New to Marine tanks

[beetlejuice403]

Hi all, am interested (always been fascinated) to start a marine tank (a NANO one) for my little gal (actually also for myself... ), however, have almost zero knowledge (even after reading up articles on the Net & browsing another local forum) about it & would like to hear advises/ suggestions from all experts in here...

1) Tank - Am intending to buy & use a 2nd-hand Gex Genoah 235 Tank set (24 cm cube - comes with the original GEX light & hang-on filter).

2) Sand - Intend to collect (I know I may violate some laws here but... ) from the beaches here over the weekends... Will throughly wash it & then boil it before introducing to tank. (is it enough?)

3) Liverocks - Hopefully can get some pieces from the bros in here as visiting the Fish Farms is abit inconvenient (without car & have to bring my gal along...). Don't mind paying a token sum for it.

4) Livestocks - For these, really need some advices... Think most probably will start with a FOWLR set-up (always liked the behaviour of clown fish, so what other livestock can co-live well with it?). How much livestock can the tank accomodate? Which LFS can I visit to get these healthy livestocks @ reasonable prices?

5) Water - Will be using aged tapwater & then adding in some marine salt.

6) Water change - What will the frequency be like & how much?

7) AOB - Any other things/ issues that I'll need to take note of? Please do enlighten me...

Hope to learn more about marine tank from the experts in here... Cheers!!

PS: Anyone who got spare liverocks to spare, do PM me & I'll reply to you ASAP. Thanks!

[Solo77]

Hi Bro,

Welcome.

For the tank, you may want to see the sell forum. Someone selling the RedSea Max Tank, worth considering as it is everything in one except for chiller. If you only want to keep fish only, dont really need a chiller but must ensure temperature dont hit above 30/31..

For the tank mentioned, it seems to be a freshwater setup. For marine setup, a skimmer is required. So if you acquire the tank, you need to explore those hang on skimmer or those house in the tank(take up space...)

For sand......think collection should be fine...be tactical...but beware wait coast guard mistaken you as selamat...hehe....anyway...u better find a place to collect your sand...most sand on the beach are very dirty....even i recycle those reefer's sand, i got hard time washing them....

Liverock....look at the forum....kind soul will like to give but will snatch up fast. However, usually, they are small. To have one that can do up nice scape....either search and buy or pray for kind soul to give...hehe....look for those decom....

Livestock....clown fishes,.....there are quite a few....so you must do your selection.....but bear in mind....maroon clown is fierce...once u choose them....unlikely you can keep other clown.....false per is common and cheap...maybe can start with this to test water.....true per & black ocellaris are expensive.....clarki clown...tomato clown(find them fierce also)...shunk clown,...saddle back clown....etc. Go search the net to see all the different clown and study their characteristic before deciding....clown is compatible to most marine fishes....just make sure you dont buy small clown and get those big meat eater like lionfish...they might eat your clown...

water - aged water and saltmix....think most will start up with this. However, u will need to let your tank run for weeks to complete its cycle. If not, by adding livestock, the livestock is unlikely to survive. tap water might promote algae growth(even though aged). You need to have equipment to test the SG level.

Top-up....is required to managed SG level and water replacement is encouraged on weekly for basis 5 to 10%(estimation). Frequency can drop if your tank matures. However, if you are hardworking to do water parameter check, you may not need to change water if they are good.

The above is based on my knowledge which may be wrong.....so take it with discount and wait for senior reefer to advice before commiting.

All the best and there are helpful reefers ard to assist. Oh, there are also shops selling full setup ...1 to 1.5 nano tank and price is around $500 plus. You may consider that as it will include everything - rock, coral, fishes, tank, etc except chiller.....

Where you stay...maybe can tag along with brother to farm or shop to see see look look to understand more...seeing is believing...hehehe...

Hi all, am interested (always been fascinated) to start a marine tank (a NANO one) for my little gal (actually also for myself... ), however, have almost zero knowledge (even after reading up articles on the Net & browsing another local forum) about it & would like to hear advises/ suggestions from all experts in here...

1) Tank - Am intending to buy & use a 2nd-hand Gex Genoah 235 Tank set (24 cm cube - comes with the original GEX light & hang-on filter).

2) Sand - Intend to collect (I know I may violate some laws here but... ) from the beaches here over the weekends... Will throughly wash it & then boil it before introducing to tank. (is it enough?)

3) Liverocks - Hopefully can get some pieces from the bros in here as visiting the Fish Farms is abit inconvenient (without car & have to bring my gal along...). Don't mind paying a token sum for it.

