# marine setups



## bollocklegs (Sep 19, 2009)

how easy are marine setups to run ?


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## SeanReptiles (Sep 24, 2010)

I own several marine fish tanks, depends if your willing for the time and effort.
Dont let anyone tell you, you need to have a tropical fish tank before hand lol. Thats a laugh, it's all different.
Seeing as i breed marine fish, i know alot i suppose. Just do alot of research, if youve got the time and effort im sure you will be fine.
Also its expensive!!!


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## bollocklegs (Sep 19, 2009)

yeah ive a few people tell me there easy . think i might stick to the malawi :2thumb:


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## Tommy123 (Sep 19, 2008)

Well I'm 12, and have a 130l marine tank and find the time to care for it. And I go to school, homework and clubs too, so I think anyone is capable; unless of course your out a lot of the time.


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## bollocklegs (Sep 19, 2009)

*marine*



Tommy123 said:


> Well I'm 12, and have a 130l marine tank and find the time to care for it. And I go to school, homework and clubs too, so I think anyone is capable; unless of course your out a lot of the time.


fair play to you mate :no1:


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## The T Lord (Mar 28, 2009)

Put it this way, if you're willing to spend minimum £300 on tank,gear,fish,coral,rock etc... and your happy to spend 3 hours a day give or take, their pretty easy going, getting into the grove of saltwater is the hardest part, its pretty easy afterwards, 

One thing i will say, DON'T start with a Nano setup (under 30 gallon) as their incredibally hard to maintain at time, go for at least a 4x2x2 to get started, so much easier but also more expensive


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

What do you do for 3 hours a day?


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## The T Lord (Mar 28, 2009)

Morgan Freeman said:


> What do you do for 3 hours a day?


Stare and wait to see any new hitchickers?:mf_dribble: :lol2:

Sometimes things happen like a leak from a phosban reactor etc... and you have to be prepared to spend up to 3 hours fixing things. :lol2:


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## jakk (Jan 22, 2008)

The T Lord said:


> Put it this way, if you're willing to spend minimum £300 on tank,gear,fish,coral,rock etc... and your happy to spend 3 hours a day give or take, their pretty easy going, getting into the grove of saltwater is the hardest part, its pretty easy afterwards,
> 
> One thing i will say, DON'T start with a Nano setup (under 30 gallon) as their incredibally hard to maintain at time, go for at least a 4x2x2 to get started, so much easier but also more expensive


£300!?....and the rest! : victory:



Tommy123 said:


> Well I'm 12, and have a 130l marine tank and find the time to care for it. And I go to school, homework and clubs too, so I think anyone is capable; unless of course your out a lot of the time.


how the hell do you pay for that tank??


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## smiff89 (Oct 22, 2010)

if your keeping a tank with just predatorial fish their ok and fairly simple if you want corals and the whole works then get ur wallet out their are so many tests to do and parameters to stick by its not a cheap or easy job and u will break down and cry at least once when something stops working but for the times its spot on and everythings ok and running its the 1 of the most stunning sights you will ever lay your eyes on.


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## bollocklegs (Sep 19, 2009)

*marine*



smiff89 said:


> if your keeping a tank with just predatorial fish their ok and fairly simple if you want corals and the whole works then get ur wallet out their are so many tests to do and parameters to stick by its not a cheap or easy job and u will break down and cry at least once when something stops working but for the times its spot on and everythings ok and running its the 1 of the most stunning sights you will ever lay your eyes on.


i know there absolutly stunning !!! ive got a 6 hundred litre fluval open top tank cost me a grand and ive got malawi in there at the mo but everytime i see a marine setup a bit of wee comes out :2thumb:


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## Tommy123 (Sep 19, 2008)

The T Lord said:


