Has anyone ever looked after a marine fish tank?

[kingtreelo]

Possibly looking at picking up a small nano reef tank for one or two clown fish and maybe one other cleaner

am i best buying one of these kits you see available or best sourcing individual parts to get superior components?

i have looked after tropical fish in the past so understand the chemical balances in the water and all the usual basic stuff, but ive never gone near a marine set up

any info would be great, looking at around a 10-20gallon tank

 

[Shoryu-stu]

Prepare to learn! also it can get expensive,(sumps ,extractors etc)if you get the bug,your gonna wanna go bigger!(also deeper pockets)obviously its going to cost you more for superior components but there are deals to be had on sell sites.not trying to put you off because its a great hobby to get into.a 20 gallon tank sounds about right to start with.like yourself,i used to keep tropical,loved it.a few of my friends keep marine and they tell me its not a sit down and look pretty tank.they always on the go,but have to admit,all the hard work pays off because it looks epic.

 

[kingtreelo]

Prepare to learn! also it can get expensive,(sumps ,extractors etc)if you get the bug,your gonna wanna go bigger!(also deeper pockets)obviously its going to cost you more for superior components but there are deals to be had on sell sites.not trying to put you off because its a great hobby to get into.a 20 gallon tank sounds about right to start with.like yourself,i used to keep tropical,loved it.a few of my friends keep marine and they tell me its not a sit down and look pretty tank.they always on the go,but have to admit,all the hard work pays off because it looks epic.

yeah, im not sure at the moment i have the time or commitment when looking into it, also it would be in my hallway, so its not something that would be on display al the time which i feel would maybe be a waste

i love all the different corals you can get though, and some of them can get a bit pricey and can die within days if your tank isnt set up correctly for them, it seems like a very fine balancing act

 

[griffo83x]

my mate had one years ago puffer fish and all sorts beautiful it was until they had a power cut in the night and woke up and they were all dead ,

 

[Bods]

Lad that lived near us in the 80's had a shark in his

 

[kingtreelo]

Lad that lived near us in the 80's had a shark in his

and you dont believe anything the government says, but Jimmy had a shark in his tank at home?

 

[Bods]

and you dont believe anything the government says, but Jimmy had a shark in his tank at home?

some how I thought I might get that type response but I was being serious, it went like this, Its that long ago obviously I can't remember fully details or which lad it was or his name, my brother might as he knew him more, were talking to him one day and he says I have a pet Shark, naturally we said bollox or similar words so he said come and have a look, so the 3 of us, me, brother and david that lived up road went in his house and sure enough in a decent size fish tank in the lounge a baby shark was swimming around

I don't know if it was a baby shark or one that just small species but looking you can get small ones, to long back to remember but I saw it myself and it was a proper looking baby shark

 

[VectorPilot]

Yo @kingtreelo, marine’s a fun challenge! Start with a nano reef kit to keep it simple, but get a decent flow pump. My buddy’s 12-gallon with clowns and a goby is low-maintenance and stunning.

 

[Joboopoot]

Go with 20 gallons at a minimum for a first marine tank, are you going marine fish only? or reef tank?

With smaller marine tanks they are actually more work than a larger tank, the bigger the water volume is helps with overall stability of the ecosystem, at the end of the day if things go wrong in a small tank it happens fast, however the larger volumes of water buffer problems and you can spot them and manage them in advance. You really need to keep an eye on your salinity level in a smaller tank.

If your a newbie to marine fish keeping, buy the largest tank you can afford / have space for. Also if the fish keeping bug bites you will always want a larger tank.

Buy a digital refractometer, they make checking your salinity simple and quick and very accurate.

Milwaukee MA887 Salinity Refractometer

This new digital salinity refractometer is a precision optical instrument used for measuring concentrations of substances in aqueous solutions

charterhouse-aquatics.com

 

[geotrig]

Check out the guy on Reddit that built a shark tank in his house

 

[kingtreelo]

Go with 20 gallons at a minimum for a first marine tank, are you going marine fish only? or reef tank?

With smaller marine tanks they are actually more work than a larger tank, the bigger the water volume is helps with overall stability of the ecosystem, at the end of the day if things go wrong in a small tank it happens fast, however the larger volumes of water buffer problems and you can spot them and manage them in advance. You really need to keep an eye on your salinity level in a smaller tank.

If your a newbie to marine fish keeping, buy the largest tank you can afford / have space for. Also if the fish keeping bug bites you will always want a larger tank.

Buy a digital refractometer, they make checking your salinity simple and quick and very accurate.

