hi there, advice wanted please.

[wagonman]

hi i am looking at setting up a small saltwater tank and was wanting your advice on maintainence, etc on keeping 2 or 3 fish. any basic info on keeping saltwater fish, what is needed etc to keep fish etc would be much appreciated, this is the tank i was thinking of using. is it too small for say 3 fish?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pe ... 411941.htm

[livingart]

Hi

Iwould suggest a minimum of 3 foot long and as wide as possible for a saltwater tank, others on this forum are more knowledgable though

cheers mark

[tHEcONCH]

That tank is really designed to have a small number of small freshwater fish (tetras etc), and really isn't suitable for marine fish. tHEcONCH beleives it would be cruel to jam them in there and hope.

[davidb]

The key thing is to do a lot of research. If you are only wanting fish and no corals that sort of tank would be ok, although you would need to put alot more effort in if you wanted corals etc. I would recommend a much larger tank as the water parameters would remain a lot more stable. have a look at the tanks on this site- quite a few people have done mods in 620T's to make them ok for saltwater. but basically you need to do a lot of reading before you buy and realize everyone has different opinions and often there is more than one right. Good starting spots for reading up on tanks are:

- http://advancedaquarist.com/

- http://www.reefcentral.com/

and our very own- here- http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/saltwater-vf5.html

also these are a help- http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/links- ... t7074.html

onto the tank:

Tank itself:

I would recommend a medium size tank for a beginner. 100-200 Litres would be good as it is not too big to be overly expensive or high maintenance, but not to small that controlling water-parameters becomes difficult due to such a small water volume. Sumps are optional, some have them others don't. The purpose of sumps is to have somewhere to stick a larger Protein skimmer, heaters etc, and to increase the water volume of the tank

Filtration:

There is little debate about filtration these days. The two accepted methods used include high skimming and high feeding, or natural filtration through refugiums, using macro-algaes to remove nutrients from the water, many people use combinations between the two. In New Zealand, the trend seems to be towards the first, with high feeding and high skimming, and using live rock as a filtration system. Bioballs are generally not used in marine setups and generally the only mechanical filtration used on Marine tanks is filter wool or a micron filter bag to remove particulates, replaced frequently (eg. on a weekly basis)

Substrate:

Another topic under constant debate. Bare bottom is the easiest method as crud is less likeley to get stuck. Barebottom also allows for more water movements without causing sand-storms. DSB stands for Deep Sand Bed and refers to a sand bed more than about 5cm thick. These Sand beds are not meant to be disturbed and can build up a vast array of critters which can help in Nutrient export, they are also more likeley to Crash however- resulting in a Nutrient Spike, so one must be careful. SSB stands for Shallow sand bed amd pretty much all it does is makes the tank took nicer if you like the sand look. It is also good for people with organisms which rely on sand for homes etc, like some Gobies. Sand sifting gobies also prefer a sand bed for obvious reasons.

Water Movement:

If you run a sump- the first source of water movement are the return pump(/s) from the sump. Additional water movement can be suppled through Powerheads Closed Loops and wave boxes, although the latter two are generally only for larger tanks. Random water flow can be obtained by bouncing water flow from powerheads against a wall etc, or against another powerhead. Wavyseas are another form of random flow, as rotating returns.

Lighting

Lighting is only really crucial if you are planning on having corals. In a fish only tank, T8 lighting is fine, as it is only for you to see the fish with. Lighting is improving in leaps and bounds and now reefkeepers have the option of using T8's, T5's, Metal Halides, Power Compacts, VHO's, and now even LED's. However these are really only necessary for tanks with live corals.

Testing kits

In a FOWLR tank (Fish only with live rock tank), the only tests you will need to conduct ontop of the normal FW ones (Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, pH, Phosphate) would be the Alkalinity, and the salinity, measured with a hydrometer or ideally a refractometer. For reef tanks, tests should be conducted for Magnesium and Calcium also. Only add chemicals (Strontium, Molybdenum, Iodine etc) if you have test kits to measure them.

I hope I haven't put you off setting up a Marine tank but these things are pretty much vital for marine organisms' wellbeing. I have heard far too many stories of people chucking some ASW (Artificial sea water) into an old tropical Freshwater tank with plastic plants, ceramic ornaments and gravel, and chucking some 'Nemos' in, only to wonder why they die...

[wagonman]

thanks for your help i havent got enough room for another big tank so i might just stick to the freshwater tank ive got already, thanks