LadAShark

So the 1000 gallon tank I'm building requires 20,000 gallons per hour through the main tank? Good to know x.x

Hmm, plywood huh? I mean, I've considered it, but I'm somewhat worried about longevity and just how thick the plywood needs to be. I don't want a goliath hunk of plywood just for a 1000 gallon tank. And I also hear you can't have a plywood tank with glass over 3 feet tall :/

A round tank would indeed be best for sharks. What I am planning to get, however, are catsharks, that aren't free swimming, so I have heard it's actually OK to not have rounded corners as long as you place something at the corners so that they don't bump into them. A custom tankmaker is indeed a possibility, but I still wish to be rather frugal, so I might just watch around for glass panels and make the tank myself. I'm particularly looking around for starphire, though that's rather unlikely to just show up. I do want a big tank, but I am still quite frugal ;P

I want to set one up, but I was thinking it would be more fun and more economical if I set everything up myself instead of buying every piece of equipment sold on the market. Anybody have some interesting ideas that I can use to make this 1k gallon happen? Filtration, skimming, lighting, everything is open to be DIY! I'm thinking of filtering it through this: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2551103

Nice! Are they reef tanks or something else?

I'm going DIY on a lot of the things that I can, so it'll be extra fun and cheaper when possible ;P And I wouldn't say I'm super wealthy, buuut, it would take a good down 5k dollars or so. I might, just might consider dropping it to an 800 gallon, but that wouldn't be all that much cheaper. I intend to keep 3 sharks, 1-2 eels, a harlequin tusk, dragon wrasse, and a sharksucker (echeneis naucrates/neucratoides) in the 1k gallon. I'm planning on some abalone, a queen conch (which can in fact be found for sale), and milky conch, and a huge bunch of nerite snails for my initial cleanup crew. But I am a little offended. Does one have to be super rich to start their dream tank? I mean I'd understand if it was above, say, 2,000 gallons, but a 1k gallon wouldn't be all that expensive if you have 5-10k dollars set aside that you're willing to spend on your ONLY hobby. I guess it's bad money management on my part, but I'm frugal everywhere else, so sue me haha. Anyway, I am willing to solicit help in the form of chaeto, snails, and other things people are willing to give away!

Hey everyone! Being new here, I've come to put out some ideas, and I had one that I thought could be great. What if we found a place at the ocean: newport, astoria, seaside, etc. where we could farm mussels? "LadAShark, you're crazy! No one would let you run a farm, that would take too much space!" And here's where it gets good. Mussel farms are actually set up on ropes. So you get a long rope, seed it/let it get seeded by mussels, and throw it out into the water to let the mussels grow. So if we could find someplace we could rent, or if we knew someone who could let us set up these things, we'd actually be able to vary our fishes's diets by adding wild mussels. As for bacteria in mussels? Simply pasteurize them to feed your tanks. Heat to 63 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes, and then take them out and rapidly cool them. That will kill 99% of the bacteria in them, making for healthier food than, say, silversides. Your angels, puffers, wrasses, and basically every carnivoruous/omnivorous/detritivorous creature will love you! It would be great if we could get such a cooperative effort going, otherwise I'd just go once a month to collect 72-144 mussels and be done with it.

I'm interested in the people here who have over a ~200 gallon tank, as I myself am going to start a 1000 gallon hopefully in 4 months or so if everything goes as planned.

You could try adding some sort of divider to block off the damsel from that area for a period of time long enough for it to get attached, Though the damsel might still pick on it afterwards...

I could probably design one myself through one of those teeny computers or perhaps an old computer, and a combination of what I know from basic organic chemistry. It really shouldn't be that expensive, but it is for some reason :/

Annnnnd I'm sold.

You'd be surprised...

