Nooob Help Please

[bumfrog]

ok, I'm looking at setting up a marine tank, but wanting to do it on tha cheap.

now, I bought a tank of ebay t'other day and it came with a uv sterilizer. Haven't a clue what it does but apparently it's worth a lot more then I paid for it. Anyways, what I was wondering was if anybody knew If I could use my now spare aquastart 500 tank for marine?

I was only looking to set up a small nemo tank setup

Anyways, any help greatfully received.

thanks in advance.

 

[sothoth]

Anyways, what I was wondering was if anybody knew If I could use my now spare aquastart 500 tank for marine?

I was only looking to set up a small nemo tank setup

I think the aquastart has a built-in undergravel and fluorescent light fixtures, both good for freshwater but not as good for marine. For the marine, you'll want live sand and live rock if you keep corals. The undergravel doesn't work well with live sand because it's very fine and won't sit on top of the undergravel plates like the system requires. You'll be better off with a skimmer for filtration, and I don't know if your system will allow you to hang one on there. If you keep corals (like an anemone, which will really be nice since you want clowns) you'll need different lighting. Your built-in fixture may or may not be able to handle it. The light should meet a certain watt-per-gallon spec required by the corals and your existing fixture may not have the power to drive the correct lights. Anemone's are pretty demanding, so I would not recommend keeping one unless you research it well and make sure you have what you need. Nemo will do better with an anemone as a symbiant. Maybe you could get another type of marine fish like a dartfish or a small wrasse or a goby, and skip the Nemo?

At the risk of making an biased, unsubstantiated statement, I think UV sterilizers are overpriced pieces of crap.

 

[bumfrog]

cool. Thanks for the advice. The UK sterilizer just came with the last tank I bought off ebay. May just flog it on too be honest.

I'll check out the light wattage as I'd prefer to get a different tank and have me a nice anenome and fish, rather then doing it as to what will work in the tank. I was using the aquastart as a community tropical, so it was of an ease of use thing to see if I could use it for marine.

Just looking into skimmers now.

 

[dark_mushroom]

cool. Thanks for the advice. The UK sterilizer just came with the last tank I bought off ebay. May just flog it on too be honest.

I'll check out the light wattage as I'd prefer to get a different tank and have me a nice anenome and fish, rather then doing it as to what will work in the tank. I was using the aquastart as a community tropical, so it was of an ease of use thing to see if I could use it for marine.

Just looking into skimmers now.

I'm currently doing a nano on the cheap, so far I have spent:

60l Clearseal Tank - £15
60l Ro Water - £7
5kg Live Rock - £37.50 (www.reefkeeper.com)
Normal Marine Sand - £4.99
Bag of Marine salt - £22.99 (should keep me going for ages)
Fluval 104 Filter - £30 (second hand of ebay)
Interpet Heater 150w heater £20

total so far: £137.48

Next is Lighting am estimating another £30ish.
Hydrometer £15
Few test kits maybe

So im guessing about £200-£220 on the cheap!

I was told not to bother with a skimmer for a tank that small.

If i missed anything im sure someone will point it out

 

[tmreynolds]

Marine and cheap are rarely found in the same sentence, but as dark_mushroom has done, its possible to control the costs.

 

[rhysiboy]

hey withthe aquastart thing ditch the undergravel filter, change the bulbs ino 50/50 marine spectrum and buy live rock and sand. Also you will need 2 powerhead probably (maxijet 600's are pretty decent) Thi is the cheap way of doing it and should cost about £100 - £200

they expensive method is ditch the undergravel,
buy a new lighitng sytem (either 4 and upwards t5 luminaire or a metal halide system), £100 - £200
a skimmer such as TMC or Deltec can be £60 - £90
6kg of live rock - probably £60 - £70
powerhead - £20
so nearing £300 - £400

also begginer nano'er and anemone's dont mix will most likely die and nhuke the tank. Good for later on when you have some months / years under your belt and better lighting

also remember clean up crew will be about £30 at least and clowns can be £10 is each

 

[xNOTLOCx]

I'm sorry to say but you shouldnt jump to what everyone says on here, I would have to dissagree although the tank you have isnt sufficient enough if you get a tank of 30 gallons or less you need to be very carefull, if your looking to do this cheap then do not get an anenome, they require specific water conditions and without a skimmer, which are not usually very cheap unless you find a used or crappy one then your anenome may run a high risk of perishing,.. anenome, lets just say they are not easy at all, you can get easy species for okay water quality which is what you can afford because most of the time expensive goes hand in hand with good water quality. but almost all spcies that co-inside with clown fish are hardy but hardy in good water conditons. and a tank of 30 gallons or less is considered a nano and a nano will be more expensive to keep plus the things you will have to test/ add to make you anenome happy, so i would still get a clown fish or a pair if the tank allows for it, and suppliment the anenome with a frog spawn or a coral that looks identical to an anenome but isnt as expensive and hard to take care of for a beginner, and your clown fish will probably host in it, its more rare to have one not host in it, and some advic if you get a coral make sure it doesnt have a stony or hard base because they can scrape themselves on it leaving an unatractive blemish and with a coral that is easy you might get away with cheaper lighting too.

True you can have a perfect tank for cheap. minus the live rock, inverts, cleanup crew, and fish.
i have 280 dollars of live stock in my tank and i dont have alot some was given to me. the things you put into your tank are expensive plus monthly maintinence and additives and tests, but dont be scared to start one up because your missing out they are great just make careful choices and calculate future budgets if you get certain things that require monthly things added. just try and go for easy things in the beggining a small tank isnt easy. unless you have money to maintain one that isnt abusing your fish's habitat which is the water. sorry i just babble on but its all true if you kill an anenome its usually not a cheap mistake