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View Full Version : Just starting have 4 Fresh Water now buying a tank for Salt need some advice!


pgaschulz
01/27/2008, 04:38 PM
Okay I have been doing Fresh Water for 25 years now and my wife wants a salt tank. I am buying a 72 gallon bow All glasss. I have a sump which was on my 100 gallon I am going to use for the salt now. The 72 bow will have a built in overflow, I know I need a proten skimmer. I am also looking at a Aqualight Advanced Series HQI Metal Halide Fixture, for the tank. I want to start with a fish tank with some live rock. I am looking at 4-5 fish only. What else am I going to need and what else can i expect.

I have a 100,75,50,29 fresh right now, the 72 bow will be a nice additon. I am also looking at a Pro Heat heater, what about a Penguin 400 (did not really want anything hanging off the back though.....


pgaschulz

Sk8r
01/27/2008, 04:57 PM
I would recommend:
skimmer rated for 150 gallons.
with metal halides, you will be equipped to keep stony corals. They are no harder than fish---in fact since they don't jump or eat each other or get too many diseases, they behave better.
You need 1 lb live rock and 1lb CaribSea Aragonite sand per gallon.
I recommend laying down a sheet of eggcrate lighting grid, then a little good base rock, then your live rock, and finally your sand.
My advice would be, go with your lights, have NO filter, have 4-5 reasonable fish of the blenny/goby sort, and keep a few easy corals for starters: caulestra and hammer are easy ones. A 72 bow will keep blennies and gobies very handsomely and they will never outgrow your tank: a 72 bow has too little swimming room for many of the better-known marine fish---I know: I have a 54 bow. If you go the coral route, your rock, sand, and corals will be your filters, and you never have to clean anything.
My advice would be from the start to set up a small refugium in your sump: that way you will never have to scrape significant algae, either.
Start with ro/di water and never allow any tap water to touch your tank.
Do not go with a closed canopy: a marine tank depends on evaporation to cool it and eventually to provide enough topoff activity [automated ro/di freshwater topoff---75.00 up]---to supply calcium via dosing in that water.
Read the * thread at the top of this forum: that has everything you ever wanted to know about how to start a tank and what your options are.
You can see my tank size and equipment list below my sig.

Oh, and Welcome to RC!

McTeague
01/27/2008, 05:39 PM
Let's see some pics of the freshwater tanks!

SquidHC
01/27/2008, 06:13 PM
The best advice I could possibly give anyone new to this hobby is to research everything before you buy. You waste alot of money buying crappy stuff if you dont.

You asked what to expect. Well for the first month or so your tank is just going to have water, sand, and some rocks in it. Dont listen to people when they say to buy a cheap damsel and toss it in to start your cycle. All your doing is torturing a fish. Just let it be, you can add an uncooked shrimp if you really need to, or you can get some organic ammonia (which is what I like to do) to get thing started. Leave your lights on 24/7, have a powerhead running. If you get a skimmer (research this and buy a good one, there are alot of crappy ones on the market) have it skim kinda wet. Your going to have a few algea outbreaks. This is fine as they will help clean the nutirents out of the water. You will have green algea outbreak, then a brown diatome outbreak like a week or two later. Dont bother doing water changes at this point. Dont try and clean the algea, just let it be. it will go away on its own in about a week or so. About once week or so you can test your water for nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia. They could be really high, or almost non existent. Depends on how clean the live rock you used is. Once your tank stabilizes (Could take 3+ weeks to do this) you should get a slight green algea outbreak. Do a water test. If your nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia read zero your good to start. I would begin by adding one or two fish, no more. You need bacteria to colonize your rock and sand and act as your main filtration. If you add too much of a bio load too quickly you risk crashing your tank.

A few pointers to make your cycle go better.
-Get clean live rock. if theres a ton of crap on the rocks to begin with your cycle with take longer.
-Use Ro/DI water from the start. Dont ever put tap water in your tank. It could easily make your cycle take a few weeks longer.
-Clean your sand very well before adding it to your tank. You want to get all the dust out unless you want a giant ploom cloud in your water every time the sand gets moved. This is assuming your using dry sand.
-Plan how you want your tank set up, then do it. Its very hard to change major things like plumbing and such after its set up.

Welcome to saltwater, best of luck.

pgaschulz
01/27/2008, 06:43 PM
I can email you the pictures if you want....not good at posting quite yet