Setting up a predator salt tank

snow

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 19, 2009
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B.C.,Canada
Can someone give me the run down on how to do it? I'm thinking it would be like a FOWL sorta thing. Or can someone provide me with a good link on how to go about doing this. The tank would be a 6ft 135g. The problem is though I would not be able to run a sump on the tank. So would an FX5 work? I'm thinking it would be fairly simple once set-up and what now. Just get some live sand and some dead live rock and there you go? I'm not sure on what sort of water treatments, ie chemicals to put into the tank besides ocean salt, (the big tubs). I have T5 lights to, this is good enough, correct. I thought it would be interesting to try this b/c I've always love salt water fish and I don't have $10,000 to spend on a nice reef tank. My goal would be to keep a bamboo shark. I know they get around 42" but this size tank would be good for awile. I'd probably like it so much that I'd change more tank to salt pred tank.
 

TheCanuck

Piranha
MFK Member
Nov 9, 2009
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DALLAS TEXAS
Here are the beginning steps....

Things to buy:

Salinity scope (refractometer)

Live sand (caribeasea live sand) I would shoot for as much as possible

some uncured live rock or live rock. You can mix lace with it to save money. Or you can just buy fake decos

Filtration can be anything. With canisters you have to clean that out at least every 2 weeks. Saltwater build up is much different and mechanical pads need to be cleaned. Filling the fx5 with rubble rock would be a great choice. Usually lfs will sell small live rock for 1$ a lb. Best media for a canister as it doesn't clog and the micro organisms will decompose solids.

A skimmer is not a must, but with it you would be surprised how well your params stay down. Instead of doing a WC every 2 weeks it could be 2-3 months with a good skimmer. Save you cash on salt, and other things ;)
I would suggest a algae scrubber or refuge but, HOB skimmer would be best if your going to use a canister like you stated. Which is what 2 of my tanks are ran on.

Fish- well thats up to you

Steps.....

clean out your tank and prep it.

Fill with water and dechlorinate. Add salt accordingly, be sure to keep in decently low like in the .20 range. By the way coral life salt is the best, it clears in minutes.

Now add sand and be gentle so you don't have a sand storm for 2 weeks. Also this sand will add to the salinity a bit so thats why you go easy with the salt at first, get it at 20 and when you dump in the sand it will jump a little.

Add circulation pumps.

Wait for it to clear.

Then start your methood of cycling. Some use the uncured live rock to start it, but i add shrimp anyways cause i know my bio loads are going to be huge and i don't need any mini cycles while adding my big predators.

Well thats the basics, and it doesn't get harder than that...


O with a FOWLR they technically don't even need a light. So your t5 is an awesome thing to have but not needed. Only if you want corals. :D
 

FLESHY

Polypterus
MFK Member
Jan 7, 2006
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snow;4209104; said:
Wow, thanks for the info. Some say if you add powerheads this would help b/c salt fish need more current the FW fish do true?

BTW do you think I could do all this from start to until I start adding fish in for less then $500?
Currents are a part of ocean life no matter where fish live...unlike freshwater where lake life ect might be pretty stagnant.

If all you have now are the t5 lights there is probably a slim chance of you being able to do this for less than $500.

My run down of the situation is this: You want large (huge, in the case of the shark) fish in a medium-large tank.

This is going to necessitate several things:
1. The tank should have hardy inhabitants. This is a pretty ambitious first step into saltwater.
2. The tank should be setup in a manner that is "fool-proof" and relatively easy to care for.

The problems I see arising is that you want to do all this on a budget. Aquarium supplies are pretty much you get what you pay for, and if you dont pay for much, you might get equipment that is going to be a hassle to maintain and may not even be able to keep your animals healthy with your level of expertise. If I was going to set up my own saltwater pred tank, this is how I would do it.

I would get the largest tank I could afford.
If possible I would have this tank drilled for overflows because this not only makes maintenance much easier, but it also allows for pretty heft-duty filtration.
-Because you are not going to do this I would get one (or several) high quality, oversized canister filters.
-In my opinion I would say that a protein skimmer was a necessity. The number one kind of saltwater tank I would say that should never be without a skimmer would be a pred tank. You have high waste levels, and you are often attempting to stretch the bioload capacity of the tank. Do yourself a favor and invest in a good skimmer. (I recommend aquaC, and I also recommend "over-skimmming" just as you should "over-filter")
I would get a high quality oversized heater.
-Depending on where you live and how your tank runs, you may need a chiller, although with fish only probably not.

A few other points that I would make is that you can SAVE some money by buying a hydrometer instead of a refractometer. I run my reef with a hydrometer, and have not had a single problem in 8 years. If I can keep acropora with one, you can keep hardy marine preds with one.

I would also say that the only reason for you to buy live sand (which is often unnecessarily dirty, and of mixed grade) is that it comes with so much DEAD crap and bacteria in it that it will cycle your tank for you to a bioload that might be similar to your tank fully stocked. "Live" sand is a marketing gimmick...you are just paying more money for lower quality substrate. I would recommend caribsea "reef-grade" aragonite. This is a high quality substrate (although it requires a lot of washing before adding to your tank, -all substrates do, but this one to a greater extent) and you can siphon it to remove the wastes you will be getting with your large fish.

