marine fish tank (how much work)

[matt1993]

hi, im thinking of getting a marine fish tank just after christmas, just wounder how much more work is it compared to a tropical tank, such as cleaning, making sure the water leves are right ect.. thank

[AshMashMash]

I reckon my open topped 180L took me 1-2 hours a day...

[Caz]

My 5' used to take about 30mins a day once it was up and running.
Worth rememberinbg that the 'a day' bit means virually without fail every day of the year it needs some form of maintainance..
It has just been sold due to the massive electic costs involved in running a large reef tank. Wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have so many reptiles I guess.

[matt1993]

thanks for the reply, sounds like to much work for me as im quiet lazy, so i think i,ll just stick to the tropical fish lol

[MJ75]

My 400 litre reef takes about 2 hours per week. It would be less if I didn't have to target feed certain inverts.

My largest trop tank takes more due to the huge water changes rather than feeding.

[oakwell]

marine tanks dont take half as long as people have stated have had one for years now. i have a 5*2*2 and i change water once evry 2 weeks and thats about it apart from cleaning skimmer and glass?

dont get me wrong it aint as easy as trops but depends how much you wanna get into it.

mine takes 2 hours a month i would say. and its been up and running years with no problems.

equipment is the answer and good knowledge.

[slider]

I spend about 2 minutes a day on my 750l reef tank.

Feed fish, dose liquid phosphate remover and iodine and add nori seaweed for my tangs to eat. Every week I clean the glass and empty the skimmer cup, and 60l water change and water tests every 3-4 weeks.

Oh and top up the ro-topup a few times a week.

Simples

Excuse the dimness of the pics, the tank has 500w of light over it for reference, and the corals and fish are a lot more vibrant in the flesh, and the corals have grown a shed load since I took the pics

[reptile boy]

Originally Posted by slider

I spend about 2 minutes a day on my 750l reef tank.

Feed fish, dose liquid phosphate remover and iodine and add nori seaweed for my tangs to eat. Every week I clean the glass and empty the skimmer cup, and 60l water change and water tests every 3-4 weeks.

Oh and top up the ro-topup a few times a week.

Simples

Excuse the dimness of the pics, the tank has 500w of light over it for reference, and the corals and fish are a lot more vibrant in the flesh, and the corals have grown a shed load since I took the pics

imageimage

very very inpressive

[dan51]

my 95L only takes a few minutes each day

[Stan193]

I had marines and didn't hardley do anything, I spent 5 mins per week to feed them (about once a week) and did a water change when the plants stopped growing and the anenome started to shrink just to replenish the minerals, had to have another tank or dustbin with heater and pump to warm the water and mix the salt in for this. I had undergravel filters with a layer of calcium plus and coral sand on top, atinic tube, grolux tube and a triton tube. I did'nt keep anything too demanding, I had a clown fish that lived for about 9 years, boxer shrimp that lived nearly as long, other stuff didnt live quite as long but 2 or 3 years anyway - sand anenome, comet grouper, various wrasse, damsels, dwarf angelfish, drawf lionfish.
I found that the plants grew like wildfire and consumed all the nitrate so it never went about zero. The fish could be a pain attacing eachother till they died from the stress, I prefer tropicals as I think they dont tend to hassle eachother to the same extent.