Thinking of moving from tropical to marine fish keeping.

[ShiggyBiggs]

Ive been keeping a tropical tank for a couple of years now and have decided to go and have a look at a nano marine set up someone is selling. Id be moving from a 180l to about 100ish. It has everything, a complete running set up and looks nice(from pictures) and well maintained. 4 or 5 fish, and some nice corals.

Will it cost much more to run a marine tank than my tropical tank which already has 4 t5's, a big powerhead, internal and external filters and a heater? My current tank is pretty heavily stocked(I feed them on cheap flake food, with some of those frozen things from time to time), how would a nano tank compare food wise? Any other hidden costs?

Also, is it wise to jump in with a fully stocked tank with no prior knowledge or experience? Or would you think it would be better to start from the start?

Cheers.

[Jasandjules]

Don't buy a nano as your first marine tank. Smaller water volume means far more skill and knowledge required to keep it stable. Frankly 100G is the smallest tank I would suggest someone begins their foray into marine keeping with........

[tenohfive]

Jasandjules said:

Don't buy a nano as your first marine tank. Smaller water volume means far more skill and knowledge required to keep it stable. Frankly 100G is the smallest tank I would suggest someone begins their foray into marine keeping with........

I can't speak from experience but I did some research when I looked to make the same transition. And the rule of bigger = better really does apply to marine tanks (more so than any other area of fish keeping.) Water chemistry is much more important than in tropical tanks and you have a lot less room for error.

Personally I was put off by the increased initial outlay, running costs and the additional work required so I never made the jump but I'll be interested to hear how you get on if you do go through with it.

[ShiggyBiggs]

Sorry didnt mention that if I do go ahead and buy it, I have a juwel rio180 (currently running freshwater but would be emptied and stored), a rio 300 and a 120 litre tank also. So I wouldnt be staying nano for long! Just didnt know if I should start there or wait until I get round to changing my tank over. Mainly because Id be scared of killing everything in the new marine tank.

This just seemed like a cheap way to start! But then if I decided to upgrade one of my exisiting tanks I would have to shell out a load for the bigger skimmer anyway.

Anyone here run a nano for their first tank?

Cheers.

Edited by ShiggyBiggs on Sunday 27th November 16:31

[Jasandjules]

A Rio 300 is a bit better but a 400 would be better.. Obviously you know a Rio is not ideally suited for marine. Would you get it drilled so you can run overflows and a sump?

I truly do not suggest a nano as a starter for marine.

[ShiggyBiggs]

Yeah I probably would drill it to add a sump of some kind. Ive enough spare smaller tanks hanging about doing nothing to use one as a sump and others as baffles.

Why is a rio no ideally suited for marine use? Once you carried out a few mods surely it would be fine?

I know a 400 would be better, but I already have a 300 in my garage.

I would love to and use the 180 as a sump. As its all matching. I think it would make a class display set up. Especially if in the end parts where the pumps and stuff stayed was behind the doors. But then how much is that going to cost? Id guess a few thousand pounds to make it look the part. Im on a bit of a tight budget tbh, so maybe staying freshwater is the way for me.

cheers.

edited - to answer questions.

Edited by ShiggyBiggs on Sunday 27th November 22:16