ok.... just one thing. could any one just jot down everything i need and tell me how to put it all together???????????????????????????????p leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez :confused:

Hi Ant,

You can make this list yourself by working through the Equipment List - click on the Ceph Care button above to find this article. Make the list, being sure to follow the links - you will learn a lot doing this.

Then, if you want to run the list by us, please do.

Nancy

ok here it is. tank-56 gal. I plan to put a hood with a glass panel under it.I will also tape it with colored duct tape.My Dad owns a plumbing and heating small-buisnes. I work for him (yes it is a 12 yr old working!)and he has R/O tanks so thats where ill get my r/o water.My dad knows the owner of our LPS so i could get synthetic sea salt there.UM......I dont know what kind of PS i should get , any recomendations for a 56 gal.I am going for a canister filter. I can get that from the owner too. I go to the mall with my parents a i look at hermit crab shells so i could get some of those and boil it for 20 min.I live in ohio so it gets hot and cold variations.I guess i could get a cheap chiller or put a fan on the SUMP. BTW what is a sump? :bonk: i Will find a heater somewhere but i doubt ill need it because my room stays hot for quite a while.(i only have 1 vent!) How do i set up an air pump?I will use a regular fish light on a timer 8 hrs a day, do you think thats too much or too little?How do i set up carbon? SHeesh ive neverwrote so much ....twice :yelling:

ok now i need to know how to put it all together as i have no clue how. :heee:

Do you have a shop nearby you? perhaps you coudl take your list with you and check it against the real thing? The shop wont mind if they think that you might eventually buy from them

Ant you have a lot of questions, and Colins suggestion of getting a visual is a great idea. Running a Marine aqaurium is a demanding , but rewarding udertanking. :)

Have you set one up before? Perhaps it would help to know what experiences you do have to build on, instead of explaining the process from scratch.

Would love to help so please fill in the gaps.

I dont think there is any tanks around here that i no of.
yes acually i have a little experience. I had a 10 gal fish tank with 2 large 'sucker' fish and two small ones. I also had a goldfish i a separate tank.O and i had 2 tetras in thee 10 gal. I had a bunch of other fish with them im sure. I cant remember tho :bonk:

Well atleast we have a starting point. We are you at to have no aquarium shops? That would be a huge benefit for you right now.

OH.............I thought you meant any octo tanks.nope none of them.But i do have a petland in my local mall. BTW I live in pandora OH

Do they sell any saltwater species at Petland?

no. They only sell(marine wise)snails neonfish frogs giant really puffy goldfish other various big fish, but nothing salt water. I think that we could get special orders from them or some specific website.

That will not work for us then. :( Is that the same shop you dad knows the owner of?

Trying to get you to see a saltwater tank in action.

with a canister filter you will need an bac-pac style protin skimmer.

if you have not bought a filter I recommend a wet/dry variety so you can put skimmer in sump (well of a wet dry) and it helps octo proof.

GL

yes its the same petland

maybe someone couldpost a video or pics of all the components.

:)

Ok:


Sump. (http://whirlwindmissions.smugmug.com/photos/1941814-M.jpg) is the type of sump I made. It's a wet/dry.

Protein Skimmer. (http://www.fishsupply.com/cgi-bin/f2/common/store.cgi?dbname=f2&mode=item&path=top/S/SS/SSAZZ/SSPWB-20125) Protein skimmers are good because they take alot of the waste from the water and the water doesnt pass through it. Because the water doesnt pass through it the watse cant mess up the water because of rotting.


Heater. (http://www.fishsupply.com/cgi-bin/f2/common/store.cgi?dbname=f2&mode=item&path=top/S/SH/SHLAZ/SHEEJ-19250) This is a REALLY good heater. It has extreamly thick glass so it's almost certain it wont crack easily.

Anything else?

does someone have something else for a sump the others are fine :D

A sump really is just a big box that the water runs though.

It helps in a number of ways.

It-

-increases the amount of water in the tank thereby diluting the water to some degree.

-can be used like I did by making a filter in it

-or is sometimes like a refuge where animals and plants can live where the octo can't eat them

There might be a few other ways but I cant think of them right now. :bugout:

...

keeps the equipment out of harms way

Can be turned into a filter and can house feeders like crabs.

