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I was going to set up a tank for some seahorse's and have been advised against this. Just wondering what people would advise for a beginner to start with. My children are hellbent on having "NEMO". Are clownfish hard to keep? Any help would be great although i'm not thinking seriously of setting up a tank until about christmas though. Just want to suss out everything i need at this stage

From what I see on here and hear seahorses are tough to keep and pretty sure those are a species only tank b/c of their requirements. Clownfish however are pretty easy to keep. The percula (nemo) clowns are probably the easiest to keep and least aggressive. I'd say a 20 gal. or larger u could prob. keep a pair. less than 20 i'd say 1.

You will also need a heater, a filter. either live sand or crushed coral. and marine salt.

The price on a heater depends on the size of the tank. I'd say a 50 watt would be ok for smaller tanks. And if you can find a simple hang on the back filter you'd be ok also. Those are fairly cheap. Just don't use the filter w/ the bio wheel on it. And the best way to cycle a tank is use live rock. That however can get expensive, but makes the tank look natural. Make sure you have a hydrometer to measure the salt levels and a basic kit to measure the ph , nitrites , nitrates, amonia levels. Those are your most basic worries when starting out. Live rock will help you cycle the fastest in my opinion. Probably 1.5-2 lbs. of rock to each gallon.

The smaller gobies and blennies are really cool to watch in a tank also along w/ ur clowns.

do research on the other fish u plan to buy tho make sure they're compatible and no special requirements.

Thanks heaps jkalfsbeck I'm actually going to start off with my 3ft tank. I do have smaller tanks but would prefer to set up the tank i intend to finish with. My LFS actually recommended crushed coral and suggested that i buy the water already mixed. which until i get going have been also advised to do my other members of this forum. I had a penguin bio wheel filter once and decided in about a week that they really weren't much chop and have upgraded to a whisper filter which i swear by, i do have one but is currently on my tropical tank, so will have to invest in another of these. Also do you just vac the crushed coral the same as you would gravel? Also do Clownfish need anenome's to live happily? I'm guessing that they are probably 2 really dumb question's but at the moment i will gladly admit that everything saltwater i am dumb about. Also you wouldn't happen to know what FOWLR stands for do you? I've read it in these forums heaps of times and can't figure it out......
Thanks again for your advice.

FOWLR stands for Fish only without live rock. From what I understand; however, for a tank that large, it would be much more efficient to get some live rock, as it helps cycle the tank and aids in filtration.

So i'm guessing a 3 ft tank is either a 30 gal. or 40 gal. tank. But at any rate don't vacuum your crushed coral. Invest in little hermits and snails they'll take care of all the junk that collects in there. Crushed Coral is nice b/c most of the time u won't have to buffer your water at all to bring the ph up like u would have to w/ sand.

And w/ anenomes unless your getting a lot of lighting for you tank I wouldn't do it. Clowns will be happy as long as they have lots of places to hide. I have a medium size shell in the tank that he goes down in when the lights go out. And if you can find the Regal brand (Walmart brand) filter , sorta looks like a penguin filter. They're cheap super nice and really quiet and don't break down when u try to clean the filter media out. Saltwater tanks seem tough but they're really not when you get going. And one more thing I forgot to add. When your water evaporates just do freshwater top offs, b/c as your water evaporates the salt still stays in the water and the salt levels go up. But a freshwater top off will put it back to where it was before. Unless your nitrates are really high then you do a 20-30% water w/ mixed salt change. But thats a long way down the road.

I would just concentrate on the coral, heater, filter, tank, stand and 1 bag (should mix 50 gals. of water) for now.

You'll enjoy it tho once it gets going.

[span class="edited"][Edited by jkalfsbeck 2004-08-09 14:16][/span]

FOWLR means fish only, WITH live rock. This means that there are no inverts (such as shrimp, corals, etc.), but live rock is used. If you've got enough live rock (1-2 lbs. per gallon), you don't really need a hang on filter. Hang on filters are nice to have if you need to run carbon or something else, though. They are a lot cheaper than live rock, too.
Also, regarding substrate, I use sand and have never had any problems with buffering. I guess there are as many ways to do things as there are people with tanks! If I were going to use crushed coral though, I would try to get the smallest particle size that I could. Snails can't dig into the bigger particles as well, so debris will get trapped. If you don't vacuum, nitrates will go up. If you were worried about buffering, you could get aragonite sand from your lfs. It is made for marine tanks. I guess it just depend on what you like the look of.
Hope this helps out some. Good luck with you new clowns!

IMO, a FOWLR will still have inverts, at least it could have a clean up crew if you wanted. One thing that a FOWLR cannot have is corals, and thats what seperates the two from how I see it.

Live Rock + Corals= Reef

Live Rock - Corals= FOWLR

Hey jkalfsbeck I was trying to figure out what my 3ft tank holds and i'm not sure. Is the normal measurement to work in US or UK Gallons? Any way my tank is 3x2x2 if that helps at all. Also what does everyone mean when they say "buffer" the water? Also another thing i would also like to thank you for explaining the water changes, as i would have most certainly added salt water after it had evaporated, so thanks for that. Also you said

"I would just concentrate on the coral, heater, filter, tank, stand and 1 bag (should mix 50 gals. of water) for now."
What do you mean by 1 bag. Are you talking about aquarium salt?
But once again thanks heaps.

Thanks i8chicken & lil_mikey69 for your advice. What exactly are live rocks and what are corals? I know this sounds like a stupid question and i'm pretty sure i do know the answer, but when i first started making inquiries into a marine tank, i was in mildura and called in the the LFS up there and the man in there told me that they were one in the same. He seemed to know alot about tropicals and seeing as i knew nothing about marine's well hey who was i to argue, but seeing on FP here everyone talks about live rock and coral i am now pretty sure he was wrong.
Also when you said if i don't vacuum the nitrates will go up does this apply to both the crushed coral aswell as the sand?

Live rock is sold at your local fish store. It's Ocean rock ( lots of diff. types from diff. places) with living organisms on it. Like Pods, feather dusters, bristleworms and other hitchhikers like snails, starfish, shrimp (hopefully not mantis) stuff like that. Live rock is nice b/c all of those things I listed acts as a sort of filter. Within reason of course.

And all buffer is a powder u can add to your marine water to bring your Ph levels up if needed. They're usually needed for people who have live sand for substrates.

Corals are very cool looking but need lots of reasearch done on them. There are some that are agressive with a powerful sting and will kill other corals near them. And some that are not agressive like mushrooms. Some need lots of lighting like either power compact lights or metal halide lights. Mushrooms require the least amount of light and there are still plenty of diff. types to choose from.

If your just starting out the best thing for you to do would be start out w/ fish only w/ live rock and after you get the hang of the marine tank then I would upgrade your lighting and do research on the corals you like before you buy anything.

I'm still a newbie myself but learning something new every day. Other people on here usually have great opinions and help also.

Thanks went and asked LFS today about corals and live rocks. He advised me to actually try to set up a tank fairly soon because the price of live rock is about to sky rocket over here soon apparently. Something about a guy took his weekly quota of live rock, but he was taking his weekly quota every single day for months or something so they are going to have to crack down. But am seriously thinking of going for FOWLR though probably with crushed coral. Is it true that the crushed coral shouldn't be too thick on the bottom of the tank?