Setting Up A Marine Tank

[hotspicy74]

Ok I have a 5ft Rena tank with two external filters Been told to get a protein Skimmer and Arcadia Luminaire 800, the shop also said i cant use tap water i have to use special water which costs 12.50 per 25l canister and then 3.50 to fill them up, then you get 9.99 back, when you bring the canister back. Is there anyway todo this cheaper i though you could fill up with tap water then add salt please can you give me some advice thanks

Georgina

 

[Truck]

if you want to keep corals, you must use RO water (the expensive stuff) buy your own unit

but if its just fish your after then tap water is fine

 

[Colin_T]

Depending on what your tap water is like will determine if you can use tap water and add marine salt. If your tap water has high nitrates then you probably want to use reverse osmosis (R/O) water with marine salts. If the tap water is clean then you can fill up a bucket with water and add some marine salt. Allow the salt and water to mix/ aerate for 24hours and then use it in the tank.

If you don't want to buy a R/O unit then go to your local hardware store and buy a couple of 20/25litre plastic water containers. Then ring a few shops and see how much they charge for seawater. That way you get to keep the water containers and simply buy the salt water when you need it.
You can also go to the beach and collect your own seawater. Try to collect it from an area that is clean and free of pollution. Avoid harbours and shipping channels.

Depending on what you plan on keeping will determine what lights you get. If you want live corals then get T5 high output (HO) lights or metal halides. If you only want fish then normal fluoros will be fine.

 

[SkiFletch]

to the salty side of life Georgina, hope you enjoy your stay. Your LFS may be at least in part correct in their reccomendations depending on what you want to do with this good sized tank. Are you going Fish Only, Fish Only with Live Rock, or a full blown Reef with corals, inverts, etc? And have you thought about livestock choices?

While we try and help you, if I can suggest reading through some of the stickies atop this section with some great info in them.