Some salty questions for beginner...

[highgear]

First post to this forum! Hello everyone...I have a few questions regarding salt-water tanks:

(1) I have a new 36 gallon tank. Want to have fish only with artificial rocks, coral, etc. Is this size tank going to give me more maintenance chores? Is it easier to maintain a larger tank?

(2) Regarding water...I bought a reverse osmosis (RO) filtering system for the kitchen sink. Looks fairly simple to install. I believe I need this type of water for the new tank, correct?

(3) Filtering systems...I have what they call a "wet/dry" system. There are two tanks, one 10-gallon and then a smaller one which I think hangs on the side of the main tank. Can anyone tell me how the hoses, pumps, etc. should connect? Remember, I am completely new to all this, thanks for keeping it simple.

(4) Fish...My father bought this tank for my 10-year old daughter as what he calls a "science experiment". She wants clown fish (probably because of the "Nemo" movie). Are clown fish more of a community fish? Can they live with other kinds of fish?

I guess that's all the questions I have for right now. Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[OrionGirl]

Welcome aboard!

There are lots of threads here about starting up a new tank--check into them for some specific advice. Your idea of having fake corals is fine, but you may want to reconsider using the wet-dry as more than a sump (increasing volume and current, no media or bio balls). Live rock and live sand are the best and easiest filtration to setup. The smaller tank will need a bit more attention, but not unreasonably so. Decent size, as long as you can be patient and research purchases first.

The RO will be fine, and prevent many common problems resulting from phosphates, nitrates, and metals in tap water.

It sounds lik eyou have a overflow box--should be two pieces, one which is inside the tank and water moves through a u-shaped tube out of the tank and down through tubing into the wet-dry, where it's filtered and then a pump gets it back into the main tank. Check out the DIY section for more, or contact the manufacturer for specific parts and setup.

Clowns can be community fish, but they can have nasty tempers, so mixing species won't be a good thing. For a tank you size, a pair of percula clowns, a smaller goby, and then snails, hermit crabs, shrimp would be fine.

 

[highgear]

Thanks for the advice.

 

[mogurnda]

Can't add a lot, except that Bob Fenner's Conscientious Marine Aquarist is an excellent book regarding setup (also check out Martin Moe's Marine Aquarium Handbook for background info). Also, tank-reared percula and ocellaris clowns are as hardy a marine fish as you could ever want, and tend to be well-behaved in a community. The added bonuses are that they look like Nemo, and, being tank-reared, dad's not going to come looking for them. I'd get two juveniles. They like company, and will develop into a female/male pair if they are put into the tank before they beome sexually mature.