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Click to see some pictures of marine tanks
If you enjoy watching marine fish and invertebrates, or if you want to start your own marine aquarium, WELCOME. Here you will find almost all the info that you will need - if you are not an expert yet on the keeping marine subject, I could surely give you a quick head start.
START UP
To start your tank you'll need to make sure that this is what you really want to do. A brand new tank can be very expensive to start up and takes several weeks to mature fully (if you use RO - Reverse Osmosis or DI - DeIonized water). On the other hand you can buy a second-hand tank which saves you hundreds and has already matured. "Mature"- meaning the tank's ammonia and nitrite level has broken down fully and there is hardly any sign of nitrates. Ammonia is produced by fish "poop & pee"and fish food. When ammonia breaks down it turns into nitrite, which is not as dangerous to fish but is still harmful. Nitrite breaks down to nitrate and when this happens, your tank has almost reached maturity. Now you need to do a water change before the nitrate level picks up and becomes dangerous.
Within the 4 to 6 weeks of your tank maturing you should keep an eye on your fish (if you've already put some in to help speed up the process of your bacteria growth)for stress. If they look stressed (darting around, gasping for air or not moving), I suggest a partial water change. You should always keep "already salt-mixed" and dechlorinated water handy. Water that evaporates is freshwater and must only be replaced by freshwater.
In the first few weeks algae will start to grow (Diatoms - dreaded brown algae) on almost everything. Brown algae feed on silicates (large amounts in tap water) found in your substratum. Use treated tap water and aragonite sand to avoid this type of algae of spreading to much. You should syphon off as much as you can after a 10-20% waterchange has been done. Later on green algae will take over.
To keep any algae in control (after all- not all algae are bad) try to add a few hermit crabs and astrea snails (1-2 per 50l) herbivore fish like Tangs and surgeons and simply by limiting nutrients.
Reducing nutrients is symply doing partial water changes with RO or DI water which contains virtually no nutrients (25% RO water gives 25% less nutrients). Beware red slyme algae - caused by poor lighting, high nitrate & phosphate levels, poor or dirty skimmers and tanks that has a to large bacteria load. To get rid of this dreaded algae you should start using RO or DI water only from now on and add kalkwasser with water changes and top off water. Use fresh activated carbon to remove excess organics and clean your skimmer regularly from now on.
For more info visit HERE
All i can say is READ, READ, READ as much as you can and ask questions.
Click to read about some beginner marine fish
Equipment needed :
- 3 Foot or bigger fish tank with stand/ hood ( R 550.00 )
- Heater- Hydromatic heaters are very precise ( R 150.00 )
- Coral gravel and instant ocean sea salt- 120l ( R 300.00 )
- Canister filter/ sump or built in trickle filter ( R 1000.00)
- power head(bigger the better) to move water ( R 300.00 )
- Protein skimmer, don't go to cheap with this( R 500.00 )
- Lighting(Tricomatic or triton, actinic 03 and blue moon)
- Light ballast 40W (R 80.00)
- Airpump (R 60.00)
- Decoration (R 100.00)
Click for a full view of my tank. I want to change it to a bigger 4 foot tank.
My Tank-Setup
For "DIY" click here or here and try building your own equipment.