> Put it this way, if you're willing to spend minimum £300 on tank,gear,fish,coral,rock etc... and your happy to spend 3 hours a day give or take, their pretty easy going, getting into the grove of saltwater is the hardest part, its pretty easy afterwards,
> 
> One thing i will say, DON'T start with a Nano setup (under 30 gallon) as their incredibally hard to maintain at time, go for at least a 4x2x2 to get started, so much easier but also more expensive


I personally disagree. I feel anyone can start with a tank any size, as long as you have the funds, time and knowledge. I know many people who has started with 15-25g tanks and have had very few problems. But I do agree, the bigger the tank, usually the easier, but obviously if you don't have the funds, time or knowledge to keep a successful reef tank which is 30+ gallons don't go for it, just go for a smaller tank.
Tom



jakk said:


> £300!?....and the rest! : victory:
> 
> 
> 
> how the hell do you pay for that tank??


Do you mean just the tank? Or the whole setup? Well the tank was a £200 ebay job, and loads of equipment with it, and then I just bought second hand stuff. For the whole setup I've been saving for a while now, and it's worth it. I obviously wouldn't have started it if I didn't have the funds, so I made sure I did.
Tom


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## suziefttf (Nov 27, 2010)

I've been keeping various tropical setups for about 10 years. I was fortunate to receive a large amount of money, I set myself a budget and started purchasing the relevant equipment for a marine setup. I got a little carried away and bought a 5ft x 2 1/2ft x 2ft tank, little did I know, the bigger tank the bigger the cost, time and problems!! The extra equipement/ test kits compared to a tropical setup ate into my budget very quickly. I constantly had PH crashes and spent hours going to and from the fish shop purchasing water! After 6 months I had a reasonable setup with some stunning fish, I put the last fish in and he killed £250 of fish in 2 days :gasp: it was at this point I admitted defeat. Gutted really, it was a great experience and a stunning piece in my front room, but I'm sticking to tropical : victory:.

I wish everyone luck who undertakes this task and admire those with current marine setups :2thumb:



smiff89 said:


> if your keeping a tank with just predatorial fish their ok and fairly simple if you want corals and the whole works then get ur wallet out their are so many tests to do and parameters to stick by its not a cheap or easy job and u will break down and cry at least once when something stops working but for the times its spot on and everythings ok and running its the 1 of the most stunning sights you will ever lay your eyes on.


well said :no1:


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## deansie26 (Apr 28, 2009)

*budget*

I had no fish keeping experience prior so defo not an issue-Id say dont go for smaller than my tank 28G nano even if irs just for the reason "you will defo not have enough space for the great stuff you see" lol, 
I peronally think if your budget is under £500 think twice lol, you might get an initial set up but the hobby is a money pit, this is especially true for folk new to the hobby starting out.

I feel for you Suzie, Ive a nano with more fish than corals but when I do up grade in years to come I think quarantine tanks are the way to go

JAmie


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## *si* (Oct 12, 2010)

im a noob, but there are cheap setups out there if you look around, ive just bought a 300litre fluval tank from a local pet stor (specialising in marine fish) for £250 , this included everything, new light tubes rock ( ? dont know if theres live rock) pump, cabinet built in overflow and sump, heater, bio balls, bio sand for sump and enough salted ro water ( thrown in free) to fill the lot, the owner of the shops is delivering for free and helping me set this up in the week too, i have spent £1500 in his shop on vivs, leos and chameleon setups in the last few months so im sure theres some logic in his charitable sale of this setup but im sure there are a few around , i used the time looking for a tank cheap enough to research keeping a marine setup and i must say the advice on here is brill thanks to everyone.


