Starting Marines

[rallyingmick]

ok so i have been with the freshwater for nearly 3 years and have 2 tanks.
Now since i have taken good care of my fish and have not lost interest, i was tempted to change tactics and go marine.

Now my only question is i have aswell as these tanks i have another 5ft x 2ft x 2ft tank sitting there doing nothing in the garden.

Now in your eyes would i be better buying a smaller tank and building up to it, or would i be ok going with this 5ft tank.

Also what would you do with it?

Cheers

Mike

 

[kiscard]

ok so i have been with the freshwater for nearly 3 years and have 2 tanks.
Now since i have taken good care of my fish and have not lost interest, i was tempted to change tactics and go marine.

Now my only question is i have aswell as these tanks i have another 5ft x 2ft x 2ft tank sitting there doing nothing in the garden.

Now in your eyes would i be better buying a smaller tank and building up to it, or would i be ok going with this 5ft tank.

Also what would you do with it?

Cheers

Mike

What i would do is use the 5ft tank and go for a reef tank with some tangs. I love tangs and eels so dearliy gold-rimmed tang is aswsome. For a starting fish go for a clown i have cinnanmon clown he is 6years old and regal tangs are pretty hardy to imo.

 

[Ter]

smaller isnt all that much cheaper... and the more water u have the more stable ur system is... i`d go with the 5 foot tank
Ter

 

[kiscard]

smaller isnt all that much cheaper... and the more water u have the more stable ur system is... i`d go with the 5 foot tank
Ter

That's always true bigger the tank the easier it is to maintan the tank ,but it just cost more ,because of the fish you are able to have.

 

[WayneVT08]

smaller isnt all that much cheaper... and the more water u have the more stable ur system is... i`d go with the 5 foot tank
Ter

That's always true bigger the tank the easier it is to maintan the tank ,but it just cost more ,because of the fish you are able to have.

That's definately not the case. Just because you have a larger tank doesn't mean the fish are more expensive. There are 200 dollar firefish and $300+ gobies and wrasses. As well as angelfish which run into the thousands of dollars. The equipment is the kicker. You can get away cheaper on the smaller tank, but it is harder to maintain, i.e. keep water quality perfect. The bigger the tank the better, and with a 5 foot tank you could have 2 Lumenbrights over the tank and cover the whole thing so you can have any coral you want.

 

[kiscard]

smaller isnt all that much cheaper... and the more water u have the more stable ur system is... i`d go with the 5 foot tank
Ter

That's always true bigger the tank the easier it is to maintan the tank ,but it just cost more ,because of the fish you are able to have.

That's definately not the case. Just because you have a larger tank doesn't mean the fish are more expensive. There are 200 dollar firefish and $300+ gobies and wrasses. As well as angelfish which run into the thousands of dollars. The equipment is the kicker. You can get away cheaper on the smaller tank, but it is harder to maintain, i.e. keep water quality perfect. The bigger the tank the better, and with a 5 foot tank you could have 2 Lumenbrights over the tank and cover the whole thing so you can have any coral you want.

How many expensive gobies are there compared to expensive larger fish and also a larger tank = more fish so therefore normally more expensive in terms of fish. I house 3 rare types of tangs in my aquarium that range from 160-250 and I still have room for more fish. I have a 175g tanks and my 300g is being set up right now and there's no way a tank thats under 200g can be more expensive if they have the same equipment. bigger tank = more fish you can have plus more sand more critters and more rock and corals. therefore the larger the tank the more expensive it costs for what it holds inside.

 

[Crazy fishes]

.........and if you live in the UK you get to pay 3-4x as much for each of those items. Yippy

Regards

 

[rallyingmick]

I can imagine it being more exspensive here, everything else is!

Now i only have around 400 for equipment and im on the lookout for deals.
For a nice reef setup what equipment would you have??
And what tangs are relatively well priced for what they are?

Also the tanks been in the garden for a year. Other than a real good clean should i do anything else?

Cheers
mike

 

[shibby]

yellow tangs, yellow eye kole tangs, tomini tangs are all well priced nice tangs.

for a reef tank your probably want a good skimmer, live rock and lots of flow, could use baserock as well to seed it.

- skimmer
- live rock
- powerheads

ideally though for a tank that size i would fo for a sump personaly.

 

[kiscard]

I can imagine it being more exspensive here, everything else is!

Now i only have around 400 for equipment and im on the lookout for deals.
For a nice reef setup what equipment would you have??
And what tangs are relatively well priced for what they are?

Also the tanks been in the garden for a year. Other than a real good clean should i do anything else?

Cheers
mike

Tangs are by far my fav fish. I would suggest regal,yellow,or naso but if you want to go for the rarities like me gold-rim tang all the way. it is such a beautiful fish.

 

[rallyingmick]

I will be going for a sump i believe.

I have read more than i ever in the last 2 days!
a few months down the line itll be all worth it i suppose..... s

My main concern is lighting what and how many hours will i need. Seems to really vary....

 

[kiscard]

Well i house tangs,clowns,anemones,corals,and lr and i use mh and vhos.

 

[ox5477]

Yes, dont rush anything... better to take your time and be sure your first few runs through setting up a marine tank

For lighting it does vary quite a bit... hard corals need intense light usually found in what a halide offers though sometimes multiple T5's can be used (4-6 tubes)

While for a FO tank, lighting is really a non-issue as long as there is some sort of daily lighting pattern for the fish to regulate their daily rest/active schedule.

Ox

 

[rallyingmick]

i found this........ not that i am ready to buy yet but i stumpled across it.

http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/MARINE-FISH-TANK-AQU...86.c0.m14.l1318

Is this something i need to be looking for as a good filtration.
My only concern with sumps is drilling holes in the bottom of my tank!!!!

sorry for the question

 

[kiscard]

Um i use a overflow box so i have no idea on how the drilling works sorry.