I want to start a saltwater tank, where to start?

[jscuba]

First off, I have had freshwater tanks for 10+ years, and am familiar with them. I've always wanted to start a saltwater tank, but never have gotten around to it, until now. I have read some on starting a tank, and talked to a person at one of the local pet stores about it. I understand that it is much more complicated than a freshwater tank, and takes more care and time. I also understand that it could take 2 to 3 months to properly establish a suitible enviroment for fish and reef/inverts. So far I have purchased a new, 75 gallon tank. It is rectangular and about 50 inches long. It came with the lights (Not sure if they are good enough for saltwater or not yet though). Now, I need to know what next, I'm going to get some sand (what kind should I get? Will regular sand work? live sand i've heard of? need to know this), and I'm going to start looking at bio-wheel filters, I'll need advice on those. Before I ask more questions, maybe I should lay out a basic goal of what my aim for the tank is.

Its a pretty long (and thick) tank, so I was going with a reef-wall look, with various corals, and inverts, and of course, the fish. I have it set up along a wall, where it will recieve sunlight from a few windows and a window/walkout door. Would something like this possible to achieve?

Now that you know my basic goal, back to some more questions. I've heard the term cycling used, keeping the tank balanced, I imagine ill need a test kit for the Ph and the nitrite, nitrate, ammonia, ect... What would you reccomend for this? How long does this proccess take? How do I begin it? Is there any guides out there that helped you with everything you needed to get started? Anyone have any books you would reccomend? Any other tips you want to give me?

Thanks for taking the time to read this, any help would be immensly appreciated.

 

[big_fresh]

hello jscuba

Welcome!!!

I suggest that if you want to know all you need to know about saltwater setups follow this link...it will surely help you!

I know that if i'd ever have enough funds/space for a saltwater, i will re-read the stuff here.

stocking tanks

cheerio

 

[Bol]

Hi, jscuba.

I don't have a saltwater tank, but have researched them a little bit.

From what I've found, many of your questions depend on the answer to "what kind of tank do you want?"

In general, it seems that saltwater tanks are broken down into three categories:

1) Fish only
2) FOWL or FOWLR tanks (Fish Only With Live rock)
3) Reef tanks (wth corals, anemones, etc.)

From what I understand (again, I'm just an 'armchair reefer'), understanding those options and choosing one is a key part to answering your questions. (As you might guess, it seems to get more complex as you go down the options).

 

[Hazmat]

Ok I have a few comments for you
First glad to see your interest in saltwater tanks

Second I would forget the bio wheel filter. For a reef setup you will need a wetdry sump tank with a protein skimmer. Now for your lights more then likely if your lights come with the tank they are not good enough for a reef. the best would be metal halides but you can do it with some good actinic power compacts. HERE is a link to my thread on the first page it shows my equipment when I got it all. I'm not saying you need to get exactly what I have but somewhere along the same line. As far as putting the tank where it can get direct sunlight not a good idea. The direct sunlight will cause algae blooms and it wont make the tank look too good. Live rock an live sand yes on both...Now keep in mind the live rock can get expensive. Average amount per gallon 1 to 1.5 pounds you can get away with not using live sand and eventually it will become live. for cycling best way is to set the tank up and running with sand and live rock make sure the salinity level is around 1.022 to 1.025 and let it go for at least 6 weeks also doing 20% water changes every week or two. Test the water weekly and when your water levels calm down you are ready to start stacking your tank. Plan ahead when you do this part, some fish can't go into a reef tank so make a list of everything you want and check for compatibility before you buy.

Hope that covered some of your questions.

Hazmat

 

[impur]

Well first off be prepared to open up your wallet. You will probably need metal halide for the lighting if you plan on keeping a reef. At very least you will need VHO lighting. The lighting alone will run you upward of $300, probably more. I also would ditch the biowheel for a sump. If your tank isn't drilled, you could do it yourself and create a closed loop system. You will want argonite bioactive sand. It doesn't have to be live as Hazmat stated, but you can get a few pounds of live sand from you LFS out of their tank to seed it. In that 75 gal tank you will need about 100 lbs of LR. At $4.99+ per pound you can see how expensive this will get. Check out www.reefcentral.com and the best advice i can give you is to read, read, read. I have a 10 gal nano reef and read for about a year before diving in. I'm still encountering things that i didn't know existed.

In the end its very rewarding though!!! I love my SW reef.

Excellent reading on SW tanks.

 

[Max]

The lighting alone will run you upward of $300

ok that answered my question, no salt water for me... *sigh* maybe for chrismas money! and then the next three years or take all my money im saving for my BMW z8 lol

 

[Hazmat]

The lighting alone will run you upward of $300

ok that answered my question, no salt water for me... *sigh* maybe for chrismas money! and then the next three years or take all my money im saving for my BMW z8 lol

That's for a reef tank....
You can do a FOWLR with lights that will cost around $50.

