Ok let me start by saying this thread is being made to show others who are new to saltwater/reef keeping how I did it. With that being said there are tons of ways to do it, and what works for me may or may not work for you. Also before anyone starts flaming, I am new to sw so there may be small errors in stuff, but I also welcome any input as to how I could make this better. This is also to make our forums here on MKFs better.
Ok now that the business end of this is done; lets get to the fun stuff!!
Ok, so if youre like me, you want to start a saltwater tank. But you have heard all the rumors that they are not cheap.........Wrong! I will tell you how I did it. First and foremost you need to have a budget! It is very easy to sink a ton of money into a sw (saltwater) tank. Second make a list of all the supplies that you currently have, as most of us on here have extra tanks and what not just sitting around. Third set a goal as to what you want to end up with, but be realistic and stay within budget! Keep in mind prices for fish, fish food and testers, salt, water (reverse osmosis) if needed, fish food and a small amount for unforeseen items. Finally remember that it is your best interest to use the largest tank that is in your budget. Why you say? Smaller tanks are less forgiving when you make a mistake, essentially they require more time for upkeep and are harder to control your parameters on due to the smaller volume of water.
I call this my craigslist tank...lol there is a reason for that, most of the supplies for this tank was bought on craigslist (www.craigslist.com).
ok so I have my budget, my list of current supplies, my goal, and I am armed with the most important tool of all, a computer with internet access...lol
Budget:
Now my budget may sound high, but that is because I was low on some things to get started.... i.e. I didn't have a tank available. So my starting budget is $900. Now the majority of that was spent on a tank, stand and filters. So with that said your budget may and probably will be way less.
Here is how I spent my money.
$650 for tank (60gal oceanic) that also included a stand, canopy two filter one being a fluval fx5, two power heads, two different lights, driftwood (not used for this build), and a 5 gallon bucket of African cichlid sand (not used)
Now with the majority of my budget spent, I have to say I was sad to spend so much, but it was a deal I found on cl (craigslist) that I couldn't pass up especially since the fx5 was brand new!
That leaves us $250 for the rest of the stuff to get the tank started. First on the list is sand. Now there are a ton of different people who say its not need or that you need a shallow or deep sand bed. I split the difference based on the fact that I like sand and that I was not planning on keeping fish or lots of inverts that like to burrow in it. So shopping I went I found a good deal at the lfs (local fish store) for a 40lb bag of fine grade agronite live sand for about $45. Now this can be done way cheaper, but I wanted my tank to cycle fast! With that being said you can use just about any type of sand that includes beach sand (check your local laws) or even play sand from Lowes this stuff is like $5 for 50lbs. Just read it and make sure it doesn't have silicates in it as they may or may not have an effect on your set up.
Now I chose agronite for a reason. In sw tanks you need a higher ph (usually 8.2 to 8.4) and agronite helps raise and stabilize ph. That way I didnt have to worry about huge ph swings in a new set up as bad, although you should still monitor your ph closely. Also if youre not in a hurry like I was to get it set up you could use any agronite sand and it would eventually become live sand.
Next I need rock!
Sw tanks are different than fresh in that most of the biological filtration comes from the "live rock" and not the filter. What is live rock you say?
Live rock is pours rock that has good types of bacteria and other misc, hitchhikers on it to help filter the water. The general rule on the amount of live rock for sw tanks is between 1lb and 1.5 lbs per gallon of water, now that will vary on the type of rock you get, so do your research. Now I did some research on this thanks to my trusty computer and learned that I didn't have to pay for tons of the so called live rock, I could make it myself. But alas I was in a hurry and I don't have time to wait months for cement to get hard and cure. So more research and I came up with an alternative. Luckily I have a pretty decent lfs near me and they had lace rock. Lace rock is a pours rock that is commonly used as base or bottom rock in sw tanks, so I bout about 40lbs of this instead of live rock for about $60 so that is about $1.25 a pound vs. actual live rock that is between $6 and $8 a lb. Now keep in mind that this isn't "live" so to supplement it and make it live I also bought approx. 20lbs of live rock. Basically between the live sand that I already bought and the live rock, the lace rock should be live in no time!
ok time for a post break, more to come.
