Thinking about setting up a saltwater aquarium?
Family members now yearn for their very own Clownfish or Tang, especially after Finding Nemo came out. With a little information, your family can have beautiful marine fish that will live for years to come. However, marine fish are more complicated than buying a kitten, a hamster, or a gold fish. Hopefully this small list will help you in your endeavors:
You're ready to take the plunge into saltwater at last. No doubt you've already heard a number of opinions by now, but have decided to forge ahead and do this. Good, this is a wonderful hobby and the experience of watching your hard work turn into something stunning is what this is all about. Let me be honest though, there are times when your frustration level may peak, which is the exact opposite of the 'relaxing hobby' you were hoping for. That's just part of the experience, and remember that period is temporary.
If you haven't read these articles yet, please do:
I have read countless threads on discussion forums asking for assistance with water quality issues. Considering how many forums are available to hobbyists everywhere, it wouldn’t be difficult to imagine that hundreds of queries are posted on a daily basis just in the United States. With the availability of search engines, the information is readily available having been answered time and time again. Why is it so hard to master this particular area of our hobby? Are our personal circumstances so uniquely different from everyone else’s?
My quarantine tank (QT) is a simple box of water. Made of acrylic, it holds about 12g of water. I use a small 50w heater, a LED light, and a Vortech MP10 for flow. Some dedicated live rock and some PVC fittings complete the system. Stick a glass thermometer in the tank to verify your target temperature is consistent.
PVC fittings gives the fish a place to retreat to if aggression takes place. Daily water changes keep the water parameters in check, taking water from my reef to refill the QT, and then adding new saltwater to my reef.
Probably the most popular tank I've ever kept, the 60g rimless tank made by AGE is filled with bubble tip anemones and clownfish.
Quick facts:
The one thing I always recommend to anyone is to apply a background to their tank. You can use a reef scene if you like, or a solid color. You can paint the back, you can build an interesting back-lit shadow box like a friend of mine, or you just use vinyl. The nice thing is it's inexpensive, easy to apply, and later it is just as easy to remove without any damage to your aquarium.
Explaining the Radion schedule isn't that simple, unless there's some trick I'm not aware of. I've had quite a few people ask me for the schedule I use over the 60g Anemone Cube. Since November 2013, I've had a Radion Xr30 Gen2 over that tank. If you want to download that file, here it is:
MelevsSavedRadionSchedule2015-12-08.etg (right click, save as to your harddrive)
My light is set 8" from the surface of the water, hanging from ceiling with the adjustable hanging kit.
This is a picture of the frag system which has been running for nearly a year. For the most part it is on autopilot:
With the frag system, I decided to use dosing pumps and a triple dosing reservoir. I sell the products I use myself, after all. Plus, so many hobbyists don't use a calcium reactor these days, so having a common task makes answering questions easier. There are many brands of dosers on the market. I chose to use the independent Icecap Dosing pumps. You can daisy chain them, adding three slave pumps to the master pump. I only needed two and one for this tank. All three pumps are wired to a single power cord, and are placed on a small shelf above their dosing reservoir.
The frag system uses a smaller version of the Model F sump, and has an ATO reservoir to replenish for evaporation on demand.
