Any other fishkeepers out there?

ziffius

madfrenchgirl wrote: »

Dooble-bug!!!! OMG! Can you post some piccies on here, your tanks sound great!

DKLS, I can understand you are reticent to marines: they cost so much! I mean I am always sad to lose a fish, but usually they are only max 7 pounds a pair in the case of a gourami. A clown loach starts at 20 quid minimum. Lionfishes look very beautiful but they get 60 quid for a didly one! Plus the shops will not guarantee them.

Pink and ziffius, we have an external and very silent external pump (Fluval 305) that costed about 70 quid. We used to have a bulky filter box inside the tank and the pump packed up. We then realised that new pumps would not fit in the bracket so decided to go for external and it is so silent! The only problem is the darn air pump that makes all the noise now!

Coming back to marines, Ziffius, we know a lady that has one and she said the same thing, they ar enot that difficult to take care of. Is it possible to just get a normal tank and convert it into a marine?

Also does anyone have this fluffy brownish/black algae growing on their plants from time to time and is there a way against it?

The most important thing in a Marine tank is the protein skimmer, it removes a lot of the crap and puts it into a cup above the water. The big problem with fluvals etc is that they don't remove what they filter from the water until you clean them out, so it really is important to clean the filters out regularly. One you've had a protein skimmer, there really is no going back.

You can convert a tank to marine easily, but it really depends on how many fish you want in there, the less fish you stock it with the easier it will be and on the size of the tank.

For a light tank you should be able to get away with a simple air driven protein skimmer, the fluval might cope depends on the size of the tank. You will need retro fit the hood with t5 lamps (most tropical use t8). T5's will allow you to have a couple of basic corals, leathers, xenias, zoos. Those are generally cheap.

Some people drill a hole in the back of the tank, get some cheap plastic piping and plumb it in so that the water overflows into a smaller tank (sump) underneath the main tank. You can then put a skimmer out of sight in the cabinet, and use pump to return the water to the main tank.

You will need a couple of inches of sand on bottom, it acts as a filter. You can avoid the brand names and go for Underworld sand, seapets do it I think.

You need a few kilos of live rock, there's always people selling it on eBay, it also acts as a filter, it's great to watch the fish swimming in and out of it.

You need get a cheap plastic salinty meter. And also a cheapy PH meter from ebay, it can be a cheapy one, you only really need it for doing water changes so the ph of the water going in is the same as the ph of the water coming out. You can use bicabonate of soda & caclium hydroxide to raise the ph, white malt vinegar to lower it. You will need an extra heater, as you need match the heat of the water going in too, if you don't already do that with your tropical.

I used to buy the water test kits for nitrates etc but don't bother any more, If you get a cheapy pulsing xenia coral, they will usually tell you when to change the water as they stop pulsing.

If you put some plants if there, they will grow and absorb nitrates as they do. You then remove the oldest parts from the tank, and as you do you remove the nitreats that the've absorbed.

I paid £300 for mine on eBay, and that was for a high-ish end 3ft 270 litre aquamedic tank. That came with live rock, sand, salt, pumps, halide light luminaire, crabs, high end skimmer, couple of corals and a starfish.

If you hunt around, you can find cheaper shops. I brought a 4 inch lionfish for £20, was gutted when I lost it after a year as it was quite happy eating cheapy sainsburys prawns and never ate any of the fish.

You can normally pick up nemos for around £7-£10, kids love them and they breed.

Fortyfoot

celyn90 wrote: »

I have gourami, I used to have other fish too, but one of the gourami is really aggressive and killed them all I'm just waiting for her to die before I restock properly. Tanks looks a bit bare, but new fish just don't stand a chance with that one in there. Really strange; I'd understand if it was a terratorial male, but it's definately a girl. Never had that problem with the pearl ones either, they are really peaceful, but this particular opaline is a one-fish killing machine.

You could put a post on here -

http://www.aquarist-classifieds.co.uk/php/tropical_fish.php

Fortyfoot

tiamai_d

ziffius Thank you for that post! Lots of information. :T

So... what do you know of sea horses? Mainly, how do they cope in a house with two noisy children?

