# marineland kit, 37 gallons



## jellysaurus (Apr 14, 2010)

does anyone have experience with this marineland kit ? i found it at petsmart and am considering making it my first step to purchasing stuff for a marine aquarium. it comes with lights and a fliter in the hood.

what other setups/addons would you suggest if this is not up to par?

ive done a bunch of reserach on everything i need to do for a saltwater tank now its just a matter of getting the stuff


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## GetITCdot (Aug 4, 2009)

I've seen the kit, in all honesty it will work for a FOWLR tank however don't expect to have corals and anemones or anything that requires decent light.

btw:

Welcome to the forum.


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## ladyonyx (Apr 20, 2009)

+1. If you're just looking to have fish and some nice LR, that set-up will do the trick. If you want corals, you'll definitely need more/better light.


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## jellysaurus (Apr 14, 2010)

sweet thanks for the response!
i would in fact want corals so would you suggest buying extra lighting to go with it?

also, would it be possible to convert to a coral tank from fish only? while adding the appliances to go with it? 
im curious as this could be a money saver and im thinking that i could buy the corals and lighting later on in my tanks maturity


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## GetITCdot (Aug 4, 2009)

yep, thats what i did. I started with a FOWLR (fish only with live rock) and it progressed its way over time into a reef tank 

Its actually not even really a reef tanks, its a bunch of fish and a bunch or coral and a bunch of inverts, i dont really know what that counts as.

But i started with about 150 watts of light with the FOWLR tank, I now run 800+ watts of MH 20,000k


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## trouble93 (Nov 8, 2008)

GetITCdot said:


> yep, thats what i did. I started with a FOWLR (fish only with live rock) and it progressed its way over time into a reef tank
> 
> Its actually not even really a reef tanks, its a bunch of fish and a bunch or coral and a bunch of inverts, i dont really know what that counts as.
> 
> But i started with about 150 watts of light with the FOWLR tank, I now run 800+ watts of MH 20,000k


 I have a question here...If all the things you just named here is not a reef tank what make a reef tank? Or maybe I'm just not understanding the statement.


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## GetITCdot (Aug 4, 2009)

trouble93 said:


> I have a question here...If all the things you just named here is not a reef tank what make a reef tank? Or maybe I'm just not understanding the statement.


I guess you make a point however, I have quite a few fish. Including a juvenile bamboo shark, you don't usually see those in reef systems. (and surprisingly he could care less about the cleaner shrimp in the tank, although once he gets a bit bigger i'm sure i will need to move him out)

When i think of a reef tank I think of basically all coral and inverts and maybe a few fish here and there. Her is my stock list:

Naso Tang (the large 11" girl)
Kole Tang
Yellow Tang
Sailfin Tang
4 assorted clown fish
5 assorted damsels
2 scooter blennys

2 orange lincia
4 cleaner shrimp
purple lobster
2 coral shrimp

a sh** ton of coral


To me it just doesn't seem like your average *reef* tank.


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## ladyonyx (Apr 20, 2009)

Holy cow GetITCdot! How big is this reef tank?!


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## trouble93 (Nov 8, 2008)

GetITCdot said:


> I guess you make a point however, I have quite a few fish. Including a juvenile bamboo shark, you don't usually see those in reef systems. (and surprisingly he could care less about the cleaner shrimp in the tank, although once he gets a bit bigger i'm sure i will need to move him out)
> 
> When i think of a reef tank I think of basically all coral and inverts and maybe a few fish here and there. Her is my stock list:
> 
> ...


Man that's alot of tangs for a 150gal. tank JMO


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## GetITCdot (Aug 4, 2009)

trouble93 said:


> Man that's alot of tangs for a 150gal. tank JMO


Yeah it's an obsession, I'm working on setting up a 210 which a few of them will eventually be moved into along with the shark.

Tangs are just such cool fish, I cant stop myself from buying them.


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## jellysaurus (Apr 14, 2010)

too bad tangs need such a high gallon level for what i can fit :/


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## jellysaurus (Apr 14, 2010)

so i got this tank today!! now its a matter of getting everything else i need to get started. it looks pretty awesome even when empty though

the fish i want to have in the tank are:

for the first i want maybe a clown /tomato clown
yellow watchman goby/pistol shrimp combo
small school of pajama cardinals 
and a royal gramma

anyone care to give their opinion on this fish choice?
with this amount of fish what is the maximum for the school of cardinals, i would be willing to sacrifice the royal gramma for more cardinals if need be


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## trouble93 (Nov 8, 2008)

GetITCdot said:


> Yeah it's an obsession, I'm working on setting up a 210 which a few of them will eventually be moved into along with the shark.
> 
> Tangs are just such cool fish, I cant stop myself from buying them.


I feel you...the tang family is the coolest fish family out there. What makes the tang or surgeon fish family a danger do to over crowding is they don't have a slim coat like other fish do. So that opens them up to disease & parasites. That why they are called ich magnets.


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## trouble93 (Nov 8, 2008)

jellysaurus said:


> so i got this tank today!! now its a matter of getting everything else i need to get started. it looks pretty awesome even when empty though
> 
> the fish i want to have in the tank are:
> 
> ...


Cardinals are a good schooling fish but they are not open swimmers all they do is hang out mid level in the tank and that's it. They do best in schools of 3 or more. Clowns are a good starter fish as well as the gramma, the trick with a new tank is not to add to many fish at once. You want your beneficial bacteria to build but not be over worked. That's where you will start running into problems. More then likely it will be Nitrates & Phosphates. Just take your time as you cycle the tank. Keep this in mind nothing good happens in this hobby over night. Do you know how you are going to cycle the tank? (Hard or soft cycle). This is a 37gal. tank that is still cycling it's about two weeks in.


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## jellysaurus (Apr 14, 2010)

im not sure what you mean by hard cycle or soft cycle i havent heard of that before.

i planned on making my salt water and putting live rock in there and letting it wait a couple weeks before adding a fish, maybe add a cleaner shrimp before

also i dig the fact that the pajama cardinals just chill there together, it intrigues me.


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## trouble93 (Nov 8, 2008)

jellysaurus said:


> im not sure what you mean by hard cycle or soft cycle i havent heard of that before.
> 
> i planned on making my salt water and putting live rock in there and letting it wait a couple weeks before adding a fish, maybe add a cleaner shrimp before
> 
> also i dig the fact that the pajama cardinals just chill there together, it intrigues me.


A hard cycle is just add live rock water and a piece of table Shrimp and let everything spike and then let all water levels come down on there own without water changes. Doing it this way will give you a strong beneficial bacteria base. A soft cycle is done with water changes after you start seeing your levels spike. IMO a hard cycle gets your tank off to a better start may take alittle longer, but that's just my opinion.


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## ladyonyx (Apr 20, 2009)

The only fish on your list I wouldn't recommend is the tomato clownfish. They're one of the larger, more aggressive clownfish species and it may enjoy harrassing the PJ cardinals, which are very docile. Maybe try a smaller species like ocellaris or percula clowns. I keep onyx clownfish and they are just gorgeous; nice temperament too. Also, don't get a maroon clownfish. They're beautiful but they get big and like eating the fins off of smaller, shy fish like cardinals.


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## jellysaurus (Apr 14, 2010)

sweet! thanks ill take that into consideration now.

and i will probably be doing the hard cycle. i just need a stand for my tank before i can get started


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