Marine Set Up

[scorphonic]

Hello everyone.

I have started this hobby only a month ago and have been captivated with marine set ups. I have already set up a freshwater tropical tank and found it quite straight forward and a whole lot of fun. Now i'm looking towards setting up a marine tank.

I understand that you can have a fish only tank but what is the other type? (is it one with live rock or coral?)

I will not be attempting to set this up yet as money is an issue!

What equipment is necessary for a basic set up? Lets just say that it will be a 400l tank that could possibly have direct sunlight (will this be an issue?)

I'm new to the hobby so please treat me like a child and try to explain everything like I'm a 5 year old!! The science side of things is grand so detail is OK there!!

 

[enjoiskater158]

to the salty side of life. Just to start off, READ READ READ. while your saving your money for your tank read everything to can find. I find that reading throught the past articals of reefkeeping online magazine.Reefkeeping Also there are many pinned topic's in the threads with very useful information.

The other type of tank is a reef tank, which has reef safe fish, corals, and inverts

Depending on the setup and fish you plan to keep everyones setup is different so its best to to research what fish you want to keep. Than deside if you want a reef or a fish only tank and than build your system around that. Look at liveaquaria for fish you want, than research them and come back here and tell us what type of tank and fish you plan to keep. and we can help you from there

but the basics for all marine tanks are

tank
stand
light
heater
powerheads
liverock (which acts as the filter in a marine tank)
protien skimmer

 

[-Nemo-]

The only problem I could see with direct sunlight would be an increase in algae.

enjoi got everything else covered. Even though a 400l tank isn't considered a nano, the pinned topics in that section are GREAT resources, especially the FAQ:
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?act=ST...=0#entry1136911

 

[byebend]

Hello everyone.

I have started this hobby only a month ago and have been captivated with marine set ups. I have already set up a freshwater tropical tank and found it quite straight forward and a whole lot of fun. Now i'm looking towards setting up a marine tank.

I understand that you can have a fish only tank but what is the other type? (is it one with live rock or coral?)

I will not be attempting to set this up yet as money is an issue!

What equipment is necessary for a basic set up? Lets just say that it will be a 400l tank that could possibly have direct sunlight (will this be an issue?)

I'm new to the hobby so please treat me like a child and try to explain everything like I'm a 5 year old!! The science side of things is grand so detail is OK there!!

Welcome!
I am completely new to marine keeping too and am slowly building up mys et up. Everyone on here has helped me so much. I still have about 5000 questions left but I am slowlys tarting to understand thing.
Good luck to you!

 

[SlowSwim]

Hiya and welcome!

The direct sunlight wont be a problem as long as you keep the phosphrates out of the tank by using RO water from the get go.
Also to help get some Rowaphos (A filter material used to absorb phosphrates).

If you think about it theres enough light on our tanks for aglae anyway..

Good luck!

- Matt

 

[wflash3]

Hiya and welcome!

The direct sunlight wont be a problem as long as you keep the phosphrates out of the tank by using RO water from the get go.
Also to help get some Rowaphos (A filter material used to absorb phosphrates).

If you think about it theres enough light on our tanks for aglae anyway..

Good luck!

- Matt

what is RO again?

flash

 

[scorphonic]

Hiya and welcome!

The direct sunlight wont be a problem as long as you keep the phosphrates out of the tank by using RO water from the get go.
Also to help get some Rowaphos (A filter material used to absorb phosphrates).

If you think about it theres enough light on our tanks for aglae anyway..

Good luck!

- Matt

what is RO again?

flash

Its Reverse Osmosis.

Thanks everyone for your replys...keep them coming if there is more information to share!!

 

[andywg]

The bare requirements would be a tank, some sort of stand, dechlorinator and a filter (preferably cannister for that size).

The above is a Fish Only (FO)

A better system is to include a protein skimmer, live rock and powerheads to create a better filtration system.

This creates a FOWLR (Fish Only With Live Rock).

If you then start looking at serious nutrient control and trying to keep corals it becomes a reef tank.

 

[scorphonic]

Wow, simple as it may seem...that one post helps me a great deal!!

I have bought my sister a 180L tank and external Tetratec EX700 filter. I will be getting either play sand, silica sand, or coral sand depending on her house water (or I'll just get some RO water depending on the price of it). So for FO, is this enough? Can I still put rock into the tank (not live rock)??

Ultimately she would just like to keep some clown fish, I'm sure the 180 can take a few of these but do they have any special plant requirements....do they require live plant or can you find any artificial ones that fool them?

Also...how hard is it to maintain the salt levels?

And finally, what is the purpose of a protein skimmer and how exactly does it work, I have read about it before but since I cant visualise it...I therefore dont understand it...damn my way of learning!

Thanks for that post...maybe its not as difficult as I thought afterall....bearing in mind that I though it was an impossible thing to do!!

 

[n3ont3tra]

Ultimately she would just like to keep some clown fish, I'm sure the 180 can take a few of these but do they have any special plant requirements....do they require live plant or can you find any artificial ones that fool them?

I'm still pretty new to SW as well, but this is one question I know the answer to!
A 180l (~47g) tank would be great for a pair of clownfish. They do NOT have any special plant/coral requirements. Many people think that clowns need anemones, but that's not right. Clowns will host almost anything, it doesn't have to be an anemone (and for most, probably shouldn't). Anemones are one of the hardest invertebrates to care for. You need very strong lighting (Metal Halides, MH) and good water quality. If an anemone dies in your tank, it will pollute the water. A better alternative is a torch coral, but once again, clowns need no corals to live a happy healthy life, or even to breed, as far as I know.

 

[scorphonic]

Cool!!

And would this 180L tank only take a pair of clown fish or can more fish go in there without overcrowding?

Is it difficult to keep the salinity of the water stable in the tank and would I need to get a digital hydrometer or would the simple needle version be ok?

 

[enjoiskater158]

180 Liters is a litlle more than 45 gallon so... yes you can add more fish then just the pair of clowns Salt levels are probley the easiest level to maintain. Just remember when water evaporated from your tank to replace it with freshwater not salt

 

[scorphonic]

O really? thats great, can you list the other tests that you need to carry out other than ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH and how hard are each of these conditions to control for a FO tank?

 

[andywg]

For a FO tank you want to check for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and Salinity.

Ammonia and nitrite should always be zero in a cycled tank.

pH should stay fairly constant through buffering in the substrate and the salt (provided you do regular water changes).

Salinity is pretty easy, you get the salt levels right in the water before adding it to the tank.

Nitrate will tell you when you need to do a water change. In a FO you will not really have anything that is dealing with the nitrates so you will find they rise quicker than a FOWLR tank, but then fish can tollerate far higher amounts of nitrate than inverts, so they are less of a problem.

All the other SW tests relate to keeping corals (Alk, Phosphates, Calcium etc.)

 

[callell]

I still put rock into the tank (not live rock)??

How are you going to control the biological filtration ?