Im Thinking On Marine And Need Help

[black molly3]

i have always wanted marine and i have kept tropical fish since i was six. i think the time has
come for me to have a change. Please dont complicate things but i only want 2 clowns in it.
what is the minimum sized tank in UK gallons. also dont complicate things here but
do you need a special light for all marine fish or only if u want enemeny (sp)
and finaly you know the marine starter kits in the LFS for about 40-50 pounds
is that all i need to start it off this is my first time i have enquired about marine so dont
slate me for any remarks (its me dad who wants the marine the most)

 

[afmo]

A couple of things:

firstly, the pinned topics in this forum are a great place for knowledge. if you only want the 2 fish, it sounds like you want to keep it fairly small (i could be wrong), so the pinned topics in the nano reef board would also be handy to read. In this hobby, you cannot prepare enough LOL.

Second, to help you with lighting and startup etc, we'd need to know what you planned for your tank. Do you want Fish only, Fish only with Live Rock (FOWLR) or do you want a Reef Tank?

 

[black molly3]

well do you have to have live rock or them plants because i dont realy fancy spending
35 pound on one rock. i only want 2 clown fish with a few normal rocks
bought from my lfs. i have a 28 liter tank about 5 gal what could that have in it.

 

[sianeds]

Well.... live rock is used for biological filtration. When you think what it would cost to buy and maintain a good quality mechanical filter and compare it to the cost of live rock and a powerhead or two live rock works out pretty good value. Plus you get all kinds of hitch-hikers on your live rock which will give you hours of fun

A tank with live rock and 2 clownfish would not require any special lighting so that would save you some money. You only need to upgrade standard light fittings when you add corals. If this isn't part of your plan then no need to worry.

A 5gal tank is too small for one clownfish nevermind two. You would struggle to happily keep any marine fish in a tank that size.

With marines bigger is definately better. A bigger tank is more stable. Marine fish and invertebrates do not tolerate fluctuations in water quality, salinity, temperature, pH etc. With a small tank you will struggle to keep the heat steady, you will have problems with the salinity as any evaporation will cause a problem, any chemical imbalance in the tank will cause major problems very quickly as the small volume of water doesn't have the capacity to buffer any mistakes or problems. Small(or nano) tanks are very hard work compared to larger tanks where any imbalance is more diluted.

Edited cos I can't spell tonight

 

[BigIan]

For a pair of perc clowns your probably looking at roughly 15-20 US gallons
If you just want the fish then any normal T8`s will be fine.... if you later want to upgrade to corals then t5`s will do softies or your looking at metal halide for stony corals...
As for Live Rock (LR) This in my humble opinion is the best way to filter a marine tank, think of the sponge you have in the filter of a Fresh water tank, its very porus giving you lots of area for the bacteria to grow, good quality live rock is the same, it is very porous allowing lots of bacteria to breed in there, As for spending 35 quid on one rock, its not that expencive, you can expect to pay between 10 and 15 pounds per KG,
Also it will house lots of critters such as bristle worms, various planctonic life, tiny snails, and we even saw some in the LFS the other week with baby star fish on it.all of theese critters hgelp with you tank maintenance. they devour left over food, and eat algae,
As well as the fish you can also stock some clean up crew (cuc) theese consist of hermit crabs various shrimp and snails, there are many types out there for you to choose. theese extra cleaning critters also help to keep the tank clean and happy.

 

[dixaisy930]

Live rock is, in a marine-fanatic sort of way, entertaining. It worth the money for all of the extra "things" you'll get. On my newest LR I bought, I found atleast 2 baby brittlestars, two tunicates, come sponges, and some polyps. I'm sure there are bristleworms, and other little goodies that will take weeks, or months to discover. One of my favorite parts of marine is looking for "surprises".