I remember when I went crabbing on the docks in seaside, I believe, the sea lions (or were they seals, I don't remember) didn't seem to stop anything. I caught like 10 crabs in an hour and a half. Though I'm not sure if I can pull that off again. Hmm. All it would take is a single rope. I really don't know anyone there, so I'm not sure if anyone would let me do anything there. Wonder if like 10-50 dollars a month would let me do that? Hmm. It would be interesting to see how many people would be interested in setting up something like that over here. If so, we could perhaps rent a spot or soemthing and raise enough mussels for everyone's fish ;P Sharks aren't the only animals that enjoy mussles, so do pretty much every other carnivorous fish.

You got my hopes up. I looked into it, mussels can even filter up to 80 gph. There's no way it can be maintained in a tank :/ What I CAN do is find someplace in Astoria/seaside/etc. And find someone who'll let me toss a huge rope over and leave it there forever. Then I can go there around once a month or so, collect some of the larger mussels and keep them at home (they can stay alive without food for MONTHS) to feed to the sharks. Wonder if I could get that set up? That would be pretty awesome, though I would somewhat worry about parasites and diseases.

Woah! I just found out that you can keep large conches in your aquariums! Most stores don't seel it, but I did find some for sale at: http://www.thatpetplace.com/aquarium-livestock/snails#!snails Which would probablu be my go to solution for detritus. I was thinking my only solution to clean a 1k gallon would be a bunch of abalone, but I think I might toss in a milky conch and a queen conch and see how they fare when I actually get the tank.

Or give it to me ;P I'll figure out what to do with it. It looks really cool, I'd love to keep it in a tightly sealed tank. A VERY tightly sealed tank ;P

Huh. I would've never thought. Wow, this is good to know!

Unforuntately any fish you have to acclimate to salt water isn't a fish that you want to be feeding to your fish, as it will lead to fatty liver disease and will kill your fish, as fresh water/brackish fishes just don't have the proper nutritious value. I'm thinking either some naturally saltwater fish, shrimp, or other that would be possible to reproduce in a tank (like a refugium) and then feed back to the fish in the main tank.

Sometimes I wish I had the same luck with birds as I do with aquariums. Backstory: several years back I found a fledgeling parakeet outside. Caught it, kept it, and then proceed to have 1-2 other people pass on their own parakeets to me. After several years I hd to give them away, now I haven't had birds for 4 years, and suddenly bam! During the construction work, one of the constuction workers find 3 baby birds for me to take care of. Is anyone willing to find 3 baby corals for me to take care of? God [language filter]. Looks like I'm not getting much sleep for the next few weeks...

So what are the benefits of membership currently? And from what stores do I get the discounts mentioned earier?

Huh. Never really considered parrotfish thoroughly. Wonder if they'd get along with some sharks like coral catshark, marbled catshark, whitespotted bamboo shark, collared carpetshark, and bali catshark? Actually, I'm not sure about the last two I listed, because it's really hard to find information on them. They were (and I don't know if they still are) sold by a vendor in Canada. I need to find out if they can even live in tropical conditions before getting them... Anyway, back to topic. I'll definitely consider a parrotfish if you could find some information about keeping them with catsharks, cause I can't find squat when I look for that info. I'm more worried about the parrot killing the shark than anything else.

I wish I could keep tropical, temperate, and cold water creatures all together.

http://www.lionfishlair.com/hitchhiker.shtml Guide to a bunch of hitchikers to your aquarium http://www.tankterrors.com/how-to-setup-a-shark-aquarium/ Good to read if you are also trying to set up a shark tank. http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/jf/index.php The two primary "diseases" that affect Tridacnid clams. http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/good-reasons-use-refugium-reef-system-3184/ Why to use a refugium/benefits.

I would bet. I'm gonna see if I can get abalone to work in my tank. That and some tiger cowries and some urchins should do the job. That's also why I've decided against getting a horn shark. If I got one there would be nothing left that could clean my tank :/

http://www.eattheweeds.com/emerita-mole-crab-munchy-crunchies-2/ I mean, even people eat them. This could be a real business oppurtunity! ;P