| Posted in Aquarium , Fish , marine fish | Posted on Friday, August 21, 2009
I grew up around the tropical fish hobby/pet business, I have been keeping, and raising and mostly selling freshwater fish my whole life, but never really got into the saltwater segment of the tropical fish hobby. Not that I haven’t wanted to, I have always found the color as well as behavior of reef fishes to be an amazing thing, just never got into it because sometimes being on the business side of the industry takes away from your enjoyment on the hobby side.
Well I have finally taken the plunge and decided to step into the world of marine fish and creatures. For the last few weeks I have been reading every article I can find on the internet and every printed piece of material I can find on marine aquariums, supplementing what I already know about freshwater tropical fish, with the many differences in keeping marine life forms. I recommend ‘The New Marine Aquarium
’ by Michael S. Paletta, as almost required reading for anyone planning to enter the world of marine aquariums, or even those who may have been keeping marine fish for a few years now.
Last Saturday I stripped down my 180 Liter Bow Front Aquarium, which used to house freshwater discus, removing it of everything. I filled it back up with water, added some tap water conditioner, waited until the temperature reached 75°F then added some Instant Ocean sea salt.
I let the tank run for two days, removing all the media from my Canister filter, allowing the salt to mix properly, then added about 20lbs of live rock. The following day I added a mixture of 40lbs CaribSea Indo-Pacific Black Arag-Alive and 20lbs of Estes black marine sand. Tonight I just added about 10lbs of red lava rock and positioned it underneath the live rock in hope that in a few months down the road the lava rock will essentially become “live rock.”
I’ve been testing the water and keeping an eye on the nitrogen cycle, in about a week or maybe two I will add either a couple of damsels or a couple of clown fish, see how it goes from there and then a few weeks later start adding some invertebrates.
I don’t blog that much, but I’ll try to keep track on the goings on in my new aquarium here.
Current set up:
Fluval Vicenza 180 Liter Bow Front Aquarium w/2 T5 Power GLO bulbs
Fluval 205 Canister Filter
Hydor Koralia 3 circulator pump
The pics not the best, it was taken with my Iphone, but there really isn't much in the aquarium either.
Well I have finally taken the plunge and decided to step into the world of marine fish and creatures. For the last few weeks I have been reading every article I can find on the internet and every printed piece of material I can find on marine aquariums, supplementing what I already know about freshwater tropical fish, with the many differences in keeping marine life forms. I recommend ‘The New Marine Aquarium
’ by Michael S. Paletta, as almost required reading for anyone planning to enter the world of marine aquariums, or even those who may have been keeping marine fish for a few years now.Last Saturday I stripped down my 180 Liter Bow Front Aquarium, which used to house freshwater discus, removing it of everything. I filled it back up with water, added some tap water conditioner, waited until the temperature reached 75°F then added some Instant Ocean sea salt.
I let the tank run for two days, removing all the media from my Canister filter, allowing the salt to mix properly, then added about 20lbs of live rock. The following day I added a mixture of 40lbs CaribSea Indo-Pacific Black Arag-Alive and 20lbs of Estes black marine sand. Tonight I just added about 10lbs of red lava rock and positioned it underneath the live rock in hope that in a few months down the road the lava rock will essentially become “live rock.”
I’ve been testing the water and keeping an eye on the nitrogen cycle, in about a week or maybe two I will add either a couple of damsels or a couple of clown fish, see how it goes from there and then a few weeks later start adding some invertebrates.
I don’t blog that much, but I’ll try to keep track on the goings on in my new aquarium here.
Current set up:
Fluval Vicenza 180 Liter Bow Front Aquarium w/2 T5 Power GLO bulbs
Fluval 205 Canister Filter
Hydor Koralia 3 circulator pump
The pics not the best, it was taken with my Iphone, but there really isn't much in the aquarium either.
