New picture of my 125 gallon tank...now Saltwater!!

[almitywife]

nice - next you should knock out the wall and build it into the house

so what do you do about getting fish that are farmed in a safe ecological way??? is there a better way to obtian fish??

our tropics clown fish colonies are being destroyed by harvesting (damm nemo!!! )

 

[DennisS]

So I guess there's a little more than getting some artificial saltwater, some fake coral, a filter and some fish when it comes to a saltwater aquarium.

I didn't realize how complicated it was getting a balanced system.

 

[agilis]

Dennis, actually it can be done very easily, without too much technical stuff, if you keep things simple and keep just a few hardy fish. All aquaria, including fw, go through a cycle before they stabilize. With sw it's more critical. Don't be intimidated by all the technical jargon. It's like high tech divers discussing complex physics and metallurgy. You don't need to know all that if you just want to do some easy scuba diving. You learn the basics, follow the rules, and don't overreach your competence levels.

I thought the story about the leaking 150 was very disturbing. It is possible to blow a lot of money on the hobby, especially if people attempt things they are not really ready for. Experience is everything. The leaking trickle filter almost certainly had a badly set up overflow system. It's all water under the bridge now, so to speak, but I feel bad for everyone involved in that situation, especially the wife.

 

[sasscuba]

nice - next you should knock out the wall and build it into the house

Believe me if I could afford to I would! I have always dreamed of having a tank that took up an entire wall of my house top to bottom.

 

[Matt S.]

It cost me about $1600 over a year to set up my 24 gal reef tank. Sure, the tank/lights were only about $300, but the accessories and livestock add up. You can see a semi-live image of the tank, there's a link in my sig.

 

[sasscuba]

It cost me about $1600 over a year to set up my 24 gal reef tank. Sure, the tank/lights were only about $300, but the accessories and livestock add up. You can see a semi-live image of the tank, there's a link in my sig.

Awesome tank!!!! What lights are you using?

 

[Matt S.]

It is 76W of light over 24 gal. They are 50/50 power compact bulbs... just the stock lighting in the JBJ Nano Cube 24DX.

By reef standards, it's very modest lighting, suitable only for easy-to-keep soft and LPS corals. The fanciest thing I can keep in there is the anemone.

 

[johnnyseko]

Nice!! My freshwater tank w/ headstanders is looking rather dull now....lol At least they havent grown any bigger than 5"...

 

[ReefGuy]

Actually, with live rock, you don't need anything else to cycle the tank.

 

[agilis]

Actually, ReefGuy, this is only true if the die-off of organisms on uncured rock produces enough ammonia to create an effective population of ammonia and nitrite converting bacteria (killing most fish in the process), or if live rocks from an existing biologcal filter are placed in the new aquarium. The numbers of beneficial bacteria increase in a curve which follows increasing levels of ammonia and nitrate, and which also lags a few weeks behind that curve. Live rock has no ability to automatically do waste conversions. It will certainly speed the process up, depending on the quality and amount of the rock, and live rock taken from a functioning cycled aquarium will transfer some of the beneficial bacteria to the new tank. Uncured raw live rock will create its own ammonia spike, and cured live rock taken from a tank without a bio-load will not instantly create a biological filter. Biological filters require the continuing production of the quantity of ammonia and nitrate they convert in order to develop, and also to remain effective.
Remove all ammonia producing inhabitants from an aquarium, and the biological filter will quickly experience a dramatic reduction in effectiveness. Replace the ammonia producing inhabitants, and there will be an ammonia spike, though less pronounced and of shorted duration, because many of the bacteria remained, in a dormant state.