Overwhelmed, how to begina saktwater tank?

[mikel151]

Hi everyone, I'm glad to have found this forum, everyone seems to be very knowledgeable about all kinds of tanks, well anyway I recently ordered a custom made tank, it's called a wall aquarium, and basically its about 65 by 27 by 4 inches, when I saw this tank I thought it was amazing It kind of looks like a plasma tv aquarium and you mount it right on the wall, well I thought the tank would come salt water ready and all i would have to do is add fish and i was done, but it didnt even come with a filter, so I really need some help, I love the look of salt water aquariums and it's my dream to turn this into one, How in the world would I get started? What do I have to do first, filters?, thermometers?....etc, anything else you would need? I really have no idea what goes in a salt water tank besides a tank. Hopefully with all the aquarium experts here I'll be able to turn this into an amazing salt water aqaurium, thanks for any help.

 

[austinsdad]

When you say 4 inches, I presume that means from front to back? I don't know if that could ever be salt water ready. That's a new one on me. How many gallons does it hold? Wall mountable sounds fishy (pun intended).


Welcome to AA!

 

[lando]

Hi, welcome to AA!! I do not think the tank you described would make a very good salt water tank. It has very little water surface area and will not allow for good gas exhange between the air and the water. Would love to know more about the tank to help further. Good luck...Lando

 

[revhtree]

Hey mikel151! Welcome to AA.

According to your measurments that is a tank of 31g. I have to say, and I dont want to discourage you, SEND IT BACK. 4 inches in width is not good for any kind of fish SW, of FW. I don't see how in the world you could make this a usable tank.

Is there any way of returning it?

If you like the wall look, you can always build an aquarium into your wall. Sorry for the bad news.

 

[jaiden]

agreed. fish need surface area to survive. only an air breather like a betta (freshwater) would be happy in such a tank. plants would work too if it's properly lit.

I say send it back if you can.

 

[mikel151]

if you to get an idea of what the tank looks like they have pics of similar tanks here www.wallaquariums.com

 

[quarryshark]

We understand that. But fish (especially SW fish) need swimming room . Also proper water movements would be difficult and there is not enough surface area for good gas exchange.
Sorry, I'm see they are cool looking, but not very functional for SW.

 

[Biggen]

I gotta agree with everyone else here. These tanks (while extremely cool looking!) just won't offer the area the fish need to swim. Four inches is nothing when you think about it. Most SW fish would have a hard time turning around in that.

Then couple that with poor gas exchange, hard to clean and place items in (how are you going to get your arm in the tank?), and price (all I can say is "wow" to the price).

I think you would be much better off spending your hard earned money on a "regular" tank. You will have so many avenues of options you will wonder why you every considered the "wall tank".

 

[blorkiemom]

I'm going to jump on the bandwagon, too. mikel151, the problem with this kind of tank is that it treats the fish like "art" with no consideration paid to their needs as living creatures. I'm not going to argue that fish are just like dogs or cats, but surely no one would think of confining a dog to a tiny closet its whole life--and that's really what these tanks do to fish. To be healthy and thrive, even fish have basic requirements--and room to swim is a big one.

I hope you aren't discouraged by these negative posts--they aren't aimed at you, but rather at the tank. Personally, I think the manufacturer is irresponsible. I'm going to agree with the recommendation to return the tank. If you are interested in keeping SW fish, you'll find many experienced people on this board who will bend over backwards to help out--I know they have helped me many times.

I really hope you'll consider sending the tank back and getting something more appropriate for fish--you'll have a great addition to your home and some great pets, too.

And gasp on the price, too!

 

[malkore]

OMG....the price!!!

Unfortunately this company appears to know nothign about fish...just marketing a neat looking product.
Send it back...now. Its 4 times the cost of a normal setup that would actually be good for fish.