Great Lakes
Always do right, not popular...
The following tale was submitted to me by Ramjet. IT is another look at starting a saltwater tank.
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My Very Own Nemo
Well the kids just watched Nemo for the 100th time and keep bugging you for a clown fish of their own. You have a 10 gallon aquarium in the garage, salt in the kitchen and clip-on grow light over the dead fern in the window, what the heck, lets go to the pet store.
Before you head out, there might be a few things you should know about. Lets talk about that ten gallon tank. Well, this size of tank and any tank under 29 gallons is called a “nano” tank and a real challenge to start up. You see, a tank this size is very difficult to keep healthy and the cost of a nano tank can run you as much as a larger tank.Although we welcome all new nano reefers it is always better, if possible, to start off with a larger tank. There are many factors that you need to consider before buying a salt water tank. Lets walk through them now,
1. How much time do you have on your hands?
Setting up a salt water tank takes time and dedication. You will need to study and read about every aspect before making any purchases. You will need to know about all types of tanks, the equipment, water, salt, sand, rock, algae, bacteria, lighting, fish and other creatures involved with the tank, as well as how to care for each. It is not a matter of setting up a tank and being done! A salt water tank can take months to properly set up, and you will always have daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, and yearly maintenance. During this time, you will also have fish that get sick, pumps stop working, and anything else that can possibly go wrong at 2:00 a.m.
2. How much money will you have to spend?
To start things out right, you are going to spend some where in the neighborhood of $1000.00 to $3000.00 (U.S.)or more, depending on the tank and equipment you choose. You will also have monthly cost between $50.00 to $100.00. (U.S.) Nano tanks may[/u] come in a little less in the beginning. Wow, that is a lot of money! Can it be done for less? Well, if this is your first tank, then the answer is may be no. (Keep reading for now, I will explain as we go.)
3. How much space do you have?
Take a look around the room that the tank is going into, once you find that perfect spot, get some measurements. You will want the largest tank that will fit in the space.(You will also need to know what the tank will weigh when full, and how much your floor can hold. More about this later.) Ok, let me take a moment to further explain why you want a large tank. You will need to keep your water quality within certain parameters to keep your fish, corals, anenomes, and other creatures healthy and happy. The larger the volume of water, the more the toxins will be diluted, thus the more water you have the more stable it will be. You will also want to take into account your salinity and specific gravity. As water evaporates the salt is left behind causing your salinity and specific gravity to go up. If left unchecked both the toxins and high salinity can be fatal to many of the creatures you will have in your tank. Evaporation from a nano tank makes it more important to keep an eye on this.
4. What equipment will you need?
Your going to need a tank of course and a stand is nice to have. (Remember, your stand will need to be perfectly level. If it is not level, the bottom of the tank can crack leaving you with nothing but wet socks and a large hole in your bank account.) You will also need some kind of filtration, if you have room under the tank,( in the stand) this is a great place to put a sump. Stay away from canister filters, they can become nitrate factories, the same applies to under-gravel type filters. If you don’t have room for a sump, there are filters that hang on the back of your tank, it is nice to get one with a built in skimmer, same with the sump. You are going to need a skimmer if the filter system you choose does not come with one, the skimmer will take proteins out of the water before they go into your filter. This helps keep your filters from getting plugged up quickly, it will also aid in keeping your water quality up. The skimmer is one of the most important pieces of equipment you will have.
Lighting, your going to need a light, and the better the light the better off your tank will be. Metal Halide was way to go for some time but now LED lighting systems are showing great interest. Halides will penetrate further into the tank than other lights but LEDS are becoming comparable. Both are costly. You can get away with a power compact. The amount of lighting will depend on the height of your tank and volume. One bulb 10,000k ultra-violet and the other an actinic bulb. If you have high-light corals, you will need to place them towards the top of the tank if using the power compact.
Your water temperature will also have to be maintained at 74 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit depending on what you want to keep. You will need a heater and possibly a chiller.(If you have a difficult time keeping your water temps cool enough during the day, a chiller will be needed. High temps will induce a fever like state in your livestock, this will result in a shortened life span at best, the worst case being fish soup for dinner.) Make sure that you have a good temperature gauge, do not rely on heaters with built in gauges, as the currents pass water over the heater, the gauge can give a false reading. You may have to set your heater temp lower then the desired temp to compensate for the current.
In the natural ocean environment you will find currents. We attempt to simulate these currents with power heads and a cycle timer. The cycle timer looks just like a power strip with six electrical plugs with three of the plugs on a timer, two will alternate and one will kick on and off at random. It will also have a dial on it so that you can set the speed of the cycle. If you run a cycle timer, you're going to want to get good power heads that will stand up to the abuse of turning on and off every 30 seconds to 2 minutes. It is also nice to have power heads that will work towards the bottom of the tank.
