salt water fish tanks

Does anyone have any experience with salt water fish tanks? I have fallen in love with one at a local pet store and am thinking of getting it. It reminds me of snorkeling and its just beautiful. Thanks.........

Val they are especially nice because the salt water fish come in the most fabulous variety of colors and designs. I would suggest buying a book from the pet/fish store or checking the library and studying up before taking on the expense.

I believe our Vicki's husband has a website on fish.
chick

Thanks everyone. Hubby just put a bid on E-bay for the same one we saw at the store but for less money. So I guess I have a new hobby to add to my other zillion. It's going to be a birthday gift and my son is buying the fish and anenomes. I am so excited.............

chick, you're right. It is Vicki's hubby. I think it's his main hobby.

Well the one he bid on didn't work out. The seller didn't want to ship it for some reason but hubby is persistent so he will find one. How do I find this Vicki's husbands web site. I am fairly new here in forum world and don't know everyone. Thanks........

Val: I've got a 12 gallon Nano-Cube on my desk at work. These things also come in a 24 gallon size. A friend of mine runs an aquarium set-up and maintenance operation, and he helped with the selection.

It is incredibly easy to maintain. It takes me about 20 minutes a month to maintain (water change, wipe down the glass, wash the filter, clean the gravel). Everything is in one piece. The lights and filter are built in to the back of the unit.

I don't have any corals, just a big piece of live rock. Corals require more frequent water changes and chemicals.

Inhabitants include a baby snowflake eel (beautiful!), mosaic starfish, brittle starfish, hermit crabs, cleaner shrimp, blue devil damsel fish, lettuce sea slugs, a couple of sea urchins, and an anemone. Only a few fish are possible in a tank this size, but I can have lots of invertebrates. And I'm considering a frogfish!

Anyway, it's a fascinating hobby. Just add up the maintenance costs before you dive in, so you won't be surprised. The sea water and chemicals can get expensive (I spend about $20 a month on water for my 12 gallon tank, and that's wholesale).

Enjoy! And let us know what tank and critters you get.

Whirlwind

Thats what I'm getting. He ordered the 24 gal. Nano Cube Tank. I am trying to find the straight stand for it also as it has a cabinet under to store stuff. Ugg! I didn't know the monthly costs were going to be high............I am going to use the live sand and live rock to start the environment. Then add one fish at a time. They are so beautiful........I saw one at a pet store and it was love at first site. The fish was hovering inside an anenome and just darts out every now and then but goes back into the tendrils. He was so beautiful (the fish) he didn't look real! The whole set up was mesmerizing.......I think it will be better than prime time T.V.! I apprecate any or all advice on this and which fish you like the best etc. Anything.......as I know this can be a bit tricky. Thanks...............

Did you all know that watching fish quietly is great for lowering blood pressure and helps with depression issues as well. I've read extensively on this subject and love fish tanks.

I read the same article chatty. I think that was the reason our office had a huge salt water fish tank built into the wall. They are relaxing to watch and I love the fact that I don't have to clean the tank.

Saltwater aquariums are excellent way to relax. It's a fun hobby. My husband has a saltwater reef tank forum that you can visit and ask all your questions. They love to have new people join. They're all willing to help.

www.thereeftank.com

How cool Vicki. I only have a small circular tank and it is not salt water but my two fish are so calming to watch, they're names are Jan and Dan. Jan is a speckled orange lovely and Dan is a bugged eyed black beauty. Five years ago I had a 50 gallon salt water tank for three years but had to have it cleaned monthly and it cost me a n arm and a leg so I sold it. Now its just a small tank for me, I can handle that by myself. Guess who my fish are named after Dotsie?

We have a 400 gallon saltwater aquarium in our living room. It has a beautiful cabinet built around it along with a small room at one end to hold all the equipment and electronics that go with it.

It's built like a room divider, it juts out diagonally from the corner.

Chatty, all the dogs you rescue?

Vicki, WOW! do you give tours?

Vicki,thanks for the website. It is a whole new world to explore! Your tank sounds beautiful. I always wanted to have one built into a wall so it looked like a framed painting. But I am starting smaller with the 24 gal. Nano tank. We just put together the stand last night and are waiting for the tank to be delivered.

you're very welcome. I hope that you visit and get to know the other reef tank keepers. It's a great forum, and I'm not just saying that. It has a good reputation and something like 15,000 members. Lots of people to help guide you with your new tank.

