[Cody Dawg]

So, my anniversary gift to my husband this year was a big 90-gallon aquarium setup (the tank, stand, crushed coral, coral rocks, the filter, protein skimmer - everything) and now he can finally pursue establishing a saltwater tank.

We have a 35-gallon freshwater tank that is beautiful. He keeps discus and some other fish in it and they do very well.

He's wanted a saltwater tank for about 2 years and now he has one, but saltwater is a new pursuit for him.

Do any of you have any advice or suggestions for water, fish, maintenance, personal experiences?

Thanks, everyone!

[turtle777]

Get a a sea turtle

-t

[Cody Dawg]

Is it legal? I'm thinking of seahorses, though.

A friend of ours is moving away and on Saturday we are going over to her house to pick up an African sand spur tortoise that we are going to keep.

So, in a way, I will be getting a turtle!

[Scandalous Ion Cannon]

Do tons of research first. Saltwater tanks are very sensitive. You have to have the tank setup and running for a couple of months before you can add fish.

[wdlove]

Hi Cody, sorry don't have any current knowledge of aquariums.

I did have one that my parents purchased. It was fresh water. Probably the technology is much better now. Hope that you will post pictures.

[RAILhead]

The most import tip you will ever hear about salt water tanks:

BE PATIENT.


90 Gal is a fairly small for a reef tank, so you'll need to pay special attention to the chemical makeup with lots of testing, tweaking, and waiting. As already said, it will take a couple of months (maybe 1 to 3 for a 90 gal) for the proper reef balance to get established. During this time, it's permissible to add plant life as long as it's healthy -- but this is a topic of debate, so just read up on it. But I digress: you have to let the tank reach balance before you can start adding fish.

After you've made sure that you can maintain the reef level for several weeks, you can start adding more live rocks and things like that. This will also change the chemical makeup a bit. Choose some harvested in your area (we get lots of beautiful ones out of Gulf down here).

Some beginner rues of thumb:

1) Establish the reef levels and maintain them with no life forms in the tank.
2) Add ONE "type" of life form -- the hardiest you'll have (like live rocks, etc).
3) STOP adding and balance then maintain levels again.
4) Add a second life form.
5) STOP adding and balance then maintain.
6) And so on, adding the toughest first and finishing with the most delicate life form.

Just remember: it can take a couple of years for a reef tank to really become "self sufficient" and saltwater life is EXPENSIVE, so the more cautious, careful, and nit-picky...the better off everyone will be.

One last thing: buy and read every book you can find on beginner to intermediate reef tanking.

HTH,
Maury

[von Wrangell]

Keep the cat away from the tank. That's my advise.










(are you telling me that wasn't helpful?)

[RAILhead]

Here's Amazon.com's list of saltwater aquarium books, Cody.

Maury

[budster101]

Have it professionally set up and cared for, for the first 6 months to a year. If you can afford this, then do it. Have them show you how to maintain the tank, you don't want to lose any fish you just put up some big money for... (Don't get any expensive fish, until it is established, oh and no octipuss / shark combos...)

Be speicies sensitive, you don't want a tank where everyone inside is competing with one another.

I saw this cool fish once. Bat Fish, and it was being hand fed in the tank. Very cool.

Good luck! Want to see a pic of mine? It's kind of large, but I'll try to reduce it's size to put in here.
Too bad you didn't post (jpeg orgy in the heading)

[el chupacabra]

Originally Posted by Cody Dawg

I'm thinking of seahorses,

sea horses arnt very compatible with other fish, and they need a slow moving current which is hard to manage.

always research each fish before u buy. here are some helpful sites for looking up fish
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/categ.cfm?pCatId=15
http://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/
http://saltaquarium.about.com/

[Scandalous Ion Cannon]

Seahorses are next to impossible to keep. Especially for a beginner.

[Cody Dawg]

Randman: Where's the picture?

Right now there is nothing in the tank except some crushed coral and some dead coral. We added fresh water (filled it) because the coral on the bottom smelled bad.

Now what?

[deomacius]

Check out the ReefKeeper by Digital Aquatics.

</shameless plug for a friend's product>

[IFLY2HIGH]

http://reefcentral.com

Best place for Marine Aquaium Information. Spend the $$ and do it right from the get go. 90 Gallons these days are not small for saltwater, people have been keeping 5 gallon nano system without a hitch for a few years now. I've had a 29 gallon tank and with the proper lighting anf filtration and animal life it's not that hard, and the results are absoluty beautiful. Check out Reef Central and just sit and read read read and ask ask ask away. Some really high up people are there and there is just so much information to soak in before you start, and remember, fishless cycle!

[el chupacabra]

Originally Posted by Cody Dawg

Randman: Where's the picture?

Right now there is nothing in the tank except some crushed coral and some dead coral. We added fresh water (filled it) because the coral on the bottom smelled bad.

