help starting a salt tank?

Question

im 13 and i am thinking about starting a marine tank and need help any help is appreciated

Answer 1

i have a 220 gallon salt water tank and i work at a salt water fish store.

the first thing is to get permission from your parents because it can be very expensive to maintain. size of tank, lights, stand, pumps, protein skimmer, valves, and thats just the equipments and i might have missed some then you have to determine, do i want just fish only tank, or do i want corals with it, then if you do, the cost of the live rock goes anywhere from 7.00 to 8.00 a pound here in canada. you need the live rock so the coral can live and some fish like to hide in them, then there is the fish, the food, the little extras personal touches etc. etc. getting my point on the cost..... now some stores hold used goods, you can also look at that option. it will take you around about 1month of recycling the water to get it ready to house the animals that you are about to take on as a hobby. i have many different web sites you could onto, you must read up on keeping marine fish, julian sprung is an excellent author, check him out. or go to your local marine chapter society.......the success is understanding how the fish survive underwater,,,,,,,recreate their environment in which they are accustom to.......good luck and happy fish keeping,,,,it is a beautiful hobby, very soothing, relaxing and healthy. we get speices from all over the world.....i love getting the new shipments in, you never know what is in the bag until you open it.....the colours, the sizes, the look, the most beautiful thing i ever saw in my life was a cow fish, the thing was square like a dice, white with black polkadots and two horns like a bull, it was amazing, the star fishies come in multiple colours, ones we call chocolate chip, you will love it......... even if the electricity goes off, you have a few hours until things go wrong, you get a generator, having the fish store we need one just in case, however that does not really happen all that often, things are alot easier today to be successful in this hobby than years ago. there is so much equipment out there to help as well, i believe we refer to these as the toys of the hobby,,,,,,my advice to you is to read, and visit the forums on the internet - a good one is aquariumpros.com the best in the world right now for hobbist.

Answer 2

I am no expert in Marine tanks, although I would love one myself. One thing I have heard constantly over the past 16 years (as I've been involved with fish keeping), is that many people recommend a generator in case of power failures. Many have lost all of their fish, inverts and live rocks - equating thousands of dollars lost.

A second thing is to not crowd the tank. Pet stores corwd their tanks, but the fish are not there too long.

Best of luck!

Answer 3

Do your homework. Salt tanks have extra life-support problems that fresh don't and salt creep can be a significant problem for carpets, floors and walls if you don't set it up properly. Plenty of basic manuals out there - get one. Two good authors to check out would be Moe or Spotte.

Answer 4

You need lots of money and even more patients. Also a make a friend at your local fish store. Good luck!!

Answer 5

dont do it every time your elertic goes off you have to fix your water again { it takes about 2 or3 weeks to fix your water