# Starting to setup Sw tank WITH PICS!!!



## cossie

hi 

im starting to set up a SW (we bought the tank forn £30) and stand for £10.

It is currently empty as we are not rushing into it but are searching ebay for live rock

Just out of interest this is what we are planning to buy-http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/20kg-Marine-Live-Rock-Live-sand-Deltec-MCE600-/250754114699?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item3a621c248b

Is it ok?????

i know its 20kg of live rock but well use the best bits the give our LFS the rest.

Anyway heres the pics

let me know what you think! (especially Funlad as hes been waiting for me to post pics)


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## CollegeReefer

I always worry about ebay. I am a fan of using dry rock and seeding it with live sand from a fellow reefers tank or buying a small amount of rock from the LFS. 

Nice cube by the way.


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## funlad3

Definitely nice cube! A lot fancier than mine that is! You can start running the tank with fresh water to check for leaks and then add salt when you get the LR. Anything to save you your floor...

(Also, as we all know, FW is less corrosive than SW. I was electrocuted last Sunday because of the property!)


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## cossie

lol how you manage to eletricute urself


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## funlad3

When I tightened the overflow, I loosened another part of it. Basically, when I water tested it on the back of the tank, it leaked onto the outlet. My first response was to unplug the power strip from the wall. Wrong. Thanks GFI, you saved me!


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## cossie

just added the water today

getting there (live rock next)


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## funlad3

Look for someone taking apart their tank! You'll get awesome rock for cheap! Also, when you aquascape, make sure you have lots of holes and tunnels. It's good for water flow and hidey holes for fish!


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## cossie

lol yep will do m8.

and that cat is still sleeping on top of the tank


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## funlad3

I see. Cat. Chat without cat?


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## cossie

Just got some live rock so heres some more pictures. ;-)


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## funlad3

You should get more rock than that! Where will the fish hide at night? (Because yeah, that's what they do.) Also, is that a clam of sorts or a brain coralish thing? It looks good!


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## cossie

lol trust me theres tonnes of hiding holes and theres more in there than it looks.

were only having 3 fish and a load of invertibrates.

also that,s a dead hard coral that was thrown in for free and has lots of potential of coraline algae.


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## blindkiller85

funlad3 said:


> When I tightened the overflow, I loosened another part of it. Basically, when I water tested it on the back of the tank, it leaked onto the outlet. My first response was to unplug the power strip from the wall. Wrong. Thanks GFI, you saved me!


Hahahahahaha New sig.

Good luck with the SW tank and looks good thus far. Keep posting up pictures!


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## cossie

will do.
Next step is invertibrates in a months time


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## funlad3

My two heads of hammer are doing AWESOME!!!! I guess that's what happens when your calcium is over 500. I'll add pics later. I also have a dead coral that came with the tank. It's a closed brain. I might get a live one today! And an emerald crab. That's it though! And I doubt the closed brain. Maybe though... 

Oh yeah, your tank! It looks good! Maybe I'm not looking at the depth of the tank... Keep us posted on the chemical levels!


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## cossie

the test
Ammonia-0.25
kh-180
gh-240


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## funlad3

So you actually have a test kit! Wow! You're ahead of me all right!


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## cossie

lol yer i forgot the nitrite and nitrate


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## cossie

finally got some life.

yesterday bought two Emerald crab for £4 each and they are doin a great. 

they are constantly feeding but on the wrong stuff lol.

they were suppose to eat the browny red algae but are eationg the coraline algae. However it doesnt matter they are great addintiion

heres some pics and a video


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## funlad3

The video didn't work Cossie. Cool crabs though! I still need one for my tank. Oh, and you may want to take one of them back to the store. After they eat all of the algae, (I too had a snail that immediately went for the Corraline. There's always one...) they'll move on to one of your corals. Inevitably, it will be the most expensive one.


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## cossie

heres a video 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bldSN0o8EM


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## cossie

bout time i updated!!!
I have seen a few critters that came with the live rock and can i ask what is the anenome type thing.


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## funlad3

Are those little buggy things Copepods or Amphipods? That anemone thing is either a pest anemone or some form of worm. Let's let TOS decide!


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## cossie

Lol tos we neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## cossie

Tos we neeed you nooooooooooow!!!! lol

anyway yesterday we got onw final piece of live rock and noticed about 4 hours later a small starfish stuck to the glass 

what kind of starfish is it??????????


i will also post a thread called ID this starfish as this thread isnt very active apart from me and funboy/funlad looooooooooooooooool


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## funlad3

That looks like an Astrea Starfish. Either harmless or extremely bad. Enjoy!