Finally I would recommend instant ocean salt. Ive come to the consensus along with many other aquarists reef and otherwise that this salt is the purest in terms of water quality once it has been made. It is also one of the cheaper "high-end" salts.

Good luck with your tank. Be sure to post pictures when you start setting stuff up.
 

TheCanuck

Piranha
MFK Member
Nov 9, 2009
3,056
60
81
32
DALLAS TEXAS
FLESHY;4209167; said:
Currents are a part of ocean life no matter where fish live...unlike freshwater where lake life ect might be pretty stagnant.

If all you have now are the t5 lights there is probably a slim chance of you being able to do this for less than $500.

My run down of the situation is this: You want large (huge, in the case of the shark) fish in a medium-large tank.

This is going to necessitate several things:
1. The tank should have hardy inhabitants. This is a pretty ambitious first step into saltwater.
2. The tank should be setup in a manner that is "fool-proof" and relatively easy to care for.

The problems I see arising is that you want to do all this on a budget. Aquarium supplies are pretty much you get what you pay for, and if you dont pay for much, you might get equipment that is going to be a hassle to maintain and may not even be able to keep your animals healthy with your level of expertise. If I was going to set up my own saltwater pred tank, this is how I would do it.

I would get the largest tank I could afford.
If possible I would have this tank drilled for overflows because this not only makes maintenance much easier, but it also allows for pretty heft-duty filtration.
-Because you are not going to do this I would get one (or several) high quality, oversized canister filters.
-In my opinion I would say that a protein skimmer was a necessity. The number one kind of saltwater tank I would say that should never be without a skimmer would be a pred tank. You have high waste levels, and you are often attempting to stretch the bioload capacity of the tank. Do yourself a favor and invest in a good skimmer. (I recommend aquaC, and I also recommend "over-skimmming" just as you should "over-filter")
I would get a high quality oversized heater.
-Depending on where you live and how your tank runs, you may need a chiller, although with fish only probably not.

A few other points that I would make is that you can SAVE some money by buying a hydrometer instead of a refractometer. I run my reef with a hydrometer, and have not had a single problem in 8 years. If I can keep acropora with one, you can keep hardy marine preds with one.

I would also say that the only reason for you to buy live sand (which is often unnecessarily dirty, and of mixed grade) is that it comes with so much DEAD crap and bacteria in it that it will cycle your tank for you to a bioload that might be similar to your tank fully stocked. "Live" sand is a marketing gimmick...you are just paying more money for lower quality substrate. I would recommend caribsea "reef-grade" aragonite. This is a high quality substrate (although it requires a lot of washing before adding to your tank, -all substrates do, but this one to a greater extent) and you can siphon it to remove the wastes you will be getting with your large fish.

Finally I would recommend instant ocean salt. Ive come to the consensus along with many other aquarists reef and otherwise that this salt is the purest in terms of water quality once it has been made. It is also one of the cheaper "high-end" salts.

Good luck with your tank. Be sure to post pictures when you start setting stuff up.
Surprised you had good results from aragonite and instant ocean salt. My tank is till cloudy from using those to together from 3 weeks ago. I have had terrible issues with those two as far as water clarity goes

Like fleshy said though with the cheap route. It can get you in trouble. Thats why i am here, i have already wasted cash on cheap ****. I can advise you where you can get price breaks and where not to. Cause ive already wasted money on all the products and used all the good ones :D

So what equipment do you already have?
 

FLESHY

Polypterus
MFK Member
Jan 7, 2006
5,542
20
92
Central Wisconsin
It might have something to do with our water? Basically everyone up around here is using the reefgrade...another thing though is like I said it needs to be THOROUGHLY washed. Mine actually had pieces of wood in it, and small turquoise rocks. Who knows...

Instant ocean is also sort of a Wisconsin standard...fosters and smith of Wisconsin only uses it for their corals, divers den, and their retail outlet. Never really had issues with cloudyness, but to each their own. Like I said...maybe water quality plays an issue.

I started out in saltwater at a garage sale as a 6th grader. I was telling my mom in the car how I was never going to have enough money to have saltwater fish, and she was saying how sometimes people sell their stuff when they go out of the hobby. Just as she finished saying it we pulled up next to a garage sale sign that advertised a saltwater setup. The whole thing cost me $150 for a 55 with a stand and a hood. It was a POS. Thousands and thousands of dollars later I have 200g of saltwater reef in my house. Everyone starts somewhere...Im just saying. Theres an easier way to get into the hobby that will leave you much less likely to quit or kill animals. My advice...avoid anything that says "Marineland" :D
 

snow

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 19, 2009
1,498
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0
B.C.,Canada
BTW I would use instand ocean salt. It's what is the most avail here in Vancouver,Canada. Also you were talking about a skimmer. Could you recomend a good site that sells these? There is a really good salt shop about 20mins from my house that would have everything. If I decided on the skimmer before I went in it would make it a lot easier. Remember the tank is 135g, 6ft. Skimmers are the only thing we don't sell where I work. Everything else I can get from my work.
 
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