Hesitation On Taking The Plunge.

[Shovelman]

Ok so some of you might recognize me as i asked questions before and stopped, but that's because Ive been occupying my time with my 65 gallon Any who, i was just going over some of my fish magazines and the urge still remains.... don't think i could live with myself if i don't try saltwater before i got to college lol. So, im trying to crunch the numbers on what i need to keep a nice easy reef tank. Nothing hard or extremely rare just softcorals and possibly a pair of clowns...oh and alot of crustaceans. I LOVE CRUSTACEANS...the main reason why i love saltwater lol.

What i have now.
A. A 20 gallon and 10 gallon tank (not drilled, and cant drill...don't want to explain why)
B. 2 20 gallon aqueon HOB filters.
c. pool filter sand
D. 100 watt heater
E. Aquarium stand.

What i think ill need
A. Ro/di system...gonna be the hard hitter
B. a 24" t5 light fixture
c. Argonite sand...or maybe no sand...?
D. Hydrometer
E. Live rock
F. Salt mix

Anything i might be missing? I really want to try and keep this tank as low cost as possible....i know thats somewhat hard to say with sw but i dont currently have a job as my money comes from mowing grass and shoveling snow haha

 

[Shovelman]

oh! and a power head...forgot that one lol

 

[Man of fish]

Protein skimmer?

 

[Shovelman]

*facepalm* That too...lol idk i dont think anything fancy is direly needed here..

 

[Man of fish]

Ummmmmmm maybe ummmmmm some anemones? If you want clowns. And I think they are required if you want them to spawn.

 

[Shovelman]

Ummmmmmm maybe ummmmmm some anemones? If you want clowns. And I think they are required if you want them to spawn.

nooooooooo they do perfectly fine without nems! Plus nems can hurt softies like i want to keep. And a nem in a 20 or 0 is way too small...

 

[Man of fish]

Oh sorry. I only know a little about saltwater. My friend has a 125 gal and he taught me a little.

 

[creeker]

Shoveling snow! Hence the name I guess. You will of course need a test kit for your water.

 

[Shovelman]

Shoveling snow! Hence the name I guess. You will of course need a test kit for your water.

Ah another valiant point!

Man of fish, tis all good ive been researching for a long time but research doesn't teach you everything.

 

[lljdma06]

Get a refractometer not a hydrometer. More accurate & actually less expensive in the long run.

I cannot tell you great it us to have an RO/DI unit. Check for them on eBay or Craigslist.

Aim for 20x turnover in your power heads.

For a pair of clowns, I'd go 20g rather than 10g.

I'll think of more stuff later.

 

[Shovelman]

Get a refractometer not a hydrometer. More accurate & actually less expensive in the long run.

I cannot tell you great it us to have an RO/DI unit. Check for them on eBay or Craigslist.

Aim for 20x turnover in your power heads.

For a pair of clowns, I'd go 20g rather than 10g.

I'll think of more stuff later.

Thanks lljd! I was thinking that if i was to use my 20 gallon it would have the 2 clowns but if it was a 10 gallon id do a neon blue goby and a bunch of inverts or just an invert only tank (coral and crustaceans alike)

Isn't there an online store that sells refurbished RO/di units? I saw the website one time and they were selling some nice refurbished ones for 100$ or so..

Meant to say refractometer.....got the two mixed up lol.
One other question, how hard is it to keep salt levels and mixing the right amount of salt to water ratio?

 

[lljdma06]

One other question, how hard is it to keep salt levels and mixing the right amount of salt to water ratio?

I find it relatively easy. I got this hint from a friend, though who is a marine biologist. If you stick with animals that are considered Intertidal, or that are found in shallow water, you can get away with salinity levels that fluctuate more.

That being said, I personally maintain very stable salinity levels by using a jewelry scale that I got off eBay for like $10 to measure my saltmix. I maintain my reefs at 1.025. I don't have a hard time maintaining these levels, especially if you use the same containers to mix the SW all the time.

 

[Shovelman]

One other question, how hard is it to keep salt levels and mixing the right amount of salt to water ratio?

I find it relatively easy. I got this hint from a friend, though who is a marine biologist. If you stick with animals that are considered Intertidal, or that are found in shallow water, you can get away with salinity levels that fluctuate more.

That being said, I personally maintain very stable salinity levels by using a jewelry scale that I got off eBay for like $10 to measure my saltmix. I maintain my reefs at 1.025. I don't have a hard time maintaining these levels, especially if you use the same containers to mix the SW all the time.

Awesome!
So what do you think would be a better setup per say,

A. 20 gallon tall tank: possibly FOWLR as im trying to save as much money as possible and corals and the lights would be pretty costly, or i find the money and do a simple nano reef with 2 clowns and maybe a shrimp/goby pair

B. Use my 10 gallon and make it a mini reef with even more emphasis on the corals (the t5 fixture i found is rather inexpensive) and do a shrimp/goby pair or a single fish like a yellow tail damsel or something but mainly having the corals and crustaceans