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## cossie

funlad3 said:


> That looks like an Astrea Starfish. Either harmless or extremely bad. Enjoy!


it got 7 legs


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## funlad3

I know now. I just read the other thread. Whoops! What are your chemical levels of late? I might be getting fish for quarantine today!


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## cossie

wait r u a fish keeper as in you sell them too


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## funlad3

No! I mean at an LFS. Maybe in a few years I'll be selling fish and other pets, but today, I'm just stuck buying them and being their slave. To chat?


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## kay-bee

funlad3 said:


> That looks like an Astrea Starfish. Either harmless or extremely bad. Enjoy!


Asterina starfish.

Astrea's are snails.


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## cossie

lol kay-bee seems as if you know what your on about 

you should come online more often.

Also look out at this thread tomorrow as on way back from rugby there may be a few shrimps in their lol


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## cossie

just noticed in tank a couple of these snails

what species are they?/


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## cossie

ok new update.
today i bought these yellow polyps. (not too sure if the emeralds will like them but lets just wait and see??)

and whilst putting in the polyps my little starfish named ronald fell ogg the side and made its way to somewere else lol


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## funlad3

"Asterina starfish."

You know what? That's what I meant!!!

Cossie, careful with those polyps. They're dangerous. And yes. I will make you ask why!


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## cossie

lol why are they dangerouse


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## funlad3

Because they grow so quickly they can easily overtake any other coral in your tank. Even those with stinging tentacles. So yeah. get ready for some hard core fragging.


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## cossie

bout time u updated this its seems ages ago i did.

i put this in wrong section it seems, should have been in diary section lol.

all thats happend is a piece of coral has been added and some putty to hold it together and what we think is a stone crab has appeared in the rocks lol.


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## funlad3

Cool! Your signature still has invertebrates and anemones spelled wrong though! What are your levels? And what stocking did you decide on?


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## cossie

i dunno bout water levels cus my dad does that but what do u mean by stcoking???


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## grogan

Tank looks awesome. Damn now I want a salt water cube, this hobby is turning into an addiction and Im just fine with that


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## cossie

trust me it's an expensive hobby sometimes too


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## funlad3

pH, Ammonia, Nitrates, Nitrates, etc.


What stocking have you decided on?


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## cossie

stocking wise as in fish we are only planning on 3 whcih are a pink and white scooter blenny and a pair of clowns but we are gonna add a load of invertibrates.
next up some more corals and peppermint shrimp


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## funlad3

But what are the chemical levels?


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## cossie

i reallt dont know sorry

ill try find out tomorrow


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## funlad3

Cool. I want to know!


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## BettaFriend

What is up?

I am posting to subscribe. Love the tank, cossie! Looks great!


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## kay-bee

cossie said:


> stocking wise as in fish we are only planning on 3 whcih are a pink and white scooter blenny and a pair of clowns but we are gonna add a load of invertibrates


The scooter blenny (actually a type of dragonet) will definately require a load of invertebrates (such as a large population of replenishable copepods, amphipods, etc) to sustain it long term.


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## BettaFriend

Huh, I thought dragonets were in the goby family. I guess that just shows how much I know lol


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## TheOldSalt

They unfortunately have the trade name of goby, but they are absolutely NOT gobies.


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## cossie

yer we arnt gonna get them for like a year lol


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## cossie

another update lol.

today we went to our LFS and bought 4x Turbo snails and also found a black shell type thing.

What is it???????


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## kay-bee

The snails in the photo's look like astrea's but maybe some LFS's call them turbo's.

I guess I'm not seeing the black shelled thing (unless it's not depicted in your photo's).


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## cossie

Ok a major update here you go


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## cossie

Dw lol got more pics.

also some of the corals have only been in there 2-3 hours and havent opend up yet.

Also the lionfish (Fuzzball) ate his first bit of foos and the pic you see in the above post are both of him in his current position

ill get more up on the lionfish soon

and this isnt all the corals as i missed 1 but i CBA at the min ill put them up in a few fdays time


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## cossie

Lol this isn't a very active thread :-(


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## BettaFriend

Is that the blenny you were going to get in a year?


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## funlad3

I won't say anything. Now, when you can't bring yourself to sell the fish, you'll get a bigger tank! Join us!


