Saltwater Aquarium

[GMFan]

I've dabbled in freshwater and later tropical aquariums through middle and high school. Always wanted to try a saltwater tank. The itch never went away. I started my tank up July 4 and after cycling for about 20 days I added 2 clownfish (Nemos). It's fun and a lot of work but very enjoyable. This is a 29G acrylic tank. My goal is to add another fish or two (not sure which kind yet) and also add corals however I may need another light.

Anyone else have a saltwater aquarium? If so please post a picture of your tank.

If anyone has questions feel free to ask.

 

[Leo99]

That's really pretty. I had freshwater tanks years ago with South American cichlids and a friend had a saltwater tank with lionfish way back in college in the mid 80s.

So much more resources now with the internet. Back then there were a few books and "the guy at the pet store" to guide us. I was lucky enough that my "guy at the pet store" really knew what he was talking about.

 

[Jimmy_Russells]

I have been keeping a reef tank for several years now, I enjoy it. I don't have any pics now but I can try and get some. I keep mainly acropora and a few fish at the moment, a couple perculas, a yellow tang, a melanurus wrasse and a flame hawkfish. I also have a larger freshwater cichlid system I have had for longer, but it's not really as interesting overall.

 

[buster]

Nice. My dad had nice salt water tanks when I was growing up. I've only had fresh water since.

 

[Duffyjr]

The wife and I had one for years, I'm guessing we had a few hundred dollars worth of fish in it plus all the time. Came home one day and they were all belly up. Had a power outage and the pump didn't kick back on.

 

[Inked]

The wife and I had one for years, I'm guessing we had a few hundred dollars worth of fish in it plus all the time. Came home one day and they were all belly up. Had a power outage and the pump didn't kick back on.

I‘m assuming lack of oxygen? From just several hours?

 

[Duffyjr]

I‘m assuming lack of oxygen? From just several hours?

Must of been, we figured it would of had to gone out right after we left for work but it wasn't the first time it happened and the pump always kicked back on. We were getting ready to move to a bigger tank because we were pushing the limit of fish per size of tank so that could of had something to do with it. Looking back I don't miss it, the amount of time spent keeping a salt water tank going is unbelievable.

 

[GMFan]

Must of been, we figured it would of had to gone out right after we left for work but it wasn't the first time it happened and the pump always kicked back on. We were getting ready to move to a bigger tank because we were pushing the limit of fish per size of tank so that could of had something to do with it. Looking back I don't miss it, the amount of time spent keeping a salt water tank going is unbelievable.

It certainly is a lot of work. The amount of time I spend has dropped a bit once I got everything up and running and the water parameters settled down. For a while I was doing 50% water changes each week to keep nitrates down. Now that it has settled down I do smaller 20% water changes each week.

The largest time consumer is the whole process of making RO/DI water and mixing salt. The RO/DI unit and it takes about 1 hour to make 4gallons of water. It’s definitely a “labor of love”. I’ve gotten into a routine now where I’ll make a large batch of RO/DI water and fill and store 6-5gallon buckets so I only have to make RO/DI once a month or so. Then I’ll use that water to top off and for my water changes.