Patt@firstime

I'm about to order a new 350l tank and will be keeping a reef marine in it. Am interested to read or see photos of what anyone else has got in theres?

I'm also after some tips of where to buy live rock from, I've been quoted £220 for 20kg - I'm going to be getting 40kg. I know you can get plenty second hand and cheap but don't really want it out of someone elses tank unless someone tells me otherwise....

My tank will have half a dozen or so fish plus soft coral and maybe some shrimp and crabs - again advice on some 'preety' stuff anyone???

Tam the bam

Try looking here mate Tropical Fish Centre - powered by vBulletin it's a great forum for all things fishkeeping related

Hth

Tam

Patt@firstime

Nice one, thanks

wongascoob

also look up Tropical Fish Forums lots of helpfull folk on there and plenty of pics!!

speedymonkey

I had a marine tank for a while, but it honestly takes lots of time, money, patience and knowledge to keep them up and running.
I spent loads on the set up (tank+filters+skimmer+fish+coral probably spend about a grand maybe more ) and after about a year of feeling sorry for dying fish i threw in the towel
Not trying to put you off, just hope you realise the attension its gonna need. Regular water changes (20% of the tank), having to mix the salts into the fresh water, weekly monitoring of nitrates/nitrites/ammonia/ ect ect, constant nipping back to the shop, it goes on and on......and on

But once you find the right balance reef tanks look stunning, especially at night when they all come out to play, good luck either way fella, great hobby to be into

The Snug Rhino

my last tank:



Current tank is half built - will be 6ft by 3ft deep with 3 6ft sump tanks

At present its about 50% there but set up enough to have added 3 Gem Tangs to the sump tonight......thats like having 3 ferrari's in the garage in fish land

The Snug Rhino

to answer some of the original questions - the LR price you have is about right...personally i am happy with 2nd hand LR as long as i know the tank its coming out of (join a GOOD forum and get to know folks)

peoples comments on time are very accurate - the pic above was at 4 months from scratch but it cost me HOURS every day for many months and about £5k (prob more)............despite that i ripped it down at 5 months as i didnt plan it right and thought it better to start afresh.

my point - PLAN, PLAN.....PLAN some more (and budget...then times that by 3 and add on £2k for the hell of it)

ultimatereef.co.uk is the best UK site

speedymonkey

Wow that looks fantastic mate, that must of cost some money and time/effort for a set up like that

bighead

iTrader: (1)

very nice Rhino

OllyK

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davyboy

Just because of the hassle, I think I'll have to stick to tropical fish.

Marine tanks look fantstic though!

The Snug Rhino

its so much beyond a trop tank - biggest mistake ppl make is think its like trops and then a little bit extra.

the budget in time and money and the knowledge required is HUGE.

Patt@firstime

Ultimate Reef is a brill site - thanks again everyone

Brendan Hughes

Don't try this at home children

mad_dr

I hope someone may find this interesting or helpful! I've had a couple of large reef tanks (6 foot with 4 foot sumps) over the years but now - due to space - am involved in Nano-Reefing which (depending on who you speak to) is a term usually reserved for lanks with a volume of less than 20 gallons. My current tank is 10 gallons empty and is around a year old now. The thing to bear in mind is that a marine reef tank can't be referred to as "mature" until it's at least 3 years old. :O

My tank is currently home to 10kg of Fiji Live Rock, Crushed Coral and Oolite substrate, a miniature Red Starfish, 4 Feather Duster Worms, a few Turbo and Cerith snails, a few Dwarf Red Leg hermit crabs, an adopted wild-caught mating pair of Clarkii clownfish, a Bubble Tip anemone and a Fire shrimp. In addition I have a variety of corals both soft and hard, including Xenia (easy to keep), Ricordia, Stoneys, Acropora and several more. It's lit by an Aqua Medic Halide/T5 combination which produces 19.6 watts per gallon which the corals love now that I've photo-conditioned them. Some people would consider it to be 'overstocked' but in reality - the clowns spend so much time in the anemone and rarely venture far from it meaning that a larger tank would be - to a certain extent - wasted on them.

Another fact to remember is that small tanks (anything less than 50 gallons) is really best left to (without trying to sound arrogant!!!) experienced keepers. People assume that the smaller the tank, the easier the maintenance is when - in fact - exactly the opposite is true. Keeping pretty much ANYTHING alive in a 10g tank for more than a few months is tricky - let alone Anemones and SPS corals which are notoriously fussy about water quality and balance.

As Rhino correctly pointed out - it's a VERY time consuming hobby indeed when you factor in weekly 10% water changes (which are more of a hassle than anything else) and the other associated maintenance. Not to mention the cost. My tank - which would fit on a piece of A3 paper, is worth well over £1000 and that's cheap for a marine tank.

If it's your first foray into Marine fishkeeping, buy a good book (The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Bob Fenner is excellent but pricey), do your research and - as has been mentioned: PLAN! Stick to the biggest tank you can accomodate (more than 55g IMHO), make sure you ALWAYS overfilter (I'd recommend 1.5 - 2.0 lbs of live rock for every gallon of water, plus a good skimmer and good filter. Keep only fish and clean-up crew to begin with and ensure that you take your time! You MUST wait for the tank to 'cycle' initially before adding ANY livestock other than the rock and once it's cycled, add your clean-up crew. Then ensure that you add a modest amount of 'fish inches' and add the fish in increments, not all at once. Adding the smaller fish first allows them to seek out the best hiding places for when you add the larger tankmates. Check what food is required and ensure that you know everything you can about the fish.

You should always be very careful about your water quality and should always be aware of the Nitrogen Cycle which is the breakdown of wastes produced by the fish and inhabitants. You should measure Ammonia and Nitrite to ensure that there is NO detectable trace of them. That means that even 0.01 mg/l (or one hundredth of a single part per litre!) is unacceptably high and dangerous to your livestock. Nitrate is slightly less critical and some species of coral actually prefer a slightly elevated level. Calcium, Strontium, Iodine, Salinity, Phosphate and many more levels should be accurately measured and balanced; some need to be as close to 0 as possible, others need to be within a fine tolerance in order to maintain a peak of health and quality in the tank. However, if you keep hardy species, cleanliness needn't become sterility - it's all about the balance!

It IS very rewarding and a huge amount of fun, but you need to be prepared for setbacks and frustrations. If you DO decide to opt for a marine tank - or if anyone else is considering getting into the hobby, good luck and feel free to PM me if you want any help or advice.

SJ_Skyline

I'm not a big fan of keeping fish but that looks absolutely awesome Tiggs

ChefDude

I'm glad it's such an **** to keep these things going.

As a regular tropical seas scuba diver and seeing these little dudes in their own environment, it's a shame to see them trussed up in a tank.