Milwaukee MA887 Salinity Refractometer

This new digital salinity refractometer is a precision optical instrument used for measuring concentrations of substances in aqueous solutions

charterhouse-aquatics.com

yeah, i have read the smaller the tank the worse the fluctuations can be to keep under control

i was hoping for a reef with a few fish, not too many, so i'm probably looking at 2 clowns and a shrimp, how easy that is to maintain in something like a 15 gallon tank or around that is my biggest issue as i don't have a massive amount of space(at the moment)

i'm also conscious about the corals, i see a lot of people have separate setups with corals in them, is that to adjust them are or they (dont laugh) breeding them via offcuts and such

 

[ZedEx48K]

Mo (Videotronics) used to have some big ass tanks, never much cared for it all till I was fixing stuff and had time to sit and watch them do their fish things, strangely calming

 

[Joboopoot]

Stick with just a pair of clowns, and a cleaner shrimp, plenty of interest visually with cleaner shrimps and they can be quite the characters as can the clowns.

Percula clowns (the common orange and white fish) are an excellent start. I'd also recommend you get some UK tank bred clown fish, many of the fish shops sell them. As they are much more hardy than wild caught clown fish, and if you get them when they are juveniles, they will pair up, with one becoming female and one becoming male. You can always tell the female as she will end up being much larger.

Interesting fact of the day, did you know clown fish can change sex if needed, so a male can become a female if needed and vice versa!

As for keeping corals It really depends upon the coral types, they fall into two different categories, hard and soft corals, for a beginner soft corals are fine, but avoid all the hard corals, as these require perfect water parameters and are very unforgiving without excellent lighting and are a challenge to keep in a nano tank without question, however soft corals are great when you are a beginner, some can literally grow like weeds....I'm looking at you pulsing xenia.

Basically get the tank all setup, and cycle it, then run it without fish for at least three week, this allows the aquarium to mature and you can get used to the maintenance of keeping all the parameters in check. Then introduce the fish and inverts. You will probably also want a small clean up crew as well.

 

[kingtreelo]

Stick with just a pair of clowns, and a cleaner shrimp, plenty of interest visually with cleaner shrimps and they can be quite the characters as can the clowns.

Percula clowns (the common orange and white fish) are an excellent start. I'd also recommend you get some UK tank bred clown fish, many of the fish shops sell them. As they are much more hardy than wild caught clown fish, and if you get them when they are juveniles, they will pair up, with one becoming female and one becoming male. You can always tell the female as she will end up being much larger.

Interesting fact of the day, did you know clown fish can change sex if needed, so a male can become a female if needed and vice versa!

As for keeping corals It really depends upon the coral types, they fall into two different categories, hard and soft corals, for a beginner soft corals are fine, but avoid all the hard corals, as these require perfect water parameters and are very unforgiving without excellent lighting and are a challenge to keep in a nano tank without question, however soft corals are great when you are a beginner, some can literally grow like weeds....I'm looking at you pulsing xenia.

Basically get the tank all setup, and cycle it, then run it without fish for at least three week, this allows the aquarium to mature and you can get used to the maintenance of keeping all the parameters in check. Then introduce the fish and inverts. You will probably also want a small clean up crew as well.

i know everyone always g as big as you can, but what is the smallest you would go for a small reef with 2 clowns and a shrimp?

 

[Shoryu-stu]

Stick with just a pair of clowns, and a cleaner shrimp, plenty of interest visually with cleaner shrimps and they can be quite the characters as can the clowns.

Percula clowns (the common orange and white fish) are an excellent start. I'd also recommend you get some UK tank bred clown fish, many of the fish shops sell them. As they are much more hardy than wild caught clown fish, and if you get them when they are juveniles, they will pair up, with one becoming female and one becoming male. You can always tell the female as she will end up being much larger.

Interesting fact of the day, did you know clown fish can change sex if needed, so a male can become a female if needed and vice versa!

As for keeping corals It really depends upon the coral types, they fall into two different categories, hard and soft corals, for a beginner soft corals are fine, but avoid all the hard corals, as these require perfect water parameters and are very unforgiving without excellent lighting and are a challenge to keep in a nano tank without question, however soft corals are great when you are a beginner, some can literally grow like weeds....I'm looking at you pulsing xenia.

Basically get the tank all setup, and cycle it, then run it without fish for at least three week, this allows the aquarium to mature and you can get used to the maintenance of keeping all the parameters in check. Then introduce the fish and inverts. You will probably also want a small clean up crew as well.

Change sex if they need to?thats the woke factor all good for them then!

 

[kingtreelo]

100% if i get clown fish one of them is being called Stan

 

[diego821]

For a small nano reef, I’d say a kit can be a great start, it's simpler, and you'll get most of what you need in one go. But if you're aiming for superior components, sourcing individual parts might give you more control over the quality, like better filtration and lighting. I’ve heard that the lighting is key for coral health, so that’s definitely something to pay attention to.