Hello From Australia

Infest

New member
Hi there,

New to the hobby, have started doing a bit of online reading.

Just wondering if people can give me some information/do's and don't's about setting up a Saltwater Aquarium. I'd be looking at a 5ft setup and this will be a hobby of mine.

I'd basically be looking at a (I'm sure you've heard it a lot) Nemo type setup (clownfish, yellow/blue tangs, bannerfish). Is this achieveable in a 5ft setup, if so what sort of population would I be looking at?

Next off would be the equipment as to what I would need as from the research I've done there are quite a few bits and people's opinions differ quite a lot.

If there's anything I've missed or anything I should be doing before looking at equipment, please advise me as I'm all ears.

Thank you and I look forward to meeting some of you,

Michael.
 
hi Michael, im in Sydney and have been in the hobby 6 months, might be able to give you a hand as there is a lot of good stuff i have learnt over the past 6 months, a lot from people on here but also from my own experiences.

I would advise going on gumtree and getting a full setup, there a lot around and it can save a huge amount of money by doing this - something I wish I did. There are some great experts on here who will no doubt give better advice than I can, but you sound like you would have a similar type of set up to me (mine is 4ft) you would want two clowns (not sure its a good idea to have many more) tangs you would want one or 3 or each - supposedly keeping two is a problem and can chase each other. I put my 3 tangs in all together (blue, yellow and sailfin) and they are the 3 best buddies... i think it depends on how big the fish are too... mine are of a fair size and in total i have 7 fish ( two clowns,3 tangs, flame angel and royal dottyback) but sounds pretty fair in terms of load of you are only getting one of each.

would it be a reef tank or fish only?

i have a reef with a couple of anenome's which are doing really well and a number of other corals, so can give you a good idea from a beginner's perspective.

I currently use tap water for water changes but just bought a Reverse Osmosis filter (some set ups might include this) as things are going really well but there is a lot of money spent on fish and corals so the RO unit just gives peace of mind, and probably looking back I would have got one in the beginning.

its a really great hobby although can hurt the wallet a little bit, I have spent around $2k and i had a tank and sump from years ago. but on gumtree you could go on and find a tank, sump, protein skimmer, heater, live rock, lights, food and everything else probably for 2k and have a better set up than i have from buying all things new. hope this helps and if I can help anymore please let me know otherwise I will let one of the many experts on here help you out! :)
 
Welcome! Check out the sticky on the top of the page that says "how to." Most of your questions will be answered by threads posted there.
 
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