staring a nano tank

tommaso889

Hey im an thinking of staring a nano tank with a couple of clown fish but first i have a few questions.
1 what size tank do you think i should for ( uk litres if possible)
2 how much sand a rock would i need for that size tank.
3 how much would it cost (gbp)
4 can i use just a regular fw filter
5 What equiptment do i need

And 1 more thing im only 14 .

willieturnip

1) Whatever size you want
2) 1-2lbs per gallon or rock, either under an inch or over 4 inches for sand depth
3) You could do it for under £300 before stocking. My 60 litre has cost about £200 just at the point where it's ready for fish, but I already had a lot of kit kicking around.
4) NO. Marine and freshwater couldn't be more different if they wanted to be, especially in terms of filtration.
5)
- Powerheads (over 15x the volume of the tank per hour shifted)
- Decent lighting (not just bright!)
- Salt
- Live sand
- Live rock
- Skimmer (preferable, not necessary)
- Hydrometer/refractometer
- Test kits (not dip strips..)
- Heater
- LOADS of research

One thing I will say is don't rush into it or take it as a walk in the park. Having a tank this size is like having a baby, I wouldn't recommend leaving one for more than a day or two (and that's still with someone with reasonable knowledge of feeding and skimmer cup draining etc).

tommaso889

thanks willieturnip i have 1 more question i am thinking of keeping it im bedroom wat size tank would you reccomend

willieturnip

Depends how big your bedroom is I suppose?

I would recommend literally any size you want. I know a lot of people say that bigger thanks are much easier to handle, because the higher volume of water is more stable and I completely agree with them. However, big tanks are MUCH more expensive and instead of buying budget kit for a large tank you could buy really high end equipment for a smaller tank.

Another thing to take into consideration is water changes. On a small tank, lets say for arguments sake 10% would be a gallon or two. On a large tank, were talking 30 gallons +.

Now you have to ask yourself, are you prepared to actually change 30 gallons of water per week?! Now ask yourself the same, but with 3 gallons.

Your far more likely to actually care for a small tank correctly.


You also have to think about how noisy marine tanks can be. I'd go mad if I had one in my room.

willieturnip

Yet another think to think about is the traffic that goes through your room. However vein it sounds, I find it much more rewarding to have a stunning marine tank in the living room than in a bedroom. Simply because more people see it/are awe struck by it.

tommaso889

ahh okay ill give it some thought