Who here has a saltwater tank?

[callmej75]

Figured I'd see who, if any, took up the hobby here. We started with freshwater and moved to saltwater about 4 months ago. It is high maintenance, but is well worth it in the end! right now I have live sand, live rock, some fish, crabs, snails, and shrimp. This is a long work in progress, but stay tuned! If anyone else has a tank, post it up! Now with the eye candy...

The current tank, a 55 Gallon



I need more live rock, but this is what I'm working with now



My first inhabitants! 2 Oscellaris Clowns



Then a Red Spotted Gobie



Then I got me a tank cleaner crew of 3 hermits and 5 snails



The other day I bought a Green Spotted Mandarin



I got some live rock from a local guy free...and this hitchhiker came with it



And these too....Bristleworms and fireworms. They show themselves when its fish feeding time! They are good cleaners of the live rock, but bad for my mandarin because he needs the food they eat



How can we tell its live rock? Everything living on it is alive...



So we went today and purchased a jawfish. This little guy has personality! He jumps on his tail and digs holes in the sand under rocks. He gets a mouthful, them spits it out! I was entertained for hours with this little guy!







Then....we have the Lawnmower Blenny. This guy loves algae, and eats a substitute or Nori. Pretty much algae that is dried in sheets. He also stays in the rocks, and at times, is very hard to find because he blends in well! Very much a showoff too!





Heres another shot of the Gobie on the roof of his home.....a nice big seashell!



Nemo? I guess they are looking for the East Australian current...



I will be building my refugium this weekend, which will house my algae plants to help control the Nitrates in the water for more fresh water for them to breathe freely! I also will be adding live copepods to breed in here, and be pumped back into the 55 via a pump in the refugium. I also have a skimmer that helps take the sludgy stuff (proteins) out of the water too. So virtually everything hanging on the back of the tank will be gone! I mix my own saltwater with fresh Deionized water and Instant Ocean salt. I have a Maxi-Jet powerhead pump in the tank thats modded with a bigger impeller to push the flow of water in the tank and simulate waves. I have a test kit that I test PH, Ammonia, Nitrates, Nitrites, Phosphate, and Calcium and this is done on a weekly basis. I also have a hydrometer that I test the Salinity (salt levels) in the water which is checked daily. This is still a work in progress....but within a year or two, it will look something that resembles this:



So anyone else have any saltwater tanks they maintain?

[callmej75]

I got this guy on order....a 6 line wrasse. He is a peaceful guy, very colorful, and keeps the bristleworms in check!

[YotaGirl]

This is such a beautifull tank!

[kmcc78240]

sweet I like the madrid gut he looks cool.

[freefallmarine]

J, Marine tank's are so awsome. Let us know how involved it is to get a tank started. Whats the smallest size i can start off with?

[callmej75]

J, Marine tank's are so awsome. Let us know how involved it is to get a tank started. Whats the smallest size i can start off with?

Well I started off in a 5 gallon acrylic tank. It isn't possible to sustain that small of a tank for a long time though. You can start off with a 29Gal, and leave it at that if you desire. The main thing, is getting it setup, and cycled for about a month with live rock and sand in it before you put any livestock in it. This allows for the bacteria to grow for the fish to be less stressed out in.

You can build what they call a "fuge", or refugium, and a sump. The refugium is just a place to put your live copepods or other critters for feeding, some live sand, live rock, and if you need to put a fish in time out then stick him in there! Your water will cycle through this also before it returns to the tank. In your sump, you will most likely have a skimmer here, some bio balls maybe, some filter media, and a pump maybe. Here, water comes from the tank, and is filtered. You want to maybe add some form of filter media that controls nitrates and stuff like that. Once everything is filtered, it returns to the tank. There is also an overflow tank on the back of the tank so the tank doesn't overfill.

I have been running without this fuge or sump for about 3 months now. All I have is a skimmer, the regular carbon media filters that came with the tank, a heater, a powerhead for water movement inside the tank, and regular 50/50 bulbs. Since I am getting more into it, I am looking to get these things together for healthier fish. Yes...the fish are more costly, but have far better personalities than freshwater fish!

