salt water aquariums

[space mountain]

i have been wanting to get one for my home forever and now seriously gonna do it. anyone ever had one or knew someone that had or has one? and are they a pain in the ass to keep?

[edvedr]

Re: salt water aquariums

i have alot of experience with them. grew up in a house hold with 15 tanks at one time. salt tanks can be very hard to get set up. the hard part is getting the water cycled so that it can support life. it took me 6 months to get my 75 gallon workin right, then i lost them all in a fire. i'm going back to fresh water with some large carnivores. alot of fun watchin them eat and easier keep.

[space mountain]

Re: salt water aquariums

edvedr what i got is this ... a space when u come in my house on the right about 3 ft wide. its like a lil opening there. im gonna put it there. so it want really be u know a huge one just something to put there!

[edvedr]

Re: salt water aquariums

believe it or not the smaller ones are tougher. you have to get certain types of bacteria living in the water. first thing that occurs in the water is ammonia which is deadly to fish. so you have too establish bacteria that breaks the ammonia down to nitrites. then you need a bacteria that breaks down the nitrites to nitrates. any of those are toxic to the fish at high levels, so in a small tank a small ammonia spike can whipe out the whole tank vs havin a big one where there is more water to spread it out. so you have to be ready for a challenge to get it setup. they are awesome once they are.

[space mountain]

Re: salt water aquariums

thanks alot bro be ready to help me out on this deal! im gonna go tommorrow and start looking for the stuff ill need!

[edvedr]

Re: salt water aquariums

i'm here if ya need me!!

[lxorl]

Re: salt water aquariums

very tough to maintain.... waite till your rich and pay someone to come takecare of it.

i have had a bunch of tropical tanks and there great the first few m onths... then look like shit after i lose interest

[jipped genes]

Re: salt water aquariums

i had a 29 gallon salt with a canister filter only. i had a big dog faced puffer in it for years. never once had a problem with it. also had a 10gallon bio salt tank with 4 damsels and never had a prob with it either.

i think people run into probs when they over feed the fish and have too many fish. more food more waste and the bacteria in the filter are overwhelmed and the nitrate and ammonia levels increase and your fish die. better to have too few fish that are fed just enough to keep em healthy than a bunch of fat dead fish. the dead fish arent very pretty

once up and running with routine maint. they arent too bad i thing ed will agree

[space mountain]

Re: salt water aquariums

thanks jipped !

[edvedr]

Re: salt water aquariums

i had a 29 gallon salt with a canister filter only. i had a big dog faced puffer in it for years. never once had a problem with it. also had a 10gallon bio salt tank with 4 damsels and never had a prob with it either.

i think people run into probs when they over feed the fish and have too many fish. more food more waste and the bacteria in the filter are overwhelmed and the nitrate and ammonia levels increase and your fish die. better to have too few fish that are fed just enough to keep em healthy than a bunch of fat dead fish. the dead fish arent very pretty

once up and running with routine maint. they arent too bad i thing ed will agree

yeah i agree. once the tank is established its not much more upkeep than a fresh. just gettin it cycled can be a *****. like jipped said don't be in a rush to stock a tank. let the bacteria take the time it needs. start off with a few damsels and let them get the tank going for a while. get a salt water test kit so u can always keep track of the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates and salt level...and oh of course ph. if you put a small amount of live rock in there that should help gettin the tank cycled. and when you do introduce new fish to the tank NEVER pour the water from the fish store in your tank and always check out the condition of the fish and the fish store. salt has alot more diseases that can be a pain in the ass to get rid of. we lost a fully stocked 150 gallon salt tank because of one small fish.

[Jester]

Re: salt water aquariums

I used to maintain about 20 tanks at a museum... I was pretty young, too. Getting stabibilty is a *****... yeah. Once you get it stable... almost anything new introduced intot hte tank could throw it off.
A bit of advice I learned the hard way.......... don't introduce an Octopuss into a fully stocked tank. It will be empty in less than a week... and the Octo will double in size and tear the aquarium to shreds..... like a Raccoon in a kitchen. I even caught the damn thing sliding up and around a corner into another aquarium to feed at night.
Voracious little muthu.

[edvedr]

Re: salt water aquariums

^^yeah i would never add an octopuss for the ink alone. i love snowflake morey eels.

[edvedr]

Re: salt water aquariums

space when the tank is ready for fish tell me cause there are certain fish you don't want to mix together

[space mountain]

Re: salt water aquariums

thanks alot bros im looking today for a tank

[space mountain]

Re: salt water aquariums

my daughter wants a nemo fish lol....arent they expensive?