fish selections.... 10 gal, going to 55 gal soon.

[Frosty]

You might check out half price books to, I've gotten quite a bit of my books on saltwater from them.

 

[HeadlessRoland]

I haven't gotten to saltwater level of experience yet, I'd wait till I have my own house first. I'd probably keep the tank, hood, and stand and probably sell everything off...or keep it. Idk

Oddly enough, salt actually gets easier the bigger you go, because there's more room for variable water parameters, and it's less susceptible to rapid temperature change. Overdosing by a few mLs won't affect the chemistry too much in a large tank, whereas doing the same in a nano could spell instant death.

Moving livestock is a pain, but with planning, it's doable. Portable aerators are key. Bass Pro Shops sells a neat little $10 D-battery-operated aerator that works really well for temporary situations, meant for anglers and fishermen, but it works fine with 5-gallon Home Depot buckets too.

As a small sidenote, if you keep the tank, you will find something to fill it with. No two ways about it.

 

[Caleb]

You might check out half price books to, I've gotten quite a bit of my books on saltwater from them.

I'll do that next time I'm in Indy

 

[Frosty]

I don't want anything in tap water in my tank. Not cations, not salts, not metals, not chloramine, nothing. I dose nothing. Not Ca, not Mg, nothing. So long as ammonia/nitrites/nitrates are in check - and they always are - I don't worry. I provide excellent feed, but I don't dose anything for freshwater. Salt is a different story, but I dismantled my salt after the lionfish went berserk and went after a couple of my benthic sharks and wound up costing me four figures worth of livestock went tank parameters spiralled into oblivion when they died while I was on vacation. Ever since then I've had a really sore spot in my throat and won't go back to saltwater.

Man I love lionfish, they are a beautiful fish, I'd love to get a 75 for one, and maybe a Picasso triggerfish... Those guys are badass!

 

[Caleb]

Oddly enough, salt actually gets easier the bigger you go, because there's more room for variable water parameters, and it's less susceptible to rapid temperature change. Overdosing by a few mLs won't affect the chemistry too much in a large tank, whereas doing the same in a nano could spell instant death.

Moving livestock is a pain, but with planning, it's doable. Portable aerators are key. Bass Pro Shops sells a neat little $10 D-battery-operated aerator that works really well for temporary situations, meant for anglers and fishermen, but it works fine with 5-gallon Home Depot buckets too.

As a small sidenote, if you keep the tank, you will find something to fill it with. No two ways about it.

It's not just the moving of livestocks, it's also the expensive fish that breaks wallet at the moment. If money was no problem, I'd probably go saltwater with some guidance from ya'll and a big tank.

 

[HeadlessRoland]

Man I love lionfish, they are a beautiful fish, I'd love to get a 75 for one, and maybe a Picasso triggerfish... Those guys are badass!

Oh, he was gorgeous. I never had any trouble with him, he would take food almost right from my hand, kept to himself pretty much. Occasionally he would get into it with the Foxface, but generally speaking, a laid-back guy. One day he just snapped and started nipping at the sharks, and by the time I got home my housesitter was trying to explain to me how I had lost the lottery. If I could go back in time, I'd do two separate predator/aggressive tanks rather than housing them all together. In hindsight, it was a disaster waiting to happen that I should have foreseen. You've never really appreciated how quickly things can go bad in salt-water until you see a partially-decomposed nurse shark bobbing around the corpses of all your other livestock.

 

[HeadlessRoland]

It's not just the moving of livestocks, it's also the expensive fish that breaks wallet at the moment. If money was no problem, I'd probably go saltwater with some guidance from ya'll and a big tank.

Wait. Build up the wallet. Then do it. It took me five years to go saltwater. I spent the first year researching sizes, what types of fish I might want, what setup I wanted (full reef), the equipment needed to handle the bioload, electrical requirements, structural stability to support almost two tons of weight, the plumbing, the overflow (BeanAnimal setup), sump size, refugium - everything. Then it was a matter of watching the prices, seeing when the best deals were, black friday, etc. Then purchasing a bit at a time after shelling out for the tank and paying a friend to fabricate the stand from steel. It all slowly came together as money came together, and it took a long time. But when it was done, it was exactly what I wanted, and the satisfaction from getting precisely what you desire cannot be overstated. It was worth the wait - until it wasn't.

 

[Frosty]

Wait. Build up the wallet. Then do it. It took me five years to go saltwater. I spent the first year researching sizes, what types of fish I might want, what setup I wanted (full reef), the equipment needed to handle the bioload, electrical requirements, structural stability to support almost two tons of weight, the plumbing, the overflow (BeanAnimal setup), sump size, refugium - everything. Then it was a matter of watching the prices, seeing when the best deals were, black friday, etc. Then purchasing a bit at a time after shelling out for the tank and paying a friend to fabricate the stand from steel. It all slowly came together as money came together, and it took a long time. But when it was done, it was exactly what I wanted, and the satisfaction from getting precisely what you desire cannot be overstated. It was worth the wait - until it wasn't.

That's my problem right now, waiting, in fact I've been slowly building mine, and I'm to the point that I've lost interest, I guess it's better now than when I had livestock to worry about.

