Hi all, I'm gio from Mauritius island - new in saltwater aquarium

Hello all,
I'm new to saltwater aquarium. I actually live on an island encompass by sand and sea. I'm intending to construct an aquarium of length 5ft x height 3ft and depth 1ft and I intend to have fish and live rock in it. May be corals later on but for now on it will be only live rock and fish. My questions are:
1 - can I make use of the sea water and sand on the beach to fill up my tank.
2 - can the live rock collected in the sea be used directly to established the tank or should there be anything done first?
3 - is the aquarium size ok and
4 - last can you guide me on a good protein skimmer.
Thanks in advance

 

Welcome to 3reef. Looks like no one has jumped on to welcome you yet so Ill be the first!

As for your questions.

1 Some people do use sand and ocean water but be aware it can have contaminants and provides a lot of variables that would be hard to account for. Most people suggest against this.

2 Depending on where you are and local laws, live rock collection is usually illegal and not an option. If you can use it than it should be basically good to go just watch for all the nasty hitchhikers you normally would with any live rock and monitor water parameters to make sure it doesnt cause a mini cycle. I suggest using dry rock and than just a small piece of live rock rubble to get the system going. Itll take no time at all to have all your rock live and within 6 months it should be mostly corraline covered and free of nuisance algaes and unwanted hitchhikers. Just be careful about future additions to keep the nasties out.

3 If I am thinking correctly you want a tank that has a footprint of 5ft X1ft and a 3 ft height? This is ok, the length is fine. The bigger the better obviously but you can do a lot with 5 ft. A width of only 1 ft is kinda small, if you can open that up to 18 inches or 2 feet your aquascaping possibilites will open up so much more. As for the height, 3 feet is doable but you will probably need metal halide or strong LED lighting as 36 inches is pretty deep and hard to light at the bottom for corals. If you are not keeping corals than obviously ignore that but beware of the coral bug!

4 I dont have much to say about skimmers. Plan to spend 200-300 for a good skimmer. The difference between a 100 and a 200-300 skimmer is HUGE. Once you get above 300 though there doesnt seem to be a huge difference to jusitify the insane prices. If your system is 120 gallons buy a skimmer that can do about 240. Rememeber to account for the sump volume in your total system gallons and it is usually suggested to by a skimmer based on double their recommended capacity. In the manufactorer states it does a 100 gallon system, plan on it beign for for only a 50gallon.


Good luck with everything. If budget is no issue than get the best of the best. If, like most of us, money is limitless, than ToddSnails is a good guy to talk to he has a 180gal and believes in using more affordable equipment without sacrificed quality. Has a very successful reef tank and uses Jabeo pumps instead of vortech, ebay LEDs instead of radon, etc. Just know this is an expensive hobby no matter how you look at it and make sure you invest the money wisely so you dont end up buying triple of everything because it either breaks or you upgrade within a year.

 

Welcome to 3reef .. and +1^^^^^^

 

Thanks all for your welcome and pghsteeler for his clear explanation. Just another question. The normal ambient temperature is usually around 27 degree Celsius or higher, do you think that I will need a chiller for a fish and live rock aquarium??

 

If you can afford a chiller it might be a good idea. The use of fans can not be underestimated. Look at getting an automated top off (ATO) as well.

 

Welcome to 3reef. I look forward to watching your build. You've found a great place and a lot of folks with exceptional knowledge.

 

Welcome to 3 reef!

I know there are folks who use NSW. I've read its best not to collect from shore and the further out the better if that is possible. I know of one very long time reefer who adds things to his tank he collects locally for the east coast of the U.S. I think pghsteelers post is dead on though.

 

Some thing can be collected. I was looking through the local fishing license information while I was in FL a few years back and zooanthids were permitted for collection, just like everythign else there were size limits and number of poylps you can collect per day though.