright, highly efficient spot lights, which need to be mounted a fair distance above the water (usually about 12" (30cm)) A number of different manufacturers produce attractive modern halide light units designed to be suspended from the ceiling or off a shelf or wall bracket above the tank. The only real draw back with metal halide lights is that they are fairly expensive (prices start from £199), and not everyone likes lights suspended above the tank.
It is possible to grow some corals under standard fluorescent lights if enough are used. The range of corals that can be grow under this type of lighting is somewhat restricted. Recently a new generation of "T5" fluorescent lights have become available. T5 bulbs are thinner than conventional bulbs, and produce approximately twice the light output of the equivalent conventional "T8" bulb. If, for what ever reason, you are unable or unwilling to use metal halides, then a number of T5 bulbs is a very good 2nd best.

When choosing lighting some people are being confused by the "Colour temperature" rating of the bulb. Colour temperature is not a measure of a bulbs brightness, it is a measure of the relative proportions of different light wavelengths produced by the bulb. Bulbs having a high proportion of blue light in their output will have a high colour temperature, whilst bulbs producing lots of red light will have a low colour temperate. Natural sun light at the equator will start off at about 3,500K, at dawn, rising to about 6,500 - 7,000K at midday before falling back to 3,500K at sun set.
We generally advocate using bulbs with a colour temperature between 5,000 and 10,000K, although bulbs with higher colour temperatures are available. The argument for using high colour temperature bulbs is that sea water filters out a lot of the longer wave length light. Blue is the last wavelength filtered out by the water and therefore bulbs with a high colour temperature produce light that corals found at moderate depth can best use. In general however most corals sold for aquariums are found in relatively shallow water, and therefore the important thing is proving them with light of sufficient intensity.

Salt
There are many different salts on the market, almost all claim to replicate natural sea water. We tend to use & recommend Tropic Marin, as it is produced through a special process where by each grain is a complete salt mix. There is therefore no risk of the different chemicals in the formulation settling out in transit. What ever salt you use you will also need an hydometer to measure the salt level (Salinity). We suggest a salinity of 1.022 for fish only systems and 1.024 for invert systems. That said, maintaining a steady salt level is far more important than the actual level maintained

Test Kits
Reliable test kits which give clear & unambiguous reading are essential for the marine aquarist. To this end we strongly recommend the use of SeaTest aka FasTest test kits.

Other items
You will also need something, usually coral sand, to go on the base of the tank, and some way of wiring up all the electrical equipment. There are also a number of other items, which although not essential to the marine aquarist, can prove very useful. These include :-
Reverse Osmosis (RO) Units. Tap water contains a number of impurities, in particular it can contain traces of heavy metals, nitrates & phosphates. These can cause problems in a reef aquarium. An RO unit produces pure water, without any impurities, by forcing water through a semi-permiable membrane. For every gallon of pure water produced between 3 & 10 gallons of impure waste water are also produced.
It is certainly possible to run a marine tank on tap water, but using RO water will definitely reduce algae problems, and the frequency with which water changes are required.
UltraViolet Sterilizers(UV units). A UV works by exposing bacteria & other pathogens to ultra violet light which damages the genetic material they contain. It is only effective against free swimming or floating pathogens, and is more effective against small rather than large organisms. A UV can be used to help control disease outbreaks in an aquarium. We do not recommend their constant use in an invertebrate aquarium as the UV will also kill the beneficial plankton on which the corals feed.
Calcium reactors & Kalkwasser doser's. These are devices for helping to maintain the calcium levels in reef tanks, they are not essential, but can be of benefit, especially where rapid growth of hard stony corals is required.