[arvean]

Hi Guys,

I've been reading this great source of info for a while now. I admit that amount of info is overwhelming but still remains a great source of knowledge.

I badly need an advice. To keep it short, I used to have 2 bettas, when then died last week after 2.5 years I thought it would be nice to get something nicer. I went to a new local store and was adviced to get a clownfish and some hermits to clean the tank. They sold me a 12L tank, around 6lbs of live rock & special sand and salt. I got filter , heater ,air pump - nothing fancy. I was told that I have to keep it running for a week to have the water establish, and I can come this Friday to buy fish.

Over the weekend I visited several stores and was told that :

a) my tank is to small even for this one poor clownfish,
b) there is no way to keep 12L saltwater tank - it's too small
c) I have to have this whole filtration system that is more sophisticated than my server.
d) Air pump will not help
e) even slight change in aquarium will kill the fish
f) I HAVE TO WAIT A MONTH TO PUT IN THE FISH!!!!!

I don't know if the seller put it all wrong just to score a sale, or other people just don't know what they are saying ( I spoke with two guys from Petco). Please debunk/confirm my thoughts....
Sincerely

Arvean

[crox99]

Welcome to MR. What are the dimensions of the tank? Is it 12 liters or a 12 long?

	Manhattan Reefs Manhattan Reefs, the best aquarium community on Planet Earth!

[arvean]

thanks for a replay CROX. My dims are: 17x11x7 inch. Please advice

[crox99]

That's only 5.5 gallons of wafer. IMO too small for a clownfish.

[scumonkey]

With saltwater: The smaller the tank the harder it is to maintain.
For someone just starting out I wouldn't go less than 20 gallons (50 is better)

[arvean]

and what about the rest of my points? a-f?

[scumonkey]

Quote: and what about the rest of my points? a-f?

A. Yes-too small
B. Not true -but only an advanced hobbyist should try.
C. Depends on what you ultimately decide to keep in your system.
D. Air pump won't hurt either.
E. Depends on what change is being made.
F. A marine tank has to "cycle" you can't safely put fish in until it does.
(that can take a month)

Nothing in this hobby happens fast except disaster!

[ellebelle]

Well, it does sound like you got some very bad advice.

A 5 gallon tank is too small for a clownfish ... in fact, I'd say that a 5 gallon tank is too small for most saltwater fish with few exceptions (maybe a yellow clown goby or other extreme nano fish might be okay). There's an excellent book by Scott Michael that tells you what the minimum aquarium size is for different kinds of fish. I think it gives the minimum aquarium size for clownfish as twenty gallons.

It is possible to keep a five gallon nanotank - in fact, there are people on this board who have done it. It can be more difficult than a larger tank because your water parameters aren't as stable. Even a little bit of evaporation will drastically change the salinity in a small tank, whereas with a larger tank you have a lot more room for error.

If you want to keep a tank without a skimmer (filtration system), it is possible but you have to be very on top of your water changes (read: ALL THE TIME). If you have a small enough tank, this isn't such a big deal, but the larger the tank the larger the water changes. A skimmer isn't so complicated though. You buy it, you attach a pump to it, and voila! filtration. There is an excellent thread called "The Skimmer Thread" which talks about different skimmers. It's probably one of the most expensive investments in this hobby for beginners.

There isn't anything wrong with an airpump, but you would need some kind of powerhead for some flow. At petco these are quite expensive, but you can get powerheads online for about twenty bucks. If you decide to stay in the hobby, you can even probably score one or two spare ones of some members while you're getting everything set up.

Slight changes in the aquarium will not kill fish. The fish are a lot hardier than people give them credit for. Slight changes in the aquarium are far more likely to kill corals and invertebrates. I had an accident over the summer where my salinity got WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY low and I didn't lose any coral or fish - I only lost my two peppermint shrimp.

And yes - if your rock is new and from Petco, you are probably looking at 4 weeks for the tank to cycle. You can do a search on this site or on google for more information about cycing a tank. If you got your rocks from a member's established tank, you could maybe cut this time down ....

but it's better safe than sorry.

Good luck and let us know what you decide to do!

[cali_reef]

Quote: Originally Posted by ellebelle Even a little bit of evaporation will drastically change the salinity in a small tank, whereas with a larger tank you have a lot more room for error.

Evaporation rate is controlled by the amount of water surface area in contact with ambient air and the relative humidity level of the air.
Smaller tank will not have a larger rate of evaporation, unless that tank is very flat and have a larger ratio of water surface area vs. total water capacity. The top off water will be measure in ozs. vs. gallons in a large system but the salinity change will be similar, not greater.

I would not start this hobby with a tank smaller than a 20G, it is just too difficult to do and find equipment for.

[ellebelle]

Quote: Originally Posted by cali_reef Evaporation rate is controlled by the amount of water surface area in contact with ambient air and the relative humidity level of the air. Smaller tank will not have a larger rate of evaporation, unless that tank is very flat and have a larger ratio of water surface area vs. total water capacity. The top off water will be measure in ozs. vs. gallons in a large system but the salinity change will be similar, not greater.

Huh, I suppose that's true.

Everyone has always warned me off little tanks because of problems with salinity ... that shows me not to repeat something without research.