Great tip about the Bicarb and Vinegar, the cost to buy the Ph altering stuff is horrific!

madfrenchgirl

Wow what a lot of info! I am impressed... Will definitely start a marine tank when the house is finished! I shall hunt for big tanks that people want to get rid of on freecycle in the meantime!

Does the thing with removing the old parts of the plants removing the nitrates, work in a freshwater tank too?

Anyone had any luck keeping and breeding Five line killis?

ziffius

tiamai_d wrote: »

ziffius Thank you for that post! Lots of information. :T

So... what do you know of sea horses? Mainly, how do they cope in a house with two noisy children?

Great tip about the Bicarb and Vinegar, the cost to buy the Ph altering stuff is horrific!

Heard seahorses can be quite delicate, they are a little prone to diseases and the males often get air trapped in their pouches, which can be fatal. You have to squeeze the air out by hand! so best not to have any air stones or anything.

Also heard the seehorses like tall tanks as opposesed to wide tanks, and need some branching corals like seafans to curl their tail round. They also will curl round any airline piping that you have.

If you buy any seahorses, make sure that they are tank bred, as they are alot more hardier.

If you mix them with other fish, they have to be completely non-aggressive. Yellow Gobies are good with them. Carn't remeber what it's called, but there's also cousin of the seahorse that's shaped like a pencil.

on moneysaving, you can save a fortune by using labpak chemicals. You can get a 3kg tub of Calcium Hydroxide for £7.99, where if you buy the branded stuff from a fish shop it will cost £12 -£5 for 500g. They also do iodine, magnesium, selenium etc. Their website leaves a lot to be desired http://www.lpchemicals.com/product.asp?ProdID=215&CatID=32
and they have a minuium order value of £50. But You order it from here instead though http://www.coralculture.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?cPath=43_193&products_id=389&osCsid=52c2n9gvnsjtjj200u2or82mp0

You can also save quite a but of money on any vitamin supplements, I use abidec childrens vitamins (liquid) that you can get from any chemist. Miles cheaper than anything from a fish shop and still does the job.

ziffius

madfrenchgirl wrote: »

Wow what a lot of info! I am impressed... Will definitely start a marine tank when the house is finished! I shall hunt for big tanks that people want to get rid of on freecycle in the meantime!

Does the thing with removing the old parts of the plants removing the nitrates, work in a freshwater tank too?

Anyone had any luck keeping and breeding Five line killis?

I would think that it would work for freshwater too. The things they absorb, phosphates and nitrates are pretty similar to the stuff that you find in plant fertiser with the N-P-K .

A lot of people put the plants they remove (for marine anyway) on eBay, and make quite a few quid. Can be quite a good money earner if you can be bothered with it.

tiamai_d

Ha, son gets abidec on prescription anyway!

Will leave the sea horses for when the kids leave home and I have empty nest syndrome.

Tropical tank after Christmas.

onejontwo

You can use bicabonate of soda & caclium hydroxide to raise the ph, white malt vinegar to lower it


Hey ziffius , can this be applied to freshwater as well as saltwater?

It would save me a fortune as I keep discus and the PH has to be bang on!

I am awaiting your answer with baited breath! (get it?...fish....bait......oh well it was funny at the time.)

tiamai_d

Onejontwo I would assume it could be used for both. After all marine fish are more sensitive than tropical and even if it plays around with saline content or what not, most tropical fish can tolerate, and enjoy a bit of salt anyway. Just my 2 cents!

ziffius

onejontwo wrote: »

You can use bicabonate of soda & caclium hydroxide to raise the ph, white malt vinegar to lower it


Hey ziffius , can this be applied to freshwater as well as saltwater?

It would save me a fortune as I keep discus and the PH has to be bang on!

I am awaiting your answer with baited breath! (get it?...fish....bait......oh well it was funny at the time.)

Can't see why not, though you need really need to use a PH meter so you don't add to much. Bicarbonate of soda is always a good thing, as it also increases the PH buffer (KH), which helps keep your PH constant.

With vinegar, you need to make sure it's the cheap own brand stuff White Distilled (clear) Malt, 5% Acidity. Only takes a few drops for it to have an effect.