Saltwater Fish Tanks

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Anyone have any experience in these? I'm looking at possibly starting a 24 gallon reef tank with maybe a few fish. Anyone have any good starter tips or websites to read? I've been googling around but want to make sure I'm not missing anything good.
 
join reefcentral.com, that forum has a lot of information, guides, and product reviews. Try to stick to the newbie section, bc some of the "vet" love to flame newbie questions.

nano-reef.com is more dedicated to smaller reef tanks hence "nano." but i think a 24 gal can still pass as a nano.
 
I don't have any experience with salt water fish but I have read a bunch about salt water aquariums since I have seriously entertained the thought of having a reef aquarium. I have done a fair share of research on salt water tanks online and a couple books and most of the stuff I read made me happy to stay with fresh water tank for the time and money for the time being (be prepared to drop over a grand easily with tank, stand, lights, skimmers, canister filtration, thermometer, meters, test kits, salt, power heads/pumps, additives, heaters, fans, piping, glue, live rock, live sand, snails, shrimp, crabs...) It is a pricey hobby that will take up lots of time and money but I'm sure it is worth it!

I have read a lot of places that you don't want to add any fish for the first 6+ months until things start to settle down with your corals and you need to do daily maintenance for the first 12 - 18 months. Make sure you buy a book or two and read all the info you can find.

Good luck and be sure to join a hobby forum so you can ask questions when they rise.
 
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Thanks for the info guys, reefcentral was one that I didn't stumble across when doing my research. Seems like a great site with lots of good info. I'll post some pics if/when I ever decide to pursue this. I'm considering a move in about a year or so, so I may even wait until after then so I don't have to disturb everything once it all starts getting settled in.
 
yeah if you plan on moving anytime soon, or the place you are at isnt permanent. I would recommend doing a nano since it would be easier to move.

salt water is heavy and live rock is even heavier.

big salt water tanks are easier to maintain once you pass the 6 months mark, nano are more tedious since the water volume is so small, any sudden change in chemicals is drastic.
 
[quote name='spoo']I don't have any experience with salt water fish but I have read a bunch about salt water aquariums since I have seriously entertained the thought of having a reef aquarium. I have done a fair share of research on salt water tanks online and a couple books and most of the stuff I read made me happy to stay with fresh water tank for the time and money for the time being (be prepared to drop over a grand easily with tank, stand, lights, skimmers, canister filtration, thermometer, meters, test kits, salt, power heads/pumps, additives, heaters, fans, piping, glue, live rock, live sand, snails, shrimp, crabs...) It is a pricey hobby that will take up lots of time and money but I'm sure it is worth it!

I have read a lot of places that you don't want to add any fish for the first 6+ months until things start to settle down with your corals and you need to do daily maintenance for the first 12 - 18 months. Make sure you buy a book or two and read all the info you can find.

Good luck and be sure to join a hobby forum so you can ask questions when they rise.[/quote]


Yes and no. I have been doing a mixed reef tank for a little over three years now.
I also part time for a friend that owns one of the local fish stores.

I can tell you, the hobby certainly has it's ups and downs. I started with a 55 gallon freshwater tank, and I took it apart and set it up as saltwater.
I put corals in it with in 4 weeks, just your basic corals the hardy ones.
I attended a frag swap on about my 4th month in, which is where a lot of fellow hobbyist get together and trade corals.
I had my tank fairly well set up by that point in corals, a couple of fish, and basic lighting.

Probablly $500 dollars in. On the 9th month it crashed out and everything in it died.
With the help of the local hobbyist and clubs I started over and did thing a little better.
I now have corals in my tank that some sell for $80 to $120 an inch on the market.
i would estimate the contents alone of my tank at a market value of over $3000. and that is just a 55 gallon. Most of these corals came as small pieces from frag swaps and eventually grew into small colonies in my tank.
I also have a 12 gallon nano I am working on getting set up.

I would suggest finding a used tank on craigslist in your area, and starting with that.
If it is going to be atleast a year before you move I would not worry about setting it up and having to move it.
Working in the store we have had to move several set ups, we rarely have any problems. and very little if any loss.

Good luck with the hobby, and let me know how it goes.

Here is a link to my photobucket album with pictures of my tank and corals, sadly they are not great pictures, I am still working on getting a better camera.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v207/Lordtwisted/

I got my nieghbor into the hobby, and he has a 220 gallon, a 55 gallon, and a 58 gallon corner tank.
 
The bigger the tank the easier it is to maintain. I wouldn't bother with anything less the 50 gallons.

They can be a bitch, espically when you buy a couple things around $200 and they die in a week...but the benefits are great when it is going good.
 
[quote name='ryanbph']The bigger the tank the easier it is to maintain. I wouldn't bother with anything less the 50 gallons.

