setting up a very basic tank

Hello folks,
This is my first post here. I have some experience keeping fresh water cichilds.I have a spare 4 feet x 1.5 feet x 1 feet aquarium. I dont know how many gallons that is. ( Can someone pls tell me that too). I wanted to know if i could set up a basic marine tank. I am not looking at a reef tank but just a few corals and a couple of live rocks with hardy basic fish would do for a start. I was intrested in having a couple of clownfish. The trouble is i dont know where to start. How much would it cost me. Do i need all the regular equipment for a basic tank? My LFS fellow says i need this filter that filter skimmers and a lot of other crap which is gonna make a big hole in my pocket. I already have the tank hood, stand, a power head for the filter, an air pump. What else do i need and how much is it gonna cost me. what are the fish i can keep in a basic tank? can i pop in a crab or a star fish into the tank. GOD HELP ME im gonna go crazzy with this stuff. Hoping to get some good advice as always.

 

Welcome Thegocools,

First I would recommend you read the 3 steps that are under the link at the top called "steps".

But let me give you the run down. Sound like you have a 55G tank.
First I would look into the cost of 55lbs of Live Rock. This will be your biological filter
Second Sand I would look into sugar sized arrogate
There is a lot of info about Sand on this site
Third I would look into a protein skimmer
Fourth Lighting, Corals Demand a lot more light than fish. But some corals don't require the lighting others do. So I would look into what you want to keep and from there you will be able to invest in lights.
Lights will be your major expense

J

 

Welcome to 3reef thegocools!

Your tank has 10,368 cubic inches which calcs to about a 45 gallon acquarium. Here is a great link to calculate gallons and other things. http://www.convert-me.com/en/

Jakets gave you excellent advice and unfortunately, keeping a reef tank is not an inexpensive proposition and takes time in planning and educating yourself. Check out the pictures in the gallery and on the member home pages and get an idea of what you want youir tank to look like. Then we can recommend specific advice as to equipment and livestock. Your most important investment whether you want a fish only or reef tank is your biological filter (sand and live rock).

A saltwater tank within time will be one of the most challenging yet rewarding things to do! Welcome to reefing madness!

 

Hey thanks for the quick reply guys.
Iv read the 3 steps as told and it looks like a lot of maintanence and hardwork to setup a tank, but that is something i am prepared to do. Actually it is the effort i put into my freshwater tank which gives me more satisfaction than the fish and the way it looks.
I still have doubts about the filteration. Since this would be my first marine tank i am not looking at a full fledged reef tank. A fish only tank would be just fine. The place where i live it is very difficult to get live rocks and live sand. I will have to travel by train to a seaport 15 hrs from my place to get them. How do i transport the live rock and sand. I am sure about the sand but i am not very sure about the live rock availability. If i go for a fish only tank what kind of filteration will i need? I could get the sea salt imported from the US that would not be a problem but the protien skimmers at my place are charged around 4 times their original place. Here only large star hotels go for marine tanks and the demand is not very high, so the prices for the equipment is astronomical. Can you belive it there is only one LFS in my city which offers to set up a marine tank aquarium. Thanks a lot for ut help folks, looking for more inputs from you.

 

Hey just saw this filter on the net. Its a
330 Penguin Bio-Wheel Filter
Filters 330 gph., for aquariums up to 55 gal. Penguin filters provide mechanical filtration to remove dirt and debris, chemical filtration to remove dissolved organics, and biological filtration to eliminate toxic ammonia and nitrate on contact. Total three stage filtration, classic wet/dry design with a self starting operation. UL listed, leak-proof, one piece construction, and quick change cartridge. Made in the USA.
Will this be good enough for my tank?

 

I am not familier with wet/dry filters so I won't comment specifically.

In general the live rock (LR) and sand will be the best biological filter as you can't beat mother nature and so very much worth the effort and cost.  Your fish will love you for it as well because they will feel more at home in the natural environment.  

A protein skimmer is a must as it will remove dissolved organics from the water column that no other form of mechanical filtration can do.  As you know the quality of the water column is like the quality of the air the fish breath.

