Starting small

At first I wanted a very elaborate tank setup which is still my long term goal. However the cost to just get started was a little prohibitive. Ntm my wife in her infinite knowledge suggested I start small and work my way up. I figure the smallest I can start is going to be with my quarantine tank.

One of the biggest hurdles I face is getting quality equipment up here in Alaska. Sure I can go to petco or petsmart and get the run of the mill tank and hardware. It seems anything I like shows up online only. Not really interested in ordering a large tank online due to the outrageous cost to ship one up here. Many of the places I've looked charge more to ship than the aquarium itself is worth. I still have another option, I will be going down to the only brick and mortar LFS for 300 miles to see what they carry.

One of the online sources I have found with very decent shipping prices is from finnex directly. So now I'm torn, the shruber wright 9 gallon looks very nice. Add the hob fuge with light and pump and I've spent the same as if I were to get an Eheim aquastyle 9 gallon cube. Granted no fuge with the eheim. The Eheim I can get at my LFS.

No matter what I get it has to be pleasing to the eye. The only advantage I see with the eheim over the schuber wright is the eheim comes with a glass lid. I prefer a lid to help with the evaporation factor.

 

9 gallons is pretty small. It's not easy to keep such small tanks (not saying it can't be done). It could be a lot of work to keep healthy. Just some food for thought.

 

Better give that lfs thats not so local a call to see what they stock to make sure its worth the drive.

 

First of all you should be glad your wife is letting you start small knowing it will eventually end up with 1/2 of the house with tanks hahhaa. I can only imagine the prices in your area. you can always try looking into craiglist or any similar website to see if someone is breaking down a nice set up or tank.The rest of the equipment you can buy online. Be aware that some deals are not always the best. If you find something but are not sure if its worth it you can always send me and email or PM and I will help you. I helped someone set up a tank in Canada ( im in Miami). Well good luck!!!

 

Yeah I understand. I kept a overstocked 10 gallon tank alive for about 18 months. Made the mistakes every beginner makes. My filtration consisted of live rock, live sand , and a small hob filter with filter floss for mechanical filtration and water movement. Long story short, when I wasn't there for 2 weeks it crashed. It was a daily affair to top off, feed and change 25% water every third day or so.

I'm planning my equipment for upgrading in the future. The 9 gallon will be my place to seed dry rock and sand with a few select pieces of LR from my LFS. It will give me a good observation point to spot reef pests.

 

My LFS is local, about a 20 mile drive one way. The only other LFS I know of in the state is 300 miles or so and a six hour drive one way.

My wife just doesent want me to get deep into it and get frustrated and quit. She views my black water beta tank as a failure. She doesent quite understand that my growing medium for the plants feeding off the tank ( peat) has stained the water and softened it pretty considerably. I have two female betas sharing a 6.6 gallon petco special. The plants in the tank aren't doing as well as they could due to the lack of light, but the plants in the suspended tray above the little tank seem to be doing well. I've effectively doubled my surface area and my bacterial colonization area running the return to the small tray full of gravel and back to the tank. The plants are started from seed in jiffy pellets. Not looking its best at the moment as my 4 year old decided to rescape my planted tray and break all the stems on my herbs as well as my pumpkin thr is taking over the small area.

The betas are getting along fine , and seem to be thriving. They've easily tripled in size ( got em very young ).

I've considered taking down my 6.6 and rehousing my betas in separate 2.5g cubes . Then cleaning the 6.6 up to start seeding Sand and rock in it. With so many choices available I'm almost overloaded. Been reading up on everything for nearly a month and have barely scratched the surface. I'm at a point now where I would feel comfortable keeping a box of rocks to at least get my bio filter established. Looking at a single psuedochrome to help keep my bacterial population going.

 

Hi, Nubcake. First I would But also give your LFS a call to see what they have you may be interested in. 20 miles isn't so bad.

Personally, I am using standard 10 gallon tank. It will be inexpensive and you could make it look pretty nice with some DIY work. I plan to remove the top and bottom frame of the tank when I move. I would not advise doing this with tanks any larger than 10g, but because the tank is small, I don't think it will become an issue as long as the tank is level. You can use "blue broad" foam insulation sheets cut to size and it should level itself out. For lighting, you could go with one 18" Ecoxotic Panorma module. This should be enough lighting for a mixed reef. Buy an aquaclear HOB filter and mod it to make a DIY refugium. We have several threads on the forum just for that. You will also want one powerhead. I am currently suing a Taam Rio+ 200 pump. It's 180gph and I get decent flow throughout the entire tank. Do weekly 10% water changes, use an aragonite substrate. You could start with dry rock and seed it with 1 or 2 lbs of live rock (from your LFS). You can also use Instant Ocean Reef Crystals salt. it is pretty good and is inexpensive when compared to other brand salts. This should run you about $160-170.

You could build a nice stand for the tank out of plywood, or set it on an end table.

 

I'm actually going to go visit the LFS today. Going to see what he carries tank wise. I know he has the aquastyle series, saw a couple on the shelf last time I was there. He mainly carries livestock. Just a handful of equipment. I will also be stopping by the local big box stores to look closer at what they have available.

 

... -1 for your wife..

 

Lol my wife is a great voice of reason. As long as I go slow and don't go head over heels on this she'll be fine with it. I'm already getting prepared for the begging for forgiveness stage once I get back from work in two weeks and drop some coin on a bit of equipment.

Well I started my 6.6g tank last night, picked up some base rock, live sand, and salt. Rehoused the betas and cleaned it all out well with scalding hot water. Now for the cycle. Figure the beginning of next month I'll be cycled and ready to move into something larger and wait out the mini cycle.

My LFS is getting a shipment of ADA tanks in sometime this week. And they custom build tanks ( glass or acrylic ). So things are looking up.