Fish Tank Advice

[BMFR6]

Think I'll be getting my daughter a fishtank for Christmas. I've done some looking online and talking with local fish stores to gather some info, just looking for any additional insight. I'm open to doing anything, but so far I am leaning towards a saltwater set up, probably around 25 gallons or so. I was hesitant to think about saltwater as I thought it would be more work and money, but from what I can tell its not that big of a difference. Start up seems to be about the same and the price difference when doing a water change is marginal. The price of fish could be a factor, but we'll just be doing small bright fish that a 3 year would like to look at, not some exotic species. Not having the freshwater smell is a plus as well. Any thoughts?

[CBR929RE]

freshwater doesn't smell. not very good about cleaning and changing the water here and it still doesn't smell. I think that smell is just in stores because of how many tanks they have with way too many fish in each tank. and a lot of places have carpet in that area and there's always water being spilled on it so it starts to smell.

[slowkermit]

I've done both, and had a 75g mixed reef tank for about 8years. It ended badly, but only due to complete neglect on my part.

What you're describing can be done with minimal extra maintenance vs. fresh water. Use the smallest and finest sand that you can find. 100% Live sand is the best way to go. Bigger chunks in the sand collect waste and produce nitrates. Same goes for rocks. Having rock that is non-live will lead to problems.

You need more water movement than in freshwater. Use an additional powerhead, separate from the filter pump. I have a Hydor Koralia Magnetic one that you can have if you go forward with saltwater.

Start slow with the fish. just a couple to start. You can always add more as you go, but if you overload, everything in the tank will suffer and you'll have a bunch of headaches with algae and such.

I think salt is the way to go. If you're gonna bother to have a tank, why not invest a little more and have the more colorful critters?

[Stromper]

If your daughter is under 12

She would be happy with a 10 gallon tank and gold fish that SHE is responsible for

Trip to Walmart ba bang kill the chlorine done and done

[OreoGaborio]

Rich..... she's THREE.


EDIT: Great. Thanks, Mark... now you got me thinking about getting a small salt water tank.

[BMFR6]

Sorry Pete.
But just an FYI "small" is apparently the wrong way to go with saltwater. Everything I can find says that around 30 gallons is a good starting point........ 55 gallons is better.
This is going to be a bad idea that is just going to get worse.

[jwm2k3]

Saltwater is much more temperamental than freshwater. Ive had saltwater tanks for 20 plus years....

The equipment needed is way way more than fresh or brackish water.

Look into African Cichlids. ..very colorful and quite easy to care for.

[gregp]

Look into African Cichlids. ..very colorful and quite easy to care for.

If you can keep them from killing each other. We have a 30 gallon tank with 7 Cichlids - started with 12. They get big, fast. Easy to care for, though.

[gregp]

The colors fade, as well. Or at least change. We have an orange one, that used to be bright blue.

[BMFR6]

I did actually consider Cichlids, but one of the biggest things I like about saltwater is the ability to make it as advanced or difficult as you want. I almost think of it like racing, some people get into racing and want to be the top expert as soon as possible. Some people may hit AM and decide thats where they are comfortable and stay there; they dont want to spend the time/money/risk to go any faster. We're starting with a fish only with live rock tank. If we like it and want to expand to hard/soft corals, more exotic species, anemones, etc. and make it much more advanced, we can. Not sure if that made any sense.

[MikeP]

If you are going to do salt water go with a small-medium sized (20-30 gallon) all in one tank, such as the bio-cube nano cube etc. They are much simpler to keep since everything is self contained and you can do water changes in one bucket. Plus you can spend more money on better equipment since you wont be spending so much on the tank/live rock. I would recommend at a minimum for equipment getting an RO/DI filter system, and basic controller to monitor for temperature and auto top off the evaporated water.

I've currently got a 100g and wish I stuck with the 22g All in one what is stared with as the maintenance was so much simpler

[BMFR6]

Well my initial thought was the Aquaeon 26 tank. Comes with everything so to speak, but the more I read I'm starting to lean towards purchasing individual components. The big problem I have with some ideas like yours, I'm pretty much limited to a HOB filter for the time being; auto-top offs, refuge's etc could fit the budget, but not the space. Tank placement is going to be on my daughters dresser, which is currently in use and not able to be emptied. Shy of drilling holes in the floor and running all the lines into my basement, any form of external system is pretty much out of the question. the Bio-cube is brought up a lot and I know they make a 29 gallon, is that what you've used? Any reason you would recommend that over any other "all in one" system? My only concern is that I don't want to buy an "all in one" system just to throw half the equipment away.

[Punjistick]

Wirelessly posted (HTC One X+)

The more money you have into it the more you have to start thinking about battery backups or generators in case the power goes out. Saltwater can get expensive fast if you want to do corals. Just fish w/ live rock shouldn't be as hard.

[MikeP]

The tank I had was a 22g from Cad Lights which was great, I looked on line and they discontinued it but they have a 28g instead. http://www.cadlights.com/index.php?m...roducts_id=249

Whats nice about these tanks is that you don't need any hang on accessories. Take a look at the picture at the bottom of the page, I ran mine with filter floss and chemipure/carbon in the first chamber and had a refuge in the second chamber. I changed the filter floss every week and did a water change every other week and never had any issues with nitrates. On a tank this small skimmers aren't necessary but if you wanted to you could put one in the middle chamber instead of the Refuge.

I also saw that JBJ has a 30 gallon AIO as well which looks nice as well and is a little cheaper.

[jwm2k3]

If you can keep them from killing each other. We have a 30 gallon tank with 7 Cichlids - started with 12. They get big, fast. Easy to care for, though.

The colors fade, as well. Or at least change. We have an orange one, that used to be bright blue.

I think Cichlids are very active and colorful. Ive seen them spawn over and over untill the tank had 50+ fish. Amazing. Im going to try them myself next tank I get. Like I said about Ive had saltwater for over 20 years, the last 2 years Ive been without a tank.

[jwm2k3]

I did actually consider Cichlids, but one of the biggest things I like about saltwater is the ability to make it as advanced or difficult as you want. I almost think of it like racing, some people get into racing and want to be the top expert as soon as possible. Some people may hit AM and decide thats where they are comfortable and stay there; they dont want to spend the time/money/risk to go any faster. We're starting with a fish only with live rock tank. If we like it and want to expand to hard/soft corals, more exotic species, anemones, etc. and make it much more advanced, we can. Not sure if that made any sense.

Well, thats quite a different situation than I had envisioned. Whenever I got the question of salt vs. fresh, as far as which way someone should go, I always caution them. Its freakin involved. I love/d it and will have another salt tank at some point,its just not as easy as pour in the salt and toss in fish, which most people want. By your last 2 posts, youve done research on animals and equipment. That makes me feel good. Go get that saltwater tank and fall in love. Take lots of pics....Best of luck!

[slowkermit]

Glad to see I'm not the only reef geek on here!

[Pigman]

Save your money and go fresh..... African cichlids and be done ogh and a Pleco too