anyone here has a Saltwater aquarium ? (BoyAlley? )
 

any pics?

how much did you spent on it all?
is there far more maintance to do, compared to a normal aquarium?
any good websites about saltwater aquariums?

just getting a little interested in this subject :)

Roger V is a bigtime tank afficianado

I'd hit it

http://www.save1004.com/angelfish2.jpg

i got a 20 gallon tank with saltwater, i only have 4 clownfish and this puffer fish int here right now

as far as mainttenance its the same as any other tanks, you just need to treat your water with salt solution and make sure its nice and warm.

besides the fish, it's really cheap to setup.. goto your local petstore and theyll hook ya up

The coolest fish are often the most difficult to keep.

DO NOT get an octopus.

Monthly maintenance is mandatory. You get a siphen/hose thing and drain 25% of your tank and put in a new batch of salt water.

It's more difficult to keep a salt tank, but they're WAY cooler IMO.

i think choker has one2

thanks for the info everyone

noone has any pics though?

and why shouldn't I get an octopus?

ive had saltwater tanks, evaporation in a really big tank leaves salt residue all over so i went to freshwater. ive grown live coral in salt, you can keep it simple or get really advanced (and spend a lot of money)

sorry have no pics of salt, heres my fresh setup

tiger oscar
http://bitav.net/tank1.jpg

female green terror with babies
http://bitav.net/tank2.jpg

male green terror after fighting with the jack depseys (protecting his babies)
http://bitav.net/tank3.jpg

full tank
http://bitav.net/tank4.jpg

thanks for the info BoyAlley and for the record, I put you in the thread title, since I once saw that "Saltwater aqariums" are mentioned as your hobby in your GFY profile....

I have a 135, here's a couple pics, I love taking pics with the "moonlight LED's" that come on at night, these aren't photochopped at all:

http://www.revengex.com/tank/01.jpg
http://www.revengex.com/tank/02.jpg
http://www.revengex.com/tank/03.jpg
http://www.revengex.com/tank/04.jpg
http://www.revengex.com/tank/05.jpg

oh yeah, for a good saltwater tank you need to blow around 10k which is just for the equipment, no livestock, then you figure about 3k will get ya a good first year batch of corals/fish to get ya started, then depending on the size of your tank and electricity cost, your tank will eat about $70 to $150 worth of electricity a month especially if you are in a warm climate and have to use a chiller. Then toss in about $50 a month for chemicals and water, another$25 for fish food, and then about $300 a year for light bulb changes.

It's a very addictive, very expensive hobby and if you do all the maintenance yourself you can esily spend about 10 hours a week doing all the work. BUT I LOVE WATCHING MY STICKS GROW :)-

My tanks are being built right now.

I agree with the boyalley, there is a lot more work to a saltwater tank then there is freshwater, but personally it is worthwhile. There is so much more interesting life in saltwater.

If you don't want to spend a lot of money be prepared to spend a lot of time doing cleanup etc.

If you are willing to spend money on equipment and such you can eliminate some of the workload but it still requires you to look in on the tank often. I usually only run my water quality tests once a month (or less as the tank matures) but I take a peek at the tank several times a day to make sure it's all functioning right...

good luck

PS - Gleem, tank is coming along nice man! Great shots.

thanks, just trying to keep the acros alive long enough that I can switch to well water, water here in SE florida is horrible, RO units can't get half the stuff dump in out so any tank has a lifespan of 1 to 2 years tops before a crash. Buddy just installed a well so that should get me over the SE florida hump.

your tankSSSSSSssss?? how many, what sizes?

ok last group of shots from today.