Update on the tank etc. The tank hubby ordered via interent came broken so now we have to go through the logistics of returning it (to the post office) and refund. We are waiting for the paper work from the seller. In the meantime I bought the tank from a local petshop (wasn't going to go through another broken,shipped tank). After much ado it is set up with "live sand" and "live rock" and was bubbling away with the lights on and I went upstairs to take a much needed nap and when I came down we had blown a fuse again. It keeps setting off a fuse on the line that runs through the kitchen. So I managed to get it on again so the pump is going and now the lights won't work. UGG. So waiting for hubby to get home so I can whine to him as he knows more about electrical stuff than I do. Maybe this should be over in the whining forum:)

If there is a chance the fuse may blow in the night while no one is there to tend to it, make sure there is nothing covering the top of the tank so at least if the pump stops the fish can come to the surface for air. I once lost some beautiful fish because the pump stopped and I had a cover on the top of the tank and there was no air for my babies to breathe. It was an awful site....

Yes that is what concerns me especially if it stops while I'm on vacation and the someone is fish-sitting. For now hubby thinks he has solved the mystery. He thinks the power strip we were using was doing it and so far the new power strip seems to be working fine. But I have thought about this as we loose our power alot from thunderstorms here and have to rough it at times. No well water. It was out three days once and we lost everything in our deepfreeze. So now I'm thinking I need a mini generator for my tank:) But one step at a time or hubby will toss me in the tank:) At the moment there is only a live rock and live sand........which I watch intently....I gotta get a life. I have to wait a week untill I can add one fish. Thanks for the info on the lid though........the nano cubes have a built in lid which I will lift if I ever do loose power.

Val, you might want to check the circuit you've got the tank lights and pump on and make sure it can handle the extra load.

For our 400 gal tank we added two new circuit breakers and use those exclusively for the tank equipment.

That's very smart, letting the tank cycle with live rock and sand before adding any fish. You say you're watching the live rock, have you found any feather dusters, little sponges, bi-valves, or any other little critters? Live rock really is LIVE rock.

How big did you say your tank was again?

Have you chosen what fish you're going to add?

Enjoy your tank. They're such great stress relievers, when you can just sit and stare at it.

Vicki,

Opps pressed enter again..........gotta get the hang of this posting thing.....anyway....I will pass on the suggestion to hubby when he is less stressed. At the moment he is trying to put in a walkway and landscaping in front of our house by himself. He is concerned it will become a career at the rate it is going. The tank is a 24 gal. Nano Cube. The rock has squiggly things sprouting from it. I look a bit silly & yes desperado watching it. I think my husband thinks I've gone over the edge.......just mesmerized by my rock & sand. Gives "pet rock" a whole new meaning:) I am studying my book I bought on the subject and highliting important things like I'm studying for a final. It is so fascinating. I am not sure what kind of fish I will get yet but I know I want a red legged crab as they eat one of the bad critters that can stow away on the live rock. This is so cool:)

There is a magazine titled, FRESHWATER AND MARINE AQUARIUM, (FAMA). I would consider getting a subscription, or at least buying a couple of issues to see how you like it. It can be really helpful. And, I can't stress enough spending time on The Reef Tank board. Tons of information there, and if you have a question, they get back to you right away.

OMG, don't even think of getting anything really bad stowed away on your rock. We got the most evil, vile creature that you could imagine one time. A Mantis Shrimp. Horrible things. Nasty critters and nearly impossible to get rid of once you get one. We even bought a Comet to eat the thing, but the shrimp grew too big for the Comet to eat. Argh! It's smart too. It learns and figures out traps. Just pray you don't get a Mantis Shrimp.

Staring at rock .... ah... it can keep you mezmerized for hours. I can attest to that.

If you have sand, you're going to want to get some sifters, like starfish. There's a huge discussion on The Reef Tank about sandbeds. Then there's the whole red legged crabs versus the blue legged crabs. And, I don't even visit the board, I just hear about it from my husband. LOL

Love your pet rock comparison. Made me laugh.

Sounds like you're learning a lot. We have a ton of reef keeping books around here too. They're great reference tools. Hubby has most of them memorized by now.

We go down to the Florida Keys and get our fish and tank critters. Can't get fresher than that.

Have fun with your tank.

