Would Love To Set Up A Marine Tank

[Scotty001]

Hey guys hoping some of you will be able to enlighten a novice.

I have a tropical setup in a 165l tank (84 x 44 x 59cm) External canister filter that circulates 800l per hr. but as i thought and knew would happen i'd love to convert to a marine tank. i love to dive and have been diving all over the world from Australia, Venezuela, Caribbean, Egypt and the lovely warm waters of the uK ;-) Ive have seen some wonderful species out in the wild and would love to re create a small bit of that at home.

would you think that this size tank is suitable size to start off with ??? also what other equipment would i need to create a marine tank ??? What manufacturers would you recommend?? I'm still quite a novice at the Marine side of things and going to be reading up for a few months before i decide to convert to marine life but all the info you guys could provide on what i will need to get started would be great !!!!!!

Many thanks
Scott

 

[tat2life]

i went from tropical to marine, i kept my filter/pump, heater, and light. i bought a bigger filter with a built in UV steraliser i think it was £30, hydrometer £10, crushed coral sand £10-£15, salt £20. water testing kit for nitrite, nitrare, ph and amonia £20. and live rock... depends how much you want but starts at £10 a kilo upto i think £15 a kilo... around here neway. you will need alot of live rock my tank is near your size and im planning on getting around 10 kilos. deff the most expensive part of it. you might want to get new lighting... depending if you want corals or not. if you want to do it cheaper buy a nano or set up your own you deff save money on the rock cus u dont need half as much

 

[SkiFletch]

to the marine section Scott, hope you enjoy your stay

A tank is a tank is a tank, and just about any tank can be used for a marine setup. There are a few general concerns I urge people to think through when setting up their first marine tank:

- Is this tank big enough for what you want to accomplish? Even freshwater folks know of multiple tank syndrome, and we marine guys get it to . Here it's often the upgrade system as lots of us tend to want biger and biger tanks, so make sure you don't underestimate your abilities/desire.

- Was copper based medication ever used on the tank? If you plan on keeping invertebrates, copper from meds can be trapped in the silicone seals, leech back into the tank, and do harm to inverts. Its rare that this happens, but if it does, it can be disastrous.

- Because most marine aquarists use live rock, it is often better to get a tank that is wider (front to back) than it is tall (top to bottom). This gives you more surface area to allow for the stacking and aquascaping of live rock. I know this first hand... Started with a 45g (36x12x24") and it was a nightmare to aquascape. My current tank with only 6" extra width is WAY easier to aquascape

- And finally, consider the livestock you're interested in keeping before really proceeding with serious hardware decisions. In general the livestock chosen dictates the hardware used. Things like choosing corals, small fish, large fish, predators, inverts, etc will all mandate certain hardware (pumps, lights, skimmers, sumps, reactors, etc). So spend some time visiting some livestock sites to see what's out there. Prolly the most comprehensive is liveaquaria.com

Hope that helps get you started. I'd further strongly reccomend reading through the stickies atop this section for some basic info. Then, when somethin you read confuses, come here and ask for clarification