Thinking About Saltwater

[kribensis12]

I plan on working at my lfs when i turn 15. When i turn 15 im going to get a worker's permit and get hired at my favorite lfs. I have never had a fishtank that is saltwater. My mom said no, but im going to try to convert one tank in the spring into saltwater. I dont want to get hired and be the only one working one night, have someone come and ask me a question, when it is a emergency adn not be able to awnser it! I was told, as im freinds with the owner, day time manager, and fish room manager, that as soon as i am able to work they will hire me as i know alot about fish! I know alot about lot's of kinds but i am seriously week on my Salty knowlege. So, any one want to tell me anything important about keeping saltwater? Any tip's that i should consider/ use when i DO get a tank? All help appreciated!
Kribensis12

 

[Lynden]

Number one; saltwater, even a reef tank, is much less work than freshwater, in my case anyways, because of the more complete ecosystem. I set up a freshwater tank a while ago and within a week of being inhabited, even with living plants, it was already dirtier than the SW tank ever gets.

Number two; SW is often much more expensive than FW. This is it's main downfall.

Number three; though they are less work, water changes and lighting are more important, and they cost more now because of the salt needed.

Number four; The cheaper mercury vapour or lower-Kelvin T-5's that one can buy from a hardware store and easily light even the most demanding of FW plants will be hideous over a marine tank. The lighting should be within the 6500K to 20000K colour temperature, I personally favour the 10000K. Though there are other systems that work, PC, T-5, and metal halide are what I recommend. Try to have the brightest lighting you can afford if you intend to keep light demanding corals.

Number five; Protein skimmers and activated carbon are far more important when keeping corals, light-loving or not.

That's all I have to say for now, hopefully someone will pick it up after me.

 

[kribensis12]

Why exactly are protein skimmer's and activiated carbon so improtant? Thanks for the info! Your a great help! Also, why cant you use a freshwater light on a salty tank w/o coral's? And why would it look so bad?

 

[andywg]

Number five; Protein skimmers and activated carbon are far more important when keeping corals, light-loving or not.

Except of course that activated carbon is not that essential, remembering it is likely to have reached its adsorption rate within 24-48 hours, so you are going to need to change it many many times. Activated carbon is aimed at pulling out DOCs, which the skimmer is designed to do.

Then there is the whole "are tanks better with or without skimmers" debate which rages on...

So the moral of this story is, just like with FW keeping, there are many different ways, views and approaches to marine keeping. Just because someon does something differently, does not mean they are doing it wrong.

The light is just personal preference. You get the best coral growth from around 7,500K (which is what FW planted owners tend to aim for) but it looks a bit yellow and most reef owners prefer a bluer look in the tank so compromise growth for asthetics.

 

[kribensis12]

Thank's Andywg!!!!!!! I have another question, is there any type of coral that i can grow with one of theese light bulb's?: http/www.shopping.com/xPC-Hagen_Sun_Glo_...Sun_Glo_15_Watt
Those are what i have, and to be able to keep a tank, i need to convert with the prive range of 60 dollars( E30)( maybe 80 at the most). I was told by a friend who is the lfs fishroom manager, that i could convert with 40 dollars( E 20). Somethign about me NEEDING a crushed coral substrate? Why is that so important? I heard it help's keep the water hard, but ours maturally comes out a 7.8-8.0

 

[andywg]

Those lights are way off into the red and yellow end of the spectrum, so I would doubt you will see a great amount of growth from anything that is photodependant.

Converting a tank for $40? Possible, but not easy.

Things you need to buy:

Hydrometer/refractometer
Salt

Things you probably should buy:

Crushed Coral or aragonite sand substrate (this is to buffer the pH and the KH of the water and prevent any problems with the water drifting to acidic)
New test kit

Things that will make your life a lot easier:

Live Rock
Powerheads
Skimmer

 

[kribensis12]

He said that he can get one of those salt mesueres for 7 dollars, and a thing of salt for 14. The crushed coral would be aorund 15 also. The only reaosn i was iffy about the crushed coral, is becasue our kh and gh is so high that it dosent mesure on my test kit. Why would i need a new test kit? My kit says that the things can be used for saltwater adn freshwater. I will double check though. Could my filter stay cycled if i were to switch it to saltwater? Would all the bacteria die? Sorry for all the question's, im just copletely confused by this enitre thing!

