Beginner Marine tank - What Essential Equipment is Needed?

Question

I'm thinking about converting my 3 foot (90cm) freshwater tropical tank into a marine tank. What are the essentail items i need to start keeping my first marine fish?
Are marine tanks easy and cheap to maintain?

Answer 1

I've been keeping reef tanks for nine years, and I don't find that they need much more work once they are set up than do freshwater tanks, as long as they've been planned properly. And I think that's just the key to having success with them is to research first, then get what you need for the set-up you want.

If you've already kept freshwater, much of the maintenance is similar - scraping the glass, partial water changes weelky. The major differences are you have to mix the saltwater ahead of doing the water changes, and adjusting your water chemistry to fit the needs of the organisms you keep. You probably already have much of the equipment you would need, such as a heater and filter for the tank. Since marine organisms are used to more turbulant water, a powerhead or two can be added to increase the flow in some areas, but you still want a few places where the current isn't as strong.

Saltwater needs to be mixed according to concentration of salt in the water, and for this you need a hydrometer or refractometer. Most use a hydrometer, because it's less expensive. You want the specific gravity to be 1.020-1.026 for fish (unless your keeping wild-caught Red Sea species, then you want it at 1.027), or 1.024-1.026 if you have invertebrates in the tank. It's not as simple as adding X cups of salt to X gallons of water because the salt will compact as it absorbs moisture from the air. You'll get a general idea of how much to use, then you have to fine-tune it once the salt dissolves and the water gets to the correct temperature.

Since the chemistry of saltwater is fairly uniform, you need to approxinate the conditions in the ocean - this includes things like pH, which you're usually advised not to change in freshwater tanks. Fish are a little more forgiving, but the pH should be above 8.0, and an ideal level is 8.2-8.4, Using an aragonite or crushed coral substrate will help raise it, but depending on the chemistry of the water you use to mix the tank water, it may not raise it enough. The best product I've found for changing the pH is kalkwasser, which is very caustic and needs to be mixed outside the tank and added slowly to bring the pH up. If you want to keep corals or some inverts, the levels of calcium and iodine are also important. And marine organisms are less tolerant of poor water quality, so it's advised to keep up with water changes and test your water. You can also get a protein skimmer which help keep the water quality from getting bad as quickly by using bubbles to remove dissolved organic material and push them into a collecting cup before they add to your nitrates and phosphates. Protein skimmers aren't abssolutely required, but they are strongly recommended, especially if you plan to keep invertebrates.

You'll want a saltwater test kit that will test for the pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate at a minimum. If you keep hard corals or some of the calcium dependant organisms, you might want a test for calcium as well.

Live rock will help with the nutrients, because the bacteria on it will convert the ammonia and nitrite to nitrate, which is less toxic to fish and inverts. It gives your tank a more natural appearance as well, and it can be stacked to make "caves" and places for the tank inhabitants to hide. And besides the bacteria, you get loads of other critters - shrimp, sponges, seastars, sea urchins, snails, and other animals have come in on mine. Again, this isn't absolutely required, but strongly recommended.

Another big consideration is the fish. Marine species are generally not like your freshwater community fish. They're more territorial and aggressive with each other, so between their personalities and intolerance of poor water quality, you can't stock as many fish as you can in a freshwater tank of the same size. Fish tend to be most aggressive to species they see as "food" or "competitors" so you need to be very careful when choosing tankmates - a general rule here is not to get fish that are the same body shape or color, or that come from the same family (the exceptions are fish which can be kept as a mated pair, or the few schooling species).

If you plan to keep corals, anemones, or clams, most of these contain photosynthetic bacteria, and need more intense lighting than you get with an average aquarium hood. You would need a compact fluorescent system or a T-5 system at the least, to a metal halide system for large tanks.

You also need to provide a stable temperature at which the fish and organisms can live. Somewhere between 76-80o is best. If the temperature gets above 84o on a consistant basis, the corals can expell their photosynthetic bacteria, effectively killing them. The light system you use can affect your tank temperatre as well. If the water gets too warm, you might need to invest in a chiller to lower the water temperature. Fish can tolerate higher temperatures, so you might start with fish and keep track of the water temperature over a summer before you try any of the photosynthetic organisms.

I would also recommend getting a good book to start. Two that really helped me when I was first starting were The New Marine Aquarium by Michael S. Paletta. Microcosm Ltd. ISBN 1-890087-52-1 and The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert M. Fenner. Microcosm Ltd. ISBN 1-890087-02-5. Either of these will help you with equipment, setup, and stocking.