 

[Caleb]

Wait. Build up the wallet. Then do it. It took me five years to go saltwater. I spent the first year researching sizes, what types of fish I might want, what setup I wanted (full reef), the equipment needed to handle the bioload, electrical requirements, structural stability to support almost two tons of weight, the plumbing, the overflow (BeanAnimal setup), sump size, refugium - everything. Then it was a matter of watching the prices, seeing when the best deals were, black friday, etc. Then purchasing a bit at a time after shelling out for the tank and paying a friend to fabricate the stand from steel. It all slowly came together as money came together, and it took a long time. But when it was done, it was exactly what I wanted, and the satisfaction from getting precisely what you desire cannot be overstated. It was worth the wait - until it wasn't.

I'm not in a big rush to go saltwater...just working on my freshwater for now, my daughters seem to enjoy them. I can't wait to see how much they would enjoy it when a bigger tank goes in.

 

[HeadlessRoland]

That's my problem right now, waiting, in fact I've been slowly building mine, and I'm to the point that I've lost interest, I guess it's better now than when I had livestock to worry about.

If it's just a boredom issue, don't worry, folks online will hook you back into the hobby.

 

[Frosty]

Oh they will love it, kids always seem drawn to aquariums, and the more colorful the fish the better. Those Africans will be like trained dogs after awhile.

 

[Frosty]

If it's just a boredom issue, don't worry, folks online will hook you back into the hobby.

ive got a 10 I might build up a little better for my son, it will be a heck of a lot easier on the wallet, maybe a couple clownfish and a war coral or something they can host.

 

[HeadlessRoland]

I'm not in a big rush to go saltwater...just working on my freshwater for now, my daughters seem to enjoy them. I can't wait to see how much they would enjoy it when a bigger tank goes in.

To each his own, but just so you know, you will be running at least two tanks.
I speak having had a 600 gallon, a 150g, a 75g, a 55g, a 29g, several 10gs, and a couple nano 2.5gs at some point or other.
Started with the ten, then things kind of got crazy. I have lost so much to this hobby. At this point I'm just hoping that I can serve as a warning to others.
Fishkeeping: not even once.

 

[HeadlessRoland]

ive got a 10 I might build up a little better for my son, it will be a heck of a lot easier on the wallet, maybe a couple clownfish and a war coral or something they can host.

Oh, don't worry. You'll get a small mated pair, but they'll grow bigger almost immediately and you'll feel bad and you'll look at them and they'll look up at you with puppy-dog-fish eyes and you'll spring for a 29g biocube and then you'll add a firefish or two and think to yourself how nice it looks, and how minimal the daily topoff is, and wouldn't it be really nice if it were big enough to house a really cool trigger or some sailfins or maybe even that personifier angel you saw on LiveAquaria and pretty soon the credit card is maxed, your wife is threatening divorce, the floor makes a really ominous creaking sound when you step within three feet of it, and you have a dazzling reef tank.

Start big, skip the middleman and a metric ton of grief and hassle. Bigger is what you want. You've admitted it. You want a lion. You want a trigger. You must go bigger.

 

[Frosty]

To each his own, but just so you know, you will be running at least two tanks.
I speak having had a 600 gallon, a 150g, a 75g, a 55g, a 29g, several 10gs, and a couple nano 2.5gs at some point or other.
Started with the ten, then things kind of got crazy. I have lost so much to this hobby. At this point I'm just hoping that I can serve as a warning to others.
Fishkeeping: not even once.

true, very true. After you upgrade you'll want a planted tank, then another, then a South American stream, then salt, then reef, then you want to seal your house, fill it with water and damn what the neighbors think!

 

[Frosty]

Oh, don't worry. You'll get a small mated pair, but they'll grow bigger almost immediately and you'll feel bad and you'll look at them and they'll look up at you with puppy-dog-fish eyes and you'll spring for a 29g biocube and then you'll add a firefish or two and think to yourself how nice it looks, and how minimal the daily topoff is, and wouldn't it be really nice if it were big enough to house a really cool trigger or some sailfins or maybe even that personifier angel you saw on LiveAquaria and pretty soon the credit card is maxed, your wife is threatening divorce, the floor makes a really ominous creaking sound when you step within three feet of it, and you have a dazzling reef tank.

Start big, skip the middleman and a metric ton of grief and hassle. Bigger is what you want. You've admitted it. You want a lion. You want a trigger. You must go bigger.

oh your a bad, bad man... But your right, like dead on biblical right!

 

[Caleb]

I talked to a guy who is selling 29 gal tanks for $10 each

 

[HeadlessRoland]

I talked to a guy who is selling 29 gal tanks for $10 each

If they are of appropriate thickness and hold water - not knocking his craftsmanship, but this is the key issue - then this is the deal of the century. How many does he have for sale?

 

[Frosty]

I talked to a guy who is selling 29 gal tanks for $10 each

It has began... Your doing the same thing all us fish people do, start with a 10, put in some plastic plants and pretty soon your adding on so you can have a fish room. Uncle bills has a dollar a gallon sale going on, damnit, now you guys have me second guessing if I should sell mine! AHH!!! My wife's gonna kill me! We are going to have to meet up and the three of us make a trip to inland or something, where are you located Roland?

 

[Caleb]

If they are of appropriate thickness and hold water - not knocking his craftsmanship, but this is the key issue - then this is the deal of the century. How many does he have for sale?

He bought and used them from LFS, he's selling them cheap because he's moving. If I wasn't getting a 55 gal, I'd probably snag up a 29 gal tank. I think he has 2 or 3...