New To Marine

[tappas]

Hello all,

I have been keeping fish for around 2 years now, a 29 US gallon freshwater tank, however, I am soon to be in possion of a 4 ft tank (I believe it is 55 US gallons) and thought what a perfect time to start into salt water, which is something I have always wanted to do. But never having had a salt water tank before I have a few questions before I start. First let me say that I know I for sure want corals, so I suppose that puts me in the reef category. Now for the questions:

First, would it be better for me, as a newcomer to marine, to convert my 29US gallon to salt water, or would it be better to start fresh with the 55gallon (4ft tank).

Second what is the basic equipment I should have (and the maybe not so basic) for a simple reef tank? I know I need a filter but are the filters different for marine tanks?

Last when I go to cycle the new tank, can it still be done using the fishless cycle method I used for the freshwater tank, and can I use some media from my fresh water filter to speed up the process, or is the bacteria different in a marine tank?

Thank you

 

[parker313]

Start salt with the 55g - in marine especially, the larger water volume is more forgiving. Also, for biological filtration, you will get 1 - 1.5lbs/g of live rock. The organisms in the live rock will provide the filtration you need. If you get true live rock from the fish store and take it right home to your tank, your tank will be immediately cycled. If you get live rock shipped to you then there will be some die off that counts as "cycling".

Your main investment now will be lighting. There are many different types of lighting available for reef tanks now and what you will need will depend on what kind of corals you want to keep.

Most people with marine tanks have a sump underneath that houses a skimmer at the minimum, and sometimes refugiums of live rock/rubble/macroalgae.

There are a lot of really good FAQs here on TFF - grab a piece of paper to make some notes with and kick back for some good reading

...and welcome!

 

[-Nemo-]

Hello all,

I have been keeping fish for around 2 years now, a 29 US gallon freshwater tank, however, I am soon to be in possion of a 4 ft tank (I believe it is 55 US gallons) and thought what a perfect time to start into salt water, which is something I have always wanted to do. But never having had a salt water tank before I have a few questions before I start. First let me say that I know I for sure want corals, so I suppose that puts me in the reef category. Now for the questions:

First, would it be better for me, as a newcomer to marine, to convert my 29US gallon to salt water, or would it be better to start fresh with the 55gallon (4ft tank).

Second what is the basic equipment I should have (and the maybe not so basic) for a simple reef tank? I know I need a filter but are the filters different for marine tanks?

Last when I go to cycle the new tank, can it still be done using the fishless cycle method I used for the freshwater tank, and can I use some media from my fresh water filter to speed up the process, or is the bacteria different in a marine tank?

Thank you

As Parker said, the 55G would be a better choice, more forgiving.

As for equipment, your main filtration will be live rock. Live rock is a necessity in a reef tank. You should also look at perhaps setting up a sump. A sump is basically an additional, smaller, tank underneath (usually housed in your cabinet) your main tank. It's purpose is to firstly add water volume and secondly more filtration. Within the sump you can put all your mechanical equipment and you can have a refugium section in your sump. The refugium section would basically house some live rock, sand, macroalgae and perhaps some other things as well. You should also invest in a protein skimmer which will also work as water filtration. If you have a sump there are some skimmers which will sit in your sump, otherwise you will need a HOB skimmer. Also with a sump, you will need a pump and all of the plumbing involved.

Other than the sump, other equipment will include a heater, some powerheads (for flow) and then lighting. Like Parker said, lighting will probably be one of the most expensive. There are a bunch of different types of lights which are better for some corals and such. You should look at what corals you'll be wanting to keep and your price range, and go from there. Corals are basically separated into 3 groups: Soft corals, Large Polyp Stony (LPS) and Small Polyp Stony (SPS). Soft corals are generally great for beginners and also usually require less lighting. The LPS and SPS corals will usually need more lighting, which means a more expensive light.


