Necessary Equipments Need

[RipSlider]

I have slightly different thoughts here:

essentials:

1) Read every single thing that Bob Fenner has ever written. Then everything that Jaulbert has written. And then everything by Steve Pro.

2) read it all again. and again and again.

3) Repeat Step 2 until you can recite the entire lot by heart.

4) Only then even consider keeping marine fish.

<<Bob Fenner will become your marine fish keeping god. with the added bonus that he's real and you can send him e-mails and he actually answers them! becuase of Bob Fenner, about 1/2 of all marine fish in captivity today are alive and not flushed down the toilet. Trust me when I say this chap is important and should be listened to>>

Equipment list that you need depends totally on what sort of tank you want:

basics that you will always need:

1) Hydrogemeter - get a digital one
2) Good source of marine salt
3) dustbin + heater + powerhead to keep a big batch of water mixed up for water changes
4) RO unit - ROMan units seem to be the preference in the UK, mine is great.


Then, make the choice between fish only, fish only with live rock ( often seen as FOWLR) or a full blown coral tank.

If your going fish only or FOWLR, then you've no need for the metal halides, just use t5's. ( Which is good, becuase they're a pain in the backside as they generate so much heat and also blind anyonee who walking into the room).

(would *strongly* reccommend that you start with FOWLR as it's a good place to begin, you can always adapt the set up for corals afterwards )

I use Fenner's modified berlin method, which is essentially:

Lots of live rock
Live sand bed
lots of skimming
lots of ozone ( ozone is optional, but is great )

I've played with Jaubert method (phelums ) and think they're great, but only if you have a big enough tank.

When it comes to deciding where to put your money, allocate the vast majority of what you spend on the setup to the skimmer and the live rock.

it's not possible to skim too much, and live rock is like buying jewlery. You pay poor money, you get poor quality.

(to save yourself a divorce, get cured live rock. Curing live rock in your own tank leaves a smell that stays in the carpets and curtains for WEEKS, and will not make your better hapf a happy person)

You'll see there is no other filtration in this list. and that's becuase you don't need it. All you'll do by adding extra filtration is making extra nitrates.

The live rock is your main filter. The skimmer picks up all the stuff that the LR can't deal with.

Then think about water turn over. Live rock needs a constant, highly oxygenated water stream. Reccommended minimum is to turn the tank over 10x an hour. I'm running 14x an hour and it seems to be fine. To do this, your looking at a few very good powerheads. It's critical that every bit of your live rock is always getting flow over it, so don't think about positioning the powerheads before you've got the live rock placed in the tank and covered with water. The cracks and crevicies in the rock will decide for you where to place the powerheads.

So: big skimmer, normal lighting, lots of good quality live rock and lots of reading.

Most people use a sump for marine stuff. They are very practical, but difficult to plan and noisy if they are in the living room. Personally, I don't use a sum. It's cheaper and it's silent, but it's kind of a heresy to suggest this.

marine fish keeping CAN be pretty tricky, but for different reasons than fresh water. water quality needs to be next to perfect, and there are a lot more things that can go wrong in a marine system compared to a FW system, specifically stuff dying where you can't see it.

You do have to be prepared for the water changes, you do need to plan ahead when thinking about feeding regimes, and, in general, marine fish are much more terrirotal than FW fish, so this needs a bit of planning.

However, i think it's really rewarding to keep a marine tank.

I have a couple, the first is a large FOWLR tank and the second a shrimp tank with a huge 'fuge underneath it ( I like shrimp more than fish if I'm being honest). It's effort, but I reckon it's worth it.

I would also say that, as a long term project, marine is more expensive than FW. you'll need to plan for buying salt, Ro membranes etc etc for the life of the tank, and food is more expensive as well, so make sure you do your sums first.

Hope this helps.

Steve

[nicholas76]

Ivo

how did you go?

im mid stream in relation to my setup,, i have everything but the sump organised. had the tank drilled ages ago.!

currently deciding on the setup of the refugiam and waiting on a calcium reactor which i need for my acros and clams

[ivo]

hi nick, sorry i haven't checked the marine column in months since i didn't go ahead. it all seems too much work so i got lazy.

[nicholas76]

hehe dont give up!!


its really rewarding trust me on that ,

in a few months time ill have one hell of a thread to share ! it would be great to share the experience with ya slacker! hehehe

[boost.puppy]

Honestly.. I Would reccomend a second hand tank for someone starting off

about 4 years ago we got our first 6 foot tank from a guy off MASA, he was moving interstate so we got a really good deal & because the tank was already established it was much easier to learn off...

now 5 tanks later (including a reef tank dedicated to exotic & rare corals) I find that the marine tanks are easier to maintain than my tropicals! and the fish seem to get along better too!

Also MASA has luncheons for members to get together & plot future tank set-ups (and other geeky stuff :P )
and they have a section dedicated to beginners too, I would DEFINATELY reccomend joining up.. and don't forget to send us pics when you get the tank up & running!!!