Thank you so much for your suggestions and I will subscribe to the magazine. I'm a magazine addict anyway and was wondering if there was one. I will have to get on the other forum soon. Not enuff hours in the day and all those good excuses:) Do you live in Florida to go to the Keys for your critters or can they be transported long distances. I've only been to the Keys once and unfortuantely it was a bad weather week. But we look forward to going back. Well thanks again.......
Val

We live in Tampa, FL.. so it's a six hour drive for us. Not that far to go.

There's not many bad weather weeks in the Keys, so that's a bummer you experienced one. We had one earlier this year when we went to West Palm Beach. Horrible diving weather. We basically turned around and came home.

You're very welcome. Any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.

I joined the reef forum also but haven't been able to post yet. I'll try today. Reading all the posts and info tho I feel like maybe I am in over my head with this salt water tank. There were some people that said their Nanos broke and leaked etc. It would ruin my wood floors and furniture if that happened! Anyway I guess I will just take baby steps and not be daunted...........and pray it never springs a leak:) Our trip to the keys a few years ago (I forget what year) we took the kids (they wre teenagers then) over the Christmas holiday and bought them snorkeling gear and was planning to take them out on cataraman but it was so choppy nothing could go out. Oh well......next time hopefully they can try it.

Oh my gosh, I hope your tank doesn't spring a leak. You say you have wood floors? We have ceramic tile, so it's not as much of a danger, but we keep several alarm boxes on the floor. These things blare a loud noise whenever water touches them. They're good to have in case of a leak. They run on batteries. Just hope you never have to hear it. We've heard ours twice, and both times we caught the leak in time. This was only after we had a major leak and didn't have the alarms yet. I think our sump overflowed one time. Now we have electronics set up all over the place. One on the sump to automatically stop putting in water if it reaches a certain level.

All kinds of fun stuff going on with saltwater tanks. :-)

I am on the reef forum. Everyone is very welcoming and helpful. Where do I get one of these alarms. I'm also interested in talking to you sometime about writing but I guess here is not the place as this one seems to be on my tank? I am new to the forum world also in case it isn't obvious. I can't even figure out how to spell check:)

Val, there is no spell check on this forum...Its just hit or miss so to speak, LOL Scroll down and you'll find places to ask or comment about writing...

chatty lady, Thank you. I need to also get on the critque circle........( I did join) but have been so enthralled with my fish tank that has no fish at the moment.

Val, speaking of water alarms, I went on some errands yesterday and came home to mine going off. One of the filter socks got too full and overflowed out of the sump. Not a lot of water, but just enoughto get the floor wet under the alarm! Yikes, was that thing loud ... and piercing.

You can ask on the reef tank forum where to buy those alarms. If I remember, I'll ask my husband. They do come in handy.

I'd be happy to talk about your writing. If you want you can e-mail me privately at vmtwriter@vickimtaylor.com

I won't be able to help today, as I'm reviewing my galley for my next release, but that should only take today. I'm nearly finished with it. Got a good headstart on it yesterday. Ask away.

Thank you Vicki, and I am really enjoying the reef forum. Everyone has been so helpful and welcoming. I really feel in over my head but excited about this new hobby also. Right now I am growing algea! How cool is that. If anyone comes over I can say:look at my pet rock and algea:) At which point they will probably find a nice padded cell, but of course I will insist on taking my tank with me.

Reef tanking can become obsessive. I've lived with it for ten years. I don't think there is a cure, either.

By the way, I'm finished with my galley so if you want, you can send me an e-mail now. :-)

Vickie: I'm glad you're enjoying your tank! If you get this much pleasure out of the little bit that's in there now, just imagine how much fun you're going to have when you start adding critters!

I do have one serious warning to pass along about the nano-cube.

Mine is on my desk at work. A couple of months ago, on an unexpectedly warm Georgia weekend, the maintenance people in my office building decided to turn off the ventilation system and it got very warm (probably over 90). The water in the nano cube got very warm and I lost over half of my tank inhabitants. The ones who survived looked pretty bad for a few weeks and had to recover.

My solution was to make a custom "top" for the tank out of small pvc grid and screen. I'll take a digital pic and send to you if you like. Now, on the weekends, I open the top of the tank, put the screen lid on (since I have an eel that would love to escape), and unplug the light.

With the top of the tank open, the heat can dissipate and the problem has been solved.

Sadly, a friend who has a 24 gallon nano cube "forgot" about my experience. Just today he returned from a week long out of town trip, and he'd turned off the AC in his house while he was gone. His whole tank is dead. He called a few minutes ago and said if I'll come get it, I can have the tank. So now it looks like I'm going to be putting together a 24 gallon one too.