Now what?

by the way always use filtered water. At store I find the refill option to be the cheapest. plus they do all kind of filtrations on it, reverse osmosis, charcoal, micron, uv and all that stuff. water from your faucett is dirty.

if your rocks stink they are dirty too, and you will have to let it cycle longer or run the protein skimmer for a while, along side a high powered circulation pump. The most I wait for adding my first fish is about 2 weeks, depending on conditions sometimes only a week. I also use instant ocean sea salt which seems to make a difference in the cycling time... i don't know why. hmm what else: if you put something like a damsel in your tank to cycle it, it should be fine, you tank is much bigger than most and one fish can't raise ammonia levels enough to poison the system.

[alligator]

Go to Reef Central (www.reefcentral.com) or The Reef Tank (www.thereeftank.com) for questions/advice. I kept a 55 gallon saltwater, and a 2 1/2 gallon nano saltwater tank for many, many years. I've kept almost everything imaginable in my tanks, even an octopus.

Don't hire someone, just go in with your eyes open, and don't be afraid to ask for advice. I lost the space for my tanks, so I took them all down. I really miss them. That was a fun, but expensive, hobby. I'm always willing to answer questions if your husband has any.

[Rev-O]

75 gallon freshwater with three Oscars (Tiger Oscar, Red Oscar, Albino Tiger Oscar).
Never had any interest in a saltwater tank, but good luck with yours!

[Cody Dawg]

Never had any interest in a saltwater tank, but good luck with yours!

"Tanks!"

[Gator Lager]

Originally Posted by Cody Dawg

"Tanks!"

on the subject of tanks.
I've dove the reefs down there. so grab your tanks and grab some fish. but watch out
for the man in the gray suit (sharks)

[baw]

How's the saltwater tank coming along, Cody?

[boots]

I've had my 75 gallon tank up for about two years now, and the stupid thing is just going nuts. Here's a few of the specimens (pretty much all soft coral):

The full tank (about a year ago):



Toadstool coral:


zoanthids:
[

briarium species (aka star polyps)


erythropodium (aka star polyps)


This one is starting to go nuts. He's spreading so fast that I can't keep him contained. When he starts actively killing other coral, I'll have to redo the whole tank.

euphyllia species (aka frogspawn):


This is a single polyp that I glued to a rock. the parent got so big I had to get rid of it. Now, a year later, I need to frag it and get rid of the parent again. It's HUGE.

I have redone a lot of it since the first pic. I put in a sump and got a Remora skimmer. So the stuff hanging off the tank is different now. Also, I've had to rearrange some of the corals as they've grown. It's amazing how fast the softies grow. Simply amazing.

The tank is mostly soft coral with a few lps, but I have a sand sifting star, a black spiny urchin, a blenny, a potters angel, a yellow tang, and something I think is a queensland dottyback. There's also a tigertail cucumber and a variety of snails/crabs fro cleanup crew. I have a ton of culerpa (sp?) isolated n the sump to help with water quality. Gotta be careful with that stuff, it grows fast and sticks to everything!

[euchomai]

Sounds like tons of work to build a fish prison.

[I Bent My Wookiee]

Originally Posted by boots

I've had my 75 gallon tank up for about two years now, and the stupid thing is just going nuts. Here's a few of the specimens (pretty much all soft coral):

Looks awesome. I have wanted a salt water tank for 10 years and have had 85 gal freshwater ones.

I've looked into it a few times but the monthly costs, maintenance turned me off saltwater. Also the lamps would REALLY heat my place up.

[boots]

Originally Posted by euchomai

Sounds like tons of work to build a fish prison.

Heh. Agreed. I pretty much bought a set up from someone. The fish were already there. I was more interested in the coral...which aren't nearly as mobil so probably don't care. When I've thought of new specimens, I've been very careful to look for sustainable collection fragments.

Originally Posted by I bent my wookiee

Looks awesome. I have wanted a salt water tank for 10 years and have had 85 gal freshwater ones.

I've looked into it a few times but the monthly costs, maintenance turned me off saltwater. Also the lamps would REALLY heat my place up.

Yeah, it is somewhat expensive. But contrary to the "logical" thought, bigger is better. The key is to get it big enough to have a sustainable ecosystem. So once it's set up, the maintenance costs and time aren't astronomical. $40 every six months or so for salt mix, $20 every 6 months for food, and about $20 every six months for "chemicals." Chemicals is in quotes because water changes (~20% every two weeks) take care of most everything. The only thing that needs to be artificially fixed is the phosphate level. There just isn't a reasonable way to export that nutrient, so I have to use a phosphate absorbing material. Huge aquaria use "algae" scrubbers (they just have a place where they encourage algae to grow and then harvest it to remove nutrients).

Lighting is certainly an issue, and that's why I'm keeping soft coral. I don't need to get the metal halide bulbs. As it is, it costs about $120/ year just to keep the lighting consistent. No real problems with heat yet. But the electricity cost is kinda high.