Oh, and lighting....far by the costly thing you'll buy IMO! They have different lighting from compact fluorescents, to T5's, and what they call metal halides. You can grow corals and anemones with more lighting. There may be some algae buildup or no good algae growth with poor lighting. Thats what I'm experiencing now. So the fuge is being built, with my algae plants in it, and a single compact fluorescent bulb rated at around 26 watts, thats 100 watts regular bulb, to let the algae grow. The main thing is getting around 100-200 watts of light in there to start out on. The metal halides, which are way brighter, run hotter, and eats up more power, is the best option for growing anything in the tank! The T5's are bright, but you need a few bulbs to get good wattage for coral life and what not. Also with lighting, you can get some form of lunar lights to simulate the moon glow at night. There are timers that you can set up that if you have all the right bulbs, it will simulate the spectrum of light from dush til dawn! This can be controlled by a power strip, or digitally.

Theres a master test kit you can buy for $30, or cheaper, on the net, that tests the main parameters you need for fish to survive for a long time. Oh yeh, need a thermometer too just to keep the temps around 80* all the time. If you really want, you can get a UPS for power failures if needed.

It may sound like alot, but if you're like me and want to dedicate your time to it, then it is just like anything else out there, including a yota! Once you want to go with something better, you upgrade this, then you need to mod this, and before you know it, you have a nice capable truck and something to be proud of. After its built, all it is from there is maintenance. With everything live in your tank, including the sand and rock, the water pretty much takes care of itself. everything feeds off of everything, and the natural filtration is there for most fish. You just gotta provide the smooth flow of things.

I am just a beginner at this, and I've researched alot of this because I simply don't want $20-$40 fish dying! Plus....think of the gas this would save you! Instead of being bored and wanting to go out, just cook a nice dinner, have some brew, and sit around and watch the fish! Sometimes we sit here with a magnifying glass and flashlight just looking at the different lifeforms on the rocks and on the tank glass that we normally don't see by just glaring at it.

If anyone has any other questions, feel free to ask and if I know it, I will tell!

[freefallmarine]

J, Thank's for the reply. Are there certain fis you would reccomend for a 30 gal tank? Are there name brand item's i should stay with, like for filter's, lighting,etc?

[DHC6twinotter]

I got this guy on order....a 6 line wrasse. He is a peaceful guy, very colorful, and keeps the bristleworms in check!

Sweet! That is probably the coolest looking fish I've ever seen.

[callmej75]

J, Thank's for the reply. Are there certain fis you would reccomend for a 30 gal tank? Are there name brand item's i should stay with, like for filter's, lighting,etc?

As for fish, if you go on liveaquaria.com, and check out the marine fish, it will tell you what size tank they should be in, and their temperament. Alot of fish sales places online will give you all this info about them too. If you have a fish only tank with live rock and such, compact fluorescent lights would do. If you could get right around 150 watts of light in, then thats fine. Say maybe 1 10,0000K bulb and 1 actinic for blue is really all you need. Corals and anemones take more light than the fish only tank. Some corals take more light than others, so ya really gotta research the lighting for the type of tank you want to establish. They also offer retrofit kits that you can build your own lighting hood, and mount the lighting in that way if you desire. A tank like mine right now would only need maybe 1 10K light and 1 actinic. Since I want corals and anemones, I want at least 2 96W daytime lights and 2 96W actinics and maybe 4 lunar lights for night lighting. The lighting also helps keep down the algae growth like red algae on your glass. The water flow also helps in controlling algae too.

As for filters, get a skimmer that fits the size of your tank. I have a seaclone skimmer right now that was given to me, and they retail for around $80 online. They are good for say a 30-40 gallon tank. If you have live rock, live sand, and good algae plants like chaeto or prolifera in your sump. If you have these algae plants in your aquarium instead of sump, watch out because they can take over your tank and root into your live rock and its hard to get it from growing back in your tank and looking like a jungle! Using cartridge filters, like what come with tanks that hang on the back, are really not good in the long run because they can suck up food when you feed and can reproduce nitrates back into your tank and that kills the fish with high levels of nitrate. Its best to maybe use a filter bag in your sump with some de-nitrate in the bag so that helps take out the nitrates with the algae. Frequent 10% water changes weekly will reduce your nitrates too with using distilled water you get from the grocery store, or de-ionized water that you can filter yourself through a filter canister. Reverse osmosis canisters are the way to go to filter tap water. Just like adding a house filter in your house. I have this deionized tap water filter that hooks up straight to the faucet. You want your water as close to mineral free as you can! Mix up your salt in your water before you put it into the tank. I mix mine up in a 5 gallon bucket, then test the salt levels with a hydrometer, and pour it into the tank.

Start off with oscellaris clownfish....they are tough guys and can take harsh water conditions, whereas the more costly fish are finicky and can only survive in the utmost pristine water conditions.

[callmej75]

Heres a vid of the jawfish...



Heres one of the Lawnmower Blenny



The Mandarin



The clowns