One Day In The Future...

[Rhykiru]

One day in the future, i am thinking of starting a marine tank. I would only want a tank that has fish, live rock, and some snails.
I was thinking of a 10 gallon tank, 20 gallon tank being the biggest i can go since my house isnt the big and i am only 13 years old D:

I have pretty good knowledge about freshwater tanks because of all i read about it even though i dont have much tanks. I am on the process of gathering more info on salt water xD

i hear salt water tanks are very expensive (compared to freshwater) so does anyone know how much setting up a 10-20 gallon live rock/fish/inverts only tank would be? i really dont want to get into corals since i read somewhere that they need specific lights
Just an approximate would be good since i dont know how much skimmers are etc, i really dont even know how they work. Yeah, thats how clueless i am with saltwater.

i have a bit of a headache so thats probably why my post is so wierd sounding, at least thats how it seems to me after i re read it.

any help for this newbie to saltwater tanks would be much appreciated

 

[n3ont3tra]

If you can fit a 20g somewhere in your house, use that. Anything under 30 gallons is considered a 'nano'. Nano tanks require more attention to detail, and less margin for error. Get the biggest tank you can.

Drop all of your freshwater knowledge except for the nitrogen cycle, because everything else is completely different (not meant to sound intimidating )

Usually saltwater tanks are more expensive that freshwater, but small tanks aren't too bad... unless the fish keep dieing or something.
You won't need a skimmer for a small tank like a 20g.

To start, read all of the pinned topics at marine and reef chit chat.

Hope this helps
neon

 

[Rhykiru]

hm, so ill try to fit a 20 gallon tank xD

i wonder if my mom will let me move all the snacks and dry foods on the counter next to the sink in my kitchen and put it there :3
so i wont need a skimmer for a 20 gallon if i can get one o.o thats some money saved lol

yeah, i am reading the pinned topics but am also trying to understand some of them xD Also, going beyond that with the saying: "google is your best friend" lol. i believe the tank i want is called FOWLF? but i dont think it does since i also want inverts.

can someone tell me the general guideline to stocking a marine tank. i know its less than freshwater, thats a start

do you think that if i set up a 20 gallon tank, it will cost only about 100 dollars? i really want to go to the aquarium store near my house right now, it has so many cool stuff and is mainly for saltwater. They have liverock o.o

I was googling around and i saw that some people take a filter like an aquaclear, take out all the inside, put in live rock (i think) and its called a refugium.

lol, i hope i dont start saying everything new i learn about saltwater tanks xD

ah, i have to do my homework so i probably wont be able to check this thread until tomorrow but people are still welcome to reply

thanks^^

 

[Musho3210]

lol a hundred dollars? no.... ive spent more than a thousand dollars on a reef tank, yours is the same with mine minus the corals and minus the ATO and minus the light, your still gonna be in the few hundreds. Probably gonna be something around 500 dollars.

 

[n3ont3tra]

Only a hundred? You'll have to do some serous bargain shopping there.
powerhead: 15
tank: $20?
LR: $100
sand: $20
fish: $50
inverts: $ ~20+
heater $15

total: $240

And I didn't include stuff like fish food, buckets, magfloats, extension cords, pumps, etc.

the prices are all new equiptment, btw.

 

[Rhykiru]

hm, well i have a tank and a heater xD Do you need a hood?

is live rock really that expensive D: i really want to go to my lfs lol.

ugh, because marine aquariums are so expensive, i might postpone this project until i get more money xD
still will do research though so i will be loaded and ready to go when i am ready

 

[tat2life]

do what i am doing mate... buy one piece each week. last week i bought the hydrometer and blue lighting. this week im buying the sand and salt. i have the tank, heater, filter and white light from my tropical set up so i didnt need to buy much at all. im going to get the salt and sand tommorow and start cycling the tank then i will get some living rock.... just small pieces each week or whenever i can afford it. the living rock is really expensive though thats why im buying it per kilo instead of spending loads on 20kg il just 1 or 2 a week. will take a little longer but its the only way i can do it... sounds like your in the same boat. beats giving up on it though and patience is a virtue lol. i still might need to buy a light anyway cus i will probally get some coral too. my heater from tropical tank goes up high enough to house coral so should only need a light. worth thinking about.. coral looks so much better than just rocks

 

[Musho3210]

if you want to save money on live rock (living rock ) check out your lrc (local reef club), normal price that they sell it for is about 3.00 a pound, but i have seen 1.00 dollar a pound for sale before. And this rock is generally better quality than your lfs. But also watch out, since it isnt normally a business, and they normally sell rock just before they move out of their house, they could con you and sell you crappy rock.

 

[Lynden]

Live rock is not required for most fish and inverts, and you can run a tank perfectly well without it. However it certainly makes a tank look better.

 

[SkiFletch]

Live rock is not required for most fish and inverts, and you can run a tank perfectly well without it. However it certainly makes a tank look better.

Agreed Lynden. A Fish Only setup can be run with a common canister or HOB filter and is really no different than a freshwater tank, save the marine salt mix used... If you're into it, you can even use plastic plants, fake rocks, fake corals even if you want. Other than aesthetics and personal preference there's nothing wrong with doing so. Having some kind of rock or decoration is necessary for most saltwater fish to setup territories, but they for the most part dont care if they're plastic or real

No protein skimmer is needed for a Fish Only tank and if you want, you could even grow some macroalgaes like Chaetomorpha or Razor Culerpa with plain old plant-grow bulbs.

 

[n3ont3tra]

Yeah it would be really cool if you had a 'planted' FO tank. Like with tons of macroalgaes. It would help keep the nitrates down, too.

 

[Rhykiru]

hm, well i cant really reply yet since i dont know what macro algae is xD

so i could just pretty much do a saltwater tank with no live rock. Do you think i can put some type of lava rock or something in it or any sort of rock instead just for shelter?

i just wish i had more money

Edit: wait, n3ont3tra, in post #5, you said that sand would be about 20 dollars. I read on some sites that plain old Lowes play sand ( 4 dollars 50 pounds) would work. o.o Am i mistakened? also, about the heater. I live in florida and the temp keeps gettin 80+ without a heater but i read saltwater likes only about 75 degrees? i dont think i can afford a chiller because those are expensive arent they?

 

[Musho3210]

play sand would work but it doesnt look that natural in saltwater tanks and it doesnt buffer.

 

[SkiFletch]

Kolorscape brand sand from Lowes is actually aragonite sand, you can use that

Using lava rock is a bad idea. To be honest, fake rocks are probably the best way to go here

 

[Lynden]

Tanks with just seagrass and macroalgae, with a deep sand bed, can be remarkably beautiful and can support fishes and inverts that a reef aquarist would never dream of buying as they are so delicate. Suddenly shrimpfish, jawfish, pipefish, moorish idols, scalllops and azooxanthellate corals drop from "difficult" to "moderate" with these types of tanks.