They can be a bitch, espically when you buy a couple things around $200 and they die in a week...but the benefits are great when it is going good.[/quote]


That is old school theory. It's true, with a bigger tank if something does go wrong, it has less chance of going bad fast on you.
In a small tank, if a fish dies, and isn't removed rather fast it can kill everything in the tank. While in my nieghbors 220 gallon he has had fish disappear and never be seen again, and had no effect on his tank.

But with todays specialized salts, and additives, lighting, and just all around knowledge in this hobby, you can use pretty much any tank.

I would also suggest a standard 55 gallon just because it was pretty easy to maintain, yet looks great.
but my 12 gallon nano cube is awesome, and I have done very little to maintain it.
One of the guys in the local club had a 3 gallon pico cube that has a pistole shrimp and a yasha hase goby and a couple of small rocks, deep sand, and zoanthids.
 
[quote name='Lord Twisted']That is old school theory. It's true, with a bigger tank if something does go wrong, it has less chance of going bad fast on you.
In a small tank, if a fish dies, and isn't removed rather fast it can kill everything in the tank. While in my nieghbors 220 gallon he has had fish disappear and never be seen again, and had no effect on his tank.

But with todays specialized salts, and additives, lighting, and just all around knowledge in this hobby, you can use pretty much any tank.

I would also suggest a standard 55 gallon just because it was pretty easy to maintain, yet looks great.
but my 12 gallon nano cube is awesome, and I have done very little to maintain it.
One of the guys in the local club had a 3 gallon pico cube that has a pistole shrimp and a yasha hase goby and a couple of small rocks, deep sand, and zoanthids.[/quote]

yes it is easier to handle today, especially when you know what the fuck you are doing...given the fact that the op has never done it and is asking for questions on a cheap ass gaming forum, I would assume he has had little experience with maintaining a saltwater tank/setting it up.
 
[quote name='ryanbph']yes it is easier to handle today, especially when you know what the fuck you are doing...given the fact that the op has never done it and is asking for questions on a cheap ass gaming forum, I would assume he has had little experience with maintaining a saltwater tank/setting it up.[/quote]

Nah you need litle experience these days to set up one of the bio cubes we sale.

We have oceanic bio cubes that are 8 gallon, 14 gallon, and 29 gallon sizes.
Built in lighting, built in filtration. All you do is add sand, saltwater, live rock, and whatever you want in it.
They are great for the easy care corals like mushrooms, leathers, zoanthids, star polyps, etc...

We sale them as complete set ups to complete newbies to the hobby all the time. and about 80% of the time they come back with in 6 months wanting a bigger tank.

I agree that experience is always helpful, but as long as you are willing to read up on the internet, and listen to the sales people at the stores, you should be good to go these days.
As long as you have a good store near you.
 
[quote name='Lord Twisted']That is old school theory. It's true, with a bigger tank if something does go wrong, it has less chance of going bad fast on you.
In a small tank, if a fish dies, and isn't removed rather fast it can kill everything in the tank. While in my nieghbors 220 gallon he has had fish disappear and never be seen again, and had no effect on his tank.

But with todays specialized salts, and additives, lighting, and just all around knowledge in this hobby, you can use pretty much any tank.

I would also suggest a standard 55 gallon just because it was pretty easy to maintain, yet looks great.
but my 12 gallon nano cube is awesome, and I have done very little to maintain it.
One of the guys in the local club had a 3 gallon pico cube that has a pistole shrimp and a yasha hase goby and a couple of small rocks, deep sand, and zoanthids.[/QUOTE]

Standard 55 Gal tank is the worst one. go 75 and get that additional depth. I had a 55 gal and it wasnt deep enough.
 
Why would you want more depth? With reef tanks you need high intensity lighting for a large portion of the corals, and the deeper the tank the less light penatration. Harder to clean.
With my 55 gallon I am almost shoulder deep trying to get frags off hte sand bed, or placing a clam. Why the heck would you want it deeper?

I suggested a standard 55 gallon because lighting would be cheaper, and the cost of a 55 gallon is nothing, heck wal-mart, petco etc..all sell a 55 gallon kit with most of what you need for like $150. Then you add the correct lights $100 to $600 depnding on what you want to do, a stand for another $100 , hang on the back refugium $150, and hang on the back skimmer for $150, a couple of power heads for water movement $80. and equipment wise you are pretty much done.

29 gallon bio cube under $300 built in lighting, built in filtration. Equipment wise you are done. The only real add on is you can buy a skimmer for it, but I know several people running the bio cube without the skimmer and only a couple fish and have had zero problems.
 
aren't 55s only 12" from front to back? I've got a 58 and i think it's the perfect balance between size and portability when i move. it's a skimmerless mostly zoa tank under T-5s, and is easy as hell to keep
 
Sounds nice loyalty. The 58 gallon I think is an oceanic tank right? Nice size. And zoas are one of the most awesome corals out there for variety.

