Any Saltwater Aquarium Pros?

[+Fates 63]

Got the tank up...just need to research and finish.

 

[JediMaster 451]

I had a friend who did it. He said something about you need to go through at least 2 batches of "expendable" fish (that will die) to get the tank balanced well enough to put the "good" fish in.

[ironroad 218]

Damn two batches, do you know how expensive saltwater fish are!? lol

 

Well from keeping a lot of freshwater fish over the years the best advice I can give you is...

 

Use tap or mineral water. (Most people use tap but make sure you have it conditioned)

 

Make sure you have good filtration.

 

If you are going to have live plants add good substrate and fertilizer (and put the plants in well before you by the fish.)

 

Disease due to poor water quality and over crowding is the primarily killer of fish.

 

Make sure you run the tank, filters, and water treatments well in advance of even thinking about buying a fish. Most treatments require that you turn off all carbon filtering for at least a few hours.

 

Algae build up is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

When you buy your fish by as few as possible (if they are schooling fish generally start of with a high female to male ratio.) Maybe 2-3 females to every male. And it is good to start off with a number of about 2-4 small fish to see how things go. (I prefer just 1 or 2). Slowly add the desired number and type of fish but make sure you don't over crowd (can lead to stress, fighting, and disease.)

 

The bigger the tank and the more live plant life, the less frequent of a water change and gravel/sand vacuum you have to do.

 

Saltwater fish prefer aquarium sand and or coral over gravel.

[+Fates 63]

Here's the installation and some new pics.

 

Filtration system installed. You can't see it, but I installed a "Y" adapter in the sump to tank return line. Reason for this was for me to be able to open the valve and remove water from the tank to do water changes....lets hope it works.

 

 

Here's a pic of the tank with the jets installed. I need to pick up one of those dark blue backgrounds tomorrow to hide all the plumbing.

 

 

The pumps are as follows:

(2) Maxi-jet 1200 Pumps with mod kits to produce 1600 GPH (3200 GPH Total)

(1) AquaClear 70 PowerHead (400GPH)

(1) PondMaster Sump Pump (700GPH)

 

Cheers~

 

Mike

[+Fates 63]

OH yeah....here's the RO/DI System

 

[+Dave 2,322]

That is some set up Mike.

[+Fates 63]

I had a friend who did it. He said something about you need to go through at least 2 batches of "expendable" fish (that will die) to get the tank balanced well enough to put the "good" fish in.

 

YOu can obtain this same result from buying a couple of uncooked shrimp from the grocery store and letting them rot in the tank. It's called Cycling the tank. It's a matter of the micro-organisms feeding on the waste...then you input fish to continue to reproduce that waste.

 

MIke

[ironroad 218]

Here's a pic of the tank with the jets installed. I need to pick up one of those dark blue backgrounds tomorrow to hide all the plumbing.

You can get laminated paper, dark construction paper, dark poster board, or even a dark poster to cover up the plumping and add depth to the tank.

 

That is a nice setup, for my fresh water tanks I use to just use one powered filtration system, one too two air-line filtration and or air stones and a lot of live plants but your setup is muy bueno.

 

what type of coral, sand, and or substrate did you use?

Edited November 4, 2007 by Fates

[Mr. T 0]

I very much resent having helpful posts of aquarium of the salt that I made, deleted by someone here. I will file protest to highest authority at Combat Ace, and have those responsible placed under arrest!

 

Now, there is no need to place dead and forbidden shellfish in tank. The use of many, many eels will suffice to cycle aquarium, assuming gravity of specific is correct, and eels are of electric type.

 

Also, Percula fish of clowns (with anemone for cowardly infidel-like fish of clown to hide in) and lionfish make great additions, as they are very hardy. Make sure to stroke lionfish with bare hands, twice daily, and then jab finger into anemone.

[+Fates 63]

When I'm ready to put the Eels in....what should I name them?

 

[JediMaster 451]

Eric. All of them. There's nothing wrong with that.

I've heard tell that Sir Gerald Nabarro has a pet prawn called Simon - you wouldn't call him a loony! Furthermore Dawn Pathorpe, the lady show jumper, had a clam called Stafford, after the late chancellor. Alan Bullock has two pikes, both called Chris, and Marcel Proust had an haddock! So if you're calling the author of 'A la recherche de temps perdu' a loony, I shall have to ask you to step outside!

[Fubar512 1,350]

Had a Moray once, that I christened "Wilber". He was a barrel of laughs at feeding time, as he tried his best to appear menacing.

 

And while you might get away with "jabbing" your finger into an anemone (not all of them are toxic to humans), stroking a Lionfish is not something that I'd recommend.

[ironroad 218]

Eric. All of them. There's nothing wrong with that.

I've heard tell that Sir Gerald Nabarro has a pet prawn called Simon - you wouldn't call him a loony! Furthermore Dawn Pathorpe, the lady show jumper, had a clam called Stafford, after the late chancellor. Alan Bullock has two pikes, both called Chris, and Marcel Proust had an haddock! So if you're calling the author of 'A la recherche de temps perdu' a loony, I shall have to ask you to step outside!

 

 

I have a betta named "scooter"

[+Fates 63]

Here's a few images....................

 

 

 

 

 

[ONETINSOLDIER 2]

Nice looking tank, I have a small freshwater tank and Im familiar with cycling the water to get all the friendly organisms going, but Ive always wondered if for salt water tanks you could just go down to the beach and get your water there. Is that feasable?

[+Fates 63]

Feasible....but not practical.

 

Water evaporates leaving salt behind. Thus you would need to replenish the water, but if you top off with more salt water from the ocean, the you increase the salt content (Salinity) of the water. Salinity needs to be keep a close constant.

 

You could top off with Distilled water but the bigger problem is that the salt carries additives that corals and invertebrates need to sustain health. Corals need calcium to grow, calcium is found in the salt compound. Inverts need iodine to shed their exoskeletons...iodine is found in the salt compound.

 

With a home saltwater aquarium, you will need to Top Off the evaporated water with RODI (Reverse Osmosis/ De-Ionized) water to maintain proper salinity, and you will also need to do frequent water changes to replenish the nutrients in the water as they are consumed.

 

M