Got a new fish tank

[spidey07]

Always wanted one. A nice reef tank with tons of coral and some fish.

Its a modest 30 gallon cube but I intend to put some live rock in it and get it prepped for some fish/coral.

Get tank and buddy to help you out.
Poor water/sand in
Turn on filter
Profit!

"They" always say not to start out with salt water, but dangit I wanted one. I want a dang octopus.

 

[gw186]

Cool, have fun and we need :camera:

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: gw186
Cool, have fun and we need :camera:

heh, pics of the big murky milky tank way wouldn't quite do right now.

off to put some salt in it.

 

[eyecandy86]

Yes, :camera:'s. I never had the patience to keep up on fish. They always died from starvation or an extremely dirty tank.

Ew, bad memories.

 

[SWScorch]

Hope you're prepared for a lot of work. Salt water is tough to keep clean and all the levels proper. My 55 tropical tank is a bitch to keep clean, especially since I'm away at college 90% of the time.

 

[littleprince]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Get tank and buddy to help you out.
Poor water/sand in
Turn on filter
Profit!

I hope not... If thats what you think, or the octopus your in for a real surprise. Those poor critters....

 

[DaiShan]

Salt water tanks are great, but a lot of work. What type of filter are you using (and media?) I also recommend checking the compatibility chart http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/compatibility_chart.cfm before purchasing fish. Also, you might consider purchasing a few damsels and other cheap fish while the tank cycles, this will ensure you don't lose any expensive fish while the tank is getting set up.

 

[DaiShan]

Originally posted by: SWScorch
Hope you're prepared for a lot of work. Salt water is tough to keep clean and all the levels proper. My 55 tropical tank is a bitch to keep clean, especially since I'm away at college 90% of the time.

I hear that, every trip home I have to clean it lol. I'm thinking of moving it down here to my apartment, but I'm not sure of my living situation next year yet.

 

[Baked]

You better put a couple water cleaner in there unless you like moss and chocolate flavored water.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: DaiShan
Salt water tanks are great, but a lot of work. What type of filter are you using (and media?) I also recommend checking the compatibility chart http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/compatibility_chart.cfm before purchasing fish. Also, you might consider purchasing a few damsels and other cheap fish while the tank cycles, this will ensure you don't lose any expensive fish while the tank is getting set up.

Thanks for the tips.

I figure it will take me a good month before the tank is ready for any fish (get rock/tank stablized)

Now gimme my octopus!

 

[Howard]

The bigger the tank, the easier it is to maintain.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Originally posted by: Howard
The bigger the tank, the easier it is to maintain.

Yep, a 30 gallon is not a tank for a beginner. You'd have a much better chance of keeping things alive if it was 90 gallons or larger.

 

[spacejamz]

I say we take bets to see how it takes that octopus to escape...

Hey OP, not sure if you know this but the octopus is known for its ability escape. This animal is not for beginners (your water conditions must be maintained perfectly!!!!) or it will die shortly...

I strongly suggest you start out with something more hardy (even a lionfish) would be a better start...

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt

Originally posted by: Howard
The bigger the tank, the easier it is to maintain.

Yep, a 30 gallon is not a tank for a beginner. You'd have a much better chance of keeping things alive if it was 90 gallons or larger.

meh, if a little chemicals does good - more chemicals = better, right?

 

[FrustratedUser]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt

Originally posted by: Howard
The bigger the tank, the easier it is to maintain.

Yep, a 30 gallon is not a tank for a beginner. You'd have a much better chance of keeping things alive if it was 90 gallons or larger.

meh, if a little chemicals does good - more chemicals = better, right?

OMG!
I suggest you start out with sausages in the tank. At least they can't die.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: spacejamz

I say we take bets to see how it takes that octopus to escape...

Hey OP, not sure if you know this but the octopus is known for its ability escape. This animal is not for beginners (your water conditions must be maintained perfectly!!!!) or it will die shortly...

I strongly suggest you start out with something more hardy (even a lionfish) would be a better start...

yeah, I love those guys. I'm seriously considering duck taping the entire top down with even more duck tape on the filters/etc.

If not the kitties will have something to play with.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt

Originally posted by: Howard
The bigger the tank, the easier it is to maintain.

Yep, a 30 gallon is not a tank for a beginner. You'd have a much better chance of keeping things alive if it was 90 gallons or larger.

meh, if a little chemicals does good - more chemicals = better, right?

I know you're pulling our legs. I know... right?

 

[eLiu]

My parents kept saltwater fish for a while. Let me tell you it's hardcore keeping those things alive. I can't tell you anything about octopus, but we definitely had all the colors of the rainbow in two tanks (something like 50-60 gallons each).

I would strongly suggest doing freshwater first until you're comfortable with raising fish...because if you kill freshwater fish, it won't cost you much. Replacing saltwater fishies (and octopus too I suppose) isn't cheap.

 

[tfinch2]

If you need any help with it or advice, check out my friend's forum that he runs...

http://www.maast.com

 

[Maximus96]

here's a picture of my 20gallon tank that i had for a little over a year. i took it down and sold everything about 1/2 year ago.

 

[Wuffsunie]

Congrats on starting it!

My roommate has a 15 gallon salt. Really nice, it's been going about 5 months now.

Be prepared to spend ungodly amounts of money on it. What kind of lighting and skimmer you looking at/got?

And you'll want to go to reefcentral.com, their forums section has one dedicated to octopus. Not easy to keep, so good luck with that!

 

[trmiv]

I have a 37g reef, I love it. Soon I'm either getting a 12g nano cube for another reef, or upgrading my 37 to a 65. Not sure which yet.

I would suggest visiting Reef Central and browsing the forums and also going to Nano-reef.com and check out the forums there. I'm a member and regular poster at both. There is a ton of great information there.

And please, don't purchase damsels to cycle the tank like someone mentioned above. There are many more safe, and humane ways to cycle a tank than with live fish.

I would also recommend staying away from an octopus. They are very difficult to care for, and are VERY good at escaping from any little tiny hole in the tank.

If you have any questions, feel free to PM me here or there.

 

[TwoMix]

Get a good skimmer! If you dont have a sump most people would recommend the RemoraC or 2nd up is the CPR backpack.
check out:
aquariumadvice.com and reefs.org

 

[dud]

Consider the consequences of going salt. I have a 120 gal fresh water with live plants and it's easy to maintain. With salt u have to monitor the specific grav of the water, buy a protein skimmer, UV, etc. I did it for a while and found (IMHO) that it's not worth it. The number of fish/gal of water is less for salt and 30 is pretty small to. Your going to be really limited to the size/number of fish u can keep alive in only 30 gal.

 

[trmiv]

Keeping a fish only salt tank isn't really that difficult if you have good husbandry practices. A reef tank is more difficult than a fish-only tank though. On a reef you have to monitor not only salinity, pH, and temp, but alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, and it's a good idea to check nitrate and phosphate too. There are also many other things you can test for, but I don't. I test for the stuff I mentioned, and do a 7 gal water change every week, which keeps most everything else in line. I also drip limewater into my tank at night to keep the calcium and alk up because of the organisms I have that use it (SPS corals, my crocea clam, LPS corals).