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## cossie

lol no thats not the blenny i wanted to get but its instead of the blennt. his name is now Rexy or rex for short.

And no i know my dad and he'll sell him and wont get a bigger tank lol we spent £250 on it so far and have another £600 to go


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## cossie

Major update 

we got more corals sorry but no pics YET of them.

we also got 2 peppermint shrimps which keep shedding there shells and we also go to clown fish (Thats all the fish were getting)

more invertibrates and corals to come though.


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## cossie

some more of the corals glowing in the dark


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## funlad3

Nice! Watch the lion though... He may want to snack on the clowns...


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## cossie

yer the guy in store said that but then we told him hown big th FDL was and he said thath he'll be ok for up to a year.

but dw ill keep my eye on him. lol


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## BettaFriend

cossie said:


> some more of the corals glowing in the dark


Are those under a blacklight?

(btw, has anyone else not been getting email notifications for this thread? I thought it stopped)


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## funlad3

No, just actinic, which look an awful lot like black lights. I finally got mine running and the tank is WAY to blue...


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## cossie

just a neon light, came like it


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## cossie

quick update for funlad and others interested, got 4 ceriths 1 died and one of the clowns died from velvet disease, we had the in a quarratine tank for treatment and the other is on the road to recovery and rext my FDL is fine and thriving in the big tank,

next up-
sexy shrimp
new clown ( black and white)
more corals


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## cossie

heres an update for funlad and other sw fans.
not been on a while so this is whats been going on.
had a dwarf anhel cant remeber what one of the top of my head but we believe it got trapped by the pump in a cave and paniced killing itself.

still have 2 clown fish and a scooter blenny along with lots of turbo's and a couple of emerals crabs. lots of corals gone in, too many to list, next up shrimps and more snails


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## snyderguy

I wish I knew more about saltwater, I could seriously probably ask 20 questions about those pictures above in the last post


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## cossie

snyderguy said:


> I wish I knew more about saltwater, I could seriously probably ask 20 questions about those pictures above in the last post


Feel free to ask as many questions as you like I wil try and answer them as best I can.


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## snyderguy

Alright, you asked for it...

1) What's all the pink stuff on the back and is that good or bad?

2) Within your substrate, it looks like a bunch of broken up corals, how do you vacuum that? Or how are water changes done? Are they even done?

3) How do you attach coral frags to live rock?

4) In the last picture, there's all that pink stuff. Is that algae or is it some kind of putty keeping together everything?

5) Do you have to put in special foods for the anemones?

6) How often do you clean the filter?

7) Is this biocube actually really worth it? Or would you recommend a larger aquarium with a canister filter?

8) 1st picture, is the green grass looking stuff on the very left real?

9) 1st picture again, in the top right, that brown clump, is that dead? 

Ok so it wasn't 20 questions but close


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## cossie

snyderguy said:


> Alright, you asked for it...
> 
> Q. What's all the pink stuff on the back and is that good or bad?
> A.The pink stuff is called coraline algae, it is good for your tank it does not do anything beneficial other than look good, however it does eat up your iodiine, magnsium, and calcium levels.
> 
> Q. Within your substrate, it looks like a bunch of broken up corals, how do you vacuum that? Or how are water changes done? Are they even done?
> A.yes its old shells and sand etc, i do not vaccum it i just do water changes every 2-3 weeks as if i vaccum it the copapods for my scooter blenny die and resulting in him having no food :-(
> 
> Q, How do you attach coral frags to live rock?
> A.believe it or not you can use string?! or glue but i use putty, you buy it from the shop in all sorts of colours and just cut the frag of and stick him onto the putty
> Q.In the last picture, there's all that pink stuff. Is that algae or is it some kind of putty keeping together everything?
> A.i assume you mean the pink stuff on the back again? that is coraline algae however i did use putty to start with to hold the live rock to eachother.
> 
> Q. Do you have to put in special foods for the anemones?
> A.yes your suppose to with some corals but i have not gone down that route and most of my corals are soft corals with the eception of a few hard corals that dont need feeding, this way i do not overload and pollute the tank.
> 
> Q. How often do you clean the filter?
> A.every 2 days, i have added some filter wool to take out some of the larger particlespreventing it going to the bottom of the chambers.
> 
> Q. Is this biocube actually really worth it? Or would you recommend a larger aquarium with a canister filter?
> A.VERY worth it, depends how much money you have, to get this to what it is i have spent over £550, not cheap plus the copapods for the blenny cost £9 a month and the ro and salt water cost £8 a month.
> 
> Q. 1st picture, is the green grass looking stuff on the very left real?
> A.Yes it is something the shopkeeper recoomended to get rid of some of the hairalgae, its worked and although looks a bit out of place i will take it out once the hair algaes completly gone.
> 
> Q. 1st picture again, in the top right, that brown clump, is that dead?
> A.not entirely sure? i think its just algae but its more like a mushroom? not done anuthing bag to the tank yet.
> 
> Ok so it wasn't 20 questions but close


