Your current Fish tank Setups!

For a first tank I'd recommend some hardy fish just in case. Danios are built like tanks and can be cold or tropical. If you only want tropical then I've got 8 neon tetras and 3 plattys (though only because they match my orange lid etc :p) and they seem to be doing well.
 
i have a 60 litre marine biorb. currently stocked with 2 common clowns, 1 purple dart fish, 3 blue clawed hermit crabs and 2 scarlet cleaner shrimp. I also have 4 chunks of live coral rock imported from fiji with some polyps and other plantation growing on it. The live rock helps to biologically break down the fish waste aswell as provide hiding spaces for the dart fish which only ever shows at feeding time. The clowns are happy to chase each other about in the open and the crabs and cleaner shrimp again help keep the tank clean and eat some of the waste. I change 15 litres of water a month, the marine filter and i also add a carbon filter to the air pipe which i change every month. I dont use the biorb air pump i changed that for a stronger pump which gives off 2 air outlets instead of the 1 the biorb provides. It doesnt cost a lot to maintain and its easy to look after, the main thing is to make sure the salanity is balanced before you add it to your tank. I also test the water every 6 months to make sure theres no spikes in nitrates, nitrites and ammonia. I feed them once a day on brine shrimp and 1-2 hermit crab pellets once a week and ive kept my tank going steady over 3 years now and love it :)
 
ive never kept fish before aswell, so id say ive done a pretty darn good job considering... but it probably would be less work keeping marine fish in a more appropiate tank. The biorb is ok if you only intend to keep a few fish and are prepared to spend about £10 a month maintaing the tank and changing a filter, 15litres of water, preparing 15 more litres of water and mixing salt to add then adding it back to the tank
 
Raikiri said:
It was in a box, which was in a box, which was in a box... which was in a box :eek:

So CityLink must have drop kicked it.
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Got my first fluval edge exactly like that. Seems to me like the platic top must be put on with too much pressure or something during manufacture.
 
GSXRMovistar said:
Hmmm interesting I was under the orginial impression that nano tanks took a lot more effort than the larger counterparts. Been doing a little bit of reading and it seems they aren't as bad as they used to be. Oh sooo tempting. :p
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In a way I think they are, you have less space for pumps/heaters etc. Mine doesnt have a protein skimmer so water changes should probably be more frequent. As the volume of water is small, things can go wrong much quicker than a larger tank so keeping on top of water quality checks, topping up evapourated water etc, dealing with temperate fluctuations etc can be more important.

I got mine after I got the larger tank so if something did go wrong I could transfer the live stock to the big tank.

I did have a nitrite/nitrate/ammonia spike in the nano once (when we returned from holiday and I think the tank had been overfed), I didnt need to move the livestock as I just did a few large water changes.
However saying all of that I swapped the halogens that came with the fluval edge for LED (hoped to keep the temp stable), I probably only top up with RO water every 3 days or so and the glass doesnt seem to need cleaning that often. I no longer bother testing for nitrites etc regularly (but I keep an eye on the fish behaviour). I need to sort out some additional lighting to keep corals though.

If you do go for a nano marine I would advise:
1. keeping spare salt water (at the correct salinity) and RO water to hand for emergency/evap top up.
2. Do tests regularly including oxygen, I added an additional powerhead as the waterfall filter didnt really suffice for agitating the surface.
3. Dont put too much livestock in - the more you stock the more frequent your water changes and the quicker things can go wrong
4. keep an eye on the temps as a small volume of water can change temperature much faster
5. Dont overfeed
6. Stock hardy fish (clowns are fairly robust) - this way if something does get out of wack you might not end up with dead fish

I've got 2 clowns, 1 hermit and a snail in mine. I might put in a cleaner shrimp in the future and more corals but If I add any more fish it will be 1 rock goby.

I have thought about getting another or moving the fish to the big tank and getting a mantis shrimp.

Some good info can be found on ultimatereef.net for fluval edges.
 
utajoker said:
i would say 3-4 hours before you need to take any action.

then you would have to make sure water temp is maintained by floating hot bottles in it etc.

if you know powerer will be out for 12+ hours then get a generator.
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I think one of the big problems is dissolved oxygen levels (depending on how many fish you have). So one of the first things you should do is aggitate the water, you can do this by pouring a cup of tank water from 20cm or so above the tank. As stated I would get a generator if your power is unreliable.
 
jonno.co.uk said:
considering a fluval edge as a first marine tank, what's needed to start one off and how much?
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Approx figures from what I can remember when I set up mine
Tank=£100
~3-4kg live rock=£60
Salt water 25l=£5
RO water 25l=£2.50
Heater=£20
power head=£30
thermometer=£10

The clowns I have are tank bred - think they were £8 each.
I already had all the test kits, salt refractometer, ph meter etc etc
 
I read that as 'overclocked a bit', yes he has and then some

It cost Jack Heathcote from Carlton £5,000 to create and is home to several stingrays, two turtles, a catfish and a 4ft (1.2m) alligator gar fish.
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Sounds cheap for a tank you can swim in. 'Jack doesnt own a tv'

How can it be the biggest though, hasnt anyone filled an indoor swimming pool before now
 
Couple pics as promised, just from the phone for now but I'll get some proper ones once it's established and all the bubbles have settled.

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Planted with Java moss, mini amazon swords, Vallisneria spiralis 'Tiger' and some sort of anubias I think.
 
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