Last, your going to need a test kit to check the pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, nitrate, calcium and phosphate levels of your water and you will also need a full range specific gravity meter to check the salt content.
Ok, now lets list this out so we don’t forget anything.
Tank
Stand
Filter system/ and or Sump
Skimmer
Lights
Heater/ Chiller and Temperature gauge
3 Power heads
Wave timer (cycle timer)
A master test kit, and Specific gravity meter.
Got all that? Ok great, but don’t run out to the store just yet. We still need to talk about what you are going to put in the tank! We first need to think about a substrate, will it be sand, crushed coral, crushed shells, or nothing at all? Well, you need something down there, and it comes in 20 pound bags, and your going to need an inch to an inch and a half of substrate. I prefer to mix crushed coral and live sand. Live sand, what is that? Live sand comes right from the ocean and is shipped with ocean water in the bag. The water keeps all the little critters and bacteria in the sand alive, you will need this bacteria and the little critters (which are for the most part in a larval stage at this time and can not be seen) in your tank as a food source for other inhabitants later on and will help keep your tank healthy and clean, this live sand will also start what is called your tank cycle. (More on this later) When buying live sand, check the date on the bag, it has a six month shelf life. The newer the bag the better!
Next you will need base rock and live rock, base rock is simply dead live rock and does not cost as much as live rock because it can be shipped dry with no rush.. Live rock on the other hand is taken from the sea, and is shipped damp in wet news paper, the less time it spends out of water, the better. Live rock comes ether cured or uncured. Curing live rock can be quite a process but some believe that curing it themselves can save them some money. Also, uncured may have more interesting hidden life on it. However, by the time you buy the salt, water, buckets, and add the cost of your time, well I just buy the cured live rock. You are going to need 1.5 to 2 pounds live rock per gallon of salt water. Thus, a 100 gallon tank will need 150 to 200 pounds of live rock. Live rock will cost around $5.00 to $10.00 per pound depending on the type of live rock. You should be able to find base rock for $2.50 to $4.00 per pound.
Don’t put the rock in just yet, lets get some water ready first. To begin with, you need to know what kind of water you need to use, Tap water is out of the question. It contains chemicals and other bad things you don’t want in you tank. The water needs to be Reverse Osmosis water, this is pure drinking water and contains only a very small amount of trace elements. You will want to mix your water and salt in a bucket outside of your tank. (Roughly 3-5 cups of salt per 5 gallons of water.) Stir it well and check to make sure you have the right salt content with your Specific Gravity Meter (It needs to read 1.023 to 1.025 specific gravity). Bring your water up to Temp. (74 to 82 degrees) Your almost ready to add it to the tank!
Get a garbage bag out (unscented) and lay it on your substrate in the tank. When you pour your water in, the garbage bag will keep the sand from becoming water born and clouding up your tank.
Lets jump back and talk about tank size one more time. Lets say you got a 100 gallon tank, which empty weighs 150 lbs., you then add the substrate and live rock, then the water.
Well, we have 10 bags of substrate at 20 lbs each, 200 lbs live rock and 100 gallons of water. Five gallons of water weighs 48 pounds, your tank will hold 20 five gallon pails of water at 48 lbs each. Lets add this all up and see what we get:
Tank 150 lbs
Substrate 200 lbs
Rock 200 lbs
Water 960 lbs
Total Weight 1,510 lbs
Will your floor hold this kind of weight? Its like parking a car in your livingroom! Which direction do your floor supports run, better go to the basement and find out! If you have a 200 + gallon tank, well let me put it this way, can you park a full sized S.U.V. in that room?
Alright, you got your floor all braced up and are ready for the water, well.... what are you waiting for, put it in the tank....... Take out the garbage bag and get your base rock in, put your live rock on top of the base rock.(Make sure you check your live rock over very well, you don’t want to have any hitchhikers in your tank, some crabs and shrimp will survive the shipping! Not all crabs and shrimp are good for your tank!) Get the pumps going and every thing working.
Your tank has just begun to cycle. Cycle? Oh yea, almost forgot about that. Your tank now needs to find a balance, this is called cycling. There is dead matter in you live rock and sand, this will cause what is called a spike in you water with ammonia. Bacteria will grow and it will level out, this can take a few weeks to happen or only a week or so with cured LR. So no fish just yet. Get out your test kit and read the directions, your going to have to test your water quite often, start out testing every 3 days or so.
Once every thing levels out, you will be able to add a few fish, shrimp, crabs, snails, etc....., but no corals or anenome! Not yet anyhow, give it six months to a year and if all goes well and your water checks out, you just might be ready for them.
Got your fish picked out? Hope you did your homework! The wrong fish can destroy all your hard work! Take it slow, add too much too quickly can cause your tank to go back into cycle!
Tune in next time, same fishy place, same fish time... Our next adventure “Tank Maintenance, what to do and what not to do.”
