We've launched the new forums! Read more here

salt water reef tanks

Degoins said:
My mom and dad had a huge saltwater tank when I was a kid. They had big money tied up in the fish too. They bought this one small little trigger fish and in two days he killed all the other fish by eating their tail fins. It pissed my mom off so bad she flushed him. They went and replaced all the fish again, a couple hundred bucks worth atleast. Well my mom gets everything all set up and thinks the coral looks a little dingy so her and my pops gets the bright idea to bleach it. Well it worked, that coral was just as brilliant white as ever and mom was thrilled. It's a shame they didn't realize the coral was basically a hardened sponge. I'll never forget the look on my moms face as she placed that coral in the tank only to see every fish start jerking around on their sides minutes later. That tank sure was heavy as we carried it to the dump.
Click to expand...

LOL, good story!
 
i had a 120 gal marine set up before i moved to san diego...
great reef system with my hawaiian lion fish as the centerpiece...
after i moved my dad had no clue or time to take care of everything so he sold it off and started an oscar/arawana set up in it... @ 120 gals... those fresh water fish got big! i mean scary big... hahaha
 
Mrs. Esox and I had a 90 gallon reef tank before we had Junior Lancer. We easily had $4,000 into it and that's 13 years ago. We always did well with the corals, anemones, crabs, shrimp, etc. It was the damn fish that could never get along. No matter how we researched or what advice we took, we always ended up with a rogue fish or two that would torment the others. We had a pygmy angel, that while small, would attack just about any other fish in the tank, including other angels and tangs twice its size. Try to catch a fish you want to remove in a 90 gallon tank filled with a bunch of live rock and coral. You can't. Little bastard.

Anyway, we enjoyed it, but things went wrong on occasion, then we became parents, and Mrs. Esox decided she couldn't take care of a business, a baby, and a reef tank. It's funny this thread was posted, because I saw a real beauty in a house a couple days ago, and we've been reminiscing about ours.

Kevin
 
Esox said:
Mrs. Esox and I had a 90 gallon reef tank before we had Junior Lancer. We easily had $4,000 into it and that's 13 years ago. We always did well with the corals, anemones, crabs, shrimp, etc. It was the damn fish that could never get along. No matter how we researched or what advice we took, we always ended up with a rogue fish or two that would torment the others. We had a pygmy angel, that while small, would attack just about any other fish in the tank, including other angels and tangs twice its size. Try to catch a fish you want to remove in a 90 gallon tank filled with a bunch of live rock and coral. You can't. Little bastard.

Anyway, we enjoyed it, but things went wrong on occasion, then we became parents, and Mrs. Esox decided she couldn't take care of a business, a baby, and a reef tank. It's funny this thread was posted, because I saw a real beauty in a house a couple days ago, and we've been reminiscing about ours.

Kevin
Click to expand...

i laughed out loud on that part. good stuff Esox!

does anyone have any pictures? I want to see some real bad!
 
My Dad had one in his motel when I was growing up. This thread brought up a lot of great memories.
 
great hear everyones stories and like bridges said any photos?
 
We had a 75 gallon salt tank. Had live rock, a puffer and some others. Can't remember what. Lost it all when the power went out for a week.

Then we went with a brackish tank. Much cheaper and easier to maintain.
 
man i wish i had pics of mine... this thread makes me wanna start another one... but maybe nowhere near as big... these nano tanks seem very interesting
 
My wife and I looked into this a few months back. She wanted a "nemo", and I've always been interested in saltwater, live coral tanks. We looked into the nano cube, but from what I gather, nanos are very hard to keep consistant with water temp, chemical balance, etc. $500 was alot for little Nemo, plus with golf and a child, we already have our time and expenses cut out...
 
tcalloway1 said:
seriously?! 500 beans for a fish tank? i don't know much about these sort of things but i'm pretty sure that a couple of fish aren't worth that much of an investment. i guess i'd rather use the money for golf related stuff.....haha. i could buy up a good amount of raffle tickets with that....hehe
Click to expand...


had over 1200 invested before Sand/Rocks for an 85 Gal reef tank with 30gal sump after rocks and sand, it cycled for 30 days (nothing to look at but rocks)
Then the fun started
 
sacul1573 said:
My wife and I looked into this a few months back. She wanted a "nemo", and I've always been interested in saltwater, live coral tanks. We looked into the nano cube, but from what I gather, nanos are very hard to keep consistant with water temp, chemical balance, etc. $500 was alot for little Nemo, plus with golf and a child, we already have our time and expenses cut out...
Click to expand...

No question the smaller the tank the harder it can be. The smallest problem can cause the entire tank to crash.
 
The more water you have (Main tank + Sump) the easier it is in the long run!! At the begining it might be a bit more of a pain in the arse, as you have to cycle more rock/sand, so you could have a very nice aquarium, with 80-100 pounds of sand (or more, depending on size) and 100+ pounds of rock... and you just stare at it, empty, for weeks to over a month...
I was always told, "when setting up a saltwater tank, go with the largest tank you can afford and have space for" and they were right. The little 30 gal I started with became a pain... sometimes required constant monitoring... when I moved up to the 85 (plus sump... over 100 GAL of water) it was fairly maintenance free... Water changes monthly, and keeping an eyes on levels once in a while. It settled nicely and very fast because I cycled the live rock in garbage cans while the pieces of the tank where coming together (large NEW garbage can, filled with the rocks for the tank, and salt water, with a big pump moving the water, changed water weekly)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top