New to salt water

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

barterking85

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Feb 25, 2011
Messages
2,532
Location
Canada, Nova Scotia
OK Fellow AAers I ordered an 85 gallon with no canopy and iam finaly going to do a salt water. me and the wife want a Finding Nemo tank with a couple clowns, blue tang, and a Moorish idol. what will i need be honest cause if i go over budget on this one iam dead :(lol lighting?coral?rocks? my mother has a salt water but i dont like to ask her for help she said i guarente your gonna need my help and i HATE when she is right lol
 
You don't need the fancy lights, coral, or rocks. You could just do a fish only tank if you really wanted to, or just do a fish only with live rock (fowlr), both of which don't need the intense lighting fixture that a reef does. Post ideas of what you want to do, and people can give you better ideas of what you will need along with the cost. Hope this helps.
 
Master API Test Kit - ~$30
Salt - ~$20/bag here (if you're mixing your own salt)
Rocks - ~$2.99/lb lace rock, ~$3.99/lb live rock
Heater - ~$20
Powerhead - ~$20
Thermometer - ~$3 for one of those stick on LED ones
Water conditioner (prime) - ~$10 (if you're mixing your own salt)
Substrate - multiple prices
Decorations - multiple prices
Hydrometer - ~$10, but they suck. I recommend a refractometer (~$50)

That would be most of the basics I think!
 
well i really wanted to do one as close to finding nemo as possible so sand and an anmole if thats how you spell iti cant even say it lol other then that just the fish i specified
 
i have a moorish idol and a couple mandarians in my pic in my mothers tank that will be moving to my house when iam done so iam very excited
 
Anemones need intense light, so you are looking at LED and halides, or at least an 8x54w T5 HO fixture, which still may not be enough. They also need a tank that has been established and stable for at least a year since they are very sensitive to changes in parameters. Mandarins also need an established tank with their need for pods, so unless they are trained to eat prepared foods, they will need to stay in your mom's tank for a while.
 
i want nemo, marlin, gurgle, deb(and flo lol),bubbles,dory, tad,and gill

that would be 2 clowns, royal gramma, starfish, 3 stripe damselfish, yellow and blue tang, long yellownose butterflyfish and my moorish idol

my moorish idol and my mandarins eat prepared food mostly shrimp and have had all 3 for 6 months now but the idol gets hand fed so lets say i do a fish only then can i have all the above??
 
I wouldn't get Deb (or Flo) It may be okay but I am a believer that you don't want a damsel in your tank that can get big enough to pick on your other fish. I personally will only ever get cromis (you get them in small schools and they slowly take eachother out... till you have 1 left...)
 
ok so updated list is 2 clown, yellow and blue tang, long yellownose butterfly, moorish idol and my two mandarins.

she dosent want the starfish and we dont want a bullie so no damselfish and the royal gramma dosent seem to size up

is an 85 gallon ok for them and what would they need cause i dont want to do coral and hopefully no live rock
 
That sounds like it will do okay in your tank... but you would want to get a small yellow and blue tang... and upgrade your tank once they get bigger... They will survive in your tank, but for those two fish to be happy the really need 6' or more to swim...
 
ok i just kind of worry about my moorish idol everyone says they cant kkeep them alive and i had mine in my mothers tank for 6 months worried about the move and dont want to stress him out with over crowding maybe i will leave out the tangs too to be safe and just go with 2 clown, long yellownose butterfly, moorish idol and my two mandarins i know the mandarins dont fit the nemo profile but my mother wants me to take my 3 fish so she can get some new fishies
 
Dont plan on moving the mandarins either... unless they are eating prepared foods
 
i know but complicated too lol lets say i get my mother to keep the idol and one mandarin and i just get two clowns and my one mandarin what size aquarium would i need for them?
 
Back
Top Bottom