Because I also want to save some money and do it with lowest costs as possible, I didn't want to buy things that weren't a necessity.
Questions about setting up Saltwater Tank.
- Thread starter MermaidMan
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Live sand, live rock, and a protein skimmer are all necessities to keeping a marine tank. Also a bigger tank is a necessity for rays and sharks. You cant cut corners and expect success, starting slowly and patience will be your best friends.
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your plan will lead to failure. skimmer, live sand, live rock, it does'nt matter. your tank is not nearly large enough for either fish. 200 gal. minimum for a ray and at least a 10' tank for any shark. your going to upgrade? to what? please don't do this. you will only be wasting money, and slowly kill these animals. learn how to set up a salt water tank first. then research the fish that are suitable for your current tank.
You can't keep any of those animals that tank is way too small for them and not having any LR And live sand will surely lead to failure go and get your self 125 lb LR and live sand then a skimmer.😃
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Okay I hope this post will be able to clear things up;
1) If you're looking at a ray/shark tank, expect to be upgrading FAST. Your 100 gallon isn't enough for any of the species of sharks or rays. This leads me to point 2.
2) No rock is a BAD idea. You may be able to save space but the rock has a lot of phosphate eating bacteria that also converts fish waste into nitrogenous gases (harmless to fish). Let me put it this way, because a rock has so much surface area, in a 3 dimensional setting, it is far superior over the sand, which only has a 2 dimensional surface. Also don't buy live sand, its a waste of money in my view, because all it is is normal sand seeded with bacteria from LR, which presumably stays alive in the sand (but often dies off). So I would actually suggest CLEANING out your current sand, washing it in a bin and letting it dry over the course of a few days. Or just completely replace the sand, but from what I hear, money is an issue.
3) You want big monsters; sharks, rays. Don't expect that the tank will run well skimmerless. Big monsters also produce quite a bit of waste; which the protein skimmer often catches. I'd actually suggest selling your canister, then get a good hob skimmer (for price and quality I'd go with reefoctopus or a bit worse, but still good, aquac) and a few powerheads.
1) If you're looking at a ray/shark tank, expect to be upgrading FAST. Your 100 gallon isn't enough for any of the species of sharks or rays. This leads me to point 2.
2) No rock is a BAD idea. You may be able to save space but the rock has a lot of phosphate eating bacteria that also converts fish waste into nitrogenous gases (harmless to fish). Let me put it this way, because a rock has so much surface area, in a 3 dimensional setting, it is far superior over the sand, which only has a 2 dimensional surface. Also don't buy live sand, its a waste of money in my view, because all it is is normal sand seeded with bacteria from LR, which presumably stays alive in the sand (but often dies off). So I would actually suggest CLEANING out your current sand, washing it in a bin and letting it dry over the course of a few days. Or just completely replace the sand, but from what I hear, money is an issue.
3) You want big monsters; sharks, rays. Don't expect that the tank will run well skimmerless. Big monsters also produce quite a bit of waste; which the protein skimmer often catches. I'd actually suggest selling your canister, then get a good hob skimmer (for price and quality I'd go with reefoctopus or a bit worse, but still good, aquac) and a few powerheads.
^This. Wisdom.
But really, don't try and go cheap because unlike freshwater it just won't work. Buy a high end nice big skimmer that won't give you head aches in the future. You'll definitely need it.
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Yep, with SW it's better off to postpone your project for a bit so you can start off with the proper equipment instead of having to upgrade anyways because the cheap route just doesn't work.
First off: No, don't get no stingrays or sharks for your 100g small aquarium. Not only do both species need way more space, they also need a WELL established aquarium.
Second: You need live sand, live rock. Your dead "fw" sand won't work.
You need to look into things like RODI units for making your water.
Start off with hardy cheap fish.
DO NOT buy a shark egg and expect results other then death and money loss.
WooooWha...............
For starters just about every large aquarium across the country uses Sand filters ....... with that being said most rays enjoy a dsb so all this talk of marine sand being bad is just plain garbage. However they are very much correct about your tank size, your filtration size and type................. your biggest problem tho is complete lack of marine animal care.
I've seen 1st hand Dogfish living well in a 300gal tank w/ a 125 gal sump containing 100+ lbs of LR and a 4" deep sand bed - no skimmer - and he uses de-chlorinated tap water. He also has no lighting at all. Not all sharks grow to 14'.
Phosphate eating bacteria really??? Even if it exists it has no effects on an F/O tank - heck who has a po4 reactor on an fw tank? Who uses r/o di water in FW? Does anyone have a protein skimmer on their FW? My 12-24" FW's live in de- chlorinated tap water and my 16" Caribe is almost 10 years old. PO4 in a fish only tank is a non issue SW or FW. The issues with F/O are the same as FW - Nitrates 20ppm or less via large volume w/c's which also becomes a money issue with salinity. If you can afford to buy lottsa salt no worries.
Go back to the drawing board - rethink filtration and tank size - research research research - what you want to do is not impossible.
For starters just about every large aquarium across the country uses Sand filters ....... with that being said most rays enjoy a dsb so all this talk of marine sand being bad is just plain garbage. However they are very much correct about your tank size, your filtration size and type................. your biggest problem tho is complete lack of marine animal care.
I've seen 1st hand Dogfish living well in a 300gal tank w/ a 125 gal sump containing 100+ lbs of LR and a 4" deep sand bed - no skimmer - and he uses de-chlorinated tap water. He also has no lighting at all. Not all sharks grow to 14'.
Phosphate eating bacteria really??? Even if it exists it has no effects on an F/O tank - heck who has a po4 reactor on an fw tank? Who uses r/o di water in FW? Does anyone have a protein skimmer on their FW? My 12-24" FW's live in de- chlorinated tap water and my 16" Caribe is almost 10 years old. PO4 in a fish only tank is a non issue SW or FW. The issues with F/O are the same as FW - Nitrates 20ppm or less via large volume w/c's which also becomes a money issue with salinity. If you can afford to buy lottsa salt no worries.
Go back to the drawing board - rethink filtration and tank size - research research research - what you want to do is not impossible.
