Your current Fish tank Setups!

[Unicorn]

Just want to check whats people's opinion on using a conventional led light bulb for a non-planted fish tank, will it do any harm to the fish? Currently we are using these,

http://www.aquatics-warehouse.co.uk...1SFyLfnmzf-BCKdbsOjSmWsowyj0biRAOERoCjEbw_wcB

But they are quite expensive and don't last that long, whats special about these bulbs? they just look like a regular daylight fluorescent bulb to me?

As stated check fitments and make sure reflectors would work Or why not add led strips from interpet for example if your tank will allow it

 

[Kennysevenfold]

Mine, not a scratch on most of you guys though... Crappy iphone photo, sorry.

 

[Junglist]

I've been toying with making my first ever salt-water tank. Probably only a very small one with some coral, 2 or at most 3 fish and a shrimp which would go in a bedroom.

But the more I read about them the more daunting and expensive they seem. Are they really that hard to maintain.

I've only ever had tropical fish and that was a good few years ago so I'm essentially a novice

 

[Spook187]

I've been toying with making my first ever salt-water tank. Probably only a very small one with some coral, 2 or at most 3 fish and a shrimp which would go in a bedroom.

But the more I read about them the more daunting and expensive they seem. Are they really that hard to maintain.

I've only ever had tropical fish and that was a good few years ago so I'm essentially a novice

It can be expensive, i am hitting about 6-8k, i kinda stop adding it up after 6 to ease the pain lol.
Do your research it's very important on how the water chemistry works with marine, well worth it though you get rewarded with a stunning tank at the end of it, go big as you can, small tanks are less stable with the water things can go wrong fast if not on the ball.

 

[jimjamuk]

I've been toying with making my first ever salt-water tank. Probably only a very small one with some coral, 2 or at most 3 fish and a shrimp which would go in a bedroom.

But the more I read about them the more daunting and expensive they seem. Are they really that hard to maintain.

I've only ever had tropical fish and that was a good few years ago so I'm essentially a novice

I had a nano marine tank for about a year and to be honest wont do that again - you have to be on top of it all the time because they are small they are subject to very quick changes in parameters can wipe the whole tank out. Happened twice in that time

Had a few coral, 1 fish, 3 shrimps at one point and when they all went had an emerald crab another time

If I did it again I'd be going the whole hog on a decent sized tank and would only start it again if I had the time to put into it

 

[arc@css]

In my experience, it's been worth spending extra on something a bit larger, though I have not yet indulged in a marine set up, which I should imagine is where this is even more of a crucial factor. Unfortunately, you see many of these nano / marine / tropical so called marketed 'aquariums' these days, and they really aren't all that suitable at all. They're essentially glorified buckets.

 

[Junglist]

Oh boo. I quite liked the idea of having just a small one (around 30 gallons) with 2 or 3 fish. Looks like I'll have to put a bit more thought into it.

 

[arc@css]

Talk some more to experienced marine keepers like Spook or Webbo. Thirty gallons doesn't sound too shabby for a size (in my head I was assuming something much smaller), though they may recommend nearer 45 - 55 (or more).

 

[b0rn2sk8]

There is a series on Youtube by a guy called Mass Aquariums, he did a 10 US Gallon reef with basic lighting and a hob filter and had great success with it so it can be done easily but also cheap (relatively).

He just ran a sponge and carbon in the filter and standard RO/salt mix with 50% changed weekly. He stocked it with a pair of clowns, clean up crew, LPS & soft corals. It might be worth checking it out.

30 Gallons is fine to be starting out with, just keep things basic to start with, do your research and you'll be fine.

 

[NoobCannon]

I had a 5 gallon reef with live rock, some soft coral (zoas etc) and a small pistol shrimp and goby. Tried to ad a small hammer coral (lps) but i couldnt keep up with its requirments. However the softies grew and multiplied very well and the tank was sucesfull at being a desktop reef tank. Pocs below are of the day i set it up with its little hang on refugium i build out of a modified aquaclear 70

And after adding a few corals

It is possible as long as you keep up with the water changes it was a 19l tank and i changed 10l of water per week.

If we were aloud to sell non electronic/pc stuff on here id put the setup up for sale as Recently broke it down and transfered into a 90l tank with a sump which i made myself.

 

[Spook187]

What is your budget JunglistE, lets see what we can do for you.

 

[Haggisman]

I had a 5 gallon reef with live rock, some soft coral (zoas etc) and a small pistol shrimp and goby. Tried to ad a small hammer coral (lps) but i couldnt keep up with its requirments. However the softies grew and multiplied very well and the tank was sucesfull at being a desktop reef tank. Pocs below are of the day i set it up with its little hang on refugium i build out of a modified aquaclear 70

And after adding a few corals

It is possible as long as you keep up with the water changes it was a 19l tank and i changed 10l of water per week.