hope that helped  if you have anymore then you know were to ask,


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## snyderguy

That definitely helped, I'd love to buy that largest biocube someday and do a saltwater tank


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## cossie

haha it will drain your pockets like nothing you know ;-) 

hey, if you have a christmas tree send me it for the competiton.


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## kay-bee

Very nice!

What are the light-green corals in the 2nd picture from the last (it's the coral at the bottom front-center/right in the full tank shot to the left of the SPS).

Speaking of the SPS coral (birdsnest?) how long have you had it? You've got PC lighting, is that correct?


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## cossie

kay-bee said:


> Very nice!
> 
> What are the light-green corals in the 2nd picture from the last (it's the coral at the bottom front-center/right in the full tank shot to the left of the SPS).
> 
> Speaking of the SPS coral (birdsnest?) how long have you had it? You've got PC lighting, is that correct?


They are duncan corals 
i have had that birdsnest coral for about month and a half and yes i have pc lighting.


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## sam555

those duncans are mine cossie and growing like mad


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## funlad3

Looks great! I would personally add more reds and blues. If you can find them, some blue zoanthids would look great near the top of your tank.

Just a word of warning, the red scooter dragonet looks a bit thin. I'd either add more pods, culture more pods in a separate tank, or rehome it to a larger reef tank... 

Those clowns look happy! 


SnyderGuy, just for kicks, look into the Red Sea Max S Series. :fun:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...sg=AFQjCNGkaA-5P1-BFsT_N0KguxepdnvBqQ&cad=rja


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## cossie

yep funlad will be getting some of those colours soon.
started to cultre the copapods for him buy them once a month and they "should" become a colony for him too feast on.


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## snyderguy

funlad3 said:


> SnyderGuy, just for kicks, look into the Red Sea Max S Series. :fun:
> 
> What is that?


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## funlad3

The largest all in one tanks in the world, up to 150 gallons.  Have $6,500?


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## snyderguy

No way, haha. Someday though, I'd love to get a saltwater tank.


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## cossie

Ive updated the other 2 tanks so its only right to do so on this one

whats changed?
No new corals, its just been a case of maturing the tank ready for the new year well we will stack it with invertibrates.

current life
2x clown still got them 
1x hermit crab 
4x emeralds
1x turbo snail

short and sweet as just shrimp lef to add, hope you like
again positive and negative critisism welcome

tank
















hermit harold
















clowny








emerald








turbo ted









cheers guys


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## BettaFriend

Wow, it's been awhile! Thanks for updating the thread. The tank looks great!


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## cossie

BettaFriend said:


> Wow, it's been awhile! Thanks for updating the thread. The tank looks great!


haha i know :-(

but thanks mate


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## cossie

Went to my LFS today, bought 

1 halloween crab
2 sexy shrimp

haha the sexy shrimp are tiny, they went in and i havent seen them since


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## kay-bee

Nice update!


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## cossie

cheers, Still no sign of the shrimp though :-( maybe i was being a bit optimistic with there size


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## C. King

Beautiful SW tank! Makes me want to try a SW.


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## cossie

go for it but be prepared for the first year or so to pump money into it


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## Ice

Of course you'll need to do some intensive reading and research in saltwater aquaria keeping. I'v ebeen doing it myself for 4-5 years while I save up some serious cash for my first SW tank. I'm looking to start with a 16G Nuvo AIO by Innovative Marine.


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## cossie

Ice said:


> Of course you'll need to do some intensive reading and research in saltwater aquaria keeping. I'v ebeen doing it myself for 4-5 years while I save up some serious cash for my first SW tank. I'm looking to start with a 16G Nuvo AIO by Innovative Marine.


Hey ice, if you do make a thread it would make a good read


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## Ice

Heh - Most likely I'll end up doing a blog of sorts.


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