If I had a $600 budget, what size of a Fish Only Saltwater tank could I set up?

Question

I know $600 isn't much in terms of saltwater, do not include the stand or fish prices, as I can make a stand in my shop. Please include any decor in the tank, and any needed equiptment. I currently have 4 freshwater tanks running, so please don't lecture me on basics. Thanks for any answers!!!

Answer 1

"Basics" in freshwater tanks are entirely different from those in saltwater. It's recommended that you purchase the tank and begin the process of reaching correct salinity, pH, etc a year before adding ANY fish.

I'm sure you could find used tanks on eBay for a pretty good price, I would start there...and be sure to speak with saltwater aquarium specialists before you go any further. They are expensive fish to have die on you.

Answer 2

larger would properly be less demanding or greater good dependsw how massive. for a clean salt water 50 gallons must be advantageous your staring at approximately a hundred and eighty litres i could of theory there. whivh is a fantastic length. any larger and its going to fee you massive time. remember stay rock is a great bite of the money that's spent on a saltwater aquarium you decide on a definite volume in line with a gallon e.g 1kg in line with 10 gallons. there for i could say your staring at a minimum of £200's worth of stay rock in basic terms for a 50 gallon tank. additionally becaus eof the style of habitat they stay in you could in basic terms have a definite volume of fish in line with a tank e.g a 20 gallon tank could in basic terms be adviseable for around 3 extensive-unfold fish. decide for the 50 gallon except you definitely need greater you could continuously improve desire this helps

Answer 3

Are you planning to convert one of your present tanks? If you have a tank, filter, heater, etc. that will go a long way toward stretching your budget. Same if you're willing to buy a used tank instead of new. And what you'll actually need will depend a lot on what you're intending to keep - a fish-only tank will need a lot less than a reef tank.

The problem here is that as you change one thing (such as the size of your tank) the prices of the equipment will also change slightly because of the difference needed for that size. I can give you a general idea of the things you'll need, plus a online catalog where you can compare brands and sizes. You might also want to check sources such as aquabid, ebay, craigslist, and freecycle, as well as local aquarium clubs for public auctions as a way of trimming some of the costs.

Here' a list of what you'll need (tank and stand excluded):

FILTER: You'll want to get one that's properly sized (minimum filtration of 5x-10x the tank volume per hour - check the gallons per hour rating). There are lots of choices, and what you'll need will really depend on budget, what you're trying to keep, and personal preference. I'd consider the best type to be a refugium or wet/dry trickle filter (costly to buy, but you can find directions for DIY types on the web that will run $40-50). Next best would be a canister, followed by a biowheel, then a standard hang-on-tank. Unless you're using a fine sand or oolite substrate, you can also use an undergravel filter to supplement filtration, but I'd suggest powering it with a reversible powerhead to blow the water up through the substrate (prevents stuff from building up under the filter and clogging it).

POWERHEAD(S): To provide more water circulation in hard to get to places. This also helps circulate dissolved oxygen to the bottom of the tank. Have at least two for a larger tank.

HEATERS: For a saltwater tank 30 gallons or larger, I'd suggest getting 2 and putting one on each end. This will provide more even heating, and your tank has a back-up if one heater gives out. Figure the correct size as 5 watts per gallon (for a single heater) divided by 2 (if using 2 heaters). If you need to heat the water more than 10 degrees above the room temperature, go one wattage size higher.

LIGHTING: If you never want anything but fish, you can use the standard lighting and hood made for your tank. You might want to upgrade the lamps to a 10,000K tube or a 50/50 actinic. If you're going to try corals, anemones, etc., go with a compact fluorescent, metal halide, or combo system - these will provide more intense light that they'll need for photosynthesis. Expect better lighting systems to run $150+ depending on the type of system and size of your tank.