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## jakk (Jan 22, 2008)

*si* said:


> im a noob, but there are cheap setups out there if you look around, ive just bought a 300litre fluval tank from a local pet stor (specialising in marine fish) for £250 , this included everything, new light tubes rock ( ? dont know if theres live rock) pump, cabinet built in overflow and sump, heater, bio balls, bio sand for sump and enough salted ro water ( thrown in free) to fill the lot, the owner of the shops is delivering for free and helping me set this up in the week too, i have spent £1500 in his shop on vivs, leos and chameleon setups in the last few months so im sure theres some logic in his charitable sale of this setup but im sure there are a few around , i used the time looking for a tank cheap enough to research keeping a marine setup and i must say the advice on here is brill thanks to everyone.


thats more than charitable thats a bloody miracle :2thumb:


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## berry1 (Sep 25, 2010)

that is a very looky find and i totaly agree with jakk thats a pure miracle find :gasp: :flrt:
it maby just me but i find my nano marine set ups much easier to mentain than my larger marine set ups and by a nano i mean a 5g my 5g fluval with 2 clowns is much easier to mentain than my 30g+ marine aquariums :blush:

my advice deffenatly is go for a nano marine about 15g to start if you can look after tropicals/malawis you can easily do marine well not purely easy but its no more work than trops 
when i first started i done a 15g aquarium the equipment i used was a skimmer 2 cheapy internal filters & a heater oh and 15 fish the 2 big mistakes were getting the skimmer and getting 15 fish witch is far to many but they all are still living now but i had to do extreme maintance 
the skimmer was a pure wast of money as weekly water changs done a much better job 
it realy makes me laugth when people say you need skimmers,reactors and many other rediculasly expensive pices of equipment that you realy can cope with out i run all my marine tanks with out skimmers and thats big and small aquariums :bash:


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## baldym (Sep 18, 2008)

*marine keeping*

One phrase m8 keep it simple and dont rush!! I have sold up now but if I were you do not spend out loads of dosh on metal halide lighting go for t5 tubes .Fish only systems are easier as if you say had white spot you can treat water if you had corals you cant coz the copper in the treatments kill them,The beauty of marine tanks is that they evolve and never stop changing corals also tell you if water condition is poor coz they close up and cleaner shrimps always shed in good water.Always have a decent protein skimmer and you can buy salt water mixed from decent marine aquatic shops and ro water.Go 4 it but be prepared 4 partial water changes.Its only hard work if you make it hard work.Its like anything m8 shops will sell you everything if your willing to buy it its how they stay open!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! good look: victory:


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## berry1 (Sep 25, 2010)

i do find protein skimmers a wast of money as i know tones of people that mentain marine aquariums sucessfuly with out skimmers and budget skimmers are crap so unless your willing to pay tones your not going to get a good one


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## Spuddy (Aug 24, 2009)

bollocklegs said:


> i know there absolutly stunning !!! ive got a 6 hundred litre fluval open top tank cost me a grand and ive got malawi in there at the mo but everytime i see a marine setup a bit of wee comes out :2thumb:


 
I think Malawi's are the best setups. I love mine and wouldnt swap it for the world. 

My favourite has to be my male Ndumbi Red Top. :mf_dribble:


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## berry1 (Sep 25, 2010)

Spuddy said:


> I think Malawi's are the best setups. I love mine and wouldnt swap it for the world.
> 
> My favourite has to be my male Ndumbi Red Top. :mf_dribble:


im glad you wouldnt swap it for the world i wouldnt swap my 12" parrot cichlid for the world but if youve not experienced marine you realy dont know what your missing out on trust me 

ive done malawis and they are amazing fish the next best to marine i would say acept my parrot but Ndumbi are pritty amazing fish :2thumb:


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## Spuddy (Aug 24, 2009)

berry1 said:


> im glad you wouldnt swap it for the world i wouldnt swap my 12" parrot cichlid for the world but if youve not experienced marine you realy dont know what your missing out on trust me
> 
> ive done malawis and they are amazing fish the next best to marine i would say acept my parrot but Ndumbi are pritty amazing fish :2thumb:


 
I think marines are lovely, and oggle over them everytime im in the aquatics store, they just seem rather expensive for all the equipment etc. Not that Im a tight arse, but Im afraid the monthly costs would be too much to keep up with. 

