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starting a saltwater aquarium

I am thinking of starting a sw aquarium in September.

I was curious-there are all these threads that say "I have a 75 gallon tank. Is that enough?" and I see answers that say "No, you need a hundred gallon tank."

I was curious- I was thinking of acquiring a biocube that has a capacity of only 14 gallons. What can I get with only 14 gallons?
 
The saltwater section here is rather inactive, your question would be better answered on reef forums.
 
pm brie she works in a reef store
 
with a 14 gallon, the amount of money you need to spend on equiptment goes down drastically. smaller heater, filter, more simple light, no protein skimmer needed. but the selection of fish you have to chose from, as well as corals and inverts, goes down drastically. and the water parameters are tougher to keep stable, so you basically have to limit yourself to beginner species only. unless you wanted to add on a sump or refugium of an additional 30 gallons or so (non display tank) to increase your water capacity and reduce temperature and salinity fluctuations.

i have a thirty gallon reef aquarium that i am very happy with.
 
I disagree, I believe the need for a skimmer increases in a nano aquarium because of the water parameters and the buildup of ammonia and other harmful substances.
 
Short answer: A 14 gallon is fine, but the saltwater hobby is a huge moneypit and you'll never be able to get even a fraction of what you spend back by selling your livestock when you get out of the hobby.

Long answer: The BioCube 14 has really crappy lights and you'll only be able to keep soft corals and LPS. No fun stuff like anemones, clams or SPS when you get ready. I would really encourage you to go with a BioCube 29 HQI, which is lit with metal halides. Those will keep ANYTHING you want alive, clams, sps, anemones, ect... They're just great.

My advice: Unless you have your heart set on it, it's a really big money pit to get into and you can't make any money by just selling corals like people say. You have to spend money on electricity to run the tank, you have to buy salt and RO/DI to mix water (natural seawater isn't good for a few reasons which I won't get into), you'll want to buy corals, fish, ect. I'm not trying to discourage you, I'm just warning you, you'll spend a lot on the hobby. I just got out because I found out that I get just as much joy out of Nepenthes and they're less expensive. You don't have to get anything for them except for RO/DI very rarely, and if you have them in a terrarium or greenhouse, you have to pay to light/heat/cool that. Nepenthes grow a lot faster than coral too. Some corals do grow really fast, but they don't grow nearly as fast as you would want them to. To get the overgrown tank look that everyone wants, you have to stock it heavily and wait five years while keeping up with maintenance to make sure everything is perfect. You'll also run into a lot of problems with your tank, like heaters blowing up, equipment failing, algae, not enough water flow, ect... It's all just a mess. But there are thousands of people who do a really good job at the hobby and can keep up with the stuff financially, so it's something to look into. Another hobby I wish I would have gotten into was dart frogs, so if you're just looking for a new hobby in general, dart frogs are a cool thing to check out. :)

HTH!
 
I have kept a rose bubble tip in my 14 for months. It is definitely not as hard as it seems at first sight. Just curious, Pineapple, how much experience do you have in the hobby? Have you had a tank before?
 
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