nice mini saltwater tank! How expensive is it to start one up that small?

7/22/2007 11:23:45 AM

I was wondering that too. I have a 10 gallon freshwater, and I'm satisfied with that for now. But a saltwater tank would be cool to have.

7/23/2007 8:38:10 AM

i think that it is a lot harder to maintain a smaller saltwater tank rather than a larger one b/c of how easily the conditions can change with less water in the tank

7/23/2007 2:03:25 PM

notice the overflow, its 2.5 for the display portion, i think he's got 16+ in the sump/refugium

7/23/2007 7:33:24 PM

Cleaned and refilled the 265 last weekend. Looking for some fw ideas. Nothing too small b/c the slots in the overflows will inhale anything guppy/neon tetra size.

7/23/2007 9:52:20 PM

our clown trigger fish got hurt last night
looks like he tried to bite something or one of the other fish and it split his mouth open



[Edited on July 24, 2007 at 8:46 AM. Reason : asd]

7/24/2007 8:44:59 AM

Can anyone tell me how to keep my aerator underwater? I got one of the moving ones with a skeleton who lifts up his rum bottle when it fills with bubbles, but it won't stay stuck to the bottom for more than a day because it jostles itself loose.

8/14/2007 1:17:44 PM

^^^ big ass planted tank with discus and angels, either that or get some real nice quality fancy goldfish.

8/14/2007 3:27:52 PM

Purchased live plants and 2 dozen guppies today. Ill see where that leads me. Im thinking lotsa live plants and several schools of smaller fish. I hit all the local fish stores this weekend and didnt see anything that grabbed my attention. I did find another small (2" ) SA Redtailed catfish for reasonable though. Dude in Wake Forest is asking stupid money on anything with any size to it.
He wanted $375 for a 15" SA Redtailed cf We will see in a week if the small fish end up as overflow food.

8/14/2007 4:17:07 PM

this thread has inspired me to get myself an aquarium when i return home from my current business trip. Taikimoto has a really cool setup and i like some of the other ones i've seen as well.

8/14/2007 8:28:34 PM

you dont want to get a redtail cat unless you have a huge tank

8/15/2007 2:36:07 PM

I had one that was 24-26" Lotsa of fun to keep but requires way too much food and water changes. I still may get another now that I have figured out how to do 100 gal water changes in about 45 mins. They are awesome to hand feed provided they dont swallow you whole hand...That wasnt so much fun

8/15/2007 2:41:15 PM

If you plan on doing a Saltwater setup, plan on investing a lot of time, money and research. The best advice is to be patient and to research alot before you buy. You don't always have to get the best stuff but if you make sure you follow the correct steps a saltwater tank is easy to maintain and really pretty.

I have a 90G and probably upgrading to a 125 or 150 in the near future. I don't have any pics online but the larger the tank the easier it is to maintain. I've had mine running for about 4 years and really don't have to do much to it. A larger tank will give you less water changes and the fish and coral are generally happier as the water params rarely fluctuate.

The only problem I have now is I have to make sure I can hold 2000 lbs for a 150G tank and maybe a water line to setup a drip for my Kalkwasser mix and evaporation rate. The reason I have to upgrade as the fish I have need a larger tank and the size they have grown, I don't want to lose them, since I had them estimated retail priced at over $300 each at the pet store. I'm kind of nervous about changing tanks as the whole ecosystem will change and I hopefully don't lose some.

The best advice is to research the fish and inhabitants for compatibility, tanks size, and temperment. Do frequent water changes in the begining cycling stages and remember to change lighting. Also plan to spend a lot of time battling things in the begging and keep up with maintance as the begining cycle can take some work. But after it's stablized the rest is pretty much your own opinion and very little effort is needed.

8/15/2007 3:24:08 PM

would someone with a freshwater tank that's been well established and disease free mind if i grabbed a few gallons of water to get my nitrite cycle rolling? i'll replace and treat your water for you.

8/17/2007 4:12:14 PM

Just got two dwarf guarmis.

8/29/2007 12:00:43 PM

Got an aquarium now for the office!

I got the Marineland Eclipse 12.



Funny story though how it came to be. I was originally going to get the 12 for the house to my wife as a Christmas present. I had it sent to the office so I would not ruin the surprise. Though as it sat there I started wanting one for the office too.