I have a 29 gallon fish only tank with LR that is  set-up as follows:

• Sand bed of crushed coral and coral gravel (I recommend a good aragonite sand over these substrates).
• 40 lbs of LR.
• Seaclone 100 skimmer
• Aqua Clear 200 mechanical filter.
• An Aqua Clear 802 powerhead for circulation.
• A 200 watt heater.
• 110 watts of Power Compact lighting.  Its a do-it-yourself light set-up.  You wouldn't need that much light.

By setting up your fish only tank in this manner, you will be in the position to upgrade to a reef tank with minimal effort and investment.  

Here are a few links to on-linr e-tailers who have the items I am referring to above.  HTH

Filters, skimmers, and heaters. http://www.bigalsonline.com

Live rock and cleaner crews. http://tampabaysaltwater.com/index.html

Aragonite sand. http://www.purearagonite.com/

 

Ok i have a better picture in my mind about the requirements. Let me put down the equipment down in a list. Pls check the list and let me know what els do i need.

I want to set up a basic fish only aquarium

I have:
50 gallon tank
stand
tank hood
100 watts of flourecent lighting
powerhead
air pump with tubing and stone

i need to get:
live sand
live rock ( Cant afford much )
protien skimmer ( if absolutely necessary )
filteration ( Not sure which one to buy, need help here)
sea salt

have i missed anything? Is this sufficient to get me started? Feeling a bit better, now that i know where to get my answers from ;D

 

[flash=468,60]http://www.3reef.com/fish/sitepics/threesteps3.swf[/flash]

The Penguin Bio-Wheel is good for a freshwater tank, but for salt I know you would be better suited  a real wet/dry filter that sits below the tank. THAT SAID, if you get 1-2 pounds per gallon of good live rock, you can ditch the 'bio-tower' that has the filter media in the wet/dry and just use filter box - or sump as they call it - to put other hardware in like your heater and protein skimmer(out of the tank, and out of sight!).

Here is a good example of a wet/dry - it has extra space for a skimmer and such:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3656&Ne=40000&N=2004 22778

Here is a link where I explain how to make a sump (this is if you don't want to buy a wet/dry straight out, a little cheaper route):

http://www.3reef.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Newbie;action=display;num=1033512777

hope this helps..

thanks for joining 3reef!

[smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

 

[quote author=thegocools link=board=Newbie;num=1068310382;start=0#6 date=11/09/03 at 06:17:29]Let me put down the equipment down in a list. Pls check the list and let me know what els do i need.  I want to set up a basic fish only aquarium .

I have:
 50 gallon tank
 stand
 tank hood
 100 watts of flourecent lighting
 powerhead
 air pump with tubing and stone
 
i need to get:
 live sand
 live rock ( Cant afford much )
 protien skimmer (if absolutely necessary )
 filteration ( Not sure which one to buy, need help here)
 sea salt[/quote]

[glow=red, 2, 300]You can get Southdown playsand from Home Depot  and it will be much cheaper than what you can get for from PureArrogonite.com, but they do have a great calculator for how much sand, I recommend a 2 - 4" deep sand bed (DSB).

I recommend the Seaclone 100 skimmer for your tank which can be found at Big Al's Online for a great price.

A hang on the back Aqua Clear 300 would be a very good filter for your set-up - Big Al's.

A 300 watt heater would be perfect - Big Al's.  Ordering these items from Big Al's will really help with the shipping charge.

You could get some base rock and use it as the foundation for your aquascaping and then add your LR on top.  As your tank cures, the LR will seed the base rock.

Let us know what else we can help with!

PS
Where are you located?  Go to your profile and add your location so we can find you on the Member Map.  There may be someone close who can help us out.[/glow]

;D 8) :

 

[quote author=thegocools link=board=Newbie;num=1068310382;start=0#6 date=11/09/03 at 06:17:29]I want to set up a basic fish only aquarium [/quote]

Oops... I missed that 'Fish only' part.
In that case you don't need all that rock and can just use the wet/dry. Fish can handle nitrates better than many corals.

I don't want to disagree with Craig, : ;D
but I would personally use a real wet/dry than those bio wheel or cartridge hang on the back filter. More efficient and gives you more room for error. They are more expensive out of the box, but, if money is an issue, they are not hard to make if you are handy.