SUBSTRATE - you want something made of aragonite to help keep the pH from changing, I like the smaller shell material that Carib-Sea puts out - it doesn't have to be live sand, either. Some folks like crushed coral, but the particle size is bigger than I like, and it tends to have a lot of dust that never rinses completely out. Another very fine grained material is oolitic aragonite (looks like small white balls) and aragonite sand. Here's an idea of the materials available: http://www.caribsea.com/pages/products/dry_aragonite.html While it's possible to keep a marine tank with regular aquarium gravel or no substrate, the aragonite will keep the pH from falling below 7.8 (it should be 8.2-8.4). Also, there's no need to buy "live sand" if you also use live rock - the bacteria from the rock will colonize your substrate and save you about 1/2 the cost.

SALT MIX: If you're only keeping fish, you can go with one of the less expensive brands of synthetic sea salt. If you get any invertebrates (shrimp, snails, crabs, corals, anemones, etc.), switch to a better quality mix before you add them. These cost a little more, but you won't need to be using additives for the trace elements they need either.

HYDROMETER: This measures the amount of salt that's dissolved inwater. There are two kinds you can get, one made of glass that floats on the surface (more accurate, but easy to break) and a plastic container that has a needle that rises and falls as the amount of salt changes (less accurate, bubbles attaching to the needle gives false readings). For fish only, you want the specific gravity to read 1.020 - 1.026. If you're keeping inverts, you want it to be 1.024 - 1.026.

WATER TESTING KIT: minimum of pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate.

CLEANING SUPPLIES: elbow length gloves, gravel vacuum, 5 gallon bucket, large plastic container and powerhead for mixing the salt (to be done well ahead of water changes), algae scraper, razor blades (for coraline algae and diatoms that like to attach to the glass).

WATER CONDITIONER: for removing chlorine or chloramine from your tap water (unless you plan to use a reverse osmosis filter or buy RO water, which is preferred for a reef tank).

The following are optional, but strongly suggested:

PROTEIN SKIMMER: This removes dissloved and small organic materials that would normally contribute to the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate in your tank. Not 100% necessary for fish-only tanks, but will be handy if you have inverts to keep up good water quality by removing organic materials that become nutrients for algae.

GLASS COVER: This reduces evaporation and keeps the fish inside the tank (some are jumpers), although with a metal halide lighting system, it can overheat your tank.

LIVE ROCK: This give the tank a more natural appearance, provides hiding places for the fish and inverts, and increases the biological filtration. Not to mention, you get all kinds of cool critters that hitchhike into your tank (shrimp, snails, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, sea stars, etc.). You can buy dry marine rock instead (much cheaper), but if you don;t use live sand, then you don't have the bacteria to cycle the tank in short order - plus you miss out on all the cool critters that come with the live rock.

CHILLER: If you use metal halide lighting, or the water temperature regularly gets above 85o (for corals or anemones, fish can take a little more heat), you may need to invest in a chiller to keep the tank cool. The water temperature should run 76-80oF.

There may be additional items that you could need, such as kalkwasser to raise your pH if you can't get it to 8.2, but you won't know these until you get the tank set up and running, and test your water.

You may decide that you want to use a UV sterilizer, but in my opinion, these are unnecessary. They don't necessarily kill all the parasites and disease-causing organisms, and they only affect free-floating algae, not any that's attached to your glass, rock, or substrate. The bulbs also need to be replaced yearly. Rather than pay the high price for one of these, you'd do better to buy an inexpensive 10 gallon setup kit and a heater and use these as a quarantine tank.

Before going out and buying all this, I would suggest some reading to see what you're getting into by keeping saltwater. I did research for almost 2 years before I set up my first tank, and I had about 20 years of freshwater aquarium experience already. Rushing into a saltwater setup usually doesn't give you good results, and the equipment and fish are a little too expensive to be finding out in a few weeks you got something that's not appropriate for what you want for your tank. I'd also recommend a good reference book for some research. Either of these would be a good one to start with: The New Marine Aquarium by Michael S. Paletta. Microcosm Ltd. ISBN 1-890087-52-1 or The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert M. Fenner. Microcosm Ltd. ISBN 1-890087-02-5

http://www.thatpetplace.com/ - great site for seeing available products and pricing

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ - good online resource for finding info on saltwater, or any other aquatic-related info