Want To Start A Hobby In Saltwater Fish

[jamieboy]

hey folks,

i was in my local petshop the other day to get some stuff for my tropical set up, and noticed their salt set ups, and ive decided i want to get into saltwater, baring in mind i know nothing nothing about it,

could someone point me in the right direction, without throwing me into all the jargon ive been reading so far which just gets me lost?

i.e

what equipment do i need and what is its function?

 

[nick87]

hey folks,

i was in my local petshop the other day to get some stuff for my tropical set up, and noticed their salt set ups, and ive decided i want to get into saltwater, baring in mind i know nothing nothing about it,

could someone point me in the right direction, without throwing me into all the jargon ive been reading so far which just gets me lost?

i.e

what equipment do i need and what is its function?

Hi Jamie.

What equipment you will need will depend on what sort of setup you want, fish only, fish only with liverock or reef.

A basic kit list will have

Tank - as big as you can afford and fit in.
Powerheads - atleast 20x tank volume per hour, 2 or more PH's are better than 1.
Filtration - depending on the setup, either liverock (for reef) or FOWLR or external filter (for FO)
Skimmer - depends on the size of the tank, always go for a skimmer rated for double your water volume.
Lighting - again depends on the setup, FO tanks the lighting is not important, for a reef a minimum of T5 lighting.
Water source - either buy it from a fish shop or make your own with an RO unit (add salt to the list if making your own)
Test kits - PH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate to start with.


The most important thing is knowledge, read, read and read i little more
Nick

 

[jamieboy]

cheers nick,

couple of questions,

what does the powerhead do? Same for the skimmer? id probably go for reef setup.

 

[nick87]

cheers nick,

couple of questions,

what does the powerhead do? Same for the skimmer? id probably go for reef setup.

Powerheads are for providing flow in the tank, which is essential for good filtration when using liverock.

A skimmer is used to removed organics from the water.

A google search will give you a much more thorough explanation.

 

[jamieboy]

all very confusing haha, il need to read thoroughly before making a go of this.

I thought an internal filter does what a powerhead and skimmer does? whats the difference?

 

[nick87]

all very confusing haha, il need to read thoroughly before making a go of this.

I thought an internal filter does what a powerhead and skimmer does? whats the difference?

Internal filters, powerheads and skimmers are all very different things

An internal filter is used for biological filtration (aswell as move water), and have no use in a reef tank.

Powerheads are for simply creating flow in the tank, which is needed for liverock to do it's job.

A protein skimmer is used to removed dissolved organic compounds from the water.

Take a look at this site, it is full of info wet web media

 

[seffieuk]

Jamie, jump on in the water is warm and salty

Seffie x

 

[xxBarneyxx]

To try and simplify things.

Liverock + powerheads replace your internal/canister filter that you have in a FW setup.

The Liverock acts as the area for the bacteria to grow on (instead of in a filter). The powerheads make sure the water is constantly flowing around the rockwork.

A general rule of thumb is to have 2 or 3 powerheads that move 15-20 times the tank volume in water. For example you have a 200L tank you want x3 powerheads which move a total of 3000-4000LPH (litres per hour).

Skimmers are an additional for of filtration (somewhat optional, highly recommended but will not replace liverock with decent water flow). These remove "disolved organic compounds" from the water before they break down into ammonia, etc (basically they pull the crude out of the water before it has chance to turn into anything harmful).

Standard filters (like you use in FW setups) commonly arent used in marine setups. They can work fine if you just have a fish only tank. However Marine fish have a much large bio load so you would need at least double what you would put on a FW tank (i.e. your 200L tank would need a filter rated for a 400l FW tank). Using this method though you lose out on a lot of bio diversity you get on liverock (all the cool hitch hikers and stuff). This also wont work in a full reef setup with corals.

Last note on standard filters. Some people do still use them on marine setups. Typically though they will completely remove all media from it and just use phosphate removal media (phosphates are a big no-no for reef tanks).

Nick has pretty much covered the basics of the equipment you need to be looking at. Exactly choices are down to budget and what kind of livestock you wish to keep.

 

[jamieboy]

ok this is going to sound silly, are liverock and coral/reef seperate things? and can they be mixed together if their seperate?

what is liverock?
cheers

 

[seffieuk]

The only silly question is the one not asked

Live rock = porus rock that harbours life so it is able to filter water
Coral = living animals

Reef = live rock upon which corals live

Seffie x

 

[xxBarneyxx]

The only silly question is the one not asked

Live rock = porus rock that harbours life so it is able to filter water
Coral = living animals

Reef = live rock upon which corals live (i.e. both together).

Seffie x

You can't really have corals without having liverock.