Ok now that the business end of this is done; lets get to the fun stuff!!
Ok, so if youre like me, you want to start a saltwater tank. But you have heard all the rumors that they are not cheap.........Wrong! I will tell you how I did it. First and foremost you need to have a budget! It is very easy to sink a ton of money into a sw (saltwater) tank. Second make a list of all the supplies that you currently have, as most of us on here have extra tanks and what not just sitting around. Third set a goal as to what you want to end up with, but be realistic and stay within budget! Keep in mind prices for fish, fish food and testers, salt, water (reverse osmosis) if needed, fish food and a small amount for unforeseen items. Finally remember that it is your best interest to use the largest tank that is in your budget. Why you say? Smaller tanks are less forgiving when you make a mistake, essentially they require more time for upkeep and are harder to control your parameters on due to the smaller volume of water.
I call this my craigslist tank...lol there is a reason for that, most of the supplies for this tank was bought on craigslist (www.craigslist.com).
ok so I have my budget, my list of current supplies, my goal, and I am armed with the most important tool of all, a computer with internet access...lol
Budget:
Now my budget may sound high, but that is because I was low on some things to get started.... i.e. I didn't have a tank available. So my starting budget is $900. Now the majority of that was spent on a tank, stand and filters. So with that said your budget may and probably will be way less.
Here is how I spent my money.
$650 for tank (60gal oceanic) that also included a stand, canopy two filter one being a fluval fx5, two power heads, two different lights, driftwood (not used for this build), and a 5 gallon bucket of African cichlid sand (not used)
Now with the majority of my budget spent, I have to say I was sad to spend so much, but it was a deal I found on cl (craigslist) that I couldn't pass up especially since the fx5 was brand new!
That leaves us $250 for the rest of the stuff to get the tank started. First on the list is sand. Now there are a ton of different people who say its not need or that you need a shallow or deep sand bed. I split the difference based on the fact that I like sand and that I was not planning on keeping fish or lots of inverts that like to burrow in it. So shopping I went I found a good deal at the lfs (local fish store) for a 40lb bag of fine grade agronite live sand for about $45. Now this can be done way cheaper, but I wanted my tank to cycle fast! With that being said you can use just about any type of sand that includes beach sand (check your local laws) or even play sand from Lowes this stuff is like $5 for 50lbs. Just read it and make sure it doesn't have silicates in it as they may or may not have an effect on your set up.
Now I chose agronite for a reason. In sw tanks you need a higher ph (usually 8.2 to 8.4) and agronite helps raise and stabilize ph. That way I didnt have to worry about huge ph swings in a new set up as bad, although you should still monitor your ph closely. Also if youre not in a hurry like I was to get it set up you could use any agronite sand and it would eventually become live sand.
Next I need rock!
Sw tanks are different than fresh in that most of the biological filtration comes from the "live rock" and not the filter. What is live rock you say?
Live rock is pours rock that has good types of bacteria and other misc, hitchhikers on it to help filter the water. The general rule on the amount of live rock for sw tanks is between 1lb and 1.5 lbs per gallon of water, now that will vary on the type of rock you get, so do your research. Now I did some research on this thanks to my trusty computer and learned that I didn't have to pay for tons of the so called live rock, I could make it myself. But alas I was in a hurry and I don't have time to wait months for cement to get hard and cure. So more research and I came up with an alternative. Luckily I have a pretty decent lfs near me and they had lace rock. Lace rock is a pours rock that is commonly used as base or bottom rock in sw tanks, so I bout about 40lbs of this instead of live rock for about $60 so that is about $1.25 a pound vs. actual live rock that is between $6 and $8 a lb. Now keep in mind that this isn't "live" so to supplement it and make it live I also bought approx. 20lbs of live rock. Basically between the live sand that I already bought and the live rock, the lace rock should be live in no time!
ok time for a post break, more to come.