On fence about going salt water & need honest opinions

[CWO4GUNNER]

Hmmm? I do have a 60 tank 48X13X24T and an extra 80 tall tank 36X16X31T both of which have only 1 FW fish, one had a mean Mbuna bully and one has an Oscar both I am ready to give away (the fish). Which do you think would be a better candidate for a FO salty and how many clowns could they hold?

 

[CWO4GUNNER]

The 8-14 gallon cube it is then. It will certainly be cheaper to maintain and water-change for 2 clown-fish which will be plenty to fill the gap on why I have no salty tank/fish. Now to keep an eye on Craig-list or just use a new Petsmart 20 gallon Top Fin tank for $23.

 

[RiVerfishgirl]

Whether a 60g or 80g would be better is up to you. Which would you like better aesthetically?

Clownfish would do fine in either one and the depth doesn't matter since you're not planning on keeping corals.

As to how many you can fit, it kind of depends on species and such. Sometimes a pair of clownfish don't tolerate other clownfish, but some species are more aggressive than others. The ocellaris are pretty docile, so you might be able to keep a couple of pairs, but often even with them they won't tolerate another pair of clownfish unless the tank is very large.

Really it's best to just have one pair and keep them with other smaller species of docile fish.

 

[jasonG75]

I am SOOO fickle I really really really want to do a Saltwater, but I really want to do a Tang cichlid as well. I want the FOWLR, but I want JUST the LR until I know everything is clear.

:wall:

 

[ToeJam]

Everyone who has seen my large freshwater tanks and how well they are kept ask me why I don't have saltwater tanks & fish. I always give the answer, that from what I gather keeping large saltwater tanks and fish are far more complicated and require far more maintenance and AUX equipment if you want them to look good and thrive. Of course I don't actually know becasue I only have a few clues as to the difficulty of premixing required water changes in the bathtub with chemicals and salt, exc, exc.

So here is my question, is it far easier to maintain and get into salt water using one of those small 8-14 gallon bio-cubes with like one sea anemone's and one clown fish then jumping into a large salty tank? Unlike fresh water where to me the larger the fresh water tank the easier it is to maintain, do you think if I get the hang of a small saltwater tank it will give me a good idea how difficult a large 200 gallon salty tank would be to maintain?

I would start here: http://www.amazon.com/Water-Chemistry-Marine-Aquarium-Tullock/dp/0764120387/ref=pd_sim_b_5

The bio cube is easy as pie to get into. It has everything you need minus heater.

They key to this is water chemistry. That book I linked is cheap and covers what you need to know.

I am sure without reading you have some responses that answer your questions by now. FOWLR will be easy to get into and least expensive in equipment. Going SPS coral...requires more money investment in equipment.

All in all the switch isn't that bad.. It was only the cost of equipment I needed that is the biggest hitch.

But water chemistry ...extremely important to know the do and do not things.

 

[CWO4GUNNER]

I was thinking the trademark orange with white stripe clown fish. But seems like we are back to square one. If in general a pair (male/female) is all I can keep then a small 14 to 20 gallon bio cube with sand and a fake anemone should be enough. The smaller tank will also place more emphasis on just 2 fish, not to mention cost & maintenance should be allot more manageable. Ill probubly even use a sump filter to increase volume and an auto fill tank filled with RO for auto top-off. Of course Im just speculating if it will work as it seems logical, but I obviously have to do more research to avoid big mistakes and not waste my time and money.

Wow!:jaw: Just seen the price of biocubes, looks like a standard 20 gallon will have to do unless I find a hex corner tank with stand on sale on Craiglist for $50 LOL.

 

[ToeJam]

I was thinking the trademark orange with white stripe clown fish. But seems like we are back to square one. If in general a pair (male/female) is all I can keep then a small 14 to 20 gallon bio cube with sand and a fake anemone should be enough. The smaller tank will also place more emphasis on just 2 fish, not to mention cost & maintenance should be allot more manageable. Ill probubly even use a sump filter to increase volume and an auto fill tank filled with RO for auto top-off. Of course Im just speculating if it will work as it seems logical, but I obviously have to do more research to avoid big mistakes and not waste my time and money.

I had the larger version of biocube in the past. Lots of corals to =). Two clowns... did fine.

Sump is not necessary but isnt bad idea either. if you manage to Mcgyver the tank to have overflow to sump and return...go for it... I think though if you are going to do that its a waste of money I think for the results.

Still the cost on Bio cube is about 300.00 roughly
Now you add sump
return pump
You are looking closer to 400 now. Add a skimmer you are up over 500.

More bang for your buck here:::
55 gallon 100 bucks
20 gallon tank to be sump (craig list or petco cheap)
Return pump 100
Skimmer 150
Overflow box 100

The prices are so close that I think if you are not going just bio cube...and adding sumps and things... You may as well go the other route that I roughly threw out in suggestion for an alternative.

 

[ToeJam]

My first original salt tank to toss at you. 10 gallon cheap tank from Petco. Coralife compact lamp. And a penguin PH filter =p


Thats right el cheepo... fish were fine. You will just have to change the water in larger quantity weekly but ..i did that ...and all was fine.

 

[RiVerfishgirl]

I was thinking the trademark orange with white stripe clown fish. But seems like we are back to square one. If in general a pair (male/female) is all I can keep then a small 14 to 20 gallon bio cube with sand and a fake anemone should be enough. The smaller tank will also place more emphasis on just 2 fish, not to mention cost & maintenance should be allot more manageable. Ill probubly even use a sump filter to increase volume and an auto fill tank filled with RO for auto top-off. Of course Im just speculating if it will work as it seems logical, but I obviously have to do more research to avoid big mistakes and not waste my time and money.

When you say standard white and orange clownfish you're talking about more than one species.

The most common is an ocellaris (false percula) and percula. Both species can get 4 inches long. Some of the sites I'm reading are saying more commonly 3 in max, but I've seen quite a few that were 4 inches, so I'm going by personal experience.

A 14g nano is just too small IMO. They're pretty active fish.

Either way, I do suggest buying captive bred specimens since you will be more likely to keep them successfully, not to mention you are not impacting their wild populations, and the fish hasn't been put through stressful capture and shipping.

 

[CWO4GUNNER]

No doubt its going to take allot of consideration and careful planning. For now Im in the process resealing a 210 gallon 85" long tank I picked up on CL, building a stand and getting all the other accessories together for some freshwater fish I haven't decided on. Its funny becasue when I told the owner of the mom & pop LFS what I was doing he asked me if the 210 was going to be a salt reef tank set up, to me it was like asking if I was ready to play the piano at Carnegie Hall never having taken a lesson LOL.

No I have heard to many stories of folks that jumped in and were devastated by crashing large saltwater tanks worth thousands and I have also heard folks who were raised up into the reef tank hobby and do it with their eye closed easy as pie. I don't want to spoil my first experience on a large scale and give up prematurely, so I will start out very small and work my way up and with each success perhaps (God willing) I will convert my fresh water tanks to salt over time.