Saltwater Aquarium

[Jeff]

Anyone have any experience in saltwater aquariums?

[DMMc]

Well...there was one New Years Eve that I got the rear of my pants, and those of a attractive female companions soaked in one but that's probably not what you were asking was it...

[rrcrain]

A bit, but not recently. If someone had asked that question 15 years ago when I owned an aquatics pet shop...

[Jeff]

LOL DMMc.

I just setup mine. Its only 36 gallons. I was just wondering if anyone had any advice.

[AMDave]

If the fish are big enough...eat them.
If the water is clean enough...drink it.
(oh...thats for fresh water tanks...)
If the water is clean enough...boil vegetables in it.



I have a freshwater tank, but I believe that saltwater is much harder to keep and the fish are somewhat more expensive (even to catch).

Gd luck.

Even more damn expensive when all the fish eat each other !!!! Grrr.

My last fish (at the moment stares out of a tank big enough for him and his 20 deceased buddies. I still feed him daily because he has this eating habit don't-cha-know. When he's big enough I am going to barbeque him and give the cat the most fantastic Easter lunch it ever had. (if I can do it before my wife stops me...)

[rrcrain]

aquariums are a LOT of work if you want to keep the inhabitants alivw. Weekly, or the very least, bi weekly water changes are absolutely necessary for syarters. Not all of it, just around 30 percent of it. This removed the organit waste products and excess minerals caused by evaporation. Have a filter? It doesn't filter out urine, it just breaks down into less toxic waste." Less" being the key word there, the nitrate is still toxic.

All tanks require time to "age" before they are fully stocked, this is to allow the biology to become established and takes around twice as long with a salt tank than a fresh tank. a few Hardy fish is all one should put in the tank at the start.

Think that undergravel filter is magic? In a sense it is, but guess where all of the mulm "AKA fish shit" winds up? Yup, in the gravel and it has to be controlled. Use a gravel cleaner when you do the water change and clean about a third of the gravel every time you do a water change.


You can get away without doing the water changes, but the price will be dead and sick fish after a time.


Then theres Ph control and a plethora of other topics that go way beyond one post. I used to own an entire shelf of books, some cost me $100 wholesale and I gave those away.

[AMDave]

I just can't stop laughing....it's rather bizarre really....

I got home from work today and told my family what I had said about the fish. Instead of laughing or objecting, my son went rather quiet. Upon examining the fish tank I found that it was no longer a fish tank. It was now just a ----tank. No more fish. The last one bit the dust today, and my son had helped it find its way to the beyond without intercepting a cat. (good lad). Dang - and I was really hoping that rotten cat was going to choke on it (joke - we love all of our pets )

I have, however, spoken to my sister, who has kept a rather large marine tank now for several years. I couldn't hope to repeat the species names that she mentioned so I won't try. She tells me that the most expensive day they had was when a recently added AUD$80 fish ate a AUD$120 fish, followed by another AUD$150 fish, and several others had incurred nasty scars before they discovered what was going on. :shock: Her lesson learned: with marine fish you have to be really careful which fish you put together. Otherwise, she says, its not much more work than a freshwater tank once it is all set up and matured. You just work it all into your weekly activities.

In the mean time I now have a rather expensive water ornament in my study. I'll have to re-stock it this weekend, before it becomes a diving school for Action Man figures...or anything else more sinister...shudders to think. :roll:

[Jeff]

Right now all I have is about 21 pounds of live rock, and 40 pounds of live sand. I am using a hanging filter, and with the addition of live rock, everything should be ok.

[rrcrain]

There really should be an undergravel filter in there as well. This will pull nutrients into the sand and keep it alive as well as prevent it from turning anerobic.

[Keith75]

Actually saltwater are pretty easy in some respects. Just keep the salt content steady. Check it weekly.

Keith