Home Aquariums

[Vilante]

Does anyone have these, I can't remember there ever being a thread?

I used to have a 4ft tank set up with a range of different things in it over the years. I had 4 tanks in fact, I was breading them and sorts of things, love the hobby.

Then I moved into a unit that was too small for it and it hasn't been set up in about 10 years.

Well we just bought a place and it's coming back, but I've met with a very experienced aquarium guy and he's talked me into doing a marine setup which I've always wanted to do but been too scared. Both from a cost and maintenance point of view It's probably about $400-$500 more expensive to set up over a normal tropical tank but it can be thousands more. He uses basic filtration and no protein skimmers or sumps, and uses live sand/buffer/rock to do natural filtration so it's the lower end.

Hopefully he's right. It will take some four months of getting all the beneficial bacteria going so that I can move some fish and soft corals in. Hard coral etc are more like a year.

I will put up some pics of the process if anyone is interested.

At this point I have:

The tank and stand which I built with my Grandfather, so while it's not super stylish in it's natural pine, I'll always use it.
2 heaters
4 foam filters
Large air pump
Power head for moving water around - will need another once I start to add corals

Things I still need to get:

3 colour LED light (you need this to grow corals)
Refracometer - for checking salt content
Test kits
Cheap heaters for heating water change water
Buffer - basically broken shells
Live sand
Live rock
Aged salt water - down the track I'll have to learn to test and remove my own from the sea

Super pumped about it! Pun intended.

[norbs]

CLP, you're up!

[Duke]

I was literally about to post a thread about them after the wife & I just started looking at getting one for the family. I'll be reading & posting questions shortly.

[Vilante]

I was literally about to post a thread about them after the wife & I just started looking at getting one for the family. I'll be reading & posting questions shortly.

Awesome

[norbs]

I was literally about to post a thread about them after the wife & I just started looking at getting one for the family. I'll be reading & posting questions shortly.

I will tell you what my mate in Sydney told me when I asked him about a fancy tank when my son was younger.

"Get a fucking goldfish and see how you go!"

He used to run a fish shop at Kingswood and made a packet on people killing expensive fish.

[Enforcer-J]

I have a few mates who both have 4 or 5 aquariums and had no idea what they were getting into to begin with. Going strong now but they lost a lot of fish along the way. A cat is a much better alternative for me in terms of time, effort and money! But they are really cool setups and really bring a house to life. One of them has a species of piranah which didnt mix well with other fish ha

[Vilante]

I have a few mates who both have 4 or 5 aquariums and had no idea what they were getting into to begin with. Going strong now but they lost a lot of fish along the way. A cat is a much better alternative for me in terms of time, effort and money! But they are really cool setups and really bring a house to life. One of them has a species of piranah which didnt mix well with other fish ha

Awesome! Yes I think there will be a lot of learning so I hope I can be patient

[wobblysauce]

Only do fresh myself, had a number of 6*4 using a AquaNova external aquarium filters think the oldest one has been going for like 6years and not been touched..

love the way it does bio media, unlike the other external attached pumps eg Pelican's and having to fiddle with them.

[smithcorp]

I had a marine tank many years ago - loved the fish, but it was a hell of a job to maintain it. It was a beautiful big tank just inside the front door of my place - it formed a sort of dramatic divider to the loungeroom. I think these days its easier, but I remember struggling to keep diseases at bay, struggles introducing new fish, expensive disasters etc. I had a nice spotted groper-thingy that would take pieces of prawn from my fingers, a really nice parrot fish and a biggish moray eel, among clown fish and other little ones.

These days I think they are too much trouble for me, but I was considering getting a small native freshwater tank with Rainbow Fish. I had some in my late teems - they are lovely things and easy to keep alive.

Good luck with it and lets see some photos of what you end up with.

[Vilante]

I had a marine tank many years ago - loved the fish, but it was a hell of a job to maintain it. It was a beautiful big tank just inside the front door of my place - it formed a sort of dramatic divider to the loungeroom. I think these days its easier, but I remember struggling to keep diseases at bay, struggles introducing new fish, expensive disasters etc. I had a nice spotted groper-thingy that would take pieces of prawn from my fingers, a really nice parrot fish and a biggish moray eel, among clown fish and other little ones.

These days I think they are too much trouble for me, but I was considering getting a small native freshwater tank with Rainbow Fish. I had some in my late teems - they are lovely things and easy to keep alive.

Good luck with it and lets see some photos of what you end up with.

I think it's still a hell of a job, but this guy makes it sound ok. This guy has run large and small aquariums for 30 years and had exactly this setup I'm doing in his shop, I was also introduced by a mate so I have every reason to believe him

He reckons you need to do a partial water change every 3 weeks and a big clean, including vacuuming etc every 6 months. Checking and adjusting levels is an ongoing thing though.

I used to have a tank with a silver perch in it, it was great. They are so aggressive and active, but you can't keep much with them.

I was going to go with a Coal Grunter before I decided on marine, they aren't too big for a 4 foot, whereas something like a Barra will outgrow your tank in a year.

[norbs]

Barra, wait for him to get big, in the fucking frypan! Win, win (except for the fish).

[wobblysauce]

Yep, 1/4 every 2weeks or 1/3 per 3.

You can vacuum at the same time you get the water out, 2 birds 1 stone.

[norbs]

Yep, 1/4 every 2weeks or 1/3 per 3.

You can vacuum at the same time you get the water out, 2 birds 1 stone.

What the fuck are the birds doing in there?

[Vilante]

That looks like something Dex would have under his bed.

