my marine nano.

well here's my marine nano. i got 3 electric blue leg hermits and a devil's finger coral. ignore all the algae it doesn't exist lol.

full tank shots





coral



coral from the side



and 2 hermits

hiya gary, that looks great! What does it take in the way of maintenance etc, and are you going to add anything else?

maintenance is simple enough. the tank itself is only about a month old so i haven't had to do much with it so far.

all you need to do i watch the stats so lots of testing amd weekly water changes once the stock is in. the tank only finished cycling last week so i kept testing for a week to make sure i'd get no more spikes then started stocking yesterday.

next week i'll be getting another coral probably a toadstool and maybe another invert of some kind then keep an eye on stats. and if everything is still ok i'll get a apir of clowns and some zoahs coral. been looking out for some pretty coloured ones and haven't seen any yet.

Has it cost a lot to set up? I would love a marine set up.

time to show my nooby ignorance now

When you cycle a marine tank do you just do the same thing as for a tropical tank - add ammonia and wait, and also how do you make the water salty enough and how do you know WHEN it is salty enough? I presume you dont just dip your finger in it, taste, and then sprinkle a bit more table salt in

so far it has cost £269.94 including a lovely coral i just won on ebay.

go for it diana so far it's not been too bad

hey evie

to cycle a marine you just put the live rock in and the tank cycles itself. you just keep an eye into a the stats you will get a spike in both amonioa and nitrite.

in my cycle i got no nitrite and it cycled in a matter of days.

i use natural seawater so i don't have to mix any. to test the salinity you use a refractor meter or hydro meter.

if you don't use natural water you need to buy salt from your lfs and mix it with r.o water. it's water that is filrtered in a speacial filter that forces the water through a membrane and removes nearly everything nasty from the water and leaves you with pefect h2o

sorry gary, but what do you mean by live rock - is that the name of a type of rock or is it really alive like coral?

it's rock that is very porus and has lots of bacteria that live in it and on it just like the filter sponges in freshwater tank. you also get lots of little critters that live in it that come crawling out every so often.

the live rock is what filters the tank. you use a power head to create alot of flow around the tank and this forces the water through the rock and filters the water.

sorry i'm not very good at explaining things.

no, you're great at explaining things gary - thanks for taking the time

np problem at all. i'm always willing to help people understand the hobby better (fresh and saltie)

This is interesting! I have never thought of having a marine tank because I didnt know you could have it in a small set up, but your tank doesnt look that big at all.

On the subject of RO water - can you buy it, or do you have to do a load of faffing to make it?

Looks good though, and it will be good to see it with some fish in.

it's only 8 gallons. you can have a nano tanks but water conditions can get bad very quick so this tank proably wasn't the best choice for my first marine. but it was much cheaper to setup.

you can buy ro water but it's more cost effective to make it yourself.

but i don't need to get much ro. i only need it to top up evaporation water as i use natural sea water.

sorry double post. how'd that happen

Do you have to test your sea water for impurities gary. I assume you get it from the sea do you? Isnt that a bit dodgy??

i don't think so. the sea is so big i think anything dodgy would be diluted very quickly. plus i get it from a blue flag beach they have to pass water quality tests etc.

That's a good option then gary. Do you literally just take a bucket down to the beach and get some from the sea, or do you look for clean pools etc.

that sounds like an neasy way to get your water, but I dont think a bucketful of water from the Mersey would do them much goood!

yup the last time i went down it was nice and calm so i just rolled my trousers up and went for a wade. the beach i collect from has a nice natural harbour of rock about 50 metres out so the water is perfectly clear. i go when the tide i just turning to come in. i think the water is clearer then but i don't have a clue why

here's an update. today i got 2 clown fish and a toadstool coral. i got my zoas off ebay too. here's a few pics.

full tank shot.



clowns.









toad stool.





zoas





hermit

That looks great, gary. I'm intrigued that you just collect natural seawater for it, given the amount of effluent that's discharged into the sea. I haven't come across that before as most people seem to mix salt with R.O. water but, if as you say, it's a blue flag beach then I'm sure it's safe enough. A far cheaper option too!!

How often do you add the seawater then? Do you have to do weekly water changes the same way as tropical tanks? Also, with a nano, do you have to have a skimmer, sump and all that malarkey too? As you can see, we're all living vicariously through your experience. Btw, that little hermit crab is just gorgeous.

thanks mary. the herits are right wee charaters.

nope the tank has no sump no skimmer. just 5 kilos of live rock 12lbs of live sand some carbon and filter floss which will be coming out soon.

i do water changes evry week now. but all stats have been fine anyway.

lol this is probably the best time to see all the mistakes you could do. just watch me then don't copy.

Well I'll give it six months, see how you get on and then plague you with more questions...

Mary wrote:

Well I'll give it six months, see how you get on and then plague you with more questions...

and i'll be here to tell you exactly how you shouldn't have done it

Mary, you are getting dangerously interested in all this malarky. Do you live by a beach by any chance?????