Advice Needed

sidneymysnake

Gambusia
MFK Member
Aug 26, 2008
307
0
16
Ft. Myers, FL
Eventually I want to get a shark. I have wanted one my whole life and will most likely go with a banded cat shark or horn shark. I have never kept a salt tank before, but I have been keeping FW pretty much my whole life.

Note that I don't want to dive into keeping sharks right off the bat - it will be many years before I get one.

Right now I have a 45g tank and just would like to learn how to keep salt before I go and get something that is huge and end up not liking it. Also if there are any fish that are recommended that would be great too.

Thanks so much in advance.
 

Kevin8888

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 14, 2009
1,306
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Canada
Hmm 45g isnt to bad size wise, but still somewhat restricting (due to the huge size of so many fish). What are looking for, you say you like sharks so are you looking for a pred tank? Or are you shooting for a more peaceful comunity reef? Do you want corals? I can recomend all kinds of things, I just need to know more about what you like to be able to recomend better choices to suit your needs.
 

sidneymysnake

Gambusia
MFK Member
Aug 26, 2008
307
0
16
Ft. Myers, FL
Edit because the original had spelling/grammatical errors:

I'm not really picky about what goes in. The only requirements, so to speak, would be something that can live through newbie mistakes (hardy). As far as corals go I have no preference either way. I just want a tank that I can gain some experience from.
 

sidneymysnake

Gambusia
MFK Member
Aug 26, 2008
307
0
16
Ft. Myers, FL
If it helps the dimensions of the tank are 24"x18"x24" It isn't your normal shape.

Right now I have it set up for FW and it has a Marineland Penguin 350 on it - assuming I have to change that. I have only used HOB filters my whole life so I will need help with anything other than HOBs.

Thanks so much.
 

Heathd

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Mar 9, 2010
1,299
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Dallas, Texas
I have an HOB right now on my 55 while I am setting up my sump, and I hate it. The sponge on the ac100 is nothing buy a magnet for crap and I have to assume that it just aids in ammonia issues.

Good fish for someone new? Well, damsels are pretty hardy. Might want to start there. But really, if you read up on cycling and track your tanks progress, you can put anything you wanted in there (with the space constraints kept in mind). Just dont pick picky eaters as your first fish.
 

sidneymysnake

Gambusia
MFK Member
Aug 26, 2008
307
0
16
Ft. Myers, FL
I have been reading and thinking about this for many years now. All this reading has done for me is confuse me and scare me off. I came on here looking for help bit by bit and a good way to go about doing this so I don't mess up. I will have a ton of stupid questions and I know that all of them have been answered probably a thousand plus times but I rather ask myself instead of misunderstanding something from another source.

I have no idea where to begin. I am basically starting from square one. The only thing I have is the tank really. I know I need to get salt and a bigger/better filter but which one do I choose?

I'm not even thinking about fish right now. At this point, I am stuck on the mechanics.
 

Heathd

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Mar 9, 2010
1,299
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66
Dallas, Texas
For your main filtration you have: HOB, sump, and cannister filters. I have already stated why I dont like HOBs, and the same problems can be true for cannisters. You can do either one, but you have to be on top of cleaning out the filtering media. I reccomend a sump. There are many more options with sumps, like including an algae turf scrubber and a skimmer into the design. Along with the ability to include more biomedia as well.

I reccomend an algae turf scrubber. You can build your own, and they are cheap. There is a how to on this forum that I can link for you if you are interested. You can compliment this with a protien skimmer if your budget allows. I sort of reccomend you do a skimmer anyways, since the turf scrubber and the skimmer serve two different purposes. A skimmer removes un-used nutrition before it can break down into nutrients. A scrubber removes nutrients. For clarification, nutrients are to mean nitrates and nitrites, which nutrition is basically food/waste.

Lighting is going to depend on if you are doing a fowlr or a reef tank. Fowlrs dont really have any light demands, so its up to you. Corals, depending on type, have varying light needs, but the most demanding type should be catered to. I think for a tank of that depth, a 4 bulb t5 fixture that spans the largest dimension of your tank is good enough for coral keeping. Aquatraders.com has some good prices on their stuff, if you go elsewhere, you will pay an arm and a leg.

You will want some power heads for water circulation in the tank. I think (2) koralia 2 power heads will do it. I reccomend that brand because they are well made and cheap, but the choice is yours.

If you are interested in building your own sump, glass-holes.com has some nice kits to put in an overflow, and I can dig up some tutorials on how to build a sump. Its very easy, and I think a 20 gallon sump would be more then enough for a 45.

I cant really comment on skimmers and brands because my product experience is really limited. Someone else would need to pipe in.
 

sidneymysnake

Gambusia
MFK Member
Aug 26, 2008
307
0
16
Ft. Myers, FL
I guess that I will go with the sump. Seems the best option with what you have told me. I'll start my search for a reasonably priced 20 gallon, although I don't know where I would put it? There is no way to get it in my stand, I guess I'll figure that part out later. If you could link me that'd be great.

FOWLR seems the easiest option at this point. If I change my mind I'd have the option to do so later down the road, right?

I will look around for the power heads that you suggested.

I'm going to be taking this extremely slow and don't plan on buying any of this stuff for at least 2-4 weeks, but your help is welcome and much appreciated.
 

Heathd

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Mar 9, 2010
1,299
0
66
Dallas, Texas
sidneymysnake;4329945; said:
I guess that I will go with the sump. Seems the best option with what you have told me. I'll start my search for a reasonably priced 20 gallon, although I don't know where I would put it? There is no way to get it in my stand, I guess I'll figure that part out later. If you could link me that'd be great.

FOWLR seems the easiest option at this point. If I change my mind I'd have the option to do so later down the road, right?

I will look around for the power heads that you suggested.

I'm going to be taking this extremely slow and don't plan on buying any of this stuff for at least 2-4 weeks, but your help is welcome and much appreciated.
Not everyone will agree tha a sump is the best way to go, its just how I feel. Again, if you can stay on top of the regular cleanings, there is noting wrong with a cannister either.

Going from a FOWLR to a reef is easy so long as you dont mind getting rid of fish and inverts that arent reef friendly (if you have any, jsut depends on your live stock). I will get you the links later on this evening.
 

sidneymysnake

Gambusia
MFK Member
Aug 26, 2008
307
0
16
Ft. Myers, FL
Heathd;4330215; said:
Not everyone will agree tha a sump is the best way to go, its just how I feel. Again, if you can stay on top of the regular cleanings, there is noting wrong with a cannister either.

Going from a FOWLR to a reef is easy so long as you dont mind getting rid of fish and inverts that arent reef friendly (if you have any, jsut depends on your live stock). I will get you the links later on this evening.

Maybe someone else will chime in and tell me what the best route to go would be. My stand is about an inch larger on each side than the tank and there is just no way that I would be able to get a 20g tank in there because of the braces. I would have to build a whole new stand. This is not out of the question by any means - I would just like to get some more info on it before I do that.

Thanks so much for your help :)
 
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