So I got an used 10 gallon glass aquarium from a person on Craigslist, complete with 4 fish and all the equipment. I met her out on Harrison avenue and I made it all the way back to work with the aquarium about 25% full of water. I was almost in the office when it got caught in the screen door cracking the glass in three places.

I frantically grabbed the net and filled up the tank that was for my wife. The fish rather enjoyed the trip I imagine!

So now I have the 12 gallon one filled up and they seem to be doing pretty well. It is exciting to get ideas of what other fish to add and see them swimming about.

The aquarium itself is a marvel to keep clean. The Marineland Eclipse uses a charcoal filter and biowheel which really keeps the water clean. I will take some pictures this week.

[Edited on November 25, 2007 at 7:08 PM. Reason : Picture]

11/25/2007 7:04:45 PM

Quote :

"Can anyone tell me how to keep my aerator underwater? "

weigh it down.

11/25/2007 7:13:22 PM

Yeah ... I tried that.

11/25/2007 8:25:58 PM

My tank has really blossomed. After killing two sharks, I got another bala, 3 red serpaes, 2 angelfish, and I had two hatchetfish jump out and I cant find any big enough to replace them and the other is sad

11/25/2007 9:13:39 PM

anybody have any clue on this...at home we have a 29 gallon freshwater tank...we kinda let it go(it got all nasty beyond recovery) an then ended up cleaning the thing out and starting over again...Everything was fine for like two months and then all the fish got ich and died in less than a week..is there anything i can do beyond cleaning the entire thing out again...ive tried like pimafix and that didn't work...im pretty much clueless...my mom doesn't have the time to look after it anymore so ive been trying to fix the thing up...

11/25/2007 9:58:38 PM

^salt is a good option to treat ich. I think the common dose is 1 tbs/gal in 3 divided doses 12 hours apart. You also want to increase your temperature to mid 80s when you do this. Leave the tank like that for about 1 week, and then change the water.

11/25/2007 11:31:21 PM

^^ Are you just asking how to get rid of the ich that's in the tank so it's safe to put fish in again? It dies in a few days if there are no fish in there, so as long as you wait several days and change your filter and clean the gravel and such you should be good to go.

I dealt with ich a month or two ago. It's no fun.

11/26/2007 10:15:28 AM

i have a 55 gallon goldfish tank. it used to have 4 goldfish in it (orandas). i changed the water during the drought a couple months ago and all of the fish died within a week (yes i used all of the appropriate dechlorinator and other chemicals). i have a 1 gallon tank w/ a betta in it at work, i waited and waited to change the water b/c i was afraid he'd die, but he was getting really bad off so i changed it and he died (surprise surprise).

i have contacted the city to see what they've put in the water to make it kill my fish but i'm still waiting on a response.

i cleaned the 55gal, put new water and ran it for a few weeks, then bought some little $0.13 goldfish to test it out. they lasted about 4 weeks, then died. i've tested the water several times, incl when both sets of fish were still alive. nothing abnormal, as far as what the tests can detect. i have a few live plants which are doing just fine.

how long should i wait before trying again? how should i clean the 55gal tank? i want to really really get it good and clean before i try again, but i know that bleach is a no-no. has anybody else had this problem?

having an empty goldfish tank for the past couple of months has been kinda depressing after having goldfish for the last 6 years. i miss them. i made the mistake of looking at some fish in petsmart this weekend and i really really really really want to get the tank back up and running (without killing anybody else).

HALP!

11/26/2007 10:53:34 AM

^I know Raleigh and other cities increase the chloramine content in their water one month/year to "clean" their water pipes, so that might be why your fish died. I would go ahead and start cycling the tank now if I were you, and add the fish later.

11/26/2007 12:05:27 PM

RM started using chloramines back in 2003, not recently, so unless they've dramatically increased the levels i don't think that's the problem. good idea though.

11/26/2007 12:06:41 PM

^^^Why would you waste a tank that big in goldfish?


Also, what are the most important things to test for? I know NH3 but is it really impt to test for nitrites and pH level?

11/26/2007 1:02:37 PM

^ Goldfish are really dirty, so they need a lot of water.

11/26/2007 1:06:30 PM

I know that but there are much better fish to utilize a tank that big.

