Plan ahead:maine Aquarium.

I want to plan ahead on how to create a marine tank,i know a bit about freshwater but am a newbie to marine,so what do marine tanks need that freshwater tanks don't have and what do marine fish like?

 

Hi Dasher you are most likely going to be told to go look at MASA.
The guys here like to stick to freshwater topics as it is a freshwater forum.

All I know is that you need a LOT of money.

 

Yes... Check out TASA's sister site. If you get a chance, you can also PM Slagter, he is in the process of DOWNGRADING from tropical to Marine. Hehe.

 

Well said Zoom

 

http://www.marineaquariumsa.com/

 

Its going to cost you alot of time and money. You are going to need protein skimmers and a strong current/flow in your tank. You are going to need hydrometers, reverse osmosis units, marine salts. This is just to give u a basic idea of what is in store for you. But as said before, peeps are going to refer u to MASA for info. Good luck anyway.

 

this sounds very expensive,then i will stick ti freshwater.thread closed.

 

HAHA yeah Dasher, it's very expensive.
Before going the freshwater route I wanted to do a marine tank, but then found out about all the equipment you need and decided to go for a planted tank instead.

Also, DIY is so much fun ^^,

 

you don't need All that expensive equipment dude.

protein skimmers are if you want coral . and you can buy marine water from some pet shops. only if you are going big do you need all the fancy stuff , the same way if you plan on making a planted tank you need c02 .

if you want to go simple a member called dane has a cool tank in members systems. the fish are expensive though!

 

Hey Dasher, (thanks brad!)

It doesn't have to be expensive. It will probably be more expensive than freshwater - but certainly not as expensive as commonly thought.

I run a standard 2ft as a marine. It has both easy soft corals and intermediate large polyp hard corals. It runs on very cheap lighting - just 2x CFLs and 1 actinic t8. It has NO skimmer, and NO sump. The costs come in with the prices of fish and corals. I managed to get my fish for free, so at the moment my tank is costing very little indeed. You can buy coral frags fairly cheaply from other reefkeepers near you.

Salt water mix is also expensive, and you will need RO water - which is cheap to buy for a little tank. Usually R1/L from LFS. If you live near the coast you can use natural sea water - i do.

My filter is a cheap internal powerhead dolphin f800.

For substrate you can use sea sand. So its free!

Have a look here:
http://www.marineaquariumsa.com/showthread.php?t=16393

Thats my tanks thread on MASA.
If you want to run a small, cheap marine tank then I strongly recommend checking out
www.nano-reef.com/

Please don't be discouraged from starting a cheap little marine nano. Its been one of the most rewarding things of done I still really enjoy and love my two freshwater tanks, but my marine has certainly stolen pole position...

 

excellent stuff dane, very educational, how many times do you do water changes, would it be possible for you to explain in detail on how to maintain a smallish marine tank...my sis loves the clown fish, if i go this route then it would be done for her...i will check out those links you posted...

 

Thanks Dane! I'll definitely be trying this in the near future.

 

When I first setup the 70L I did 25L water changes (actual water vol is probably 50L) but now I've toned it down to about 14L a week. I clean the filter floss often, every couple of days. Maintenance on a marine is completely different to fwater, your biological filter is your rock - you need the most porous rock you can get your hands on. The filter floss in the internal is just to catch bits and pieces floating around and keep the water clear. Unlike fwater you don't want the filter to "establish" per say in this regard. It acts as a nitrogen trap and must be cleaned regularly.

Evaporation: As the tank gives off water to evaporation, you have increasing salinity (salts get left behind) so need to top up regularly to the same water level using ONLY reverse osmosis water (very pure). This maintains salinity...

Definitely take a read at the FAQ articles and library on the nano-reefs site. Very good, reasonable advice.

 

Thanks Dane, will most certainly do that.

RO water... you say you purchase yours from the LFS... that's pretty handy actually.

I wonder if one could make a DIY RO unit.

 

If your LFS has a marine section they should sell RO water. Mine charges 1R/L. That adds up quickly if you doing anything other than top ups on a small tank. Its cheap for top ups.

As for a DIY RO unit. Not likely. Very high filtration through very small porosity filters. Very strong seals etc.

 

ok,thread opened.so i don't need all the expensive stuff?,i don't have a problem with the fish being expensive just the equipment.The marine tank is going to be a 500Litre which i don't think is nano but can i use mu 100Litre as a nano marine tank instead?



P.S do i need a wavemaker or do only some fish need one,and what do i feed the fish?


sorry if i'm bothering,will go to MASA.

 

Not bothering at all!

You can use a 100L, but remember you can only stock it relatively lightly. The more fish, the more pollutants, and thus the more water changes (without expensive equipment).

You def don't need a wavemaker. You will need one or two propellors in your tank for flow tho. You can get a cheap SUNSUN one for about R100.

 

Thanks Dane.