saltwater or freshwater tank that is the question..

[boredcpl]

i have never had a salt water tank and i am curious to try...i have a 40 some gallon hex with sand in it and was wondering if it would make a good salt tank..what is the smallest tank that you can safely use for saltwater..and besides filters and heater what else would you need for saltwater tanks.

[sandtiger]

Nether fresh nor salt...go braskish. :)

[boredcpl]

brackish... what fish would you recomend for brackish...plus it is not a very big tank it is more tall than big around..

[rweedon]

since it is soo tall and has sooo little surface area I would go with fresh but I am a freshwater guy anyway...

[boredcpl]

i have always wanted a saltwater tank but scared it will crash and all my fish are gone..so i want to try it on a smaller tank that i dont need to house my already have fish..i would really love to have a fully aqautic salamander like the one in your pic rweedon..

[sandtiger]

You are pretty limited on brackish fish for the tall tank, freshwater might be better for that one. You could always do mollies or platys...they can live in brackish water. Visit http://www.aquariacentral.com and look at the brackish profiles.

[boredcpl]

the eels or a puffer would be cool to keep but i havent had any good luck with the spotted puffer...

[hyphen]

i have always wanted a saltwater tank but scared it will crash and all my fish are gone..so i want to try it on a smaller tank that i dont need to house my already have fish..i would really love to have a fully aqautic salamander like the one in your pic rweedon..

smaller tanks are harder to keep than larger. with a larger water volume you have a little more room for error (bad water parameters can be diluted with larger water volume, whereas small changes in small tank spell disaster). a 40g hex is perfect for a reef tank. you're limited on predators (frogfish, hawkfish, lionfish come to mind) but there are a number of reef-safe fish and inverts you could keep.

with a hex tank you can stack up your live rock really high, have room for some awesome coral placement and still have room for all water levels of fish.

[boredcpl]

i was thinking of having about 2 clownfish and maybe some live rocks or so...but any suggestions on others to keep in the same tank..im looking for hardy fish..

[frontosa_man]

goby or any other fish from the damsel family.

[boredcpl]

will i need a surface skimmer or any thing... other than a filter and heater..

[guppy]

An archer would work as brackish with maybe some hermit crabs. I think there are some available that are from brackish mangrove swamps. You could probably get away with a nice violet goby and one of the smaller sand dabs in there as well.

[dialphantom]

that animal in reweed's avitar si a mud puppy i think there also called water dogs

[fishyboi]

You should get a bigger tank for your salt since its harder to keep fish alive in a small tank trust me I found out the hard way.

[hyphen]

will i need a surface skimmer or any thing... other than a filter and heater..


in reality, all you need is liverock, powerheads and lights (for a reef). but a protein skimmer helps get rid of organics before they turn into harmful ammonia, etc. but, it's not really necessary. as for what to keep with 2 clownfish...you could get a nice little anemone for them to be hosted by. also, some shrimp would work well. cleaner and peppermint shrimp are nice. for some fast swimmers, you could look into buying some green or blue chromis. they shoal and look really nice in a tank. you could also keep snails & crabs and a number of different types of gobies or blennies.

[TLTGF]

:iagree:

I'm also a newbie at this stuff and for the past few weeks i've been to different pet stores, talked to numerous people on this forum and been on about a hundred internet sites figuring out the same question fw or sw. Basically, in a nut shell everyone already said it... for someone new bigger is definitley better if you go salt, everything is easier... water control, pH, nitrates, also the types of livestock and of course how many also improve, and compatibility of livestock is lessened in a bigger tank. From what i hear anything under 55gal is a huge can of worms when you do salt... if you aren't already experienced. Also a tidbit of info that i was given was that no matter what type of tank if salt... Fish only, with live rock or a reef, you should by reef equiptment - it will work for any type and if you want to upgrade to a reef you don't have to upgrade your equiptment. Good luck and remember take everything in as a grain of salt... get many opinions before you do anything and also make sure it is what YOU want.

[boredcpl]

im using a 40 some gal hex (i think its 47 gallon.) with a aquaclear 70 filter and hang in heater with a sand floor.. does that sound about right for a saltwater starter tank or should i look at getting different equipment..