11/26/2007 1:07:57 PM

Quote :

"RM started using chloramines back in 2003, not recently, so unless they've dramatically increased the levels i don't think that's the problem."

They do significantly increase the level of chloramine one month out of the year (significant enough to kill fish)

^the general rule for goldfish is 1 fish/10 gal, so 55 gal tank isn't that big if you have 5-6 goldfish.

11/26/2007 1:29:41 PM

i have goldfish b/c i <3 goldfish. i only had 4 in a 55gal tank, so that's LESS than what the rule says.

11/26/2007 1:39:16 PM

from the City:

Quote :

"To answer your question we have not made any changes here at the water plants during the drought. We are still operating the same way today as we did this time last year. We have not changed any of our chemicals or suppliers that we purchase chemicals from. We monitor all chemical additions and process performance every two (2) hours around the clock to insure that we are operating the water plants at peak performance. The only change that we will be making is to go back to free chlorine and stopping the practice of chloramination. That is the process of adding ammonia to the water and it combines with the chlorine to make chloramines. We are doing this because we will be connecting to the City of Wilson to get water and Wilson does not use chloramination only free chlorine. When that happens we will be turning off the ammonia and going back to free chlorine. However we have not stopped the chloramination process until we activate the connection between us and the City of Wilson. We hope that will take place this week. Our plans are to operate the connection with the City of Wilson for 30 days and then turn off the connection until the time we will need to turn it back on. I hope I have answered your questions. If you have any further questions please contact me at any time. I am sorry about your fish."

soooo...i am hopeful since they are going back to chlorine. should i wait the 30 days until we disconnect from Wilson before trying again?

11/26/2007 5:26:18 PM

^it shouldn't matter if you use a dechlorinator that remove chloramine (some does, some don't), but just to be safe, I would wait until chlorine. Also, if you leave chlorinated water outside for a couple days, the chlorine will dissipate as a gas, so you don't really need to use dechlorinator for chlorinated water. I think the better question is that where would you go to get real quality goldfish? Petsmart ones are overpriced IMO.

11/26/2007 6:09:52 PM

http://www.brentroad.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=502917

buy my tank!

11/26/2007 6:14:54 PM

Also, UV rays from the sun destroy chlorine pretty rapidly, if you have a bucket with no chlorine stabilizer in it in the sun for a day, the chlorine will be completely gone.

11/26/2007 7:18:57 PM

I recently acquired an aquarium from a friend. It has a filter, heater, air bubbler, light on top, and automatic feeder.
It has a few live plants inside and a big rock for the fish to swim around.
I have no idea how many gallons it is, but it is comparable to the one pictured here:
http://www.retrodragon.net/wp-content/picture-035.jpg

Currently, it has 4 fancy guppies and some snails inside. Obviously, the 4 guppies are small and the tank is huge compared to them.
I want to get some more fish, but want to make sure I get ones that are compatible with the guppies. Which fish will work well with them, and not fight and kill each other?

Also, how often should the fish be fed? The automatic feeder feeds them twice a day (once every 12 hours).

Finally, I had 5 guppies but one of the males started staying by himself all the time near the bottom of the tank. He would only move when another fish was nearby. He died a couple days later. Currently, I have another fish (female) who is staying near the top of the water doing the same thing. She only moves when a fish gets near. What is going on? Are they just getting sick and dying? Thanks

11/26/2007 7:57:36 PM

^guppies would go with other community fish such as molly, tetra, swordtail, gourami etc... That tank looks like it's about 20 gallon from the picture. Feeding twice a day is normal. I would get more fish if I were you, 4 guppies in a 20 gal tank is too few fish. Get like 10 tetras or more guppies.

11/26/2007 8:10:36 PM

What's the max # of fish you would have in there? 20?

11/26/2007 8:12:28 PM

depends on what kind of fish, what kind of filter, how often you do waterchange. Personally, I've got away with over 50 guppy-size fish in a 30 gal planted tank with no waterchange except topping off.

11/26/2007 8:46:40 PM

Yeah, the general rule of thumb is one inch of fish per gallon for a tank that shape. So you could have ~20 small fish like those. But you probably shouldn't get them all at once, since that can do weird things to your setup. Buy 4 or 5 at a time to add, then wait a week or two and buy more if everything stays stable.

