I've kept freshwater tanks for years now and I would like to start a low tech marine aquarium. I would like to have some live rock, snails, hermit crabs, maybe some low light coral polyps and other small inverts, a damsel fish or two. I plan on running the tank with a canister filter(up to 30 gal I believe), sufficient heater, and 15W fluorescent bulb. My plan is to keep a simple tank without the really expensive marine critters and equipment. Along with regular water changes and parameter testing, will this suffice to maintain a healthy aquarium?
Low Tech 15g high Marine, is it possible
- Thread starter kencufc
- Start date
In a 15g high with only a 15w bulb, it's unlikely much will survive as far as coral goes, even if it was kept very near the top of the tank. In general though, your plans sound reasonable enough with a good maintenance routine. I will say that if you put 2 damsels in a 15g high, one will likely kill the other in a battle for territory.
With enough live rock (15 - 20 lbs), there would be little need for the canister filter unless you plan to run carbon or other chemical media regularly. If you need to buy a canister filter, I would just skip it and purchase 2 decent powerheads instead. Two decent powerheads will likely be easier to work with than a canister filter in terms of creating an appropriate amount of flow for a marine aquarium.
With enough live rock (15 - 20 lbs), there would be little need for the canister filter unless you plan to run carbon or other chemical media regularly. If you need to buy a canister filter, I would just skip it and purchase 2 decent powerheads instead. Two decent powerheads will likely be easier to work with than a canister filter in terms of creating an appropriate amount of flow for a marine aquarium.
In that case, would a 20g biowheel filter do the trick?
Also, what other small inverts would be appropriate for this sort of aquarium? Could it support any shrimp, etc.?
What might be a simple lighting upgrade good enough to house some low/moderate light corals?
Also, what other small inverts would be appropriate for this sort of aquarium? Could it support any shrimp, etc.?
What might be a simple lighting upgrade good enough to house some low/moderate light corals?
If were to do that style of filter, I would do away with the biowheels, since they are both unnecessary and unwanted. They are so effective at mineralization/nitrification, that they often create relatively large amounts of nitrate as an end product--often too much for natural processes to handle. I do recommend some chemical filtration and in terms of efficiency, a canister filter would force more water directly through the media, giving you better results. If you must use an outside power filter like the Penguin Bio-Wheel filters, then just run some carbon and/or phosphate removal media.