Brackish or Marine?

[tina1]

That is the question folks!

I'm ready for a bigger challenge and thought I should turn a tank brackish, but then I thought that for all that trouble I might as well just try for a full blown marine tank. If I'm gonna mix all that salt I might as well! So I know marine tanks are supposed to be really, really hard to do so I won't be rushing into this at all. Does anyone have any pointers for me? Any advice for the newbie?

So, now your opinions. Brackish or Marine. Keep in mind this will be in a small tank. Most likely my 20 gallon.

[grnlemonade]

i voted for marine w/o looking at what u said. after reading that ur going to have a 20 gallon,. i decided to change my vote to brackish. if u have a marine tank, the smaller it is the easier it is for one little thing to go wrong and kill alot of fish. also, they can become quite pricey and finickey. a tank that size would be good for some puffers or other brackish fish. what do u plan on getting for it?

[tina1]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I'm really just trying to figure out what all the different fishes are right now. Damsels have been recommended to me as have clowns and gobies. I'm not really looking for anything too fancy just yet. I'd just like a nice looking tank with some colorful and easy to care for fish.

Probably won't happen huh?

Maybe you can help me with another question, do I need RO water to be successful with marines? Some sites say yes, some say no and to say the least I am confused

Thanks again!

[grnlemonade]

what do u mena by RO water? and if you are looknig to care for damsels, they are acctually pretty easy to care for and are relativley inexpensive. they also come in tons of different varieties. all are semi-aggresive except for the chromies which are considered to be peaceful. they are also reef-safe.

other than that, clowns are pretty easy tpo take care of also. by goby do u mena the mandarin or physkadelic? if so, i wouldnt recommend those b/c they can be hard to keep and most often hide. if you ar goiung for a peasceul tank, you might want to look up a yellow-head jawfish. i have kept onbe of these b4 and it was outgoing enough that i could hand feed it.

good-luck on your decision.

[tina1]

Thanks for the tips on good fish; I'd definitely like peaceful fish. I don't like to see them fight.

By RO water I mean water that is purified using Reverse Osmosis. The websites I've done research at almost unanimously state that it is almost impossible to keep marine's using tap water and that the tap must be purified using reverse osmosis. Do you know anything about this as I find it most confusing!

[ceveretts]

Well Tina I had eloquently typed a message explaining my point of veiw on this subject and i went to proof read it and somehow it got erased! So I'll keep it short this time. I voted for brackishbecause of the size tank you will be using for it. I was at my L.F.S. three times in the last week and a half and no fish are exciting to me anymore besides salt water!!! So I got up the courage to ask a few ?'s knowing that I could be easily persuaded to spend way too much $! In order to have a sucessful saltwater tank I was told I would need no less than a 50g tank. I was also told that I would need a protein skimmer (they now have smaller less expensive ones that go inside the tank) and an upgraded filtration system and better bulbs in my hood. In a 20g tank it would be far easier to run into problems with the water and fish dying. The man I was speaking to is quite knowledgeable and I trust him for the most part. The nice part was he didn't try to talk me out of it like many do. He also said that if your lighting is precisely positioned that it is not too hard to keep live coral! Yay! He did not say I would need to use R.O. water though he did say I would need to be prepared to do a 10% water change weekly (NO PROBLEM!!!). I want one so bad! But it is a big investment so if I were you I would wait until you could do a larger tank for the saltwater. It would be great to start off with a brackish tank of puffers to get your feet wet though! I hope this helps! Have fun!

[Hooben]

You will need RO water for your salt tank.
Unfortunately tap water has too many minerals to be used for salt water tanks. Reverse osmosis removes all of these and leaves water ready to be converted to salt water, with a salt mix.
Make sure and find a reputable dealer that has nice displays.
Good luck!

[ceveretts]

It's a good thing that somebody knows what we need. Thanks Hooben! How do you make R O water? If you have a filter built in under the sink is that R O ?

[Hooben]

There are many choices and prices for reverse osmosis filters out there.

The filter under your sink is designed for drinking water, I would contact that company to be sure what it is filtering.

The filters must be changed every once in a while, according to factory specifications. Most people I know have the filter run off into a 55 gallon drum where they mix in salt, run a power head and a heater. The water from the 55 gallon drum is then used for water changes.