hey,
i have kept some small tropical aquariums in the past and i now really fancy coming back to fish keeping, but to try my hand at marine. I want to start off quite steadily so i can learn and not risk too much money or fish.

So my plan would be to start off FOWLR in a tank sort of 30-40 UK gallons. Then keep maybe 2 or 3 small fish. Like a pair of clowns and one other. would the tank be big enough for this? would 3 small fish be sufficient bio-load to stop all the guys living in the live rock from starving? Any recomendations i can research for a small comunity?

I know i would need powerheads to get my flow, i dont plan on using a sump straight away so is there any other hardware i would need right off? Scimmer etc
would standard lighting be ok for this aswel?i would plan on up-grading to keep a few simple corals later. I saw on another site someone using deads dry coral as part of their scape in a FOWLR and that looked good, is there any reason not to do this?

In the future if everything goes well i would like to move to a bigger tank and then use the smaller one as my sump, i read somewhere about overflows without drilling the tank, is this possible? as it would make it quicker and easier to put the new system together in the future

its not going to be for a few weeks as im still looking round and reading. If anyone from the UK knows of any good shops around Sheffield or any good links i would be greatful aswel

cheers guys

IMO, that size would be fine for a few fish...as long as you understand that smaller volumes of water are subject to greater swings in water conditions...ex. heater breaks and won't turn off, wrong salinity is mixed and added etc.

You could get a hang on back skimmer. Basic flourescent lighting will be sufficent for a fish only setup. If you later decide to keep corals or certain inverts you'll need to upgrade.

When you want to upgrade to a bigger tank, choose a tank that's reef ready. it should already have the overflows in it w/the holes in the bottom In fact I'm selling my 125 gallon b/c it's not reef ready. I bought a 120 gallon reef ready. It is possible to get the over the top siphon for the tank(which doesn't require drilling), however, it's not as good. For example if you loose siphon your pump will still pump the water from the sump back into the tank....which would flood the big tank and you'll have water all over.

When you're choosing your heaters, make sure they say for saltwater too! Some are only freshwater. Submersible are best imo. You can sort of hide them better. If you're worried about the heater frying your tank issue (which I've only heard of a few times) you can buy two smaller heaters. Then if one does happen to go crazy it won't be as bad and hopefully you could catch it before it starts cooking the tank.

yeh i understand the swing in temp and thing are more dangerous in a smaller tank as they happen a lot quicker. It will be positioned well away from radiators etc. I just think something <55 gallon would be more managable for me at the minute with water changes and stuff. I may try and go for the sump and bits straight away to hide the heater and bits under the display tank, as i like thing to look as natural as possible. Il just shop around and see what i find.
thanks

Ok, just making sure you know that If you do go w/a sump right away, remember to look for a reef ready tank. Makes it much easier

Plus having a sump adds water volume which is a big + in a smaller tank.

thank you any recomendations for stocking a tank rougly that size then so i can do a bit of research ready?

Look at the journals and members marine tank pics. I can't really officially recommend to much as I'm new to saltwater myself. However, I've started reading my 3rd book from the realm of knowledge list. I'd recommend reading the books that stealhlr recommended...i think his post i'm talking about is on the first page. I know sooooo much already and I haven't even started filling the tank

Reading is our best bet to keep our fish alive and thriving. It gives us the basic knowledge we need and from there we can fine tune and read what we're most interested in after we already know the basics.

p.s. I think a couple clowns and a yellow watchman goby, or a small jawfish, or other goby would work Definitely reasearch first. I remember other people have those fish in their small tanks. Go ahead and read peoples journals for ideas and look at the pics

yeh im in the process of looking for the books on ebay and reading through a few posts. Just wondering if you had any personal experiences. Looks like you a couple of steps ahead of me at the minute. You got any pics of your set-up so far? like your plumbing and that, always interested to see how people set their tanks up, gives me ideas.

This post has been edited by ben1987: Jul 2 2008, 02:13 PM

Will try to get some pics in a little bit for ya.

Ok, I can't get them The tank is sitting on a table against the wall. 3 sides of the tank are tinted...and yep the front side is against the wall.

It's 4' x 2' x 2' and has 2 overflows.

Just a thought...go to your library and see if they have them. Then you could look over and review them and if it's something you really want to have on hand, then buy it. That's what I'm doing.

As for stocking, its gonna be tough to reccomend without actual dimensions in that size range... I'd reccomend different fish if it's more of a rectangular tank versus a cubic one.

ok then thanks when i buy it i will post the dimensions on here. i do fancy a pair of clowns though, what sort of dimensions would suit them best? a more rectangular one would fit the space i have better

Rectangular is better than taller in most cases.

Clowns can usually be housed in any shaped tank so long as it's large enough. Square vs rectangle doesn't matter much for them.

ohok, I thought rectangular is usually better in most cases b/c all fish will have more swimming room and there's more gas exchange opportunity on the surface of the water and it's easier to aquascape w/the rocks?

Usually the case that rectangular ones are better, especially ones that are shorter. Thin rectangular tanks (thin front to back) are usually not desireable for many reasons although there are always exceptions like the batfish or marine betta...

yeh thats the sort of shape tank i will be looking for but i reckon its gonna come off ebay or something cos im not payin £500 for a brand new one when there are bargains to be had

All my tanks but 1 are second hand. ATM I have 6 tanks!! (not all set up....yet )

3 are set up

well theres been a few ive looked at within an hour or 2 drive form my house, that would usually retail at £500+ and one custom built one go for less than £150. So maybe at the start of next month, after a load more reading il go for it and stary trying my hand at a bit of plumbing
Just read BigC's journal and omg its stunning so its made me want to get cracking. But im going to resist for now