[I Bent My Wookiee]

boots you should find a way to better hide that equipment hanging on the back.

[SirCastor]

I knew a guy that had a 300 gallon tank, it was awesome. He had a huge filtration system that went down to his basement and back up. The entire thing was self-sufficient. He'd been working on it for years. He said it cost him about $100 a month for the upkeep (electricity and the like) but man it was amazing. You could sit in front of it for hours. He once told me that it was their TV. The fish (and all the life) had their own personalities.

One thing, if you ever get to this point, is that he actually built his aquarium by growing and selling some of his coral. Pretty cool. Maybe someday, I'll be able to have something like that.

Anyway, congrats, I hope you have success in getting it running. I'm a proponent of the book scene, run over to your local library and check out some books on the subject.

[olePigeon]

Puffers and Cow fish. Those guys are awesome.

Cow Fish can swim backwards! They look like boxes with fins and kinda hover about.

[I Bent My Wookiee]

Originally Posted by olePigeon

Puffers and Cow fish. Those guys are awesome.

Ya the whole reason I want a salt tank is for those 2 fish and a lionfish (even though they are poisonous).

I swam with Cowfish and pufferfish in the ocean and they were so cute.

[boots]

Originally Posted by I Bent My Wookiee

boots you should find a way to better hide that equipment hanging on the back.

Yeah, I put a sump in since the picture was taken. Now you can see the overflow, but the other stuff is gone.

[simonjames]

Once you have cycled the tank I would suggest you run a fish-only tank for at least 3 months before moving into corals. Also - start with some sacrificial cheapy fish.

Main piece of advice - try not to interferre with the tank too often. Get it cycling and don't over load it with fish.

Depending on your home you may need a chiller for a coral tank. Reef Central is a great site to be a member of.

Marine fish can be quite fun - until very recently I had a Picasso Trigger that could tell the difference between me (the feeder) and my partner (he used to do a food dance for me but not my partner) and would play a game where he would swim between my hands and through a circle made with my thumb and forefinger. Hannibal (the fish's name) was about 9 years old - a long life for a small trigger fish.

good luck with the tank

[olePigeon]

Careful with Puffers. I don't remember the particular type of puffer, but the captive grown puffers have an inherited genetic difficiency where baby puffers don't know how to deflate. Poor little guys.

[wdlove]

I know that a salt water tank would be a lot of work. But would certainly very interesting.

[ambush]

I don't get this way of wasting money.

[iLikebeer]

Awesome pics!
I've always wanted a salt water aquarium, but I'm too lazy and impatient.
My tetras are pretty cool though.

[I Bent My Wookiee]

Originally Posted by ambush

I don't get this way of wasting money.

I am sure there is plenty of crap you do that people don't understand.

At least this one requires intelligence and skill.

[baw]

I want to start a freshwater aquarium in a few weeks. I'm thinking about a 30 gallon tank. Bought a couple of books on the subject the other day. Any one here want to pass along some tips and guidance to me?

[ambush]

Originally Posted by I Bent My Wookiee

I am sure there is plenty of crap you do that people don't understand.

You missed the point. Again.

At least this one requires intelligence and skill.

Murdering people requires intelligence and skill.

[Pendergast]

Pictures are beautiful!

[simonjames]

wdlove - running a fish-only marine tank is as easy as running a tropical tank and much more rewarding. Just wish it was possible to have plants the way tropical tanks have them

[Ozmodiar]

I agree, nice pictures. I'd like to see more if you have them.

There was a huuuuge saltwater tank at the restaurant I used to work at. It was so cool. We had some clown fish in there and after Finding Nemo came out anytime a kid saw the tank he would yell "Mom it's Nemo!!"

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally Posted by ambush

You missed the point. Again.

Funny thing I don't think anyone cared about your point from the beginning.

[boots]

Originally Posted by simonjames

wdlove - running a fish-only marine tank is as easy as running a tropical tank and much more rewarding. Just wish it was possible to have plants the way tropical tanks have them

There are some plants. But it all depends upon your ecosystem. If you have herbivores, you can't do simple culerpa. But you can do halimeda. Fish tend to leave it alone and it grows slowly enough that it won't overtake the tank. You can also do red Kelp. Also slow growing, but fish tend to nibble it. Some people go nuts and grow mangrove trees in their sumps.

So there are options. And it's easier if it's a coral tank, not a fish tank.

[boots]

Originally Posted by ambush

I don't get this way of wasting money.

I wanted to learn more about marine biology. the best way to learn is to be able to observe. It has been an incredible experience. I've also gotten a couple of students interested in chemistry research through the tank. One was trying to isolate natural products from the skimmate. We found a few terpene things, but we haven't completely nailed the structures yet.

Overall, it costs less that cable TV, and is more interesting than most everything on TV anyway. I noticed I was only watching the Daily Show, South Park, and Drawn Together, so I dumped the cable package and went to the tank.