dna Posted March 20, 2014 Report Share Posted March 20, 2014 Are marine tanks really hard to look after? I can get a small marine tank with chiller, corals , all chemicals , clown fish for a really good price. I've heard some people say its to hard and others say its a piece of cake. I would like to start with a small tank a build my way up in to bigger tanks eventually. On the other hand I live right on the foreshore of moreton bay so I could get natural salt water to if that would be easier. I've kept and bred Africans for years so I have all the freshwater basics covered. Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicmacd Posted March 20, 2014 Report Share Posted March 20, 2014 Im 4months into my reef tank, harder... Not really, just more time consuming - testing and preparing salt mix. Im more paranoid about things going pear shape but thats propably because its new. The boys at AoA have been a great support and a wealth of knowledge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dna Posted March 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2014 Im 4months into my reef tank, harder... Not really, just more time consuming - testing and preparing salt mix.Im more paranoid about things going pear shape but thats propably because its new. The boys at AoA have been a great support and a wealth of knowledge. does it cost alot for chemicals etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicmacd Posted March 20, 2014 Report Share Posted March 20, 2014 Not really, depends what you call alot really? Compared to freshwater there is a lot more suplliments and testing to be done, But when night time comes and the corals glow its all worth it Think of a marine tank as a little world and the africans as a fish tank!! My children love the reef thats being created! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dna Posted March 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2014 Thanks for the advice mate, Yeh I think I'll buy it. What do you keep in your tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicmacd Posted March 20, 2014 Report Share Posted March 20, 2014 Corals, tang,clown,blennie. To me the corals are what its about, getting some amazing Acans tomorrow cant wait. I love my reef tank. You will need a RODI unit for you top up water Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny@ageofaquariums Posted March 20, 2014 Report Share Posted March 20, 2014 Think of a marine tank as a little world I like that. A lot. Its very true. And after creating your own reef, you will look at the world around you in a different way. Reefing teaches us to care, even about things that are ugly and slimey. The first lesson in reefing.......... only buy what you can keep alive. This means you need to research before you buy. And this means you need to go slow. Its one hell of a ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jabmel Posted March 20, 2014 Report Share Posted March 20, 2014 I recommend a reef tank if you have the time. As above it is more time consuming. Then there is the cost. Yes they cost a lot more the fish are typically 10 times the cost of common fresh. The corals cost between $30-$100 each. Best advise is ask around for shops in your area and listen to the positive feed back ( note don't post negative feed back on this site about shops). Donny has a lot of knowledge, he has helped me. All my products and live corals are brought through nick at fur n fins burpengary He is that deticated to his customers he make home visits if you are having issues and can service your tank as and if required If you want to work up to a larger size I suggest start there. As most things for a small tank will not work on your larger tank. Ie chiller lights and pump. Once you have your tank running (again like above you have a mini world) you don't want to upset it ie moving it all you will need to start again. Be prepared to spend the money on quality products and supplements. Again for my money I have a helea chiller. Echo Tech lights. Uv and only use Red Sea pro salt ro water and Red Sea supplements. Suggest not using Natural sea water. To many things can make there way into your tank you need to control the environment. Best of luck. Ben. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dna Posted March 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 Corals, tang,clown,blennie. To me the corals are what its about, getting some amazing Acans tomorrow cant wait. I love my reef tank. You will need a RODI unit for you top up water whats an rodi unit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dna Posted March 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 I like that.A lot. Its very true. And after creating your own reef, you will look at the world around you in a different way. Reefing teaches us to care, even about things that are ugly and slimey. The first lesson in reefing.......... only buy what you can keep alive. This means you need to research before you buy. And this means you need to go slow. Its one hell of a ride. Thanks donny, I've heard you are the go to man with anything marine, I'll come out to aoa and get some advice when I get it started. cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dna Posted March 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 I recommend a reef tank if you have the time. As above it is more time consuming. Then there is the cost. Yes they cost a lot more the fish are typically 10 times the cost of common fresh. The corals cost between $30-$100 each. Best advise is ask around for shops in your area and listen to the positive feed back ( note don't post negative feed back on this site about shops). Donny has a lot of knowledge, he has helped me. All my products and live corals are brought through nick at fur n fins burpengary He is that deticated to his customers he make home visits if you are having issues and can service your tank as and if required If you want to work up to a larger size I suggest start there. As most things for a small tank will not work on your larger tank. Ie chiller lights and pump. Once you have your tank running (again like above you have a mini world) you don't want to upset it ie moving it all you will need to start again. Be prepared to spend the money on quality products and supplements. Again for my money I have a helea chiller. Echo Tech lights. Uv and only use Red Sea pro salt ro water and Red Sea supplements. Suggest not using Natural sea water. To many things can make there way into your tank you need to control the environment. Best of luck. Ben. Hey ben, Thanks a lot for the advice. I do want to work up to a large tank eventually but I'll start small to get the hang of it. I love your tank in your display pic. Looks amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daydream Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 Every tank should be treated as a separate world salt or fresh as we fishkeepers are the ones playing god.Createing the environment in which our pets will live.Just remember nothing that happens in a tank happens unless you let it.Also a side note larger tanks are more stable which in turn gives you more time to notice if things aren't going to well and correct them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danceswithdingoes Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 fish only marine setups are must less complex (read less expensive) than reef aquariums with inverts and corals and would be a good starting point, use quality live rock and a skimmer, in fact those hang-on filter skimmer combos look the goods Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicmacd Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 RODI filters make pure water from tap water, nessassary for water evaparation top ups & making artificial salt water if you dont use sea water. PSI filters are the one to check out. You can buy RODI water from some fish shops Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danceswithdingoes Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 google reverse osmosis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny@ageofaquariums Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 whats an rodi unit? Its a filter you attach to your tap, to filter tap water into pure water. Result is you can top up evap AND make marine water using it......... without having to worry about all the nastys in our tapwater killing corals and causing epic algae nightmares. Cheers for the kudos, and always happy to have a chat. Hopefully the problems I have made in the past, can help me steer you to a problem free reef I should warn you though.......... I am going to reccomend you buy at least one of the books by my marine gurus! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicmacd Posted March 22, 2014 Report Share Posted March 22, 2014 Nothing beats looking at a reef tank at night under the blues, mind blowing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