I am running a standard 55 gallon and yes 12 inches from front to back. Makes it hard to do nice rock work. but I have a tek T5HO fixture with 6X54w bulbs in it, and I have a mixed reef that is quickly becomming mostly SPS corals as I get collector corals frags from people I have met over the last couple of years.

My next tank if I can ever figure out where to put it will most likely be Oceanics 4 foot 120 gallon that is 4X2X2 that is just the most amazing tank for a small room.

I also intend to set up a 6 foot tank for a blue spot stingray at some point.
 
i haven't gotten into the sps corals just yet..the color morphs are nice but i'm still a newb that likes the softies that "wave" in the water. yeah my 58 is an oceanic..it's basically a 40 breeder with a little height, but if i do another tank (that's not in-wall haha) i'm gonna do a 60 gal cube acrylic job
 
I looked into getting a nano cube style tank, but my landlord said no as she was afraid that it would leak or I would spill water onto her precious floor...which is already destroyed from when the pipe burst under the flooring last year. Bitch.
 
Loyalty softies are wonderful, I actually intended to stick with softies, and maybe a little bit of LPS corals....but through people I have met over the years I ended up getting frags of some really nice SPS, so had to try, and have had success at it, so kept bringing it in.
Next thing I know my tank was full of SPS, with some LPS and softies.

Not sure what is in your area, but if there are any frag swaps, they are a must do event.


Rusty some nano's mainly the "Cubemaster" brand can leak. I personally would try to move, in todays economy moving could be both a blessing and a nightmare though.
 
[quote name='Lord Twisted']Why would you want more depth? With reef tanks you need high intensity lighting for a large portion of the corals, and the deeper the tank the less light penatration. Harder to clean.
With my 55 gallon I am almost shoulder deep trying to get frags off hte sand bed, or placing a clam. Why the heck would you want it deeper?

I suggested a standard 55 gallon because lighting would be cheaper, and the cost of a 55 gallon is nothing, heck wal-mart, petco etc..all sell a 55 gallon kit with most of what you need for like $150. Then you add the correct lights $100 to $600 depnding on what you want to do, a stand for another $100 , hang on the back refugium $150, and hang on the back skimmer for $150, a couple of power heads for water movement $80. and equipment wise you are pretty much done.

29 gallon bio cube under $300 built in lighting, built in filtration. Equipment wise you are done. The only real add on is you can buy a skimmer for it, but I know several people running the bio cube without the skimmer and only a couple fish and have had zero problems.[/QUOTE]

hmm...depth does not equal height. 55 gal and 75 gal tanks have the same height and length, but the depth (thickness) is different.
 
[quote name='Lord Twisted']
I am running a standard 55 gallon and yes 12 inches from front to back. Makes it hard to do nice rock work. but I have a tek T5HO fixture with 6X54w bulbs in it, and I have a mixed reef that is quickly becomming mostly SPS corals as I get collector corals frags from people I have met over the last couple of years.[/QUOTE]

Thats why i suggested the 75 gal instead of 55 gal. the difference is the front to back dimension.
 
[quote name='HuBu']hmm...depth does not equal height. 55 gal and 75 gal tanks have the same height and length, but the depth (thickness) is different.[/quote]

You are refering to the front to back deminsions...sorry, I assumed you meant hieght when you were talking depth. typically when you are refering to water depth you are talking top to bottom, but you are right tank depth is usually front to back.
And yes, front to back is deeper on a 75 gallon, but for some reason the price from a 55 gallon to a 75 gallon is is quite a jump.
As well as the stand.

But funny thing is, right after you mentioned the 75 gallon size, a local club member in my area posted he was selling a 75 gallon, built in overflow, sump, stand, canopy, with a full T5ho tek fixture for $500 bucks.
I am currently trying to scrounge up the money.
 
[quote name='Lord Twisted']

Not sure what is in your area, but if there are any frag swaps, they are a must do event.


[/quote]

oh yeah, i'm a casual member of my area's reef club
 
[quote name='Lord Twisted']You are refering to the front to back deminsions...sorry, I assumed you meant hieght when you were talking depth. typically when you are refering to water depth you are talking top to bottom, but you are right tank depth is usually front to back.
And yes, front to back is deeper on a 75 gallon, but for some reason the price from a 55 gallon to a 75 gallon is is quite a jump.
As well as the stand.

But funny thing is, right after you mentioned the 75 gallon size, a local club member in my area posted he was selling a 75 gallon, built in overflow, sump, stand, canopy, with a full T5ho tek fixture for $500 bucks.
I am currently trying to scrounge up the money.[/QUOTE]

I have been out of the hobby for more than 3 yrs now. can't wait til i get a house and start anew. i must say metal halides are a must. gotta love that ripple water effect. I would definitely go for a long and deep tank rather than a high tank.
 
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