Converting a freshwater aquarium to marine???
Vickie Cusack
home and was wondering if anyone could give me some advise. At the moment
it is set up for freshwater tropical fish (water is already in and has been
for 3 weeks). The company who have installed it plan to stock it with
cyclids. However my husband and I are now looking more into a marine tank
due to the fact that they seem to be much better looking and the variaty
seems greater. Can anyone advice me on what i would need to change in order
to convert it to a marine tank
Specifications are:-
Dimensions 10ft x 3ft x 1.5ft (w x h x d)
Filtration 2 x External thermofilters with internal temperature control Make
EHEIM 2250
Lighting 2 x pendant lighting units 58w linear florescent make ARCADIA
2 x external air pumps make EHEIM not sure if 1250 or 3250
Decoration Volcanic linear rock, sand
Any advice that could be given on achieving my aim of having a marine
aquarium would be greatly apreciated.
Vickie Cusack
L. G.
<vic...@cusack.com> wrote:
>Can some one please help me. I have just had a big aquarium set up in my
>home and was wondering if anyone could give me some advise. At the moment
>it is set up for freshwater tropical fish (water is already in and has been
>for 3 weeks). The company who have installed it plan to stock it with
>cyclids. However my husband and I are now looking more into a marine tank
>due to the fact that they seem to be much better looking and the variaty
>seems greater. Can anyone advice me on what i would need to change in order
>to convert it to a marine tank
>
>Specifications are:-
>
>Dimensions 10ft x 3ft x 1.5ft (w x h x d)
This should make a really nice SW tank.
>Filtration 2 x External thermofilters with internal temperature control Make
>EHEIM 2250
You may be able to use these. A lot depends on the type of SW tank,
reef, fish only, fish only with live rock, etc.
>Lighting 2 x pendant lighting units 58w linear florescent make ARCADIA
Probably you'll need more light.
>2 x external air pumps make EHEIM not sure if 1250 or 3250
These may be usefull.
>Decoration Volcanic linear rock, sand
Again, it depends on what type of system you want.
>Any advice that could be given on achieving my aim of having a marine
>aquarium would be greatly apreciated.
>
>Vickie Cusack
Search the rec.marine newsgroups with Google. www.google.com for info.
Also go to this webpage for SW aquarium info:
http://saltaquarium.about.com/mbody.htm
--
Larry Gamache
DefLizard
approx a 300 gal tank. Expect to spend something like $30 to $50 a
gallon when your thru getting your marine tank completely set up! Now
that's $9,000 to $15,000! Since you have a service set this up for you,
you obviously have little if any hands-on experience, which you
absolutely need for a successful marine tank. Its just not about
getting all the gadgets, equipment, etc. and viola, SW Aquarium. Its a
long road ahead of study, research, and work, work, work. Enjoy your FW
tank for awhile, read the internet, get some beginner marine books,
search Amazon for titles. visit some SW marine stores, talk to people
(but don't believe everything you hear) see, explore, research, etc. and
then, if knowing the investment involved, work required, etc. then got
for it. Remember, a marine aquarium cannot be left on its own for more
then a weekend or so, and requires almost constant tending to, and
marine aquariums requires almost daily attention and maintenance.
Ciao!
Converting a freshwater aquarium to marine???
Group: rec.aquaria.marine.misc Date: Sat, Aug 10, 2002, 6:27pm (PDT+8)
From: vic...@cusack.com (Vickie Cusack)
http://community.webtv.net/deflizard/doc
regards, John
Broke Kyle
Steve Conley
> Can some one please help me. I have just had a big aquarium set up in my
> home and was wondering if anyone could give me some advise. At the moment
> it is set up for freshwater tropical fish (water is already in and has been
> for 3 weeks). The company who have installed it plan to stock it with
> cyclids. However my husband and I are now looking more into a marine tank
> due to the fact that they seem to be much better looking and the variaty
> seems greater.
Hi Vickie,
Before you go that route, I recommend that you get a copy of the
Baensch Aquarium Atlas (at least the first volume) and flip through
the cichlid section. Cichlids are much more colorful than the typical
freshwater fish you find at Petsmart or other chain stores. If you
have a good local fish shop that caries a lot of cichlids you should
visit and look at what they have there. You will find that cichlid
coloration is often as dramatic as that of many marine fish (in fact,
they are frequently mistaken for marine fish by people who see them
for the first time), and in addition to their good looks cichlid
behavior is also very interesting as they are considered to be one of
the most intelligent varieties of fish.
The Baensch atlas states that there are over 900 described species of
cichlid, and I would imagine that many more have been described since
that was published, so there is a great deal of variety. In fact,
since many cichlids breed quite readily in captivity and most marine
fish do not, the variety of _available_ cichlids is probably much
greater.
I hate to promote freshwater fish on the marine newsgroup, but I do
think you should reconsider this. Keeping a very large aquarium of
any type is a serious commitment of time and money. If you are having
an aquarium service handle everything for you and money is no object
then by all means, do a huge reef, it will be beautiful! However,
part of the joy of aquaria for many if not most of those who enjoy
this hobby is getting involved in the care of the fish directly, and
even with an aquarium service taking care of a lot of it you may still
find yourself wanting to tinker with things, move things around, or
try some new species you read about. In that case, it will be a lot
easier to start doing things yourself with a freshwater setup. You
will also be less dependent on the aquarium service if you decide
they're too expensive or you just get tired of them coming to your
home all the time.
One last thing to consider: if you have or are planning on having
children, cichlid spawning behavior is absolutely fascinating and, as
I mentioned above, cichlids often breed easily in captivity. Many
cichlids form pairs and actually raise their young together. This can
be an extremely valuable educational opportunity for kids!
Whatever you decide, good luck to you!
Steve