Advice On Setting Up A Salt Water Aquarium

[Andrew G]

Hi all,

I've had several successful years with fishkeeping (with the help of this great forum and it's members) and am ready to try salt water. (Very colorful).

Several questions:

-What size tank would be good for a decent amount of fish. (I'm not sure I can fit a 55 gallon tank in my place).
-What equipment would I need, (not too expensive hopefully)
-What fish would be good to start with?
-Where can I find detailed info on how to proceed?

I'd love to see some photos of your salt water aquariums.

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[maidenfan]

welcome to the marine section if i was you i'd read the pinned topics above and look at some of the members tanks will give you some idea what equipment you need if you were thinking about smaller set ups please check out the nano section

 

[Pheonix]

Id start with a larger tank first especially if you would like to keep alot of fish!! nano tanks can be tempremental and obviously you cant have alot of fish!!! lol

 

[SkiFletch]

What part of the dimensions of the 55 cant you fit? I assume length is your limiting factor? If so, go with a 65gallon (3foot) tank. Pretty sure they're 36x18x24" in dimensions. If the width of a 65 is too much, go with a 45gallon 36x12x24". I have a 45g but if I had it to do all over again, I'd get the 65 for the extra width in a heartbeat.

 

[Mr Miagi]

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=161754&hl=

 

[kniesh]

I would really suggest reading Mathew556 and Skifletch's threads on how they built their own tanks. You don't have to build it all urself obviously but they go through every stage of setting up ur marine tank and all equipment needed, they were both a great help to me, then afterwards u will still have questions but they will be more specific and easier to answer which is better for u.

 

[Redstratplayer1]

..... ............................sory my bad i going to crawl into a hole and die now.....

 

[Andrew G]

Well i have not run a tank yet it is to be ready by christmas but i do under stand a biginers budgit.

imo and iaeo a biger tank is easier but think of it thise way a 10 gallon tank needs 1 gallon changed a week a 50 needs 5 times that. On aything under about 30 gallon u dont need a skimmer in a 50 gallon a skimmer is needed and could cost $100. A nano tank is not that long about 20 to 36 inches a pico is about 5 inches a larger tank is somtimes 4 or 5 feet long and needs big expensive bulbs and lots of them. You need a lile more than 1 pound of live rock per gallon . Live rock is about $5 to $8 bucks a pund in a nano that is not that much cash in a 50 gallon tank you need almost 60 punds of live rock that is about $300 at the least.
A tank needs 20x totle tank volume in a nano that is 200gph in a 10 gallon 400 gph in a 20 gallon
600 gph in a 30 gallon .A 50 gallon needs more than 1000 gph of flow. Are u going to use a sump?Have you thought about feeding ? What about heating and cooling chilers can be $200 dollars plus for large tanks.


I am not telling you not to try but that if u are on a budgit trya 30 gallon with a 10 gallon sump it is big but not the kind of thing thatklills the checkbook.

^ my spelling sucks so im sory about that .

By the way what is your budgit. Ya i just spelled so meny things wrong my teachers would cry.



Not trying to hijack thread but it just hit me is it a good idea to get lr from all over the world to max the colers of coraline algea..


Man i hate spelling.

After reading your post, I think I'll stick with Freshwater. Maybe some colorful cichlids in a 30 or 40 gal. LOL

 

[Redstratplayer1]

good nano fourm sory didnt try to come across that way

How about a fowlr tank that dousnt need much light and if you use a 30 gallon it dousnt need a skimmer mine is so much because i have a large t5 bulb thingy set. also i have a big skimmer and sump lined up.

A 30 gallon fowlr would not coast a load maybe $250 $200 if u put in some good diy work .

And u dont need live rock you can buy 99% of your rock dead $1 a pound and seed it with 1 pound of live rock.

Sory go ahead u dont need a chiler, skimmer ,big bulbs snd lots of them in a nano so try a 30 or 20 gallon.

All i wanted to say was that big tanks are a litle easeyer but small ones make up for that in cash.

Or u could make that fw tank just make a pico tank 2 to 5 gallons they are cheap and look cool good pico tank fourem

Please try or else i am probaly gouing to get angry comments like "whay to go " "Nice job scaring a way a newbe" or something like that but meaner. i beat you could make a good pico for $5o



There gous another one

 

[Miss Wiggle]

man no one's gonna lie to you and tell you setting up a SW tnak is dirt cheap, but there are ways and means of cutting the budget sensibly. The key thing really is patience, if your in no rush then just save up and buy your equipment a little at a time over a few months until you've got everything. Just spreads the cost around a bit.

There are some really good pinned topics at the top of this forum, have a read of them they'll give you a few good places to start. Then when you've a clearer idea of what you need and want then people can answer some more specific questions.

But I'd definately agree that bigger is better, the larger the tank the more stable a body of water it is and the less likely to have problems. It really is worth a little extra expenditure on bigger stuff to get a set up that's gonna be cheaper and easier in the long run.

 

[Chac]

And u dont need live rock you can buy 99% of your rock dead $1 a pound and seed it with 1 pound of live rock.

Not a good idea

IMO you shouldnt really use less than 50/50

 

[Andrew G]

And u dont need live rock you can buy 99% of your rock dead $1 a pound and seed it with 1 pound of live rock.

Not a good idea

IMO you shouldnt really use less than 50/50

Live rocks, dead rocks.......What are we taking about?
I know that SW uses live coral (or something), but I just wanted to have a simple tank with some nice colorful fish in it. Not too many and not too elaborate. maybe some blue damsels, and a nemo.
I read on this forum somewhere that a simple non-rock SW tank is do-able. Is that correct?
Just want some sand, some dead corol, a nice backround, and some colorful fish. Something to contrast my FW tank.
I promise I'll take good care of them, LOL. You can ask my 3 year old FW fish.
They seem to be very happy and like their home.

 

[Redstratplayer1]

Ok i am about to give you a link read it all of it it is long but read it ok. Just read it.

It is about how to set up a good cheap 10 gallon salty tank.

Did i say it was long well i lied it is like a book and it is growing.


10 gallon its cheap its simple its a nano

I can say that thise tank will looke so cool that you will regret spendig all that cash on fw.


It will take you about 4 hours to read . But it will tell you how to make a full tank with sump,lights,skimmer and tons of other stuff READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OHh a and chac i did not mean 99% dead will work just saying u can use some dead rock

 

[Andrew G]

Ok i am about to give you a link read it all of it it is long but read it ok. Just read it.

It is about how to set up a good cheap 10 gallon salty tank.

Did i say it was long well i lied it is like a book and it is growing.


10 gallon its cheap its simple its a nano

I can say that thise tank will looke so cool that you will regret spendig all that cash on fw.


It will take you about 4 hours to read . But it will tell you how to make a full tank with sump,lights,skimmer and tons of other stuff READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OHh a and chac i did not mean 99% dead will work just saying u can use some dead rock

OMG.... 19 pages of information. This has got to be the bible on building a SW aquarium.

Thanks for the link. I'll enjoy reading it all.