New to marine but willing to learn

[john5748]

Hi everyone,

I have been lurking and reading up all of the articles on here for some time and although I am not ready to jump into having a marine setup at the moment due to my job taking me away from home for considerable periods of time which are also quite infrequent, I will be retiring from my present job in 2008 and should then have a lot more stability.

If you had almost 3 years to build up some money and equipment for your new hobby what would you recommend putting on your shopping list?

I know technology changes all the time and some people may say just save up your money and then buy everything when you are ready, but if I start buying certain bits now and store them in the garage until needed, my wife and kids will be less likely to talk me out of spending it on them

 

[steelhealr]

Tough question, but, we'll help if you give us some ideas:

-about what size tank?
-FOWLR? reef?
-give us some leads

SH

 

[john5748]

Ideally I would like a tank size of about 180 litres as I currently have this size for my fresh water aquarium and it fits into a alcove in the living room quite nicely.

Although saying that would it be better if I could have plumbing connected to my marine tank as I have read this in quite a few posts?

If that would be better I could quite easily keep my freshwater in the living room and put the marine in the dining room once this is ready, I have to change it from a bedroom and knock down a dividing wall to make it into a kitchen/dining room, this could be an ideal time for the tank to be a lovely centrepiece and I could have the plumbing and any other work done at the same time as the building work?

With regards to what type of occupants, I would really love to have a tank where I could have several different types of fish, a couple crabs, starfish, seahorses, and some live rock.

Is this too much?

Although this project will be a long time coming to fruition is there anything other than research that can be done.

Thanks for the welcome SH, I hope your not regretting making the offer of advice now

 

[steelhealr]

Placing a marine tank in a wall or as a divider between rooms, IMO, is wonderful thing. You just can't beat it as an eyecatcher. The size tank you have, if I'm correct is about 40-50 US gallons, right?

Having the tank drilled and prepared for a sump would be advantageous. It adds more 'volume' and allows you keep your equipment out of the main tank. Usually, there is a false back wall and underlying cabinets so that you have access to the plumbing and tank. The other question is, that, if you plan on doing this while redesigning, could you fit a larger tank like a 75G? or more. A 40-50 will work tho'.

With a ?40-50, you'd definitely be able to keep several types of fish in there, however, none that would grow too large. Stars might still have a hard time surviving, but, would have a much better shot at it than in my 24G. Seahorses require a specialized setup and require sand, grass like setup...you'd have to research it. You could keep certain crabs...again...depends on if you are going to keep corals (set up a reef tank). Many fish and crabs are not 'reefsafe'.

Since I run a small system, Navarre, Chac, Superman or fraservet may have a bit more advice on setting up a sump system. Post back and let us know what you decide. SH

 

[john5748]

I have been out today and bought some home design software as I have now decided on a larger tank (depends on cost though) which I am going to have built into a false wall.

I just have to brush up on my design skills now, CAD was never my strong point

Now that I have decided on the location of the tank I have a few more specific questions I hope can be answered here:

1. Does anyone know of a supplier of tanks in the UK that will deliver to Northern Ireland and will pre drill the holes as I think a sump system would be a good idea.

2. Would it be better to have the plumbing connected directly to the tank?

3. What equipment would I need, help draw up a shopping list

I am not too bothered about the occupants yet as I have an awful lot of reading and research to do before I get to stocking the tank, so please feel free to offer any advice on the hardware I require or how to avoid costly mistakes.

Thanks for your help so far

 

[steelhealr]

John..ask Navarre. He has done alot of plumbing AND used those CAD programs. I"m sure he won't mind if you PM him. I think you are off to a great start with your planning. Good luck. Try and keep a diary of the construction and setup if you have a digital cam. SH

 

[john5748]

I will do, thanks for your advice and yes I fully intend to keep a dairy with some pictures just like some others have.

 

[Navarre]

Give me the dimensions of the tank, let me know what size sump you would like and i will design you a system.

I will need ot know if you wish to run skimmerless or not and what type of sump you require (such as mineral mud, DSB etc).