Ant, A sump can be made from any container that will hold water as long as it is made from a non toxic material. I am using a plastic rubbermaid storage box for a sump on one of my seahorse tanks. It cost less than $5. You'll need an overflow box for the tank and a pump to return the water. You already have access to ro water, but you'll need a big container, perhaps a new 30g rubbermaid trashcan to mix your saltwater in. Let the sw mix and aerate it at least 12 hours before use so that the chemistry of the water has time to stabilize. Your gonna need a hydrometer to measure the salinity(specific gravity). I suggest getting a book on marine fish care just so you'll understand the basic's. Check out this link on sumps, http://www.aquaforums.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=49&t=3618&s=60516ca5c1ce62e647359712b2fc2fc0

hope this helps,
Spring

Hi ant,

I think it's rather important that you do make a trip to a good LFS that sells salt water equipment and has it on display. This may mean a trip to your nearest large city. I looked up Pandora on the map, and it doesn't seem that you're too near a major center. This will most likely mean that shipping will be longer for you, when you order an octopus or live rock or whatever.

Since there is so much to learn, I would strongly recommend you set up a salt water aquarium with some fish and shrimp and other invertebrates and have some time learning on it - maybe even a year.

Unless you live right by the sea and can catch much of your live food, keeping an ocotpus is expensive. You'll need fresh scallops and frozen shrimp and at least the occasional live crab.

Also, you need to check into the RO or RO/DI water that your father has. I remember a discussion on another site that the RO flitration that's installed in houses does not filter as well as what's needed for aqariums.

All this is going to take some time to do right, so be patient and work through it step by step. Spring's advice to buy a book or two on marine aquriums is good. Not everything applies, but the equipment is basically the same.

Hope this helps

Nancy

its still ro water

how many shrimp can i keep in a .... say 10- 15 gal tank?

can i keep fiddlers, clams,scallops in the same tank??? if so how many and how many gals

You could kepp quite alot of shrimp in a 10g ( Maybe 50 one and a half inch shrimp?), but you'll have to feed them. it should be ok with the hermits clams and scallops.

I just got back from the petland and there was a lady there that had one in a display case in columbus(capital of OH). I had her order a tank that is 4 ft. long 1ft. width and 18 in high.The owner owed my dad some money so that bought most of the tank so im getting it for around 150.00$ :D . its has a black pine base.I think that i could maybe get a supply of food from the columbus aquarium.She said that they might have an octo for sale and its only about a 2-3 hr drive. Me and my dad are going down there sometime to see thier tanks.She thinks that they might have an octo for sale, but not sure. :bugout: I will either get the skimmers and filters ect. from petland ,Columbus( not sure) or those links burstsofenergy24 gave me.

what is a wet/dry filterexactly

The bacteria that convert the Ammonia and Nitrites to less harmful things need lots of oxygen. Also known as a trickle filter it accomplishes this.



:)

what??????

Oh sorry I thought you were asking what it did.

A wet-dry basically is just a big box the water runs through. I has biomaterial such as Bioballs or scrunchies. Anything with alot of surface area.

The water can trickle down and will create lots of oxygen. The bacteria attach themsevles to the Biomaterial and get to work!

whats a trickle filter

A trickle filter is the same as a wet-dry filter.

You really need to get a book for reference,ant. Even something like Saltwater Aquariums for Dummies has a lot of this information. And you need to know more than just the minimum.

Nancy

is that an insult....oh, yeah lets all call me a dummy just because i have a few questions. :x



some one needs mannersunless nancys talking about somethin else

is that an insult....oh, yeah lets all call me a dummy just because i have a few questions. :x



some one needs mannersunless nancys talking about somethin else

No, it's a book in one of those series like Bankruptcy for Dummies, Scuba Diving for Dummies, The Internet for Dummies, stuff like that.
A trickle filter is another name for a wet dry filter.
I remember reading somewhere that someone (I think it was Dr. Woods) was writing a book on keeping cephs, anyone know if this is true, and when it will be out?

