First Marine Tank

[john5748]

Hi,

I have seen a tank that not only looks great but seems to have everything built into it, to enable me to dip my toes into the saltwater arena (something I have been reading up and contemplating for several months).

The tank itself is a Anthias 120 (Aquamedic) and comes complete with stand sump, filtration, lighting basically everything bar the fish and live rock.

Does anyone have any experience of these tanks as they are quite expensive (£1,500 plus).

My current train of thought is that if I can buy a tank which has everything all I am left to buy is the occupants and food.

I have been planning to make the move for about a year now, just been saving up.

Also does anyone have any advice on aquascaping as I would like to hide the weir with maybe some live rock but would be quite nervous about stacking it up even using some of that egg crate material.

This may be a daft question but I have noticed in a lot of saltwater tanks that I have looked at, they seem to be grubby looking normally at the back or where the powerheads are (rusty coloured), is this normal/required in saltwater tanks because in fresh water it is always lovely and clean, if I see algae I give the tank a good clean to get rid of it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[dawhits]

Hey,
I don't know about the tank specifically, what size is it? I presume a 120 but not sure. Also on some tanks they paint the back of the tank blue or black to hide the wires and give a solid background. The algae can be controlled but I don't think it is worth it personally. If you get yourself a good clean up crew then you shouldn't have to many problems with algae. I let the back and sides grow a solid green which my snails and tang love to nibble on but scrape the front clean every week or so.
For the liverock, you will have to do atleast some stacking to get it to look how you want it. The eggcrate can be very helpful, although if you can't get it completely covered it can look bad for a while until it gets covered. Other than that Welcome to the wonerful world of saltwater

 

[Chac]

Morning John

I know the tank you mean, I am currently looking into a Aquamedic Perc 120 but they are expensive

I will pm you with a couple of threads from another forum that have some Perc/Anthias Builds

 

[maestro]

They are quality tanks with all the equipement included, you'll need to spend a few hundred on live rock though so make sure you budget for it.

You can let the algae grow or scrub it off, its entirely your choice, most people let the purple coraline algae grow as it looks quite nice.

 

[bunjiweb]

I setup an Anthias tank for a friend of mine, i think its 54" the tank and has a big sump etc.

We have both agreed that we could have probably made a MUCH better system for how much it cost, although obviously it would have taken longer to set up and possibly not looked so in-keeping.

He upgraded to the 1000 sump as he felt the 500 that it came with wasnt big enough. If you are going to purchase one I would suggest the same as the 500 is simply not big enough for any equipment you would want in the tank.

If you want to see any pics of his tank or know anything about setting it up, send me a PM and I will try and help, but as i said, with this tank, and with many other aqua medic systems I have seen, you can get far better if you put all the kit together yourself and buy the tank seperately.

Ben

 

[john5748]

Thanks for all the replies,

Well I am chuffed to bits tonight, I showed my wife the tank and said I would to have that some day and she said "well why don't you buy yourself it you deserve it" .

You could have knocked me down with a feather, I thought it would have taken maybe a nice holiday and loads of flowers for her to come round to the idea.

So I now have a bit of a dilemma, if you had £2,500 to spend on a tank and equipment is this what you would go for?

Please bear in mind when making your suggestions I have NO DIY skills whatsoever .

I am not planning to make any purchase until about August time as I am working away from home for the next few months and will be back for about 1 week out of every 4, so I will read all of the pinned topics again and brush up on my knowledge.

So any advice in the mean time would be very much appreciated.

 

[Chac]

Thanks for all the replies,

Well I am chuffed to bits tonight, I showed my wife the tank and said I would to have that some day and she said "well why don't you buy yourself it you deserve it" .

You could have knocked me down with a feather, I thought it would have taken maybe a nice holiday and loads of flowers for her to come round to the idea.

So I now have a bit of a dilemma, if you had £2,500 to spend on a tank and equipment is this what you would go for?

Please bear in mind when making your suggestions I have NO DIY skills whatsoever .

I am not planning to make any purchase until about August time as I am working away from home for the next few months and will be back for about 1 week out of every 4, so I will read all of the pinned topics again and brush up on my knowledge.

So any advice in the mean time would be very much appreciated.

Lucky bugger I get grilled every time I by a new addition never mind a 1500.00 tank

I've pm you the list as mentioned

 

[Navarre]

Aquamedics are very good systems.
Yes you could probably get a better deal by purchasing each item individually rather than a branded tank but its really down to your own choice to be honest. I have got your PM, I will try and anser it more fully later as it will need alot of work to give a full answer

 

[neonplanet40]

Sorry to ressurrect this old thread but im also looking into getting this tank in September which will be my first marine aquarium. Ive been keeping a freshwater aquarium for 3 years so looking to move up

looking to know if i could be sent the links where people have used this? And also anything else you may find useful. The Original poster also said he could get it for about £1500 in N.Ireland. Im from Co.Armagh. Where have you seen it for this price?

Many thanks

Mark