best shot of fish I could get now:
http://www.revengex.com/tank/06.jpg

my giant orange monti cap on the left, right is orange & neon green digi's:
http://www.revengex.com/tank/07.jpg

some zoos close to the glass and easy to take pics of:
http://www.revengex.com/tank/08.jpg

some of my monti caps, right is famous "idaho grape" the other is green with purple rim:
http://www.revengex.com/tank/09.jpg

my fave softy about 10" across and 8" tall:
http://www.revengex.com/tank/10.jpg

my fave "dragon eye" zoos:
http://www.revengex.com/tank/11.jpg

under the tank, quite messy, but just some of the equipment (octopuss 32" recirc skimmer)
http://www.revengex.com/tank/12.jpg

my RO/DI area and the resevouir top off 10gal tank below:
http://www.revengex.com/tank/13.jpg

1/3 hp chiller with built in UV mod:
http://www.revengex.com/tank/14.jpg

Very nice!!!:thumbsup :thumbsup

nice setups here

thanks for reminding me why i went to fresh water =]

ive got a 75gallon wet/dry on my 210 and one 2400gph pump. add a heater and some lights and im done.

if the algae bloom is down when i go to my uncles tonight ill get some pics of the 325gallon saltwater tank, really just for growing coral.

Damn ... we started a 58 gallon tank a couple months ago .. never cycled it properly .. killed about 300 bucks fish by accident .. felt horrible :(
we're back on the right track i think .. 0% nitrite and proper PH ... temp and everything .. back to 2 fish as of 2 days ago .. but man .. these tanks sure give us something to work towards .. the ones with live coral and anenomes are amazing .. beautiful .. and WOW talk about filtration ... BAM .. some serious " biological environment" being created there ... nice work .. !!

I'd rather just visit the Vancouver aquarium once in a while, It's awesome! Respect to you guys who can keep a saltwater tank though.

Salt residue all over... ? all over where.
Salt doesnt evaporate at all, it just doesnt.


Well said.
Marine/Coral tanks are a hobby, not a show peice.

I only have a small fresh water right now (40 gallon piller tank), but when I move to a bigger place there will be a large coral tank set up.
I like cleaning and taking care of the fish, its like I am god of a tiny little world. :thumbsup

I like cats

let me preface this with the following disclaimer... "im a little drunk" =)

yea it does, it depends on how much water your moving and your environment but i always had salt residue. example... a tall brass lamp placed near the tank after 6 months becomes heavily pitted and corosion starting.

the 325 gallon tank is in a seperate building behind the house (12x18) that has a window unit... after 9 months the ac started acting up, the fins fell apart. the salt ate it up.

there was one pc in that room, 2 intake fans and 2 out fans, the case was caked in a fine layer of salt at both openings and rusting badly when i "parted it out" just before christmas.

the dogs lick the salt off the walls.

i may have had a different salt environment then some... i was growing coral for resale, moving 10,000gph with 1600 watts of light.

LOL.. me too :thumbsup

well the smaller it is, the harder it is to keep the water at the proper levels, like my 135 gallon is easier to keep running. but I know people with 5 gallon tanks that are pretty sweet, it's a niche within the saltwater tank world called "nano reefs" checkout www.nanoreefs.com, pretty sweet stuff :thumbsup

yeah, salt does get in the air, but your typical tank doesn't do that, you just get a little "salt creep" here and there, and if you got fans blowing directly on your water in a canopy, you might rot out the canopy.

We have small one, I put fish and stuff in it I catch. It's a pain in the ass though. I have a huge supply of salt water so we try to replace 25% of the water a week with fresh stuff.

It's not the normal setup by any means and it's pretty much like a galdiator pit in their. Kill or be killed. Alot of work catching the right food for each to eat.

The seahorse we let go because it would only eat very tiny fresh shrimp (and they are a bitch to catch) and to do it every day was too much.

http://www.bikinivoyeur.com/fishtank.jpg

yeah, seahorses are tough, basically you have to make em a "feeding trough" and obviously if there are other fish in there they got no chance.


just hope you get your water from deeper out then a beach or a dock, most of the inlet water is crap down here in SE florida.

It's coming from the end of my dock which sticks out in the Indian River 400' and I'm not to far from the inlet.

..... where I caught most of these fish.

It's pretty good stuff.