Oh No - Another Clueless Fool

[jaarus]

Hi all,

I have been keeping freshwater fish for a few years and have recently been given the go ahead (sacrifices had to be made of course) to put a 200 (US) gallon tank in the garden room.
The tank will be 8ft x 2ft x 2ft.

While we were talking last night, my wife mentioned that she would like it to be a marine tank as she wants all the amazing colours that those tanks have.... plus a clown fish (nemo, what have you done?!)

I know nothing about marine tanks - but at least I am honest, hence this cry for help! But I too have always wanted one just never had the courage to take the plunge into saltwater

I have tried reading guides on it but I am aware that like any fish keeping hobby it can become as complicated as you choose to let it but it also can be far simpler if you set it up correctly in the first place.

What do I actually need to keep a marine tank?
Do I need to get a sump / weir?
How much live rock / live sand etc do I need?

Could someone point me to a journal of someone setting up a Marine tank so I can read step by step the process?

Basically just need help help help!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

as ever, the pinned topics will tell you all you need to know, here is a good place to start

a well set up marine tank will practically run itself (obviously after initial cycling and maturation period) so my best bit of advise to you is read read read, get saving up and don't cut corners. Spend the extra money now on getting everything right in the first place, it'll make your life easier in the long run.

as for tank journals, dig out SkiFletch's first journal, and matthew5664's they should give you a good idea of the process

 

[jaarus]

Thanks - its going to be a huge learning curve in store for me it seems!!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

it is! we started marine keeping around 6 months ago, the first few months were very hard work, learnt an awful lot from the people on this site. but now the tank has settled it's very low maintenance, it basically run's itself and it's very rewarding.

 

[SkiFletch]

Ooooh, 200g tank the things I could do with that much water volume

If you're wife is demanding corals (as well she should), your life will be much easier in the long-run if you use a sump. You dont "have" to, but the ease of operation of the tank longterm is so much greater than if you go sump-less. You're gonna need a big skimmer and really the only place to put a big skimmer is in-sump. Are you even competent at DIY operations, cause building a sump really isn't as hard or as daunting as it may seem.

As for Live Rock, you'll need around 200lbs or 100kgs of it. Expensive for sure so if you want, you could split it up half and half, LR and Base Rock and go slowly.

IMO the biggest issue with a tank that size is flowrate. If you're not looking to keep anemones or other soft-bodied mobile inverts, the solution is lots of big propeller type powerheads (tunze/seio). But if you do want to keep those inverts, you'll need to go with a closed-loop setup. Remember, for a 200g tank with corals you're looking at a minimum flowrate of 4000gph, and prefferrably more like 6000gph... Not a small figure.

Things you'll need:
Powerful lighting
LR
Powerheads/closed loop
Sump
Skimmer
Heaters
Salt mix
Sand (prolly well over 100lbs)
Smaller filter for chemical filtration
Test kits
Food
Buckets for mixing water
RO unit
Probably other things, that's just what comes off the top of my head.

Above all remember this, beauty happens slowly and disaster happens quickly in marine aquaria. Take your time, research, and have fun

 

[callell]

TBH in that size of tank I wouldnt bother with poweheads, even the more powerfull ones

But I would look in to Sequence Pumps - (AKA The Mutts Nuts, Dachhounds Danglees, The Wasps Nipple)

As for the liverock - have a look on that link I pm'd you - there is a Reefers Sales Forum on there and there is always good stuff on sale at good prices for fellow reefers