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salt water fish ideas



 
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Mice
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Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 76

PostPosted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 3:24 am    Post subject: salt water fish ideas Reply with quote
Well i am soon to start a 30 gallon saltwater tank. And i have a few simple questions...
First, is it ganna be tough? Maintence/fish?
2nd what kind of fish do i start off with to practice saltwater
3rd how much will it cost to get everything set up besides filter light tank and heater?

-Mice

Thanks
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Used
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Joined: 21 Feb 2005
Posts: 118

PostPosted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 4:02 am    Post subject: Re: salt water fish ideas Reply with quote
Reading a few good books will help you out greatly. A couple books come to mind such as The New Marine Aquarium by Michael S. Paletta and The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert M. Fenner

Mice wrote:

First, is it ganna be tough? Maintence/fish?


It depends on the individual setup, but generally you have to perform reqular maintenance. If you do your research, and take things very slowly a saltwater tank is not that difficult to run. Maintenance depends on the tank, inhabitants, and what equipment you have but here is some of the maintenance that I do for my 20g reef tank:

- Weekly water changes of around 10-15% although it varies from week to week

- Top off with RO water evey few days

- Clean collection cup from skimmer every few days

- Clean powerheads every month or so.

- Test Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia, and pH as well as measure salinity every so often.

Mice wrote:

2nd what kind of fish do i start off with to practice saltwater


Gobies, certain species of Clownfish, Wrasses, some Blennies, and Dartfish are some good beginner fish. For a 30g tank depending on your filtration, maintenance, etc I would only stock the tank with 2-3 small fish. Remember to add fish slowly over a period of time. Give maybe a month or more between each new fish.

Mice wrote:

3rd how much will it cost to get everything set up besides filter light tank and heater?


Again it depends on the setup but here is a small list of things I can think of:

Marine Salt

Hydrometer or refractometer-Used to test the salinity of the water

Test Kits(Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia, pH, etc)

Substrate-I prefer sand, but you can use crushed coral

Live Rock- Although some people may argue this I highly recommend
live rock for pretty much any saltwater tank

Powerheads- Creates flow

Thermometer-Glass or digital

Food-A good variety of food. Pellet, Flake, Frozen, etc.

That is all I can think of at the moment. If you give me some information about what type of setup you want, stocking, etc I could offer more help.
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