If we were aloud to sell non electronic/pc stuff on here id put the setup up for sale as Recently broke it down and transfered into a 90l tank with a sump which i made myself.

Nice tank, 19l is hardcore for a marine tank though surely?

We picked up a 2nd hand fluval m90 recently, which is 36gal, not set it up yet, but we were recommended not to go smaller than that

Oh boo. I quite liked the idea of having just a small one (around 30 gallons) with 2 or 3 fish. Looks like I'll have to put a bit more thought into it.

It makes sense when you think about it, e.g. as a simple example, if you have a 30gal tank and you lose 1gal to evaporation your salt level increases by 3.3%, if that's only a 10gal tank then the salt level increases by 10%!!

That example is obviously avoided by having an auto top-up, but the same is true for the other water parameters

 

[Yrkoon]

some nice tanks there, still got a large 10+ year old fish to the left of my pc chair, a female vieja bifa with her 2 spotted rapheals.

to my right is another tank but something harmed all the fish, think it was a cheap bucket of out of date food that caused harm have been doing 70-80 percent water changes and trying every med under the sun.


switched to new food and no more rainbows getting ill but too late for the ellioti.

got tons of cat fish, dad got a longtime ago a male and female longfin bristlenose and a male albino bristlenose,

we are swamped with longfin bristle noses and some short fins, the tank to my right has 2 albino male bristlenoses a normal male one and a vampire one and a long fin female.

they wont stop breeding in his tank and some of the babies are nearly the size of their mummy a good mix of long fins and albino longfins and some stumpy normal ones of both colours and their daddy is showing a interest in his larger babies, we need to get to the lfs quick

 

[UTmaniac]

Throwing meds blindly at fish, without a proper diagnosis, will eventually start killing the fish. Most meds in the hobby are toxic, but when treating a known issue with the right meds, the chemical(s) kill the pathogen before the fish.

 

[Junglist]

What is your budget JunglistE, lets see what we can do for you.

Probably between £500-£750 but I know what I'm like and that could double if I can't get what I want. Ideally not though as I plan on getting a Parrot this year.

Sounds like I'm going through a crisis!

 

[NoobCannon]

Probably between £500-£750 but I know what I'm like and that could double if I can't get what I want. Ideally not though as I plan on getting a Parrot this year.

Sounds like I'm going through a crisis!

Have you looked at the red sea reefer "kits"

http://www.swelluk.com/red-sea-reefer-170/?gclid=CLHvu8ekk84CFdcK0wodi4sBXA

Gets you 60% of what you need including a sump, and you need to add your own lighting and return pump (poss skimmer aswell not 100%) and a really nice package.

Was gonna buy one myself as they look fantastic but fancied the challange of building one from a tank i already had.

As a example after buying the tank "kit" you would be looking still to budget

£3-400 for decent lighting (led) altho you could spend thousands
£50-100 for a return pump
£150-£300 for a good skimmer

Also

You would need powerheads (take my advice and buy a vortech mp powerhead now i went thru 5/6 different powerheads as i didnt wana pay the money and still ended up buying an mp10 because they are un comparable to Anything else)
live rock (roughly £14 per kilo at my lfs)
Live sand
An Rodi system and salt to make water for topoffs and water changes (i started out buying my water premixed from the lfs)
An auto top off system (i think the red sea kits come with this)

I refuse to add up how much ive spent on my tank before adding any livestock whatsoever but i rekon its close to 2k and i already had the tank

 

[Yrkoon]

Throwing meds blindly at fish, without a proper diagnosis, will eventually start killing the fish. Most meds in the hobby are toxic, but when treating a known issue with the right meds, the chemical(s) kill the pathogen before the fish.

the med treatments were spaced out i didn't just throw a lot in, they had the exact dose and the water got changed before and after each one, with at least a week or 2 before trying another one.

we suspected worms, no catfish died and their very sensitive to meds.

 

[Junglist]

They're quite interesting actually. I had my eyes on a JBJ Nano cube which was significantly cheaper.

There is no rush. so I could save up for longer. The parrot will be taking a lot of my time anyway so I was thinking this would be towards the start of next year.

 

[elh_2009]

Fish Tank Advice

I know there is a Fish Tank Setup thread going on but I thought I put this in its own thread, mods please feel free to move if needed

I am thinking about getting my first tank, I have no idea where to even start but basically i want a dory lol

I only want a small one as I don’t have much space for a huge one can anyone offer any advice on what i should be looking at, prices and how difficult are they to look after once installed

Thanks in advance

 

[Spook187]

Well first the Dory, Regal blue tang needs at least 500 litre tank, you need to do some research first.