Hi Roy,

Wow! Thanks so much for your insights. The one I saw at Petco is Eclipse
branded. I'm not too sure about the price but I don't think they would
charge an arm and a leg since they have many other competitors.

The main reason I was a bit concern about the size of the tank is, that I
live in 900 square feet town house, and I don't have much room to place this
precious salt-water tank on.

I heard of the Nano tank and I have asked a guy who works in the aquarium
shop about it. His response was, Nano tank is for someone who has extensive
knowledge of salt-water system and be able to monitor the water all the
time. This discourages me from getting one.

I don't plan on getting any anemones (not sure if this is what you call it)
or huge amount of fish in the tank anyway. 6 to 10 small, yet colorful fish
in there will be more than what I can dream of having. I never heard of Aqua
Pod at all, but will definitely do some research after writing up this
message.

Now, let's say I want to go with the Eclipse 12 gallon tank option. At the
beginning, should I get some live coral rocks to raise some good bacteria?
Or I should get a couple of damsel fish?

Again, thanks a lot for your time in responding. Cheers.

- James




On 1/2/06 4:21 PM, in article ,
"Roy" wrote:

I personally as well as a lot of other afficionados of PICO tanks do
not belive there is such a thing as too small. I have a bunch of PICO
tanks from 2 pints to 2 gal in size and they all do just fine. SOme
have all the bells and whistles any other larger fully equipped tank
would have and some only get basic water changes once a week....Only
concern is temperature.

There is certainly nothing wrong with a 12 gal setup. IS it the
Eclipse Marine Setup? If so, its good to go like it is without any
additional filters....however if your wanting to put mushrooms and
some other corals that are suitable for the light it comes with then
you really need to change the bulb out....but for a fish only its
fine.

Eclipse makes a 1 tube and a two tube hood and the two tube is
definately a better choice........

I don;t know what petco price is on their 12 gal so called acrylic
tank, which really is not acrylic but a clear injection molded styrene
type plastic, but with the MArineland Eclipses my LFS sells they just
sub a 10 gal All Glass tank in its place....and offer it in kit form
with all the necessary accessories for $99.00 and offer the larger
Eclipse III setup complete with all things down to so many pounds of
LR and sand etc and salt etc etc for $149.00

Have you seen the Aqua Pod 12 gal and 24 gal.....They contain
everything needed but what you put inside in the line of fish and rock
and are a very good deal.

Another super setup that is a complete NANO setup is the Finnex M
tank....Lists for a complete setup for about $239.00 and is a complete
package ready to put your critters in. But there is nothing wrong with
the 12 GAl; setup if its the Marineland Eclipse system........It will
give you experience with sal****er without a ot of money laid out and
it can always be used as a quarantine tank if yu ever go
bigger.....Just be aware..sal****er fish keeping is much more
expensive and much much more addictive than freshwater is........



On Mon, 02 Jan 2006 20:40:51 GMT, James Cheung
wrote:
Hello folks,

Happy new year first of all. My wife and I have decided to set up a new
salt-water tank in our living room. Since I'm totally new with the marine
tank, I have some questions and hopefully you pros can help me out.

1. Petco is selling a 12 gallon tank complete with all the salt-water
accessories that need to get me started (salt, meters, filter, net,
testing
equipments). However, I heard people saying that setting up a salt-water
tank for less than 30 gallon is waste of time because small tanks tend to
have less buffer than a bigger tank. Is this true? Or it¹s just a myth?
2. If 12-gallon tank is too small, what¹d be the minimum size that I
should
consider? Granted I will monitor the water in a daily basis, but there
will
be times that I go on vacation and might need my tank unattended for a
week
or two.
3. I understand that after I have setup the tank initially, I should leave
the water and filtration system running for at least two weeks. What are
some of the things that I should be aware of during this period, or before
I
start setting things up?
4. Aside from the hanging type of filter it comes with the Petco package
(if
I go for the 12 gallon option), should I get additional filters to keep
the
water cleaned and stabilized at all time? If so, what type or brand that
you¹d recommend.

Thanks in advance for your help. Cheers.

- James