marine set up

[mrmoo2401]

hey everyone. im really thinking about setting up a marine tank but am not exactly rich lol. so was wondering on whats the minimum size of a tank. please help

[Cliff]

That is a question that can be highly debated. Although I like to typically suggest you go with a tank around 55 to 29 gallons for your first set-up, many others have successfully started off with smaller. The bigger the tank, the easier it will be to maintain and keep stable. If you are going to start off with a small tank tank, then make sure you complete some really good research first as smaller set-ups can have a few more challenges as compared to larger ones.

The below might also help

http://saltwater.aquaticcommunity.co...ne-aquarium-2/

I have also moved your thread to the correct section of the forum

[rageybug]

+1 to Cliff


The larger the SW tank, the less effect a water problem will have. Think of it like this... put one drop of oil into a 5g tank, then put one drop of oil into a 30g tank. The 30g tank will be much less affected by the toxin as it is spread through a much larger volume of water. That drop of oil will be much more concentrated in the 5g tank.

Until you have SW down to a science, the bigger the better. Don't fall into the "nano tanks are cheap and easy" trap. I would bet that if we polled AC posters, we would find more nano crashes than large system crashes.

[glarior]

Don't need to be rich to have an awesome SW setup. Research and understanding how the eco system works will do wonders for anyone setting up a tank. I would go with a 55g since they are easily found on craigslist for cheap.

[Strider199]

hey everyone. im really thinking about setting up a marine tank but am not exactly rich lol. so was wondering on whats the minimum size of a tank. please help

No matter which size you choose, a saltwater tank will be more expensive to equip and maintain then your avaerage freshwater tank. I've seen 10 gallon Nano set-ups which cost more then a 90 gallon freshwater set-up.
If your going to get into saltwater take the advice from the above posts. Get at least a 50 gallon tank and go slowly. You dont need to buy everything in one month. Get it going a piece at a time over a few months. This means no fish for awhile but you'll be able to keep the water parameters stable for when the set-up is ready.
My first saltwater purchase was an r/o water system which I installed in my kitchen so I would have the water available to fill the tank with a reef mix.

[Crispy]

+1 for 55g. best bang for your buck if you look around for a used setup. even better if you can pickup one with live rock, skimmer, lights included.

as stated, the smaller you go, the less room for error. I would always recommend the largest setup you can afford. :)