Help me out please. Thinking about setting up saltwater

t Hizzle

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 3, 2007
569
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Minneapolis, Mn
I need to know what all I need to get a saltwater tank goin. Like all the basic equipment, any certain brands that are better, and any advise on setting up a saltwater tank. I just want to do this right. I appologize for asking a very common question. But would appreciate any answers/feedback. It's going to be fairly small for a saltwater tank, about 30 gallons. I know I won't be able to do much with it. I just want to get a taste for SW.Thanks.
 

Heathd

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Mar 9, 2010
1,299
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66
Dallas, Texas
t Hizzle;4310833; said:
I need to know what all I need to get a saltwater tank goin. Like all the basic equipment, any certain brands that are better, and any advise on setting up a saltwater tank. I just want to do this right. I appologize for asking a very common question. But would appreciate any answers/feedback. It's going to be fairly small for a saltwater tank, about 30 gallons. I know I won't be able to do much with it. I just want to get a taste for SW.Thanks.
Do you plan on doing a reef tank or a fish only?

Basic equipment is going to be a cannister or a sump, a protein skimmer or an ATS (maybe both if you choose to), heater, power heads for tank circulation, live rock (maybe .5 to .75lbs per gallon), calcium based substrate (crushed coral or argonite), thermometer, then lighting (which will be determined based on fish only or reef), hydrometer or refractometer (rec. the refractometer), some buckets, saltmix, a test kit ( I use API but others will say Salifert).

I probably left something out, I am sure someone will pick up on what I left out, but I cant think of anything else.

Oh... an RO/DI unit if you dont already have one and are willing to pony up the cash. The expense of one could save you some trouble if you have bad water in your area, but might also be hard to justify since you are doing a 30 gal.
 

t Hizzle

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 3, 2007
569
0
0
Minneapolis, Mn
Heathd;4310850; said:
Do you plan on doing a reef tank or a fish only?

Basic equipment is going to be a cannister or a sump, a protein skimmer or an ATS (maybe both if you choose to), heater, power heads for tank circulation, live rock (maybe .5 to .75lbs per gallon), calcium based substrate (crushed coral or argonite), thermometer, then lighting (which will be determined based on fish only or reef), hydrometer or refractometer (rec. the refractometer), some buckets, saltmix, a test kit ( I use API but others will say Salifert).

I probably left something out, I am sure someone will pick up on what I left out, but I cant think of anything else.

Oh... an RO/DI unit if you dont already have one and are willing to pony up the cash. The expense of one could save you some trouble if you have bad water in your area, but might also be hard to justify since you are doing a 30 gal.
Since I'm doing a 30 gal is it do I absolutely need a canister filter? I was thinking reef tank. Does the live rock require a certain lighting? Thank you very much for your input.
 

Heathd

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Mar 9, 2010
1,299
0
66
Dallas, Texas
t Hizzle;4310864; said:
Since I'm doing a 30 gal is it do I absolutely need a canister filter? I was thinking reef tank. Does the live rock require a certain lighting? Thank you very much for your input.
The rock requires no lighting, but the corals you decide to keep will dictate the type of lighting you need. It might be simplest to just do a clip on metal halide. That would be strong enough for anything you wanted to keep, but there are still plenty of other options for you.

No, canister isnt necessary. Some people will even advise against them because poor and infrequent cleanings can cause issues, but thats a personal issue and not an equipment issue.

A sump would be nice, with a little refugium. I think it is a lot of trouble to go through for a thirty gallon, but if you are up to the work, it would be worth it.

If you play your cards right, you could get away with an algae turf scrubber only, but I would still rec. you do a skimmer with it since you are new to salt. Like i said, just my opinion, you could do an ATS only if you design a sufficiently sized one. Would save you lots of money too.
 

fishy12

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Mar 12, 2009
2,738
1
36
ohio
octopus protein skimmers are the best. i would give more info on all questions... but I gotta go to football here real quick srry
 
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