On 24 May 2006 18:26:44 -0700, "Ruyi"
wrote:


I find marine tank beautiful and facinating to watch. would like to
know how to to keep prawns.

what do i need?

Small prawns should be pretty easy to keep. You could do it with
fairly minimal equipment. You need some sort of filtration to remove
waste products, and water movement in the tank to keep it oxygenated.
An airstone would be good. Temperature should not be critical, don't
know what your room temp is but you need a heater probably if these
are a tropical species, 77-80F might be good.


would i need a protein skimmer? A filter, lighting? etc?

They don't care about the lighting, if it's just prawns use what you
want to be able to see them. A marine specified fluorescent might be
good, and would let you keep some of the stuff alive on live rock if
you have any.


do i need live rock and sand and if yes, can i collect sand from the
beach as live sand

Live rock would do the filtration nicely. And the sand might help.
Then you don't need an external filter of any sort. The rock must be
clean and mature before it will work properly. For something basic
like prawns you can get by without rock if you bought a filter of some
sort, but these are not ideal for many other marine organisms you
might keep, and need regular maintainance. Rock is probably best if
you can get it.


i cannot afford a chiller

Should not be needed if your lights are not too powerful, it's extra
heat from those that is the main reason marine tanks use chillers. If
it's just prawns in there you can limit the use of the lighting
anyway.


what SG is good? 1.022 or 1.024. or lower?


Don't worry, not critical, just pick a figure somewhere near that
range and keep it stable. Things don't like big fluctuations, that's
the main point. Keep the tank topped up to level with fresh water and
the SG should stay pretty constant.

As its a first tank, i dont mind it being bare if its easier to keep

You might want some rock with some basic cover on it, algae, small
polyps etc, could be prettier, but I'd avoid corals etc unless you
have good lighting and decent live rock filtration plus skimming set
up. Skimming would help keep things stable but probably is not
essential for something basic like prawns, assuming you are doing
regular water changes to get rid of organic waste. Skimming is
important for corals, though they have been kept without.

Steve