Saltwater aquariums

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I have a 75 gallon saltwater. It WAS great (I've only had it a year) until the hair algea took over... and then when I was at DEMA my Mom nuked the tank and killed everything in it, with the exception of my pepperment shrimp, 1 fish and a little tube anemone. I've since been fighting a loosing battle against the algae ... and getting very frustrated.
 
I have a 20g freshie tank. I am raising Gorme's one electric blue one Honey gold. And an assortment of other fish I aquired from friends. I have three 10 gallons and a 3g not in use. Have had fish for 8 years.. I am having a problem with algea.. I think because my light is on from 5am til 10pm.. oops.. needs a cleaning anyway..
 
Hello everyone, funny you should mention salt water tank, I also have one I started with much enthusiasm. Now I can't even label some of the stuff growing in it. Mine is past help. "More like state of emergency"!!!!!
 
Thanks everyone for all the advice. It sounds like fresh water is the way to start and I'll eventually move on to salt water.

Adder70 are Rainbows a form of cichlid?
 
I don't remember how far Largo is from Tampa, or which way. When we lived in Gainesville, we occasionally traveled to find certain fish species of good quality. I can't remember the name off hand, but we went to a fish store just off S. Dale Mabry near an overpass. It looked more like a warehouse environment, but the fish were of good quality, and for longer trips (like our 2 hour trip) they topped the bags with O2 to help the fish weather the drive better. I know they had cichlids, and I am pretty sure they had other freshies. I will investigate.
 
I had a 77G salt water reef tank for a few years. Took it down cause I was moving lots and it wasn't convenient. Still have all the gear, gonna set up again one day.

First thing, decide if you want to do fish, or corals. This drastically changes your goals from day one

Lots of lighting. I had 2x48" actinic flourescents and a 175W Metal halide 6500K I think.

Sump for sure for filtration. I had a 1200GPH pump in mine. Don't waste money on a protein skimmer (lots of debate here) if you do regular water changes and keep basic nutrients up in the tank.

Something I never did, but will next time, get all your fish/corals from one area of world. Say Hawaii for example. Don't try to mix atlantic, pacific, and mediteranean stuff. There are different water qualities in different areas. Research it and get stuff that works with your setup.

I found after lots of time and money, it takes a year to have a saltwater tank running great with no more problems if you setup from scratch. A few months it will be running well, but wierd things can still happen. Mine stabilized completely after a year. I also fed nothing to my fish. My tank was self sustaining. Just did water changes and added a few key things for corals.
 
I have a 75gal tank. It was tropical with a few fish, inverts and corals. I didn't find it too much work once it was established. A water change every couple of weeks and fee the fish and corals a couple times a week and it stayed pretty healthy. Until a few weeks ago when my heat went out and I got home from work to find the house at 20F and the fish dead. The corals soon followed. I guess those little heaters just couldn't keep up. It is now recyclying to be re-established as a cold water tank. I did see a live hermit crab the other day, so not everything died apparently.
 
I've got:

1) 5 gal fresh
1) 10 gal fresh
1) 18 gal fresh
1) 55 gal Salt. had for 6 months.

Fresh water is easier to take care of, but only marginally if the salt is done right.
I spend a small amount of time on my salt tank keeping the glass clean, fish/creatures fed, and salinity levels right.
If you're not keeping CORAL, lighting isn't a big deal. I've got 4 forty watt flourescent lights over my tank, and it looks great.
a few snails and hermit crabs keep the alge in check.
The live rock is the biggest (one time) expense, and can be offset by the use of "base rock"
live rock: about $6/lb
base rock: about $2/lb
a tank "gennerally" needs about 1lb of rock per gallon of water.

ANY questions, feel free to PM me.
 
At one time I had a 55, 30 and 20 gal saltwater tanks. I started with the 30, the smallest you should start with. I bought it from the classifieds, then went to the 55. Once the tanks got established, there wasn't alot of maintenance because I didn't keep corals. I had the 20 set up as a hospital tank for the stuff I was bringing home. The critters stayed a month in the 20 then were moved to the bigger tanks.

Eventually tho, I lost interest after I chased a baby butterfly fish that I wanted so desperately for my tank, only to have it die before I got to shore. It really saddened me that I killed one of my favorite fishes. Then I learned how most of the fish are caught and what happens to the reef. I chose not to contibute to the problem and decided if I was gonna take anything from the ocean (besides lobster) it would be pictures.

Good luck, read lots of book and talk to lots of people. Then when you buy fish or corals find out how they made it to the shop. Were they farm raised? Or did they come from some far flung tropical paradise that uses cynide or dynamite to collect fish?

Also remember Murphys law of saltwater tanks...The higher the price of the fish, the higher the mortality rate...
 
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