My Cheap way to Sw Tanks.

Dreaco

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 12, 2007
124
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Kentucky
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; let’s get to the fun stuff!!


Ok, so if you’re 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 it’s 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 didn’t have to worry about huge ph swings in a new set up as bad, although you should still monitor your ph closely. Also if you’re 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.
 

Loubard

Fire Eel
MFK Member
May 17, 2005
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Interesting project! Can't wait to see how the tank turned out.
 

Dreaco

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 12, 2007
124
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Kentucky
Let’s talk water!

Water is the key ingredient in what we are trying to accomplish here so it’s important to do this right! Now this is another thing that there are conflicting report about floating around the net. The majority of them say you have to use reverse osmosis water or distilled water. I say depending on what you are keeping this is not true. Here is why: I don’t intend to keep corals or other sensitive inverts so I will be using tap water, now with that said have your tap water tested at your lfs, have then test for as much as they can i.e. copper, phosphates, and ammonia. Keep in mind that almost all tap water contains chlorine and chloramines. I highly suggest you buy a product buy seachem call “prime” it eliminates chlorine, chloramines, ammonia, and it detoxifies nitrite and nitrate. This product will condition the tap water and get it ready for the salt!

So I have my water conditioned but now I need salt. To add salt to my water I need to know how much to add, most places on the net say that the salinity or amount of salt dissolved in the water should have a specific gravity of 1.025 to 1.026, but I have found that it can be varied from 1.020 to 1.026 as per many different sources. So I split the difference at 1.023. I also did this for another reason; the lfs that I intend to get my fish from keep their tanks at 1.023, so this eases acclimating new fish. Please research on acclimating new fish. This is beyond the scope of this right up. Now in case I lost you specific gravity is just a measurement term to measure the amount of salt dissolved in the water.

To test specific gravity of water you need one of two items either a hydrometer or a salinity refractometer, the most accurate of the two being a salinity refractometer. Remember places like eBay are your friend; you can get a refractometer for between $20 and $40. Oh and don’t forget to get one that automatically adjust for temp. But if you’re on a really tight budget you will get the hydrometer now these are known to be off in either direction by a few points, I suggest testing your water and then taking it to a lfs to have them test it with their refractometer and the adjust the for the difference.

Now I have my tester, and purchased my salt. I got a 15lb bag of instant ocean sea salt for $15.99 plus tax after searching all my lfs. You can use whatever brand is cheapest in your area. Edit: after reading the bag, it was 16.5 lbs or enough for 55 gallons. This actually worked out perfect for me as it turned out it was just enough salt to make my specific gravity 1.023. Before adding the anything to the aquarium you want to test it with freshwater for leaks. After that is done you add the sand to the aquarium. Now we are ready for the saltwater. Be sure to premix it in a separate tub as to not kill your live sand if you bought that. I used a $5 tote from Wal-mart for this. Next to keep from stirring up the sand I placed the bag that the sand came in on top of the sand. Also don’t forget to not fill the tank full as you still have to add several pounds of rock to it. After the water is in the tank check your salinity again. If the reading is correct you are ready for the rocks. Live rock should be bought and placed in at after you have the tank up for about a day, so that the sand and other parameters are correct. This is done so you don’t kill the live rock or the hitchhikers on the rock.
 

Dreaco

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 12, 2007
124
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Kentucky
Now the fun part begins the cycle……
The cycle can take anywhere from 5 days to 2 months depending on the amount of live rock and sand you used. The more of each you uses, the less time it takes to cycle. My tank cycled in approximately 5-6 days without fish. Let me tell you when your impatient like I am 6 days seem like an eternity. I should also note that I only used base rock and lace rock in my tank. I didn’t pay for the expensive live rock.


So fast forward 6 days and my tank is ready for fish. Now after tons on research I finally decided on a pair of clowns as they will stay small and don’t require lots of space to swim and they are also pretty much reef safe. So off to the lfs I went as I never buy fish that I cannot inspect first had for health. I got lucky and scored a pair of false clowns for $16.95 each. Now true clowns can go for much more but hey most people who will see the tank will never know the difference anyway so what the heck, we are on a tight budget after all. I will be slowly stocking more as I get more money and have the time to properly research fish. I would also like to take a little time to talk about hitchhikers. There are tons of stuff that come on live rock, some good some bad. In my opinion unless you have a delicate reef set up most of it is good. I have also found that if you make good friend with the lfs employees the will give you free stuff like pods, small feeder shrimp, small crabs, and a number of other stuff that are vital to a saltwater ecosystem.

Finally let’s talk lighting.

Since we are trying to be cheap most of us will just use a typical aquarium light that can be bought at any lfs. This will be fine for a FOWLR (fish only with live rock) setup. Plus this gives you time to save more money should you decide you want corals or other types of inverts later. Which I do, so I also splurged a bit and found a used compact florescent with 50/50 bulbs on craigslist for $60. Granted the bulbs ne replaced and the fans didn’t work, but it was still a good deal. Oh and my lfs friend also gave me fans to fix them. Also forgot to mention don’t forget to use a heater, sw tanks need to be kept a lot warmer than some fresh water tanks with an average temps between 76 and 82 degrees.

Totals
Tank, stand, canopy, light and filter, $650
Salt: $ 17
Water: free
Sand: $40
Rock: $60
Live rock: $20
Fish: $34
Pc light $60
Misc. inverts: free.
Fish food: $15
Hydrometer$15
And due to a small algae bloom $15 for phosphate remover…lol
So the grand total is $926! Not bad, about $30 over my budget.

pics to come.
 

Dreaco

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 12, 2007
124
0
0
Kentucky
sweeTang21;1641525; said:
keep up the good work, and of course keep the pics coming.
thanks, I will add more pics as the tank develops, and as I add more stuff.

I also had some one ask me what light I was using, its a coral life power compact it has 2 96 watt bulbs one antic and one 10k bulb. if anyone has more question feel free to ask or pm me. I get on here pretty much every day.
 

sweeTang21

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 10, 2007
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Wisconsin
i have the same lighting system. Im upgrading it to a VHO DIY kit in june and demoting the PC to frag tank lol. Good unit though, has treated me well lol.
 

Dreaco

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 12, 2007
124
0
0
Kentucky
sweeTang21;1641545; said:
i have the same lighting system. Im upgrading it to a VHO DIY kit in june and demoting the PC to frag tank lol. Good unit though, has treated me well lol.
Ya I like it a lot too, my only concern is using the hood it traps tons of heat and I really need to wire a fan in the hood to draw all the heat out.
 

sweeTang21

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 10, 2007
2,009
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Wisconsin
What i did is mounted a 4 fans total on the back of the canopy. Dont even know that they are there unless your looking for them. works well. The next step is getting the stand prepared for the sump and running fans for that as well lol.

are you using the stands for the light or not??
 
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