As for cycling, you cannot use the bacteria from your freshwater tank. It cannot adapt to living in a marine environment and will simply die. Fishless cycle is of course the best, and easier to achieve with saltwater than freshwater. The live rock will cycle your tank. Live rock is full of bacteria and small life living on it, perhaps hundreds of thousands of different things living on it. The process of these creatures dying, and the bacteria already present on the rock will allow your tank to cycle. The cycle length will be dependent upon the quality of your live rock. The more cured (cured meaning very little die-off, lots of coralline [the pretty red and purple algae] growth on it) the rock the shorter the cycle. Expect around two weeks.


Read some of the marine tank journals here! Great for ideas and learning!

 

[seffieuk]

to the salty side of life

Seffie x

 

[steelhealr]

Hands down 55G. You're getting good advice. Welcome aboard.

 

[fishfan84]

Hello all,

I have been keeping fish for around 2 years now, a 29 US gallon freshwater tank, however, I am soon to be in possion of a 4 ft tank (I believe it is 55 US gallons) and thought what a perfect time to start into salt water, which is something I have always wanted to do. But never having had a salt water tank before I have a few questions before I start. First let me say that I know I for sure want corals, so I suppose that puts me in the reef category. Now for the questions:

First, would it be better for me, as a newcomer to marine, to convert my 29US gallon to salt water, or would it be better to start fresh with the 55gallon (4ft tank).

Second what is the basic equipment I should have (and the maybe not so basic) for a simple reef tank? I know I need a filter but are the filters different for marine tanks?

Last when I go to cycle the new tank, can it still be done using the fishless cycle method I used for the freshwater tank, and can I use some media from my fresh water filter to speed up the process, or is the bacteria different in a marine tank?

Thank you

Hands down 55G. You're getting good advice. Welcome aboard.

 

[fishfan84]

hi i hav a 5 and a half witch i kept fw fish i thought bout changin to sw fish for some time but then i just went for it .
The i am happy i did now cos my tank is doin well. The only thing with sw is u need a bit of money to get u strated up.
and waitin for the water to b ready to put fish in i had 2 wait to months because the tank bein so big . to help my process
i put live rock in it i hav a lovely peaceful reef in my tank was thinkin bout buyin another big tank to put predator sw fish
in then i could c how the to tanks act but i would never change bk to fw again

 

[seffieuk]

to TFF fishfan how about starting your own journel with some photos and info about your tank, i'm sure we would all love to see it

Seffie x

 

[didz04]

It seems really exciting researching into marine fish and setups. I am in tropical also but my relative has a marine tank and he has a 7ft by 3.5ft height in his wall and you can see the fish in the living room and kitchen. I haven't seen it because he lives too far in Bristol but my brother videoed it when he was there.
He has started a new project with a 8ft by 8ft by 5ft height tank and I think he is having a community type with coral all over the tank floor. I don't want to go in to deep detail as it won't be useful info for tappas...

..but I have one question, he told me that the coral in the tank moves about lol like next morning a bunch of coral would have moved more to one side of the tank, has anyone else seen that in their tank? I find it funny that they are trying to get somewhere in the tank. Also I have seen on tv proggramme about marine fish and the coral have fights for territory even by spitting these things at one another has that ever been reported happening in a tank, or they different types of coral.

Thanks

EDIT (I think this would be useful for Tappas): I wanted to ask one more questions, my relative said that you will guarantee to get fish dieing at the start including the fact that they are expensive. Could you use fish like molly's or other tropical fish who can tolerate marine to help cycle the tank?
...And if the molly's survive will it be a sign that the marine fish will also have a big chance of surviving in the tank?
Because it would work out cheaper and fish like molly's in my experience in tropical fish keeping survive really well in an uncycled tank.

 

[shibby]

didz04:the only coral i know that have the ability to move are the fungia or heliofungia species, others will throw out sweeper tentacles to sting rivals and some softies have the abilty to perform toxic warfare.

tappas:welcome to the saly side !

 

[-Nemo-]

Mushrooms love to move around, but not that quickly. Perhaps it was not a coral, but an anemone?