4) Livestocks - For these, really need some advices... Think most probably will start with a FOWLR set-up (always liked the behaviour of clown fish, so what other livestock can co-live well with it?). How much livestock can the tank accomodate? Which LFS can I visit to get these healthy livestocks @ reasonable prices?

5) Water - Will be using aged tapwater & then adding in some marine salt.

6) Water change - What will the frequency be like & how much?

7) AOB - Any other things/ issues that I'll need to take note of? Please do enlighten me...

Hope to learn more about marine tank from the experts in here... Cheers!!

PS: Anyone who got spare liverocks to spare, do PM me & I'll reply to you ASAP. Thanks!

[fishbear]

For the tank, you may want to see the sell forum. Someone selling the RedSea Max Tank, worth considering as it is everything in one except for chiller. If you only want to keep fish only, dont really need a chiller but must ensure temperature dont hit above 30/31..

For the tank mentioned, it seems to be a freshwater setup. For marine setup, a skimmer is required. So if you acquire the tank, you need to explore those hang on skimmer or those house in the tank(take up space...)

Hi, have just started last year. Based on whatever limited experience I have, a skimmer is very important for small tanks.

I don't use a chiller as my tank but i compensated by putting it in one of the coolest place in my home but it depends on the livestock you want to keep as well.

For me it takes about 4-5 months for the tank to stabilize.

[hermitcrab]

Hi Beetlejuice

Personally, i try using sand from beach along time back, but the quality really cannot compare, end up the tank water become more yellowish, alot of algae growth on the sand. I read that is because of the silica content of the sand.

Now i am using sand prepacked for marine tank, the effect is really different. without the yellowish water, the fish look so much better.

Try clementi for aquarium parts IMO for cheaper deal. Please dun buy clown fish for the sake of Nemo, pardon me for saying this, do not buy fish bcos your gal say the fish is nice to have. I waste alot of money last time bcos of this. There are more fish with personality than clown out there.

[MachoMarlin]

.........

2) Sand - Intend to collect (I know I may violate some laws here but... ) from the beaches here over the weekends... Will throughly wash it & then boil it before introducing to tank. (is it enough?)

Don't use those East Coast or Changi sand, I used to collect coral sand at west coast 'beach'. as now most of it had become a container port, probably can try the Mac. Donald's side, if it is still accessible. But if you do get them, soak it up for at least a week, with daily change of water and boil it at least twice. That area had become quite polluted and need extra work.

The easier alternative is obviously to buy. If you are not talking about those exotic Philippines bead sand (dunno what it's called) the coral sand will only set you back by afew dollars and save alot of hussle, especially you are not driving, believe me!

[beetlejuice403]

Hello & many thanks to Solo77, fishbear, hermitcrab & MachoMarlin for your advises & suggestions...

Had bought & collected the NANO [GEX Genoah 235 - 24cm cube tank] tank set already... Now in a rather 'stun' state as to how to continue getting started in my 1st ever NANO marine tank... [As this is my first time into Marine & starting with a NANO (real NANO), don't think will invest heavily in stuffs like RSM, skimmer, chiller etc...]

Should be collecting some live sand from a kind soul soon (preferbably by this coming week) & hopefully will be able to get a piece (or few pieces) of live rocks from kind bros in here that can be placed inside my 24cm cube tank [i actually don't need that much live rocks right given the limited small space for this tank?]

However, will need guidance on how to cycle my tank (sorry, but I'm a very step-by-step kinda person...):

1) After I'd gotten the live sand/ rocks (whichever is earlier), should I straight away place them into my Gex tank?

2) I do not have access to sea/DI/RO water, so I'll be using aged water from the tap & will be adding some marine/sea salt (courtesy of the bro who sold me his GEX tank) to the water instead.

3) I do not intend to buy a refractometer, but the bro suggested that I could get a guage-like thing that cost cheaper instead [Have no idea what it is called & where to buy it from, anyone?]

4) Will let the live sand & rock cycle in my tank (with Gex's Hang-on filter on all the while) for about a week [is it long enough?] before I go get my livestocks. Is there any important water parameter to test in my tank before I introduce the livestocks? Are there any good/ cheap test kits that I can get & from where?

5) As for livestocks, was advised that fish farms in Pasir Ris do have wide choices & at reasonable prices. However, had never been to one mainly due to transport issues... (Any bro here intends to go to the fish farms there & dun mind me tagging along, please do let me know, so that I can learn more about this hobby...)

Hope to get replies from you all experts & kind souls soon...