GL
******************************************************************
My Very Own Nemo
Well the kids just watched Nemo for the 100th time and keep bugging you for a clown fish of their own. You have a 10 gallon aquarium in the garage, salt in the kitchen and clip-on grow light over the dead fern in the window, what the heck, lets go to the pet store.
Before you head out, there might be a few things you should know about. Lets talk about that ten gallon tank. Well, this size of tank and any tank under 29 gallons is called a “nano” tank and a real challenge to start up. You see, a tank this size is very difficult to keep healthy and the cost of a nano tank can run you as much as a larger tank.Although we welcome all new nano reefers it is always better, if possible, to start off with a larger tank. There are many factors that you need to consider before buying a salt water tank. Lets walk through them now,
1. How much time do you have on your hands?
Setting up a salt water tank takes time and dedication. You will need to study and read about every aspect before making any purchases. You will need to know about all types of tanks, the equipment, water, salt, sand, rock, algae, bacteria, lighting, fish and other creatures involved with the tank, as well as how to care for each. It is not a matter of setting up a tank and being done! A salt water tank can take months to properly set up, and you will always have daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, and yearly maintenance. During this time, you will also have fish that get sick, pumps stop working, and anything else that can possibly go wrong at 2:00 a.m.
2. How much money will you have to spend?
To start things out right, you are going to spend some where in the neighborhood of $1000.00 to $3000.00 (U.S.)or more, depending on the tank and equipment you choose. You will also have monthly cost between $50.00 to $100.00. (U.S.) Nano tanks may[/u] come in a little less in the beginning. Wow, that is a lot of money! Can it be done for less? Well, if this is your first tank, then the answer is may be no. (Keep reading for now, I will explain as we go.)
3. How much space do you have?
Take a look around the room that the tank is going into, once you find that perfect spot, get some measurements. You will want the largest tank that will fit in the space.(You will also need to know what the tank will weigh when full, and how much your floor can hold. More about this later.) Ok, let me take a moment to further explain why you want a large tank. You will need to keep your water quality within certain parameters to keep your fish, corals, anenomes, and other creatures healthy and happy. The larger the volume of water, the more the toxins will be diluted, thus the more water you have the more stable it will be. You will also want to take into account your salinity and specific gravity. As water evaporates the salt is left behind causing your salinity and specific gravity to go up. If left unchecked both the toxins and high salinity can be fatal to many of the creatures you will have in your tank. Evaporation from a nano tank makes it more important to keep an eye on this.
4. What equipment will you need?
Your going to need a tank of course and a stand is nice to have. (Remember, your stand will need to be perfectly level. If it is not level, the bottom of the tank can crack leaving you with nothing but wet socks and a large hole in your bank account.) You will also need some kind of filtration, if you have room under the tank,( in the stand) this is a great place to put a sump. Stay away from canister filters, they can become nitrate factories, the same applies to under-gravel type filters. If you don’t have room for a sump, there are filters that hang on the back of your tank, it is nice to get one with a built in skimmer, same with the sump. You are going to need a skimmer if the filter system you choose does not come with one, the skimmer will take proteins out of the water before they go into your filter. This helps keep your filters from getting plugged up quickly, it will also aid in keeping your water quality up. The skimmer is one of the most important pieces of equipment you will have.
Lighting, your going to need a light, and the better the light the better off your tank will be. Metal Halide was way to go for some time but now LED lighting systems are showing great interest. Halides will penetrate further into the tank than other lights but LEDS are becoming comparable. Both are costly. You can get away with a power compact. The amount of lighting will depend on the height of your tank and volume. One bulb 10,000k ultra-violet and the other an actinic bulb. If you have high-light corals, you will need to place them towards the top of the tank if using the power compact.
Your water temperature will also have to be maintained at 74 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit depending on what you want to keep. You will need a heater and possibly a chiller.(If you have a difficult time keeping your water temps cool enough during the day, a chiller will be needed. High temps will induce a fever like state in your livestock, this will result in a shortened life span at best, the worst case being fish soup for dinner.) Make sure that you have a good temperature gauge, do not rely on heaters with built in gauges, as the currents pass water over the heater, the gauge can give a false reading. You may have to set your heater temp lower then the desired temp to compensate for the current.
In the natural ocean environment you will find currents. We attempt to simulate these currents with power heads and a cycle timer. The cycle timer looks just like a power strip with six electrical plugs with three of the plugs on a timer, two will alternate and one will kick on and off at random. It will also have a dial on it so that you can set the speed of the cycle. If you run a cycle timer, you're going to want to get good power heads that will stand up to the abuse of turning on and off every 30 seconds to 2 minutes. It is also nice to have power heads that will work towards the bottom of the tank.
