I want to start a salt water aquarium?
What do i have to do and buy to start a salt water aquarium? I just want a small tank first.
The smaller the tank, the more difficult it is to keep and care for.
The best size for salt water is 100 gallons. I, personally, would never go smaller than a 20 gallon.
Do you have any experience with fresh water or keeping fish at all?
If not, please find a mentor.
There really is too much to type in this little box. Entire books have been written about keeping salt water tanks. Find one at your local library.
June 22nd, 2009 at 9:43 pm
The smaller the tank, the more difficult it is to keep and care for.
The best size for salt water is 100 gallons. I, personally, would never go smaller than a 20 gallon.
Do you have any experience with fresh water or keeping fish at all?
November 8th, 2009 at 8:02 amIf not, please find a mentor.
There really is too much to type in this little box. Entire books have been written about keeping salt water tanks. Find one at your local library.
References :
The EASIEST way to start a salt water tank is to start with AT LEAST 20gal and get the LONG not the TALL. Salt water is NOT CHEAP (even small!).
Your equpiment depends greatly on what you want to do with your tank.
If you want a FISH ONLY tank:
You’ll need a filter (whisper works fine)
a protein skimmer (You can get a nano skimmer online at http://www.drsfosterandsmith.com for around 20-30$)
Lighting should come with whatever tank you get
SAND (I recommend buying LIVE sand) – I’d get AT LEAST 20LBS you can buy it in the store
SALT MIX – I use instant ocean reef.
a hydrometer (a way of measuring the amount of salinity of the tank)
a heater
Live rock is RECOMMENDED but not necessary in fish only tanks
If you want a REEF TANK (corals etc)
all of the ABOVE is NECESSARY plus you’ll need better lighting. Metal Halide is best, but you can get by with power compact. It’s recommended that you have about 3 – 5 W of light per gallon of tank.
SO if you have a 65W light, you should not have anymore then 10 gallon tank if you want to house corals that NEED STRONG LIGHTING
They do MAKE AND SELL smaller tanks (pico tanks, from 2 – 5 gal) BUT I do not recommend these. The more surface area a tank has the easier it is to handle (has something to do with the gas exchange in the tank, and protein/mineral buildup)
Also! you need to let your tank mature. You CANNOT PUT FISH INTO THE NEW SALT WATER TANK FOR AT LEAST A MONTH. With reef tanks I hear its 6 months or more to allow the live rock to cure.
GOOD LUCK!!!
November 8th, 2009 at 8:18 amReferences :
Own saltwater fish
You need at least a 29 gal tank,it is really hard to keep up,it is nothing like fresh water tank.Damsels are the easiest to keep and Tangs,you cant put but 1 inch of fish per 1 gal of water,so 29 in of fish total in a 29 gal tank,you have to take inconcideration that the fish is gonna grow.Ask the petshop owener to tell you what fish you can mix,they have aggressive fish justlike fresh water.there is a lot you have to have .the best thing to do is get the petstore employee to tell you all that you will need.
November 8th, 2009 at 8:39 amReferences :
Research big time….
You need money…no less than $700-1000
The smaller the tank the bigger the challenge and the less you can keep.
Anything smaller than a 46 gallon is almost pointless…
try a site called nano reef.com
but I warn you those tanks are incredible hard to keep and you can’t leave them more than a day so no going away for the week end.
just be very cautious, I don;t want you spending lots of money just to fail….
good luck!!!!
November 8th, 2009 at 9:24 amReferences :
have a look at http://www.homefishaquarium.com, they give a guide to beginners
November 8th, 2009 at 9:47 amReferences :
http://www.homefishaquarium.com