Keep us posted on your progress!

Peggy

[ May 26, 2006, 02:28 PM: Message edited by: Whirlwind ]

OK, another "update."

I've kept fish for years, but never saltwater (always tropicals). AND, always at home (not on my desk at work).

Anyway. Hindsight is always 20/20. And I'm usually MUCH better at research and knowing "what's up" with my stuff. But, it seems there is a very valuable accessory available for fish tanks - the chiller. A device that helps to keep the water at a stable temperature, cooling it if necessary.

These things aren't cheap. First glance is a couple of hundred bucks. BUT - considering I lost about a hundred dollars worth of livestock (my little buddies!) to my "disaster", I'll gladly pay the bucks to have one of these things.

Just more info, for what it's worth.

Peggy

Peggy, nice to meet you. I am Val and I am the novice at the SW tank. I appreciate any and all advice especially about the Nano's. I am now on the reef forum also and have heard about overheating with the Nano's but don't know how you add things like a chiller or some have spoken of an extra fan, because of the self contained hood etc. But please do lets exchange ideas. I am very excited about this hobby but also a bit wary. For instance my daughter and her boyfriend came down from N.Y. last eve and I turned off the moonlite and flipped the switch for the regular light just to show them my "pet rock" and all the electric went out. I do travel from time to time and am concerned about loosing my critters if anything happens. Also where I live we have power outages allot. Part of me is concerned I am in over my head. Anyway nice to meet you. Let me know what you find out about the chiller

Val: Oops, sorry for the name mixup! First time I've been online in awhile and I didn't pay enough attention.

I've not had any problems at all with the electrics on the 12 gallon tank, but it doesn't have a light switch, to turn it off (I have to unplug it. It's on a timer during the week). The 24 gallon does have the light switch. I don't think much damage would be done from a short term power outage. Day to day, you're at home and would know if anything happened and you could deal with any problems. You might want to get a friend to drop by and check on things when you travel though. A well fed tank won't suffer from a short term "food shortage", but it would be good to know about the power.

Vacation is coming the end of June, so I don't plan to do much with the 24 gallon tank until after that. A friend is taking care of my dog while I'm gone, and I'd hate to ask him to take care of fish too (he said he appreciated that. LOL). I will set it up today in my kitchen with just the gravel and live rock. It will be interesting to see what comes out of the rock.

Still feel a bit guilty getting all of this stuff from my friend, but he was determined to be "done" with fishkeeping. There's probably 40-50 pounds of live rock in my garage right now (in a plastic tub filled with sea water).

I'm trying to recruit a co-worker to do a mid-week feed for my 12 gallon tank critters while I'm gone for the week. The eel likes fresh and freeze dried shrimp (served on a skewer). The brittle star and mosaic star like shrimp too. The brittle star will reach up and take shrimp bits from the skewer. But for the mosaic star, I put the shrimp bit on the bottom of the tank, then place him/her on top of it, which means a hand in the tank.

There is only one anemone in the tank, a flower anemone. "Oyster eggs" in the water feed that critter.

Fresh water fish are alot easier, just dump in flakes and that's it.

But I do love my critters. Especially on Monday morning, they can tell when I get to my desk. The eel starts swimming around the front of the tank, like he's saying "OK, hope you had a good weekend. Now, where's breakfast?" LOL.

Keep me posted on your progress. Can't wait to hear what you're going to add to your tank!

Peggy

Hi Peggy, This morning I saw a wormy thing on the rock and no sooner flipped the light switch and in a flash it was gone. I hope it is not this stowaway fireworm that I have read bad things about. I love that you actually feed the star off a skewer. That is so cool. I may go out and get a couple more rocks today to add as I only have one big rock. I didn't cure it as I didn't know about that so if I do get any more rocks what do I do with them?

Val: The rock I have is fiji live rock, and it was cured before purchase. Not sure where you're getting your supplies from, but ask them about it, their stuff may be "pre-cured" too.

Not sure how you cure rock of you have to do it yourself. I'll call my "fish buddy" Graham (who runs an aquarium maintenance business) and ask him.

Peggy

I've got some worms in my 12 gallon. Not sure what they are, but I need to find out. I've seen at least 6 or 7 of them.

Peggy, Someone on the reef forum told me just put them in and be patient. As for the wormy thing I guess there are good/ok ones and bad ones but you gotta get a good look at them to figure out what kind it is. Personally I'd rather not have any as I am bug phobic............