Last, your going to need a test kit to check the pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, nitrate, calcium and phosphate levels of your water and you will also need a full range specific gravity meter to check the salt content.
Ok, now lets list this out so we don’t forget anything.
Tank
Stand
Filter system/ and or Sump
Skimmer
Lights
Heater/ Chiller and Temperature gauge
3 Power heads
Wave timer (cycle timer)
A master test kit, and Specific gravity meter.
Got all that? Ok great, but don’t run out to the store just yet. We still need to talk about what you are going to put in the tank! We first need to think about a substrate, will it be sand, crushed coral, crushed shells, or nothing at all? Well, you need something down there, and it comes in 20 pound bags, and your going to need an inch to an inch and a half of substrate. I prefer to mix crushed coral and live sand. Live sand, what is that? Live sand comes right from the ocean and is shipped with ocean water in the bag. The water keeps all the little critters and bacteria in the sand alive, you will need this bacteria and the little critters (which are for the most part in a larval stage at this time and can not be seen) in your tank as a food source for other inhabitants later on and will help keep your tank healthy and clean, this live sand will also start what is called your tank cycle. (More on this later) When buying live sand, check the date on the bag, it has a six month shelf life. The newer the bag the better!
Next you will need base rock and live rock, base rock is simply dead live rock and does not cost as much as live rock because it can be shipped dry with no rush.. Live rock on the other hand is taken from the sea, and is shipped damp in wet news paper, the less time it spends out of water, the better. Live rock comes ether cured or uncured. Curing live rock can be quite a process but some believe that curing it themselves can save them some money. Also, uncured may have more interesting hidden life on it. However, by the time you buy the salt, water, buckets, and add the cost of your time, well I just buy the cured live rock. You are going to need 1.5 to 2 pounds live rock per gallon of salt water. Thus, a 100 gallon tank will need 150 to 200 pounds of live rock. Live rock will cost around $5.00 to $10.00 per pound depending on the type of live rock. You should be able to find base rock for $2.50 to $4.00 per pound.
Don’t put the rock in just yet, lets get some water ready first. To begin with, you need to know what kind of water you need to use, Tap water is out of the question. It contains chemicals and other bad things you don’t want in you tank. The water needs to be Reverse Osmosis water, this is pure drinking water and contains only a very small amount of trace elements. You will want to mix your water and salt in a bucket outside of your tank. (Roughly 3-5 cups of salt per 5 gallons of water.) Stir it well and check to make sure you have the right salt content with your Specific Gravity Meter (It needs to read 1.023 to 1.025 specific gravity). Bring your water up to Temp. (74 to 82 degrees) Your almost ready to add it to the tank!
Get a garbage bag out (unscented) and lay it on your substrate in the tank. When you pour your water in, the garbage bag will keep the sand from becoming water born and clouding up your tank.
Lets jump back and talk about tank size one more time. Lets say you got a 100 gallon tank, which empty weighs 150 lbs., you then add the substrate and live rock, then the water.
Well, we have 10 bags of substrate at 20 lbs each, 200 lbs live rock and 100 gallons of water. Five gallons of water weighs 48 pounds, your tank will hold 20 five gallon pails of water at 48 lbs each. Lets add this all up and see what we get:
Tank 150 lbs
Substrate 200 lbs
Rock 200 lbs
Water 960 lbs
Total Weight 1,510 lbs
Will your floor hold this kind of weight? Its like parking a car in your livingroom! Which direction do your floor supports run, better go to the basement and find out! If you have a 200 + gallon tank, well let me put it this way, can you park a full sized S.U.V. in that room?
Alright, you got your floor all braced up and are ready for the water, well.... what are you waiting for, put it in the tank....... Take out the garbage bag and get your base rock in, put your live rock on top of the base rock.(Make sure you check your live rock over very well, you don’t want to have any hitchhikers in your tank, some crabs and shrimp will survive the shipping! Not all crabs and shrimp are good for your tank!) Get the pumps going and every thing working.
Your tank has just begun to cycle. Cycle? Oh yea, almost forgot about that. Your tank now needs to find a balance, this is called cycling. There is dead matter in you live rock and sand, this will cause what is called a spike in you water with ammonia. Bacteria will grow and it will level out, this can take a few weeks to happen or only a week or so with cured LR. So no fish just yet. Get out your test kit and read the directions, your going to have to test your water quite often, start out testing every 3 days or so.
Once every thing levels out, you will be able to add a few fish, shrimp, crabs, snails, etc....., but no corals or anenome! Not yet anyhow, give it six months to a year and if all goes well and your water checks out, you just might be ready for them.
Got your fish picked out? Hope you did your homework! The wrong fish can destroy all your hard work! Take it slow, add too much too quickly can cause your tank to go back into cycle!
Tune in next time, same fishy place, same fish time... Our next adventure “Tank Maintenance, what to do and what not to do.”
GL