In the meantime, here are some websites that can help you get started:

http://www.fishlore.com/SaltwaterBeginners.htm
http://www.peteducation.com/index.cfm?cls=16
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/
http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/startinganaquarium/How_to_Start_a_Saltwater_Aquarium.htm
http://www.aquariumlife.net/articles/new/71.asp

Answer 2

It will probably be fun for you to make the transition but you need to be aware of the fact that it is NOT the cheapest and easiest to maintain.....if you wanna go for it; make sure you research the different kinds of EASY fish you can buy....Inverts (from what i understand) clean your tank and can be as interesting to watch as the fish(well at least to me)...You do not (HAVE) to have special lighting if you do not want corals...You will HAVE to if you do want corals though...those lights are very pricey and expensive to maintain so yea....If you only want fish you can have a FO (Fish Only) tank. if you want fish with live rock (the things that have lots of organisms and creatures onto them the it would be a FOWLR (fish only with live rock) tank(what i have have!) if you want a reef tank with all the corals then you are going to have to look at lighting systems and etc...The things that you need are...a protein skimmer(which cleans out your water like a filter)...a heater...salt mix like instant ocean...a hydrometer?...theremometer...live rock(if you want it)...live sand...and your fish. If you keep it pretty basic it shouldn't cost you an arm and a leg a year! hope this helps and hope you enjoy saltwater oh yea...and by the way:saltwater fish CAN be a lot more beautiful than FW fish but the can also be more delicate...AND DON'T FORGET TO LET YOU TANK CYCLE!!!

Answer 3

depend on what you want to keep depends on the equipment you need to get. for fish only you will need a master test kit to test pH, amonia, nitrite, Nitrate, and possibly phosphate. you will also need a hydrometer to test the salinity of the water. as far as filtration goes you can go a few ways either a sump, canister filter or a biowheel. i believe a protien skimmer is needed. yopu also need 1lb of live rock per gallon of water and live sand substrate to cover about 1inch or or so. if you plan to keep corals you will need better lighing. for soft corals you can get away with VHO lights but for hard corals know as SPS or LPS corals you will need metal halides. and will also need more water currnt so power heads are needed. keeping marine fish is not easy and by no means cheap and that is the main reason you dont see many people keeping marine tanks in comparison to freshwater or brackish. hope all this helps and feel free to email me with any other questions. good luck and hope it works out for you

Answer 4

Let me start by saying, welcome the the marine side of things. After spending some time here, few rarely go back. You have asked a very complicated question, which in turn is going to require me to ask many questions of you.

What are your goals with this tank? do you want it to be a mini reef? Just fish and no corals? What types of fish were you interested in? Have you looked up the space and care requirements of these fish?

Marine keeping is expensive, however, the inital cost is whats gets most people.

Your main filtration for any kind of tank is whats known as Live Rock (LR from this point on), which usually runs 5-7$ a pound for standard cured rock. You are going to need to get 1.25-2 lbs per gallon, for your tank, depending on how dense the rock you get is. This is needed no matter what you do with your tank. It provides biological filtration, a home for your fish, plus it looks really cool!

The two main types of Salt tanks are:

FOWLR (fish only, with live rock): just what it sounds like. ONLY fish, no inverts, no nothing. Just fish and LR. Easiest and cheapest tank to set up, dont need anything fancy in the way of lighting. Maybe a Protien Skimmer, but not required. What is required is that you clean the tank on a regular basis. Bi-weekly water changes, and cleaning the glass, since you have no cleaning crew to do it for you. This set up is usually for newer folks to the hobby, or for the more aggressive fish that will eat your inverts, and nip at your corals.

Reef tank: This is a more expensive set up, because the corals are going to require more intense lighting, better water movement, etc. But even here it is seperated by the TYPES of corals you want to keep. You could go with soft corals and get away with power compact lighting, or if you want hard corals and clams and anomes you would need Halide or LCD lighting.

A well balanced reef does alot to take care of itself. Everything lives in harmony and has a balance. Your job as the reef keeper is to upset that balance as little as possible.

Ive asked you alot of questions, and I know Ive answered very few. Ive been in your shoes, it may seem confusing now, but it gets clear as you do your research. My advice to you is not to rush into this under any circumstances. Think about what you want to do, then check out the forum. WWW.fishforums.net. Ask some more questions, get some more answers. Also check out these books.

The simple guide to marine aquariums by jeffrey kurtz
The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert Fenner
"Marine Fishes" (Pocket Expert guide) by Scott Michael
The New Marine Aquarium: Step-By-Step Setup & Stocking Guide by patella

Answer 5

For a pair small fish, a 30 gallon. For a small community, variety of five fish at 2-3 inches, a fifty 5 is a good usual length. you'll want a skimmer, an aqua C remora professional for the fifty 5 or a remora S for a 30. different than that, a usual low-tech tank would not want lots extra kit than a freshwater. loads of stay rock helps heavily with bio-filtration.

Answer 6

for a basic marine aquarium, no corals just fish but leaving the dooor open for reef later on down the line, a large sump, protein skimmer, wet/dry filter (for the fish only tank only). you can still use your same lights for now. a hydrometer, and marine test kits as well. and around 1lb per gallon of water of live rock, err on the side of more rock. look around places like wetwebmedia.com.

Answer 7

i think you were mislead to how hard it is to keep a saltwater tank and how expensive it is.

saltwater, and for someone who hasntdone it before, can very hard and cost alot.

You will need a protien skimmer, hydrometer, live rock, corals, inverts, heaters/chillers, special lighting.

Thier are alot of stuff that is need, and almost all of it is foreign to freshwater owners.

And the next thing is alot and alot of research...