guys, i'm not new to fish, have been keeping tropical fishes for years but i'm totally new and have zero knowledge on saltwater fish. but recently really feel like venturing into saltwater tank. and would really like to try to expand my hobby to broader array. so there are a few questions that i would need to rectify before i spend a single cent and time on getting them. After some basic readings on the internet and will consult more.

I intend to get a roughly 2ft tank only, with little fishes namely a pair of clown fish and a pair of yellow tailed blue demsel. with no live rock or a piece only, and/ or a small coral/reef and some sand. I dont think i will get anything bigger than 2ft. So the questions are as follows:

1) according to my specification, is a 2ft tank suitable for me?

2) what are the important equipment for me? I've read some posts/ reviews, protein skimmer and chiller also needed. but i dont plan to get a sump.
so, what are your suggestions? what else do i need? can you also please explain more on the skimmer and chiller, their importance and as to why do we need it for our marine tank?

3) As I dont plan to put live rock/ little, so i definitely need a filter. when comes to filter, can i use hang on filter? a bigger one, if yes, what do i need to place into the filter as the media? I'm also aware that i need to create a biological tank/ nano tank. So what exactly do i need to put (biomedia) into the filter to create such 'tank'? do we still use those normal freshwater media? sponge, bio ring, anti-ammonia, carbon thingy?

4) I'm aware of the nitrate cycle, but i require more information on this tank as i find this stage to be very crucial for fishes for their initial stage. Or to put it in another way, can you guide me on the tank setup and furnish me with more details please? how much salt to apply,

5) What type of brand should i use? for filter, chiller, skimmer, thermometer/heater (do i need one?), biomedia? salt?

6) From what i read, i found clown fish and dory are actually quite suitable for beginner, so to what extend this is true? do you have any other suggestion?

7) I have zero knowledge on coral, please advise me on this, if i get clown fish, what is the coral's name (habitat for clown fish)? how should i treat it to keep it healthy and happily?

8) Fish food and other maintenance stuff, coral medicine (enhance growth or something), or ALL the necessary water treatment stuff. Info please, on what is essential for me.

9) Maintenance cost! plays a crucial role in my hobbies, if based on my specification above, how much do i need to spend every month for a 2ft tank above? is there anyone playing around with this size? or even a smaller sizes? leads me to another question, no point asking ''big'', how small is a small tank suppose to be? 1ft? is this feasible? but bit too small for me.

10) Question number 10! I'm based in PJ, so which marine aquarium shop around PJ or Subang is good or recommended? selling nice and healthy fishes, equipment and other stuffs at Reasonable price?

To wrap up my post/ questions to the pros, the last question would be how much do i need to spend on my initial stage, getting a tank, equipment, fishes for the above???

A BIG thank you for reading and your time for replying!

you shall recruit another enthusiastic person to join you.. haha.. peace

thanks bro for your guidance...

so basically i'm not encourage to have coral in my tank yet... and liverocks will be highly recommended.

silverbolt, do u mind me asking what is your filtration system named?? if i dont plan to get something like yours, do i have any other alternatives?

tmrw i will try to seek for more guidance from shops, thanks...

thank you once again!

guys, i can mix clown fish with yellow tailed demsel or 4 stripe demsel in a small 2ft tank??? because i'm not getting any tangs for this size.

because i intend to mix with some other fishes, but i will only start with cheap fishes, others are far more expensive, even angel fish also expensive and bit hard for beginner.

wow... getting interesting and interested in getting 1 marine tank.

having spent 2 days reading from page 1 to last page. (only read bit when i got free time and not 24 hrs camping here in front of the pc).

but most likely wont be getting 1 so soon, but will need to equip myself with sufficient knowledge about this marine fishtank first b4 i get it.

reason not to get? my pair of goldfish is growing bigger and bigger =.= so if i were to get a 2ft tank also will be their home first. my goldfish is also very cute too will welcome u by splashing water to u.

very nice tank there you have!!! so big your tank, why dont add some tangs?? blue or yellow...?

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Added on September 4, 2010, 8:24 pmi'm so itching to get a marine tank... but that gonna cost me a bomb... must start saving bit by bit...

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Added on September 4, 2010, 9:43 pmanother quick question please.

what do u guys use to test the water parameter? do u test all of them? nitrate, nitrites, and all....

what about salinity? is there 1 reader that can provide all function? lol... sounds so greedy...

how often do u test the water parameter....? if you change your water weekly or once every 2 weeks, is that necessary to test most of them??

from what i understand, the most important part is the nitrate cycle, so what parameter do i have to take into consideration here? thanks!!!

This post has been edited by tehoice: Sep 4 2010, 09:43 PM

i think u might not need a chiller but a fan will do the wonder.

not sure, anyone care to clarify for this? the value for money? functioning good? yield good result? do u recommend ppl to use it?

roughly how much is it?

This post has been edited by tehoice: Sep 7 2010, 10:40 PM

nice nano tank, there are many sifus gave their comments on chui sui for you also what..

stunning, absolutely stunning

i think ultimately it depends on what you wanna keep, if you are really tight on budget, maybe can just go with fishes without coral first.. that would save you quite a bit...


first of all, are you maintaining it yourself? from the quotation, it seems like it is the company that do all the set up for you, is that what you want?

just a few questions...

protein skimmer, do you really need a 1k skimmer? imo, a 800 bucks can do the job i think...
40kg of liverocks... wow, thats really quite a bit, but your tank is really huge... so i guess you might need those, never knew they are this expensive, i thought they should be around 10 bucks, especially when you get so much of those.

t5 HO, can just make do with just one?

do you still need a reactor?

for the accessories, i would get it outside myself for a much cheaper price, i won't get the magnetic cleaner and auto feeder (but that's just me)

installation and setup fee 500 bucks? i think that's a bit too much imo....

if can save the from the above, maybe you can save easily 1-2k.... just my opinion. you still haven't include conditioner and fish/coral food yet though...

looking at that price really