Well I've been talked into it. My first marine tank arrives this week. Its only a baby though, 27 litres.....! I just want to find out what Im doing with it before getting a bigger setup if I enjoy it.

Luckily it is all ready to go, everything needed is in place, I just have to add R/O water and then live sand and rock.

Its too small to populate with more than one fish, so will try a clown and go from there.

I got some excellent advice from Clearwater aquatics in Leicester who are nice people with amazing fish if you are ever that way.

As per rules Dan, post pics when you get it set up Watched Finding Nemo last night actually, nice tank in the dentists office!

let me no when u get the tank mate i'll put the tap on make u some ro water or u can just borrow the unit only a small one so nice and portable.

would love to have a small salty tank but not got the space just now maybe someday good luck with it mate and as ian said pictures please

Will do, thanks James

I reckon you could squeeze a small nano in, 27 litres isnt much...............

Ok the tank is up and running. It has about a 1" layer of live sand in, and yesterday I went to get some fiji-an live rock. Got it home and dropped it in, and within an hour, small shrimps and some weird slug type thing had emerged from it and were wandering about. It looks really good and I think its going to make me get another marine set up shortly.

For anybody thinking they are hard work to set up- theyre not. Temperature right and salinity right, plenty of circulation, and it would appear as if maintaining it will be easier than tropicals as you dont gravel clean and it only needs a 20-25% water change once a month. The live rock is the filter and I have live sand in the sump underneath so its self maintaining to an extent.
After 4 weeks or so I might put a clown in, together with a cleaner crew of a turbo snail and a shrimp.
For anyone thinking about doing it- do!!

That looks really good for a small tank

That does look really nice for its size!

I am moving into my own house in july and want to get myself a tank again. Wouldnt mind something small like that.

Thanks people


It isn't finished yet, in 4 weeks I am going to buy some coral fragments so it will get more colourful. Will keep pics coming as it evolves

looks good mate

I guess your using the Berlin method then, just make sure that you have one powerhead pointing at the surface so the final stage of the process converting nitrate to nitrogen gas can happen. Your absolutely right though it is very easy to setup and maintain just abit more costly

JFK

Cheers mate, have now got 2 x powerheads in. Will bear that in mind- by the way the weird slug thing was a 'stomatella' if you know what that is. Albeit havent seem him for a day or so...........

Without good surface agitation you'll not get rid of the nitrogen gas and this will start to poison your fish, corals etc so its best to start off with this. Yuo camn point to the surface and still have it contribute to the overall circulation no problems.

If you have no ammonia/nitrite then I would start putting some cleaner crew in now a few hermits and turbo snails to start with, best to put these in before the fish as they will give you agood indicator that all is well.

I wouldn't add the cleaner shrimp until after you have fish in.

I'm in the process of setting up a 48 x 18 x 18" at the moment closing my 25G nano down and transferring all into the new setup.

JFK

Thanks mate, any advice gratefully received, very much learning still. How soon can I deploy a hermit and a turbo snail? I've got some green hair algae on the rock, Im assuming the snail will eat that.......... but I dont want to put him in if he'll get poisoned due a spike in params.

A 48" tank will look awesome, look forward to pics

you can add hermits, snails etc as soonas your ammonia/nitrite spike has reduced to zero, i assume your live rock was already cured when you added it to your tank so would normally only take a few days for this to happen.

JFK

Have ordered a small moray eel- he's awesome, black and yellow with a white mouth, about 5" long. Really cool, he hides in the rock but has his head poking out watching whats going on (In the LFS, was watching him)

Im going to wait until my params stablise before I take him home but will post a pic of the slippery addition when he arrives.

Dont want to burst your bubble mate but thats not a fish suitable for a tank your size. Morays grow into the feet in length and are also good escape artists.
You still got the small nano setup i assume.

JFK

Sorry forgot to mention in the excitement- Im collecting a Juwel Rio 180 to set up for him in the medium term, he'll only be in the nano for a month or so while the Juwel establishes.

Am hooked now

As I say he's only just 5" long and will be on his own. Do you reckon he will be ok in the nano for a month? LFS have mentioned their escapee tendencies and luckily the nano has a close fitting lid

He is a Echidna nebulosa by the way. I think the LFS were possibly a bit vague about their growth rate so may have to re-visit the idea if a 180 will be too small

Thanks for mentioning this I didnt think they grew much

They grow to 2 -3ft long so i hope your plans include getting a bigger tank when u need it.

You alos won't be able to keep crabs or shrimps or snails with it as it will use them as lunch.

Not an ideal fish for ur first in marine IMO but good luck with him, I would love to ahve one myself but don't have the tank space at the moment.

They are renowned for escaping through the smallest of holes as well so make sure there are no escape routes.

JFK