Marine Starting Tank-What to choose?

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Hey guys, this is my first and actually siked to be on this site:thumbup: finally people who love fish just as much as me! I've had freshwater fish all my life but now that i have gotten rid of all that(moving-terrible habit) and now i have some money saved up to start anew, but i want to go marine. So my budget isnt monstrous, quite small actually, about 5grand. I've managed to source all the equipment to fit in my budget, a tank of about 1.5X0.6X0.6 m and all the equipment to go with it. Mainly what i'm looking for is what fish would be suitable together and what need really special conditions and stuff. I've always wanted clown fish or a Lionfish, so to get those would be awesome. If anybody has got some ideas of what was good for them and what are really nice to have it would be awesome if anybody could share their stories:) I've heard of people swimming in tidal pools and bringing fish and coral and what not home for their tanks, what are the laws and the logistics of that? cause that sounds fun:1:. I'm not a total novice in fish keeping but i guess in marine aquariums i guess i'm a bit short on the experience side:)
 
Welcome to MASA scubaninja!


Quite a few guys here have lionfish. They are easily available.

You have to apply for permits at the post office to take anything out of rock pools etc. The permits are pretty cheap though. You wont be allowed to take out any hard corals though. You're also not allowed to sell/swop/etc anything you take out.
 
WELCOME TO MASA

You come to the right place!

Lets start with the first thing you need to under stand with marine,reef hobby:

GOOD things take a blady long time and BAD things hapen in a split second, so keeping a good eye on inmates and things going on in and outside tank is first priority.

collecting corals from see , you will ned a permit, don't know wich one but that you will need.
Talk to mekaeel, i know he dives allot and brings back fish for his tank:p

i am glad you joined the hobby

NOW FOR PIc'S:thumbup:
 
Setting Up A New Tank

Hi bud and welcome as you got your tank and equipment sorted you on the right track,what you need to do is get some live rock and a good skimmer most important add your sea water or buy a ro unit and mix your own water,it is the best to mix rather than get sea water,add the live rock and some eragonite the best to use is caribsea,some seachem stability to prevent new tank syndrome it also adds good bact ,seachem buffer for your ph,seachem reef builder for your kh and seachem calcuim,you parr should be ph 8.20,kh 8-10,cal 400-450,nitrites 0,nitrates 0,amm 0,but pls remember a new tank needs 1 month-2months to cycle you will have a jump of nitrites,nitrates,amm but dont worry it will sort it self out and dont put your lights on,it is better to leave it off for the first 2-3 weeks if you want, not more than 1 hour a day,and getting a lion fish if it is small no problem, but it will feed on fish that is small enough to take in.
GOODLUCK:thumbup:
 
Welcome Scubaninja :)
 
Hey, Mekaeel, You're a scuba diver? i am too! i got my open water one a couple of months ago, in connection with bringing stuff back from the ocean for my tank? I have to get a permit from the post office right? Then will i be able to bring back stuff from the ocean or what ever? what are the rules for that kind of stuff?
 
Hey dude, not a scuba diver but freediver. You can find awsome fish for your tank from our ocean.At one stage i had a FOWLR tank just with our local fish,and wow it was awsome.
Go to a post office and get yourself a permit for catching specimens.The rules are, you are not allowed to catch more than 10 specimens a day,and not more than 5 of the same species a day..
 
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Welcome to MASA, Jacques B is a very keen diver, i'm sure he will be along soon.
 
sweet, so i can actually go on a dive and catch some fish? awesome! that saves on my budget! how would i catch them and dont i have to keep them in isolation or something? I've seen some really pretty fish while diving and if i could bring some of that up i would go nuts! Anyone goin fish hunting in about two months when my nitro cycle is over itself? can i hitch hike?
 
sweet, i would catch them with a net though right? i know there are harmfull ways like chemicals and other nasty ways which i'm against but is there another way to catch them without a net? Ah, setting up a QT tank, means more money. DOH! could i use like a blow up cool kind of idea then have it running on its own filtration system? If thats so that seems a bit out of my range, anyone want to baby sit fish for me?haha jokes
 
Hi ScubaNinja - Wee-Man's got it right. Yeah - I have been diving since Feb 06 :)
Slightly less than 100 dives ;-) AOW PADI.... Part-Rescue...

OK - just a bit of "heads-up" - yes - you can collect if you have the correct permits. There's two options on the MCM/DEAT form at the post-office - one is for marine fish, the other for inverts. And if I am not mistaken, you should actually be selecting the option for SCUBA Diving in MPA's as well.....

BUT - this will only allow you to collect from our shores when NOT using aqualung equipment. You might get yourself into trouble if you catch fish while on SCUBA..... If you go out snorkeling while wearing everything else except for the regulator/scuba cylinder, then you are 100% OK....

BUT - talk to Mekaeel - he has caught many fish before, and knows some tricks.

BTW: A very WARM welcome to MASA man! Very glad you found us and joined us!
 
Hi ScubaNinja - Wee-Man's got it right. Yeah - I have been diving since Feb 06 :)
Slightly less than 100 dives ;-) AOW PADI.... Part-Rescue...

OK - just a bit of "heads-up" - yes - you can collect if you have the correct permits. There's two options on the MCM/DEAT form at the post-office - one is for marine fish, the other for inverts. And if I am not mistaken, you should actually be selecting the option for SCUBA Diving in MPA's as well.....

BUT - this will only allow you to collect from our shores when NOT using aqualung equipment. You might get yourself into trouble if you catch fish while on SCUBA..... If you go out snorkeling while wearing everything else except for the regulator/scuba cylinder, then you are 100% OK....

BUT - talk to Mekaeel - he has caught many fish before, and knows some tricks.

BTW: A very WARM welcome to MASA man! Very glad you found us and joined us!

hey boet, thanks for the info, i was seriuosly scheming that i would be able to catch better using the scuba with the thing of not having to come up to the surface and all, but guess i cant hey? haha, that idea goes down the drain:) So, its free diving only then, seems possible, now, to bug people for details, i would use two nets, would that be one to usher the fish into the other one or to close them in it or what? what type of nets are they and where can i get them? and once i've caught them what now? where do i store the fish for the period that i'm diving for others? how could i keep them as stress free as possible? how do i transport them..... i can think of lots of questions to answer so i'm sorry if im being an annoying newbie but i feel i gotta ask, if tricks and how everybody does there own way could be thrown my way i could put it all together and figure it out. thanks guys!:yeahdude:
 
Let me see if i can help out.
Make your own nets using wire hangers.Bend it into an oval shape and use Mosquito netting for the actual net.Make the net about 30cm deep.The idea is to either use your hand or net to lure the fish into the other net.
I use a Catch box made of perspex with a cover that slides open and close to store all my fish that i catch.This is attached to my Bouy which has 15m rope tied to it and a sinker to the other end of the rope.
 
shot dude that helps me out hectic, i get an idea of what its all about:) So the catch box would remain submerged in the water the whole time to save time and energy? sounds all good. thanks again
 
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