Another slippery slope I fear!

[mahking51]

My darling wife has just bought me my birthday present - no, not another LN but an aquarium complete with two fish, one called Black and the other, guess what - Decker. We are talking a small simple 15l tank here but she has already said that if I like the idea she wants a bigger one.

Crafty old thing knows that I adore fish and have always wanted a large tank but know little about the ins and outs of it.

As we live close by the sea and I am always out on work boats what I really would like is to build and stock a salt water aquarium. I would like to go for a pretty big one, say 36" x 18" x 24" high. Maybe a cabinet underneath for all the gubbins.

Is this feasable, what is involved, how much of a mortgage would I need, will it affect my tool budget etc etc???

I seem to remember that someone on here is into this fairly seriously.

Best Regards
Martin
(sitting ignoring the TV trying to work out who is Black and who is Decker

 

[jasonB]

36x18x24 is about as small as I would go with a marine set up, the bigger the volume of water the easier it is to keep the chemestry stable as you don't get such quick fluctuations. I've really only had tropicals and fresh water fish in tanks though.

Jason

 

[woodbloke]

mahking51 wrote - I seem to remember that someone on here is into this fairly seriously.


Got a 4' bow fronted marine tank which I love to bits but the slope is about as steep as it gets, so............
re-mortgage the house, trade in SWMBO a cheaper model and march the kids to the pawnbrokers (if such things exist these days) Posted some pics of my tank on an earlier thread in this forum, if you want any advice or help give me a PM - Rob

 

[matt]

Sounds as though you want native marine occupants rather than the more traditional tropical marine?

The Complete Aquarium by Peter W Scott covers setting up a "British Rock Pool" (amongst other types). May be worth buying a coffee in Borders (or similar) and having a browse...

May I also suggest exploring planted aquariums (done properly, that is) and also Cichlids. Both favourites of mine. The former presenting a challenge and the latter (whilst a challenge too) are fantastic fish to watch, full of character.

 

[beejay]

If youre thinking Marine tropical, very costly and time consuming.
Striving for that perfect ecosystem in a glass tank is not as easy as it may seem and once there, it does require pretty regular monitoring which can often present problems with holidays and trips etc.
Basic equipment is not cheap and as for the price of fish well, having to replace lost ones,, as you will,, ouch!!
Fascinating hobby nevertheless.
Good luck and research it first.
beejay

http://community.webshots.com/user/eunos9

 

[mahking51]

Hi all,

Matt - you have it right, what I would really like is a tank with normal stuff from around our coast, queen scallops, blennies, prawns and shrimp with soft corals limpets etc. Some small fish like wrasse, flounder or sand eels would be nice.

Will do some more research and may well contact you guys for help if that is OK.
Regards
Martin