Salt Water Tank Question

[Reptilian]

Hey all-

I was in Petco looking at the fish and the little nemo ones caught my eye. The Clown fish. I love 'em they are so cute. Of course they're also salt water fish. I know a salt water tank isn't really something for a beginner, but I was just curious, can you have a small salt water tank?

Like a 20 long? I know I am not taking into consideration fish size, etc. But was just wondering the smallest size that can be used to start a salt water aquarium.

I picked up a book on salt water aquariums and just skimmed thru it and it say a 'normal' size would be a 50 gallon. Though looking online I've seen it as small as a 29 gallon.

So yeah....I'll probably stick to mollies or tetras. LOL.

[wilomn]

You can keep anysize saltwater that you can fresh. The problem is that salt water fish tend to be more delicate and you have to aritficially maintain water conditions. The smaller the volume of water the quicker the changes, both for good and ill.

A 20L is doable, just get good equipment and go to a real fish store, not a petco, to get some advice from people who actually keep saltwater fish.

[PythonWallace]

I don't have any answers, but I've been reading up on saltwater and reef tanks a lot. I don't have room for any tanks, but once I'm in a house the first thing I'm getting is a HUGE saltwater tank with a spotted ray and some angels. Let us know how it goes if you eventually end up setting up a SW tank.

[jknudson]

You can keep anysize saltwater that you can fresh. The problem is that salt water fish tend to be more delicate and you have to aritficially maintain water conditions. The smaller the volume of water the quicker the changes, both for good and ill.

A 20L is doable, just get good equipment and go to a real fish store, not a petco, to get some advice from people who actually keep saltwater fish.

Wes nailed it. Larger systems are much easier to maintain, water parameters tend to change much more rapid in a smaller tank. You can set up a "low maintenance" nano tank for a single clownfish.

Here is a 12g Nano Reef that I had setup for a single (Amphiprion percula) Percula Clownfish aka "Nemo's close cousin"



The maintenance of this tank consisted of a 2 gallon waterchange with freshly made saltwater every 5 days, and I replaced the evaporation with RODI water on a 2-3 day basis. Feed minimally, and I simply dosed calcium and other trace elements to my desirable level, although water changes helped with much of that.

I kept the tank mainly for corals, so I kept the specific gravity a bit higher than I would for a fish only tank.

If you're interested in smaller setups check out:

www.nano-reef.com or
www.reefcentral.com under the Nano Tank Section of the "Special Interest Forum"

If you have any other specific questions feel free to PM me.

Jason

[PythonWallace]

Jason, what kind of light did you use for that nano reef?

[jknudson]

Jason, what kind of light did you use for that nano reef?

54 watts of Compact Fluorescent lighting. I had some plans to tinker with it and mod a 70w Metal Halide into the fixture but this tank was just zoos and mushrooms and the like...and the bubble tip anemone did wonderful under them aswell... why fix what ain't broke?

[PythonWallace]

Sure, if it works leave it. Have you ever seen the 105w+ CFs? They're self ballested and fit a standard medium mogel/socket so you can make cheap hoods with high output. I've been buying them in different color temps since they came out at $70 for an 85w, but you can get the 105w at any color temp. now for around $25, I believe.

[icygirl]

DON'T buy saltwater fish at Petco. JUST DON'T. They die too quickly even if you are a SW expert and give them perfect living conditions - and there is no guarantee on them. Go to a reputable local fish store instead. They will also be able to provide you with better information as well.

[Reptilian]

Thanks guys for all your answers.

LOL I forgot I even posted this...

I'll look into the nano thing. I really don't want many fish and if I do I want a F/O (fish only) tank. I may just look into freshwater fish, like I said in my first post, just stick to mollies and tertras.

[lencerpetro]

I have no question because I never use it, but I want to know about that the maintenance of tank consisted of a two gallon water change with freshly made saltwater every 5 days, and many people replaced the evaporation with RODI water on a 2-3 day basis.