Got a 3ft tank at moment with tropical fish in it.

This morning we lost our australian blue crayfish, so have decided it may be time to switch from tropical to marine.

 

Anyone any idea on keeping marine - I believe we need a skimmer, etc and it may be slightly more expensive to initially setup, but once its done do I need to do regular water changes with Marine RO, etc?

 

Cheers

I have a new tropical tank and I asked the guy behind the counter how easy it was to keep marine? he said you need to wait about 6 months for the water to be perfect, and the fish can be a lot more money (so if they die you will cry) as for water changes they are a lot more frequent than tropical. He also mentioned its like a full time job keeping an eye on the fish as they are a lot more prone to diseases. HTH

Cheers bud, I sorta thought that - just wanted it reconfirming.

Just been browsing the net and I think Ill stick with tropical. :)

 

Ta

Setting up a marine tank is not easy. The water balance has to be precise and it takes longer to mature than a freshwater. after the intitial set up though all you have to do is keep on top of it with daily maintainance and it then becomes a total pleasure and seems all worth the extra effort. Dont use poor quality items like coral shell and rocks. make sure your nitrates and nitrites are at acceptable levels and bobs your uncle really. Good luck and please post some pictures. I love Marine fish but have not got the time to keep it up now-a-days.

 

I hope this helps

 

Vince

I used to keep marines but I didn't research properly before I started so didn't have the best kit but I never really had any probs. When starting up get the best skimmer you can afford as it'll pay for itself in no time. With a decent skimmer it keeps the water changes to a minimum so you don't use so much salt and RO water. The initial startup period is 6 weeks before you can add any fish then you add a couple of hardy ones and slowly build from there over a few months. The cost of the marine fish is higher than tropical but you must remember you cannot keep as many so the livestock cost for marine would probably be around the same.

 

I had a 4 foot tank holding 68 gallons an external filter, deep sand bed, a couple of halide lights as they make the water shimmer nicely and they are required for most corals, a pretty crap skimmer and a UV filter. Live stock was Regal Tang, Lemonpeel angel, Flame Angel, Lipstick Tang, 5 Green Chromis, Yellow Belly Damsel and a few Corals. I used to change 10galls every 2 weeks but would have been less with a decent skimmer. I sold it all so I could start a new tank in the chimney brest but then found out the chimney holds the house up!! It's not as hard as people think to keep marines just more work if you don't get the right kit.

 

Chris.

Marine tanks are a PITA.

ro machine, then a buffer. I keep freshwater (acidic) and christ it's alot of work

ro machine, then a buffer. I keep freshwater (acidic) and christ it's alot of work

Excuse my ignorance, but whats the difference in normal tropical fish and feshwater (acidic) ??

Excuse my ignorance, but whats the difference in normal tropical fish and feshwater (acidic) ??

 

In essence the fish are the same, it's the bacteria that are the problem, most water in England is 8.5 ph and in most tanks. the bacteria thrive at this. below 6ph they die and the nitrogen cylcle fails. once they die the amonia level goes thru the roof and your fish die. I keep my tank at 6ph so there is no margin for error. also with acidic water it lacks calcuim so the ph level drops far easier and is less stable than harder water.