new marine tank help!

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Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
May 29, 2008
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hey i have had 12 years of freshwater fish expericnce and have decided to start a marine tank Not a reef but the slightly larger marine fish i was think along the lines of possibly a trigger eels puffers lion fish etc along those lines but i need help

i have a 180 liter tank spare which i wanted to use i need to know what will i need to turn it into a marine tank i need prices etc i nkow u mite sya to look on the internet and believe me i have the problem is every where contradicts every where and i figured as u guys are the best id get ur advice as ur not gonna try n sell me something i dont need like some of my lfs would. so basically what i have so far is i also wat to know what could i put in a marine tank this size for life?

my 180 liter tank

2 fluval 405s which i will use as filtration but any more additional filtration i mite need would be very helpful (i do not want a sump etc)

everything else i eed help with so please give me some advice :popcorn:

and thats about it
 
about 45 gallons.. you're not really going to be able to keep much by way of monster in there...

maybe something like a dwarf lion, serranid (type of grouper) and an angel? or smaller tangs depending on dimensions
 
Stay away from using the canister filters, unless you are planning on just using it with just filter floss and nothing else. Just be sure to stay on top of cleaning it, as it will become a nitrate factory otherwise.
You can get yourself a Hang on filter like an Aquaclear 110 or 70 and modify it to become more like a small refugium. You can do a search for that.
Remember to get a lot of live rock. You usually want at least about a 1.5-2:1 ratio on rock weight to water amount for enough bacteria.
Just a few things to help you get started.
 
skene;2456976; said:
Just be sure to stay on top of cleaning it, as it will become a nitrate factory otherwise.
Click to expand...

:iagree:

skene;2456976; said:
Stay away from using the canister filters, unless you are planning on just using it with just filter floss and nothing else.
Click to expand...

but not with this.. i find it's usually the floss that clogs and starts the ticking on the nitrate bomb.
 
That's why I told him about staying on top of cleaning.

Need to cover all bases. Filter floss not really. It really is on the substrate that is in the canister which creates the nitrate factory. If you keep in mind that bacteria needs time to break down the waste properly, it does not have a chance to do this.

The canister keeps water flowing to quickly. So everything that you try to take out gets thrown back into the water. That is why it is more important to have a good amount of live rock.
You can have a SW tank itself be a stand alone unit where you do not need anything but water flow for oxygenation. Waste will be properly broken down by bacteria within the tank. You do not need anything else other than that, but to do water changes so that you remove other wastes.

Just something to put into perspective.
 
kl thanks i was thinking fish only tank say 1 lion fish but id have some live rock in there 4 extra filtration
 
Its kind of hard to give advice unless we know what to advise towards.
Like all things you want to make sure that you get a full cycle, and that bacteria is flourishing.
Read up on tank cycling if you are not aware of it by now.
There are too many variables to say that you should do this or do that.
One good thing about SW tanks is that it is easier to maintain than a FW tank.
Once you get it started properly, there is little that you need to do to keep it going.
Although failure is not as forgiving.
 
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