Hello Everyone

[Nosnibor]

Hi all,

Just wanted to say a big HELLO and I'm looking foward to reading from you all and learning from you as well as reading about all your experiances (good and bad .)

I am a beginner who's just purchased a Juwel Visio 180 (180 litres) with a Fluval 305 filter and an external heater. I have just started the 'New Tank Phase' (Wednesday just gone) and the supplier gave me about 50 liters of system water to help me off. I've been advised to give it a little over a week before introducing a couple of hardy fish which I'm looking forward to.

I would like to have crabs in the aquarium too, thinking about Red Crabs or Hermit Crabs, or even Rainbow Crabs if I can get any, but playing it one day at a time. At the moment I'm just enjoying looking at the 5 plants I have in there by themselves with a large piece of bog wood and sand.

Anyway, I'm sure I will be posting many threads after I start REALLY gettin into it.

One quick question for everyone though, is this site predominately a Marine aquaria site or tropica aquaria fish owners as well?

Thank you

Chat soon
Martin

[omard]

To 3Reef

HELLO!

Might as well start out with "salt water" - you will be much happier in the long run - guarenteed!

[Nosnibor]

Hi Omard,

Thank you for your reply, much appreciated. How much more work is involved? The reason why I was going down the route of Tropical fish first then having Marine fishes at a later date was purely for the experiance.

I didn't want to make big expensive mistakes. I agree that Marine would be so much better, I absolutely adore marine fish.

If you could advise here that would be great.

Thank you
Martin

[geekdafied]

welcome to 3Reef!

[coral reefer]

Martin, first of all YES we have a fresh water section and freshwater enthusiasts as well!
Have you had any tanks prior to this time?
If not, you may just want to go with fresh to start! This way you will get a feel for the whole underwater experience regarding water parameters especially!
Then, if after awhile you decide that this is what you really endure and take pride in, then a salt tank would be the next step!
Also, I would read and research both aspects of freshwater and salt to gain knowledge to help you along the way with certain problems that may arise...also, why set yourself for failure possibly by delving into salt without any prior experience and wisdom-just trying to be realistic, save you time and money and also the possibility of frustration and lack of confidence due to pitfalls along the way!!!!!!
I am not trying to disuade you by any means just trying to ensure your success from the get go!!!!!
Best of luck and enjoy!
READ...READ and research and feel free to ask question here to aid you and offer you support!
TOM

[mattgeezer]

hello and welcome to 3reef martin

[Nosnibor]

Thank you for the warm welcome Geekdafied, Tom and Mattgeezer.

And thank you Tom for your advice, that is the exact mind set I have. I do appreciate the words from Omard but maybe I didn't explain that I have only had experiance when I was a child with a small cold water tank with blackmoors and Fantails

These are my first real steps into the underwater world of aquariums and creating as natural a habitat as possible for the fish. So, I think I would start by saying that I have had no previous experiance at all.

I'm about 3 to 4 days away from going to purchase my first 'hardy' fish and I'm looking forward to it a great deal (I feel like a little child again when I first came home with my Blackmoors.) I'm going to be performing a water test tomorrow, so fingers crossed.

I will look around this wonderful website for the Tropical section for advice and look forward to jumping over to the Salt Water section when I get into Salt Water fish.

Hope to speak to you all again soon.

Regards,

Martin

[sssnake]

Welcome to 3reef Martin!

Don't be afraid of making a mistake and don't let this fear keep you from entering the salt water hobby. We all have learned much from our mistakes. This is how we gain knowledge

Feel free to ask anything you want in here (3reef).....you will discover that all the members are more than willing to assist you in any way they can.

Good luck with your project. Hope all goes well!

[Nosnibor]

Thanks a lot sssnake, appreciated.

[coral reefer]

A nice selection of tropicals that are easy to care for and do well are as follows for a community tank IMO:
Tetras
Tri-Color Sharks
Plecostomus'
Corydora Cats
Gouramis
Clown Loach