[I3u11he4d]

i have always wanted a saltwater tank but scared it will crash and all my fish are gone..so i want to try it on a smaller tank that i dont need to house my already have fish..i would really love to have a fully aqautic salamander like the one in your pic rweedon..
theres a great articale in coral magazine vol.1#2 about nano reefs as littl as 1.3 gals,and about how they are much more stable than once thought.it goes into detail about setting one up also.this is a good site about nanos http://www.oc-creative.com/reef/index.asp .even though you might not want to go this small it has helpful info for smaller salt tanksi.e less thn 50 gals.I will be trying out a small reef tank set up in a few months.10 gals. with only two air pumps 8 pds of live rock,one pair stonogobiops nematodes i.e highfin banded goby,a couple of peppermint shrimp,some tube worms,small brittle stars and various other inverts.ill post pics as im building it and after its going.Ive always been told salt water is easier than fresh..............and this was told to me by a very very knoledgeable person who owns a FS and sometimes writes articles for a couple of popular fish mags.hes been in fishkeeping for over forty some yrs.It just that its more expensive than freshwater,sorry I m feeling abit long winded today............................................. ............................................ :screwy:

[hyphen]

im using a 40 some gal hex (i think its 47 gallon.) with a aquaclear 70 filter and hang in heater with a sand floor.. does that sound about right for a saltwater starter tank or should i look at getting different equipment..


you may want to ditch the media for the aquaclear. it'd be better used with liverock rubble and maybe some carbon media. and with the sand bed, you might wanna consider getting aragonite substrate for better buffering.

[boredcpl]

so using the sand is not a good idea???

[hyphen]

no, you can use sand. just make sure it's not silica based. south down play sand is a good option, as is estes reef sand.

[boredcpl]

all i know about the sand is its white and came from a pet store... cause it was in the tank when i bought it from my buddy..

[leviathon13]

i have never had a salt water tank and i am curious to try...i have a 40 some gallon hex with sand in it and was wondering if it would make a good salt tank..what is the smallest tank that you can safely use for saltwater..and besides filters and heater what else would you need for saltwater tanks.
saltwater is not that difficult. I've seen it done in as little as 5 gal. just cycle the tank.you can use black mollies if you acclimate them slow.skimmers are a great idea but not a must if you keep up on routine maint.live rock is the way to go if you can afford it.and if it's gonna be fish only, keep your stocking levels lower than you would in fresh

[boredcpl]

i have the tank setup with just water and sand and a aqua clear 50 filter.. what else do i need to do or should i change anything for the salt setup... can i add salt to the water or should i drain the water and add salted water.

[boredcpl]

and what size hex tanks are there.. i have 2 and i dont know the exact gallon sizes.

[mkpeters6]

saltwater is not that difficult. I've seen it done in as little as 5 gal. just cycle the tank.you can use black mollies if you acclimate them slow.skimmers are a great idea but not a must if you keep up on routine maint.live rock is the way to go if you can afford it.and if it's gonna be fish only, keep your stocking levels lower than you would in fresh


i agree, if you have experience with fw, the move to salt really isn't as difficult or scary as a lot of people make it out to be, there is more maitnence involved i.e. checking salt levels, better filtration but if you start out simple then it really isnt that difficult. its my opinion that sw fish are becoming hardier to keep then in the not so distant past, better shipping and acclimation methods, etc I would go for it b/c once you try it it becomes very addicting

[hyphen]

and what size hex tanks are there.. i have 2 and i dont know the exact gallon sizes.

they have all kinds. the most popular i think are 29, 55, and 80. they have 10 & 5s, but i don't see them often.

[boredcpl]

i was told by the ppl i got them from they thought it was i 27 gal and a 47gal

[NeonTetraFan]

They are probably 29 and 55, BUT they could be custom tanks.

[boredcpl]

they are store bought tanks..

[NeonTetraFan]

Alright, than they are most likely 29 and 55 gallons each.

[boredcpl]

i think the big one is a 29 then cause i dont think its big enough to ge a 55.

[NeonTetraFan]

I don't know what to tell you then. :D

[Just1nK4ng]

i have never had a salt water tank and i am curious to try...i have a 40 some gallon hex with sand in it and was wondering if it would make a good salt tank..what is the smallest tank that you can safely use for saltwater..and besides filters and heater what else would you need for saltwater tanks.

depends on the fish and how much your going to spend i perfer freshwater because trust me you dont wanna just buy salt water fishs without doing research for months and the cost of salt water is alot i mean alot