 

[andywg]

He said that he can get one of those salt mesueres for 7 dollars, and a thing of salt for 14. The crushed coral would be aorund 15 also. The only reaosn i was iffy about the crushed coral, is becasue our kh and gh is so high that it dosent mesure on my test kit. Why would i need a new test kit? My kit says that the things can be used for saltwater adn freshwater. I will double check though. Could my filter stay cycled if i were to switch it to saltwater? Would all the bacteria die? Sorry for all the question's, im just copletely confused by this enitre thing!

The filter bacteria will die.

If you are really that confused I can only recommend you actually go and read all the pinned threads, or use the search button. Everhy question you ask has been asked before.

 

[kribensis12]

Thanks Andywg, your a great help! One more question. What kinda fish could i keep in my 20g? Preffereably a pair of male+ female. Or a harem!

 

[SkiFletch]

You could keep a pair of clownfish. Other choices would be gobies, flasher wrasses, and pseudochromis.

 

[svirid]

Hi,

I am very new in a saltwater and will try to be helpful. I never had an aquarium in my life before,
and suddenly I decided to get one, maybe after a movie or something dont remember.
I ordered a book from amazon, which is really good one, and help me a lot to understand. Its a small
book with lots of pictures. Even after I was afraid to start, I started to search internet and found this forum,
as more questions I was asking as more i was confused, but some of the things were really important that I asked.
I was able to save lots of money because of the guys on the forum.

I have 28 gal reef tank for 4 month already, I have a couple of corals, shrimps, snails and guys from clean up crew.
Just got Coral Beauty Angel but she is still in a quaranteen tank.

I spent around $2000 Canadian dollars to set it up. Of course you can do less or more, depends on you.

If you already have your tank I would really suggest you to get that book and read it first. Also at the same time, after the first chapter how to setup your tank, get uncurred live rocks and start curring them in your tank. Why uncurred? I decided to get rocks and wanted to get curred ones its easier, but then the guy was selling those gorgeous uncurred Fiji rocks, and I wend with them. I tell you that it was a very good decision. I was curring them in my future tank and during that month I started to learn hot to control water tempreture and salinity, its very important.

This is just something for you to start with, maybe I wrote some stupid stuff but thats what I did and it worked so far.

If you have any questions to not hesitate to ask.

I forgot, to tell you before all that, buy RO/DI unit to produce water for your tank, this is very important and you will never regret it. I got mine for 180, it has everything including top off system, u can get a regular one for $120, I bought it online from Florida, if you interested I will send you a link.

P.S. never rush with the salt water tank, do everything step by step and think before every next step u do.

 

[chrissaysyes]

Best of luck to you man, like andy said, read the pinned threads, read lots of beginners howto sites and such, just read as much as you can and it will all be worlds easier. The good thing is that you're learning all of this BEFORE you set it up, that means you're on the right track so far

 

[kribensis12]

Thank's!!!!!! Sounds like i need to be saving money!!!!!!!!!!! Freshwater is easy, but salt sounds difficult!!!!!!!!!!! Of course, i guess it all comeds down to which one you were rasied to keep! This stuff is really expensive! So, what exactly does live rock do Also, do clown's often breed in captivity? Anything else you guy's want to add to this gold field of info?

 

[Lynden]

One can get similar growth from corals under new 10000K or 7500K. The problem is that, especially with metal halide bulbs, a 10000K will become exhausted much quicker than a full-spectrum bulb. The consequence being, growth slows down.

When keeping corals, especially softies with other cnidaria, the allelopathic toxins secreted should be removed. The answer is with either carbon or preferably an efficient protein skimmer. Tanks without skimmers have many benefits, but an increased workload also tags along, as water changes will need to be increased, in size and frequency.

All in my opinion anyways.

 

[kribensis12]

Thank's, so what exactly does live rock do?Also, do clown's often breed in captivity? Anything else you guy's want to add to this gold field of info?