how do i start???????please help

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NADEEM

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Hi everyone,im nadeem, i have had many tanks, but just normal tanks keeping normal tropical fish. i now want to start a marine tank, i know nothing, i have not purchsed anything at all, could a please get some advice on what i need to buy to start up, i have not even got a tank yet

i live in an apartment and dont have loads of place, i want to start a small tank that is also going to be a bit easier for me to manage as i am a total freshman.

Thank You
Nad
 
Hey and welcome to MASA!

Marine hobby is by far more satisfying then the tropical counterpart, but unfortunetley it's also a lot more expensive. Firstly you would have to decide what you would want to keep:
Fish only (FO)
Fish only with live rock (FOWLR)
Reef setup

The fish only tank would be the cheapest and the easiest to maintain as the most expensive part would be the filtration. Lighting and flow wouldn't be a great problem

FOWLR is the better option as it includes the added filtration of live rock(live rock: coral skeletons and other calcareous animals rushed to each other forming a rock like substance which is light and porous. It also serves as a great safe house for bacteria which in turn filters out impurities in the water.) The lighter the live rock the better.

Reef setup is the hardest of the tanks and the most expensive because of flow, lighting and filtration. For a SPS(small polyp stony) reef you would need extremely healthy water with intense lighting (metal halide), flow pumps and filtration( skimmer, algae scrubbers, or any other form of filtration). for the more LPS(large polyp stony) and softie reef you would need less lighting (T5 or metal halide) and less flow and not to perfect water conditions. ( the reef part is almost just touching the surface here)

Now tank size is also important as a lot of the fish we strive to keep needs at leat 300 Liters to swim in. Also remember that length and depth is way more important then height. Never try to make the tank higher then 60 cm's as it depletes the lighting and makes it almost impossible to work on the bottom.

You would also need a sump- it's the main area beneath your tank where the filtration takes place, from skimmers, to macro algae. This also helps to increase water volume making the tank more stable.

This is just a quick intro in the importance of the equipment, please ask any questions you want. There is no dumb questions... Please do as much reading as possible and have a search through the forum you will get tons of info.
 
Welcome bru!

All isay is read read and read some more.

Buyin the cheapest items doesnt always work out the best either,so research before buying anything-livestock and equipment
 
Hey Nadeem!

Sounds like you're the perfect candidate for a cool little NANO! :) This is a marine tank that is less than 120L. The same concepts apply but you can manage things a little differently. These little tanks are a lot more common in the states - I highly recommend you visit Nano-Reef.com - The source for nano reef aquarium information to see some of the tanks and read the articles in their library. Easy starter info! :) But this is always my first stop for info - great forum and lots of help.

The advice for now is read read read read! :) There are good articles on this sites links section and article section.

Read up on "cycling" your tank. Different filtration types etc and think about what you want to keep in the tank - BEFORE you buy it. That is the cheapest way to do things, otherwise you end up spending twice the money as you end up upgrading!

Standard setup = display tank with T5 lighting, plumbed to run into a sump below it divided into three chambers. First = skimmer, Second = Deep sand bed with a bit of cheatomorpha and cheap lighting, third = return to tank with a bit of live rock.

So, for that to make sense, read up on what a protein skimmer is, why you would want a deep sand bed, how chaetomorpha (a kind of macroalgae) helps, and what live rock is. Cant give a proper answer now as I'm in the middle of an exam... ;-P
 
Thank You Guys for the Info, but tell me, cant i use one of those small BOYU tanks, i think thats the name,are those not designed for marine aquariums? i would like to have a (FOWLR) system.
 
hey dane, thank you so much man, the NANO is the one. im going to do some reading on the nano and then get back. work getting busy now, but i cant get this out of my head. all too interesting, i want to read about this whole day
 
NADEEM said:
Thank You Guys for the Info, but tell me, cant i use one of those small BOYU tanks, i think thats the name,are those not designed for marine aquariums? i would like to have a (FOWLR) system.
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Those tanks are great if you are going the FOWLR system. They have most that you would want but there would be a few mods, nothing serious, you can search the threads for "Boyu tank" and you'll get all you need.
 
Nadeem - personally I wouldnt bother with marines for a fish only setup. There is so much beauty in the invertebrate life. If I had to choose I would rather have corals and other invertebrates than fish!

But this is a personal choice. Those boyus can be easily and cheaply modded to support a diverse range of soft corals. This will however limit your fish choice.
 
Dane said:
Nadeem - personally I wouldnt bother with marines for a fish only setup. There is so much beauty in the invertebrate life. If I had to choose I would rather have corals and other invertebrates than fish!

But this is a personal choice. Those boyus can be easily and cheaply modded to support a diverse range of soft corals. This will however limit your fish choice.
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Yip and ill buy fish and skip the inverts. Personally preference. Nadeem you welcome to pop around at my place if you want.
 
Hey thanx Keyaam would be awesome.where you live? i would actually love abit of coral and abit of fish. now i see you cant just have the best of both, i am reading up abit on boyu and nano tanks for now.
 
NADEEM said:
Hey thanx Keyaam would be awesome.where you live? i would actually love abit of coral and abit of fish. now i see you cant just have the best of both, i am reading up abit on boyu and nano tanks for now.
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ill pm you my number
 
Hi, i have been doing loads of reading and learning alot, feel like im doing another degree, thank you al 4 the help so far. you probably r all familiar with the 2 oceans aquarium on the waterfront in cpt, now this may seem like a dum question, but tell me, if it takes so much work and effort and cost to setup a marine aquarium at home, how in the world did those guys setup those enourmous tanks at that aquarium?
 
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