Just Starting Up

[bigandy792003]

Hi there, I am wanting to set up with either a tropical set up, or a marine set up, I have been told marine fish are a lot more expensive and more care is needed to look after the fish, Could someone explain to me what type of set up i would need for a marine set up and what size tank and equipment i would need thank you very much andrew!!!. Also which would be best for someone just setting up in terms of cash and lack of knowlage.

 

[svirid]

Hi there, I am wanting to set up with either a tropical set up, or a marine set up, I have been told marine fish are a lot more expensive and more care is needed to look after the fish, Could someone explain to me what type of set up i would need for a marine set up and what size tank and equipment i would need thank you very much andrew!!!. Also which would be best for someone just setting up in terms of cash and lack of knowlage.

I purchased first tank i my life 8 month ago myself. I setup Marine setup with live rocks first. I heard its way easier to maintain. Later I could not resist beauty of corals and I converted it to a small reef. I never regret it, I love my tank how it looks and everything else. From my experience I would say price for the marine fish is nothing compare to everything else u need, Also there is a limit of how many fish u can have i your tank, so for my 28 gal I can go with top 5 small fish but I dont care because I can add lots of corals.

I guess there is 2 ways to have marine, I went the second way. First is less expensive, you do more often water change and spend more time taking care of the tank, second way is to purchased some expensive equipment and let it clean the water. Of course u wouls still need to to water change but more rare.

Just my opinion. Have not idea how to run tropic tank, but to me I cannot even compare tropic with marine they are so different.

 

[1234-fishy-freind]

If you are concidering a marine tank then the best thing to do is to get a good book on the topic and read it front to back.
Also, if there is anything else you are unsure about there is alot of info on the net about marine tanks so I would look on there too.

Once you know the basics then ask people on here for more indpeth questions that might not have been answerd on your book or anywhere on the net.

I will just say as with tank size, the bigger the better. The reason for this is because with a larger volume or water there is more room for error.

Also, yes they are more expencive but well worth it and the fish do require more care so you also need to carefully plan what fish you are going to get and do research on each one.

 

[svirid]

Absolutely agree with the above comment, the only reason I went with 29 gal because of the space, and now I see that it would be more more expensive.
even for additives. Sure if you know chemisty alot u can replace many expensive additives from the LFS with cheap same stuff but I am not, and do not want to risk it.
By the way with 28 gal tank you can create something really really stunning. Nano tanks are very cool.

And get the book 100%, search on Amazon for The New Marine Aquarium by Michael S. Paletta, loved that book.

 

[Duck and Dive]

If you do the set up propoly such as purchase a fair amount of live rock that will do most of your filtration, a good protien skimmer, or for nano tanks it is probably better to have a polyfilter if the tank is under say 120l. You will also need a small circulation pump as well if you want some corals.

If you got say a 120l with a built in filter system and stand with enough live rock, live sand and around 5 corals, with a pair of clowns, 2 firefish and a manderin, and a few turbo snails and hermits you would be looking at say around £800-£900.

D&D