I worked with husky this summer. turns out his starcraft money was enough to get himself a mitsibushi evo... :cool2:
Any Salt Water Aquarium Peeps in here?
- Thread starter stussy5555
- Start date
I worked with husky this summer. turns out his starcraft money was enough to get himself a mitsibushi evo... :cool2:
Any reason for saltwater and no freshwater? I guess no reef or live rock for freshwater, but might be easier and should be cheaper?
One awesome thing that you can do though if building into the house is make it as easy as possible with maintenance and build in your ro units, holding tanks, sump etc so that you just have a nice looking tank without the other pieces laying out in the open.
One awesome thing that you can do though if building into the house is make it as easy as possible with maintenance and build in your ro units, holding tanks, sump etc so that you just have a nice looking tank without the other pieces laying out in the open.
Lol, that's exactly the same shit I went through with "reefing" years ago before I discovered AM. I was a brokeass nigga too, working in IT and barely paying the bills but spending $100+ on one fish or coral etc. I must've spent well over $20K-$30K on my tank back then, it becomes an addiction in terms of the type of shit you can buy.
OP: I've done it all in terms of saltwater. It's the shizz to look at, but sucks maintaining it. If you're going for a fish only tank, then make sure you get a good protein skimmer and a shitload of live rock. If you go for a full blown reef tank, then that's a hell of alot more but looks so much more pimpin than just a fish only tank.
The best forum hands down for saltwater shit is http://wwww.ReefCentral.com (not a cockroll). PM me if you have any questions about setting shit up.
Thanks guys, I appreciate all the info on this. I sure as hell won't be maintaining the tank, I will have someone come over and do it. I'm not pretending to know shit about it. For me, I just enjoy watching fish (salt water is even better because of the colors, options, etc). I can sit and do it for hours, I guess it's kind of like Yoga for me lol
Lot of science (real science) to owning and maintaining any sort of saltwater tank.
It's best if you understand the entire eco-system. Water quality. What fish get along and what don't. What live rock to seed your tank with. Live sand. Equipment. Filters, chillers, lights, skimmers, etc, etc. Why you need certain equipment and why do don't.
A problem with big tanks, especially if you have live rock and corals is the lighting. A bunch of metal halides product a lot of heat. If you water exceeds a certain temperature (in many cases 78 - 80 degrees - sometimes lower) corals die releasing toxic shit into the water killing everything else. So, big tanks require BIG chillers. A chiller for a tank that size can be several thousand dollars for just that one piece of equipment. I've seen guys use chest freezers and route lines through the inside of the freezer as a makeshift chiller. It works.
This is also why you see a lot of fish only tanks with a couple lonely sharks swimming around. Sterile, boring, much easier to maintain.
Guessing how much a tank that size will cost, once you have it all pimped out and stocked is a total crapshoot. Not even going to try. There so many variables.
Best advice, particularly if you don't want to delve into all the intricacies yourself, talk to a knowledgeable company with a good reputation for building and maintaining your mini-ecosystem.
If you can afford it, you'll really enjoy it.
Disclaimer: my Mom used to own a pet store that specialized in salt water. I never got into salts because I knew how much maintenance and cost was involved. My favorite fishies were cichlids and catfish from the African rift lakes (Malawi and Tanganyika)
It's best if you understand the entire eco-system. Water quality. What fish get along and what don't. What live rock to seed your tank with. Live sand. Equipment. Filters, chillers, lights, skimmers, etc, etc. Why you need certain equipment and why do don't.
A problem with big tanks, especially if you have live rock and corals is the lighting. A bunch of metal halides product a lot of heat. If you water exceeds a certain temperature (in many cases 78 - 80 degrees - sometimes lower) corals die releasing toxic shit into the water killing everything else. So, big tanks require BIG chillers. A chiller for a tank that size can be several thousand dollars for just that one piece of equipment. I've seen guys use chest freezers and route lines through the inside of the freezer as a makeshift chiller. It works.
This is also why you see a lot of fish only tanks with a couple lonely sharks swimming around. Sterile, boring, much easier to maintain.
Guessing how much a tank that size will cost, once you have it all pimped out and stocked is a total crapshoot. Not even going to try. There so many variables.
Best advice, particularly if you don't want to delve into all the intricacies yourself, talk to a knowledgeable company with a good reputation for building and maintaining your mini-ecosystem.
If you can afford it, you'll really enjoy it.
Disclaimer: my Mom used to own a pet store that specialized in salt water. I never got into salts because I knew how much maintenance and cost was involved. My favorite fishies were cichlids and catfish from the African rift lakes (Malawi and Tanganyika)
How do you like the biocube ly2? Been looking at those for a long time, and having a hard time pulling the trigger because of the mixed reviews. Seems like people either love 'em or hate 'em.
What's your take?
The biggest problem with saltwater tanks is they're impossible to talk about without sounding like a massive douchebag.