Not sure how true this is also, but the ratio of fish to water is alot less in marines than tropical, which also put me off a tad? 

Yeah the Ndumbi is my favourite fish, we suddenly lost our male, so had to go buy another, this one isnt as colourful as our first, but he was in a tank with aload of other males, so now hes the only one it should only be a matter of time until he asserts his dominance and colours up :2thumb:

Ive just bought some lovely Hongi Red Top's too.


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## Simonclarke2000 (Mar 3, 2009)

I currently have a sumped 4x2x2 setup, total of about 430 litres, been running marined for nearly 2 years now, great experience, but its a money pit, and addictive. there is always something new to try to keep your water paramaters stable, and those nice new lights coming out that are cheaper to run and look really good... and then you buy some more, and more and more...

i would never go back to tropicals from marine, although i would have a tropical/brakish setup.

All tanks require work, no matter the size. a little tank takes less time to clean the glass, but is more unstable with temp and param swings. the bigger the tank the more the equipment costs. i spent £600 on powerheads the other day with a controller... and that was cheap! i could have spent another £300 easily.

there are some well known dedicated marine fish forums Ultimate Reef is very good. i promote RFUK on there loads so nice to show someone the light of marines!

you may be lucky and find someone selling up near you, if you want to start and dont have a huge budget, look for that, you can pickup a full running setup for £500 that way. otherwise on a 4' setup with new equipment your looking at the following (im working on what mine cost with sump)

4x2x2 tank, 3x2x18" sump and tank stand - £700
Live Rock (40Kg's) - £480 (£12per kg)
Return Pump - £80
powerheads - £600
Skimmer - £300
Lights - £350

total new: £2510 - ouch!

that doesnt include corals, water and fish...
if going for a bigger tank buy yourself an RO unit, so much easier. and cheaper in the long run! 

also lookout for local reef clubs, there's lots of them about, and the forum i mentioned above will have them listed 

and if ever you need help i have the same UN on there


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## deansie26 (Apr 28, 2009)

*?*



berry1 said:


> i do find protein skimmers a wast of money as i know tones of people that mentain marine aquariums sucessfuly with out skimmers and budget skimmers are crap so unless your willing to pay tones your not going to get a good one


If you see what a decent skimmer skims you would agree there not a waste of money.


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## owlbassboy (Jun 26, 2008)

The T Lord said:


> One thing i will say, DON'T start with a Nano setup (under 30 gallon) as their incredibally hard to maintain at time, go for at least a 4x2x2 to get started, so much easier but also more expensive


rubbish, i started off with a nano and have been successfully running it for 3 years now


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## Iwantone (Dec 2, 2010)

deansie26 said:


> If you see what a decent skimmer skims you would agree there not a waste of money.


Yep, I have to agree on this one. I have a Deltec MCE 600 on my 220 litre Seahorse tank and it's brilliant. You should see what it pulls out of the water and my maintenance is tip top. The only reason I don't have one on my reef tank yet is because I would have to move the tank slightly to fit a hang on skimmer on it and that won't be an easy job.

As has been said previously you have to be prepared to spend time on the tank and set aside time for water tests etc. If you don't maintain the tank properly you will encounter problems at some point. I have 3 marine tanks ... 220 litre seahorse tank, 130 litre reef tank and a 40 litre Dwarf Seahorse tank. I spend hours and hours on my tanks every week. And I spend a lot of time watching them lol. I would never go back to tropical fresh water now but oh boy were they easier to look after.


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## Arachnoking (May 21, 2005)

SeanReptiles said:


> I own several marine fish tanks, depends if your willing for the time and effort.
> Dont let anyone tell you, you need to have a tropical fish tank before hand lol. Thats a laugh, it's all different.
> Seeing as i breed marine fish, i know alot i suppose. Just do alot of research, if youve got the time and effort im sure you will be fine.
> Also its expensive!!!


 
ooo kool. Can i ask, out of interest what marine species do you breed?:2thumb:


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