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh. hehe oopppps sry nanc

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh. hehe oopppps sry nanc

Just in case anyone couldn't read ant's apology... :roll:

Bein this young im not really up-to-date on topic like that. now i know :read: :snail:

Ill look into that bok thing when we go get my tank. i have well over enough for it.

Youd be surprised by how much it can cost.

What am i looking at?

What?

You can get it at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764553402/inktomi-bkasin-20/ref%3Dnosim/103-1242950-7631017

or

www.petsmart.com/products/product_55374.shtml

But most good bookshops will have the " For Dummies" series

in price rang but thnx joel

If you checked the links the price is stated there :wink:

I was just tell ing BOE that

ok i just got my 55gal tank yesterday. ITS HUGE

what is a good size to go with for a sump?

ok i just got my 55gal tank yesterday. ITS HUGE

:) That's what I thought when I got my O tank.



in price rang but thnx joel... was just tell ing BOE that

What I mean is that you'd be surprised how much live rock and filters can cost. I paid about $450 just for live rock. I know now that I should have ordered it from the internet. :( That would have cost about 100 bucks cheaper.


what is a good size to go with for a sump?

Mine is about 5-10% percent of the tanks volume. :)

so a 10 gal would be fine.?

Well that depends. Are you building it? I built my Sump from a big Rubbermaid container and drawers. The water comes through the drawers, which house biomaterial and carbon, into the sump and is pumped back up. The Rubbermaid is 32 gallons when full but I only keep about 7 or 8 gallons in it.

i am just planning on getting a 10 gallon tank because i sorta want to put some food for the octo in it

Oh ok. That's called a refuge. Do you have a skimmer and filter yet?

NOPE thats what the links u gave me r for

Ok.

few questions.im gettin these things from fishsupply.com. which heater should i get? which PS shud i get? whichfilters shud i get? i am going to buy these things in clusters. k
:roll:

:)
Sump. (http://whirlwindmissions.smugmug.com/photos/1941814-M.jpg) This is the type of sump I made. It's a wet/dry. I made it from here (http://www.oscarfish.com/viewtopic.php?t=20620&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0). It works really well and I recommend it.


Protein Skimmer. (http://www.fishsupply.com/cgi-bin/f2/common/store.cgi?dbname=f2&mode=item&path=top/S/SS/SSAZZ/SSPWB-20125) Protein skimmers are good because they take alot of the waste from the water and the water doesnt pass through it. Because the water doesnt pass through it the watse cant mess up the water because of rotting.


Heater. (http://www.fishsupply.com/cgi-bin/f2/common/store.cgi?dbname=f2&mode=item&path=top/S/SH/SHLAZ/SHEEJ-19250) This is a REALLY good heater. It has extreamly thick glass so it's almost certain it wont crack easily.

Pump. (http://www.fishsupply.com/cgi-bin/f2/common/store.cgi?dbname=f2&mode=item&path=top/S/SW/SWBZZ/SPWTI-02100) If you use that fuge idea I gave you should only need 1 pump for the return.


I edited it slightly.

can i just put the pipe comeing from the main tank into the 10 gal and have the return being pumped back up to the main tank,and then have the PS and stuff in the 10 gal, and then finnaly have the shrimp ect. in the 10 gal

It would be better if you made it go through the skimmer first. That way, if the octo inks it's out of there, first thing, without coating anything's gills. Also it saves you from having to buy another pump to get the water in the skimmer. :)

Still going to have to do a quick water change, and some clean-up, no skimmer is going to get all of the ink out.

But a very good recommendation! And will save you a lot of headaches :bugout:

............................well Colin's 4 foot monster may!!!!! Is that skimmer really 4 ft, and how many gallons does it skim for?

Well there really are gigantic skimmers out there. The skimmer could not possibly remove all the ink from the tank before it goes into the sump, thats why we recommend having activaated carbon in the tank as it helps remove some of the ink.

Btw neptune, you can ask Colin about the last cuttle and the skimmer.

ok do the thing above that i said,but make the siphoned off water go thru the skimmer and carbon first then into the sump where the other filters will be. BTW what kinds do i need? can i use a reg. fish filter

What happened?????????????? :shock: