Beginner and need tons of help!

[astarate]

Hello!

I'm a betta enthusiast, and would also like to learn and care for saltwater fishes. Problem is, I have no idea what saltwater fish is compatible with each other, and what type of live plants or reefs I should be putting in the tank.

Would anyone like to be my guide into saltwater fish? ^o^

[ReeferBill]

You can always run your list of fish by us here but we need more info like size of tank and type of filtration. What do you want a peaceful reef or fish only with live rock or predators? Read the stickies and figure out what you want......

[astarate]

I would love just some beginner fish. Peaceful, reef friendly, etc and whatnot. I am going to get a 30 gallon and I don't know what type of filtration.
I don't know much about saltwater and the information is going over my head. I'm more of a show me, and then tell me, type of person. .-.

[idisc]

Salt water has the same basic concepts as freshwater. Do the same testing, same cycle. But now you will test for calcium, alk, mag and there is salt involed. Keep it at 1.025/26. Add freshwater (rodi) to replace evaporation and do your water changes. The only other item you will want but not required is a skimmer and better lighting if u want corals

[idisc]

Salt: Reef Crystals
Lighting: Simple 2/4 bulb T5 unit
Hydrometer or Refractometer: Measures Salinity
Dry or live sand your choice
Live or dead rock your choice

[astarate]

Salt: Reef Crystals
Lighting: Simple 2/4 bulb T5 unit
Hydrometer or Refractometer: Measures Salinity
Dry or live sand your choice
Live or dead rock your choice

You made it so simple, thank you!

[idisc]

You can even use a simple hob filter..i.would get like an aquaclear 110..large basket for media..ect.. and should keep a 30g tank turn over rate very good

[ReeferBill]

With 30 gallons you have to keep small fish like gobies,blenny, and chromises maybe a shrimp,blood red or skunk cleaner. Neon goby is a cool fish plus the yellow clown goby or green goby. You can not put more than one type of fish together because they will fight unless they are a different color and or shape. You can go to the sponsors peg and click on live aquaria at Drs. Foster and Smiths to read about sizes of tank min, and compatibility...read . Read and maybe subscribe to aquarium fish magazine and then read some more,..

[keepswimming]

If you are looking for simple, saltwater is not the hobby for you...

[No1Daemon]

I started with a 30 and wish I had gone larger almost immediately.
It really is good to get the largest you can afford straight away so you are not limited in fish choice.

[ReeferKimberly]

If you are looking for simple, saltwater is not the hobby for you...

It can be as simple as you make it, trust me ;)

Don't worry about all the sump, skimmer, stuff right now. Start with a 30 gallon, that is fine. You can always move up but that is a good learning tank. You can have a hang-on-back filter like stated above. It is fine. Just do you water changes and remember you have way less fish in a SW tank than FW. Just read read read, it comes together quickly enough. Then you can get into the other equipment. T5 lights are good, you will be able to grow almost anything and they are not overly expensive. Ask questions, we are here to help :) Have fun and remember nothing happens fast.

Do not worry about dosing for a while. Having not much coral and frequent water changes will provide everything your tank needs. I also like Reef Crystals, it has a good amount of the stuff you want. Temp 76-80 is what I prefer. Salinity 1.026. One of the things you will want to get early that is important is a refractometer to measure salinity, not a hydrometer. And use RODI water, whether you buy your water or make your own with a filter. Ask the store to check their TDS though, if you buy it, sometimes they get lax. And trust the people here about stocking, NOT what the LFS tells you. And don't cycle with a fish like a damsel, or any fish, like the LFS will try to sell you. Just start with nothing, add some food to create ammonia and let your rock and sand build bacteria. When you get zero ammonia and nitrite, you are finished cycling and may add a small fish or some snails etc.

[CoralReeForrest]

Research, not just one particular opinion or person, should be your guide. Start by reading through this beginner forum and learn as much as you can. There is so much more to this then just simply adding rock and salt to freshwater. Search for Waterkeeper and read trough a lot of his stuff, also Sk8r she is ridiculously knowledgable. There are a few really good books on this subject alot of good online magazine articles as well. The best that can be said is read read read and then when you've read all you can find, read some more and then start asking questions for clarification. A SW tank takes alot of dedication and care. Remember we are trying to replicate a little chunk of the ocean in our home!

[julie180]

Start with reading the sticky at the top of the forum. The more educated you are going into the hobby, the less frustration and more enjoyment you will have.

[DocHogan]

If you are looking for simple, saltwater is not the hobby for you...

Thats a pretty helpful comment… Its really not that hard do like the other suggested and just get into a routine for maintenance. My first saltwater tank 25 years ago was a 10 gallon with a royal gramma that I moved probably 10 times back and forth to college and he did great in it.

[mandarin_goby]

I've come from 20+ years of freshwater fish keeping and always thought salt was too expensive and tricky. I can tell you, after 2 yrs, I have sunk a lot of money into this hobby, but a lot has been by choice, and it's not as bad to maintain as my 55 planted tank! I started with a 12 gallon and upgraded to a 40. 30 sound like a nice size. You need a decent fixture - you need much more light than for freshwater, maybe a 4xt5 fixture. I also splurged on a nice t5 fixture, used, but with really good bulbs like ATIs - I wouldn't cheap out here - I've gone cheap and regretted it!

You'll need a heater, sand, rock - live rock is about $6 a pound and you'll do well with about 20-30 pounds - that was one of my biggest expenses, but well worth it.

An Aquaclear filter would be great to add more flow and volume. Also, check out the new wp10 pumps with adjustable flow - corals like flow, more so than plants in a freshwater set up. The wp10's would be perfect for your tank, one should do it. I had a Koralia nano and it was reallllly weak, flow-wise.

The live rock serves as a type of filtration like a gravel bed in freshwater...there's not as much emphasis on mechanical filtration like in freshwater tanks where I have 3 canister filters running. For saltwater, a canister would just trap waste and that's not a good thing :/

The initial cost is the biggest hurdle, but once you're up and running, it's not that bad - just get cheapy little zoa/paly frags and mushrooms - start simple and low cost coral-wise.

I buy pre-mixed saltwater and distilled water from my local store with no issues...blew my mind that I couldn't use tap like I do for my planted tank, but you'll get used to that. Another thing - as the water evaporates, the salt is left behind and salinity rises, so use distilled water for topping off the tank instead of saltwater.

In my 12 gallon (it was 3 ft long) I had a pistol shrimp, Pom Pom crabs, sexy shrimp ( I love inverts!), a chromis and a small bangaii cardinal and that was pushing the limit - you can't have as many saltwater fish in a certain volume like as in freshwater. In my 40, I have a starry blenny, a pistol shrimp paired with a Hector's goby (big fan of pistol/goby pairs), a chromis, a clown who loves her anemone, and a bangaii cardinal. Less is more regarding fish, but you can have fun with inverts - shrimp, crabs and snails...I love watching my 2 peppermint shrimp, a cleaner shrimp and a porcelain crab and tons of snails...

I'm not a fan of hermit crabs, the little snail killers. Check out reefcleaner's site for a "clean-up crew" or mixed bag of snail+hermits or just snails to scavenge leftover food, turn over the sand bed and eat algae...you'll learn to love these guys.

Best of luck, and welcome!

[Carmen2]

I always wanted to do a saltwater tank. I understood freshwater fish, as I have had a koi pond for 14 years. But I was terrified to jump in. So I read...forums on line like this one plus others. Books...for two years before I put a drop of water into my 75-gallon tank. I love the hobby but don't regret learning as much as I did before I started last September. And still, now that I'm in the hobby I feel like I've only scratched the surface in the "learning" part.

But it's fun and for me time consuming because I'm still learning how to do things. But you will do fine...just learn as much as you can before you start. The cycling process for the rocks could take as long as two months. I started with completely dry rock and sand, and added bacteria instead of using live sand and rock. I was paranoid about critters coming in on the live rock that I wouldn't want in the tank. Plus it's a lot cheaper than buying all live rock. Or you can buy dry rock and purchase a piece of live rock from the LFS to start the process. So much more I could say, but I will let others chime in.

[gone fishin]

My first tank was a 30 gallon that consisted of a aqueon hob filter, heater, 2small koralia powerheads and a deepblue 2 bulb t5 HO light. I ran that tank for a year that way doing weekly water changes. I stocked it with a few easy fish and corals and it thrived.

I started reading about sumps and skimmers and eventually made a 15g sump and purchased a skimmer to go in it. I ran that for about a year or so.

I felt after a couple years I had a pretty good handle on the chemistry, how the sump interacted with the display tank. I Learned the value of a Quaranteen tank and using it. Noticing when my coral did not look right and figuring out what to look for to fix it. I ultimately upgraded to my current tank.

I guess what I am trying to get to is you can start out very simple and basic and work your way up to a more complex system over time. But just remember that slow and steady will win this race every time. Good luck

forgot to mention it is very helpful if you have a local reefing club that you can get to know and call on for some hands on help.