Hazmat

 

[fishdudein]

Get a copy of "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" by Bob Fenner. Helped me loads, good advice here. "Tropical Fish Hobbyist "and "Freshwater and Marine Aquarium" magazines are also full of good stuff. Read all you can, stay active in this forum, there's good people with excellent advice here. If there's one thing I learned in the switch from freshwater to salt, it's "be patient". If you truly dont think that you have the funds to set up a salt tank, then save up. But also consider starting out with a "fish only" tank,( I would seriously recommend at least some live rock ), it will be cheaper to start out with, you can convert to reef later when you have some experience under your belt (and cash in your wallet). Corals can be very demanding and delicate creatures, they definitely need those expensive lights, but if you go fish only, you can postpone that purchase until later. This is the way that most people that I personally know have got into the marine part of the hobby, take the baby steps with a fish only tank.

 

[bgraber]

Dr. Macs for your LR.. That or Tampa Bay saltwater.. Great rock cheap. Carribbean is very dense so you only get a few rocks for you 100lbs.. I'd go with fiji or some other very porous rock.. This will act as your filter.. Look into the "Berlin system" or the Jaubert system". Neither uses a wet/dry(only necessary IMO if you have a ton of fish in the tank). Utilizes a deep sandbed and efficient protein skimmer to remove waste.. Also think about a Refugium. It's kinda like a wet/dry only it houses sand and Macro Algae which pulls bad stuff from the water just like plants do in a planted tank.. Lighting is key as well.. If you have the option, hang a MH above the tank.. Most likely the mos cost effective in the long run..

 

[Max]

The lighting alone will run you upward of $300

ok that answered my question, no salt water for me... *sigh* maybe for chrismas money! and then the next three years or take all my money im saving for my BMW z8 lol

That's for a reef tank....
You can do a FOWLR with lights that will cost around $50.

Hazmat

ok, im planning on doing only liverock, with a starfish or somthing, if the starfish lives for a while i will get a fish... besides i think it would be fun to watch stuff grow on the LR

 

[Navarre]

I agree with most of the comments that have been raised here though im not convined it needs such a high expense (Halides can be got far cheaper.. my 400w 10k Halide cost me £120 (roughly $180) and that is brand new.. not the prettiest light in the world but it does what its designed for.

As for having a tank in the window. Again in not convinced its a definate no no... Algea needs 2 things for it to grow. Light and Nutrients. Remove one of these and you will not get a growth. I have my tank right in the window and no algea growth on sand or rocks. (with the exception of the thin layer that grows on the glass ever few days and is manually scrapped off.)

Im not knocking everyones advice, alot of it is standard practice and is considered the "norm" for this hobby but if you take care, research alot and be patient then its possible to run a tank on a far less complex system. Im new to this forum (fuond it by accident) but have spent alot of time in other forums. My tank is 100% natural, no artifical filters, no chemical additives, (although i will soon be adding a calcium reactor for my sps) and not even artificial salkt (i use natural seawater).
IMO a tank of this size will run exremly well on live rock and if a sump is fitted then using mneral mud as a substrate with livesand as a surface layer. then bed it with caulerpa or some other macro algea for nutrient exportation.
Cheaper effective and totally natural as nature designed it
Now i can appreciate that not everyone has the benefit of good quality seawater nearby so artificial salt is a tried and tested product that does equally as well (its just free from any free swimming life forms and plankton that make great food for your corals etc.) Live rock is great advice get as much as you can possibly afford as you cannot get a better filter. and it also makes the tank lok nice which is a double bonus.
If you want to keep corals then the lights will be an issue. I have seen hard corals flourish under T8s (normal tubes) but i would not advise it. T5s are a better and cheaper option. they give of a more intense light and you can fit more under the hood when compared ot T8s. Again, not as good as halides but a useful alternative.
If you want to keep purely soft corals then you can get away with Zooanthid and perhaps a sarcophyton or sinularis under T8s (definantely T8s )

If you do decide to get zooanthids though, be warned they carry a nuro toxin within their mucus that can be fatal if it gets into the bloodstream (make sure you handle with gloves or have no cuts or breaks in your skin) this toxin has no anti toxin so the othe rmajor factor to remember when compared to freshwater is that even the smallest creture can be potenually lethal. treat them with care and respect (which of course you should do with any life form )

Sorry if my posts seem controversial, i have noticed that most of my replies go against alot of the advice that has been posted on many of the threads here. But this only proves that the hobby as a whole has no hard and fast rules. What shouldnt work for one person proves to be another persons rule of thumb.

Hope this helps anyway.

Navarre

 

[Max]

my 400w 10k Halide cost me £120 (roughly $180)

yikes, lights are expenice in the uk... they have one here 400W 15k for 29$ (about 20 uk?_

 

[impur]

That doesn't sound right, $29 for a 400W halide? The bulbs alone run that if not more.

 

[Navarre]

Sorry if there was a missunderstanding. The entire light cost me £120 (including bulb)

 

[spanair]

Sorry if there was a missunderstanding. The entire light cost me £120 (including bulb)

whats the make of this MH ? and where from? Sounds good, I was going to get an arcadia 150W for 250 quid but yours is 400W . Very interested on knowming more please