11/26/2007 9:33:53 PM

the one inch per gallon rule is wrong IMO. What if you have a 5 inch goldfish, that goldfish will need at least 10 gallon. That's why I said it's all depends on various factors such as type of fish, filter, frequency of water change.

11/26/2007 9:49:07 PM

I like aquariums, but more pics please.



Not mine.

11/27/2007 12:41:33 AM

Maybe someone can give me some advice on mine.

I have a 55 gallon that has been doing well. I have 2 clown loaches, 1 pleco (that has gotten huge, about 10 inches long now), a bunch of tetras (5-10), and a few platy.

I have two live plants in there, and one seems to grow well, the other ok. The one that is growing well has grown to the top of the water, and seems to be dying there. I would trim it, but the only leaf on it is at the top. So im not sure what to do with it to clean it up.

Im concerned about the lighting I have, I only have the single tube flourescant hood that i bought with the fish tank, and know i need more, but not sure what to get.

Also, I think the filter on the back is about to die a horrible death, can anyone recommend a good filter for a 55 gallon.

And the last thing, I dont have any aeration in the tank because someone told me that I didnt need it with the plants, but it bothers me to this day that I dont have something in there. Is that right?

Any advice you can give would be appreciated, I want my tank to look beautiful, it just looks kind of bland and blah right now, and the water always stays a light brown, like pond water.

I was thinking about a canister filter like this:

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/199558/product.web

and maybe a light like this

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/204926/i/7/product.web


[Edited on November 27, 2007 at 7:28 AM. Reason : .]

11/27/2007 7:21:53 AM

^^^ Well obviously if you have a fish that's dirtier than others it doesn't apply. But for guppies and tetras and stuff like he was talking about it's fine.

[Edited on November 27, 2007 at 9:29 AM. Reason : I can't count.]

11/27/2007 9:29:08 AM

^^I have a Marineland Biowheel and I love it, works great and is quiet. I dont like live plants for the above reasons and the fish I have would rip it apart. Why do you have so few fish in your tank, you could easily have 30 or more in that size tank.

11/27/2007 9:33:05 AM

Id love to have more fish, but I wanted to get the landscaping looking good, and be happy with my lighting/filtration before just dumping a lot of fish in the tank.


Ill take some pictures this week and post them so maybe you guys can make some suggestions.

11/27/2007 10:23:04 AM

^^^^ How old is the bulb? The ones that usually come with tanks already are 6500k color value or less (yellow). These need to be replaced every 6-8 (maybe 12) months depending on how long you leave them on for. Which is another point, how long are you leaving them on? For just a few plants 6-8 hours is plenty, 10-12 is pushing it. Also, make sure your tank isnt getting any added sunlight, this will def cause algae blooms.

If its a low stocked tank (sounds like it is) I would get a simple HOB filter (I like Aquaclears). Put that one one side then get a simple powerhead pointed toward the center of the tank on the other side for circulation.

Also, some pics of my old 36 bowfront planted tank and its co2 setup, hgtran nabbed all the plants when I took it down.





[Edited on November 27, 2007 at 10:35 AM. Reason : :]

11/27/2007 10:25:18 AM

I have been replacing the bulb every 12 months, so im good there, I just think the one bulb isnt enough to light the tank right.

Ive been running it for about 12 hours a day, so Ill cut back on it.

What about the airation, should i have some in there, or is it ok without like i currently have it?

11/27/2007 10:52:28 AM

Quote :

"I think the better question is that where would you go to get real quality goldfish? Petsmart ones are overpriced IMO."

i will be getting goldfish from Fish World.

i've received another response from someone else at the City water dept. he said he wants to work w/ me on this until i can get fish to survive in my tank. i'm impressed. he called petsmart and walmart here for me to see if they've had any water problems also. he also gave me names of ppl there that will help me get this figured out. seriously, i never expected actual help from a City of RM employee/official.

11/27/2007 11:25:25 AM

ask Weebay

11/27/2007 11:31:45 AM

Quote :

"i've received another response from someone else at the City water dept. he said he wants to work w/ me on this until i can get fish to survive in my tank. i'm impressed. he called petsmart and walmart here for me to see if they've had any water problems also. he also gave me names of ppl there that will help me get this figured out. seriously, i never expected actual help from a City of RM employee/official. "

Thats actually really cool.

11/27/2007 12:59:14 PM