[w00dsy]

One thing to consider, which caught us out, high maintenance animals tend to get less love when a family starts expanding. We had an old English sheepdog that required constant brushing and when our kids came along it was really hard to find the time and energy to devote to caring for it.

[Duke]

I think this thread is way over the top for me... So where does a novice go to get good info to start one?

[Shaun]

Wheres all the pictures of everyones setups. Cmon

[Vilante]

I think this thread is way over the top for me... So where does a novice go to get good info to start one?

What are you thinking of setting up? Cold water (gold fish), Tropical (Pretty river fish) or Marine (pretty fish and corals)?

Tropical are ok to look after, just needs a heater over the cold tank and you need to look after levels a bit more.

One thing to consider, which caught us out, high maintenance animals tend to get less love when a family starts expanding. We had an old English sheepdog that required constant brushing and when our kids came along it was really hard to find the time and energy to devote to caring for it.

Yeah that's something to consider for sure Woodsy, cheers.

[CLP]

Only just noticed this thread!

We have a few in our house

My tank is an AquaOne 850 (~3ft I guess). Has about 12 or so Electric Yellows. They're awesome at hiding, and despite their bright colour sometimes you'd swear there's no fish in there Despite my best efforts, I can't keep any plants in this one, because the fish decimate them. It has a big plastic ship wreck thing that the fish like to hide in.

Miss V also has an AquaOne 850. This one has undergone the most changes during it's life since she seems to score aggressive fish that seem to like taking each other out. At the moment it's in a bit of a lull while we sort out what to do in there. Currently there's a single small Clown Loach and a couple of Siamese Flying Foxes. This one is fairly well planted out, and has a big chunk of drift wood that the fish like to hide under.

In the Kitchen we have a small semi circular tank with a tonne of Guppies. and 2 larger Clown Loaches. This one is well planted out and with driftwood which the baby guppies like to hide in, and the clown loaches like to pretend to be dead in :/ . The guppy population seems to be constant at the moment, and the clown loaches appear to be getting larger. Coincidence?

In the back yard we have a pond (about 2m x 1m) which has a bunch of gold fish (mainly comets, but I there's a couple of shubunkins in there too) and some white clouds. This one is fairly well planted out and has water lilies and a few other things. 2 waterfalls provide aeration.

[Nigel]

Images?

[Vilante]

Only just noticed this thread!

We have a few in our house

My tank is an AquaOne 850 (~3ft I guess). Has about 12 or so Electric Yellows. They're awesome at hiding, and despite their bright colour sometimes you'd swear there's no fish in there Despite my best efforts, I can't keep any plants in this one, because the fish decimate them. It has a big plastic ship wreck thing that the fish like to hide in.

Miss V also has an AquaOne 850. This one has undergone the most changes during it's life since she seems to score aggressive fish that seem to like taking each other out. At the moment it's in a bit of a lull while we sort out what to do in there. Currently there's a single small Clown Loach and a couple of Siamese Flying Foxes. This one is fairly well planted out, and has a big chunk of drift wood that the fish like to hide under.

In the Kitchen we have a small semi circular tank with a tonne of Guppies. and 2 larger Clown Loaches. This one is well planted out and with driftwood which the baby guppies like to hide in, and the clown loaches like to pretend to be dead in :/ . The guppy population seems to be constant at the moment, and the clown loaches appear to be getting larger. Coincidence?

In the back yard we have a pond (about 2m x 1m) which has a bunch of gold fish (mainly comets, but I there's a couple of shubunkins in there too) and some white clouds. This one is fairly well planted out and has water lilies and a few other things. 2 waterfalls provide aeration.

They all sound awesome CLP, some pics would be awesome if you want to share. I used to love clown loaches. Like pretty little sharks.

The pond sounds killer!

I was thinking about trying some plantscaping but it was that or marine so I've made my mind up there

[CLP]

They all sound awesome CLP, some pics would be awesome if you want to share. I used to love clown loaches. Like pretty little sharks.

The pond sounds killer!

I was thinking about trying some plantscaping but it was that or marine so I've made my mind up there

I'll see what I can do for photos. The glass on pretty much all of them need a scrub first! :/

I'm really happy with the pond, though there's a few improvements I'd still like to make. It's probably the lowest maintenance fish enclosure in the house since the fish just eat the algae growing on the sides and the filter and pump are seriously over-spec'ed for the size of the pond. In summer, we like to put guppies in the pond (usually new stock) and leave them in there to breed. Once the weather starts cooling a bit we take them out and put them in the inside tanks.

[KNAPPO]

One thing to consider, which caught us out, high maintenance animals tend to get less love when a family starts expanding. when our kids came along it was really hard to find the time and energy to devote to caring for it.

I hear ya mate. We have a 280L fresh water Aqua One tank with a few 100 bucks worth of plants growing on logs, let alone the fish. It looked awesome in its day but when the twins arrived its taken a dive. Its not cleaned nearly enough and the fish started to drop off and now the plants are not fairing very well.

Ide love to re do it but I know I wont be able to devote the time required to cleaning ect.

[smithcorp]

I had an outdoor pond with some Koi in it, but had to get rid of it when kids came along - they are a drowning hazard. There's something calming about having koi stooging about, plopping, picking stuff off the surface etc. We had to have a big overhanging stone on top because the kookaburras would hunt the Koi.

This thread is making me think about getting a tank for some rainbow fish. Maybe when the extension gets done (on the never-never).

[smithcorp]

I think this thread is way over the top for me... So where does a novice go to get good info to start one?

Good question - I found a thread on Whirlpool that might help: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1272451