Anyone mess with saltwater?

[FLESHY]

Stock slowly. Monitor your water quality. Live rock is a definite must! Lots of good deals can probably be found on Craigslist in your area.

Keeping a close eye on your salinity is extremely important. Topping off evaporated water will help keep it stable.

I wouldn't say it's more difficult than freshwater. It's the same amount of work, just different types of work. Hardy species will help you gain confidence.

Go slowly in your stocking.

Live rock will also help your tank complete the nitrogen cycle. I used raw shrimp in pantyhose and live rock and my cycle completed within two weeks. Then I did a water change and introduced fish. I personally introduce one fish at a time, but that may be paranoia.

This on the other hand I give a +1. Solid advice.

 

[KLee79]

i have to disagree slightly with live rock being a must. however, it is extremely helpful. if you dont want live rock, dont get it. only difference in my opinion is that you have one more thing to check-salinity. now if you opt out on the live rock, i would definitely suggest a protein skimmer otherwise you'll need to do more water changes..

 

[metalhed3]

well if youre doing fish only then no, u have no reason to keep live rock, but then they have nowhere to hide and get stressed at times. but no rock means you wont need a protein skimmer because id assume youre not going to shove coral into the substrate and call it a day. im about to swicth from fresh to salt in my 75gallon. im gonna buy 75lbs of rock and throw the other 20 i have in my other 2 tanks in there (downsizing). its a big expense but in my opinion worth it in the long run if you want something that isnt just fish doing laps. for filteration, you some people have just live rock, a sump and a fuge. biological filtration works for some, but not for all. on top of my LR im gonna be pumping about 900 gph. imo the more filtration the better. experiment, see what works for you.

 

[FLESHY]

Quality LR makes a huge difference.

That being said...why would you NOT want it? Looks good, provides food for your fish, and gives them someplace to hide.

I think anyone that has a tank devoid of LR is probably not experienced. At all.

Whether you have LR or not has nothing to do with whether or not you will need a skimmer.

 

[bolivianbaby]

I'm still learning about saltwater, but if I'm not mistaken the live rock is part of your biological filtration.

Hopefully someone can validate that. I don't want to give out incorrect info.

 

[KLee79]

Quality LR makes a huge difference.

That being said...why would you NOT want it? Looks good, provides food for your fish, and gives them someplace to hide.

I think anyone that has a tank devoid of LR is probably not experienced. At all.

Whether you have LR or not has nothing to do with whether or not you will need a skimmer.

Ive kept saltwater tanks since I was 13; Im 30 now. What were talking about is the nitrification process. Live rock is best bc its very porous and ideal for bacteria. When ammonia is broken down the aerobic bacteria break it down first (top layers of live rock) and then anaerobic bacteria break that down (towards the inner layers). This supposedly is so efficient bc the bacteria can exchange almost immediately due to close proximity.

With that said, I do agree that adding live rock is superior than w/o, however not a necessity. I've made denitrators that do the same process.

A skimmer is actually part of the whole process. The purpose of the skimmer is to reduce the amount of the overall load of waste before it is converted into ammonia...

 

[FLESHY]

Ive kept saltwater tanks since I was 13; Im 30 now. What were talking about is the nitrification process. Live rock is best bc its very porous and ideal for bacteria. When ammonia is broken down the aerobic bacteria break it down first (top layers of live rock) and then anaerobic bacteria break that down (towards the inner layers). This supposedly is so efficient bc the bacteria can exchange almost immediately due to close proximity.

I have since I was 12...and I know all of this...lets not start a pissing contest.

 

[Myteemouse]

I f you want your SW tank to be the easyiest..
RESEARCH first.. A LOT..
then Automate as much as possible..
I have ATO's and about 6 different timers
and a PH controller
Temp controller
reef keeper..
this will make your life WAY easier..
#1 rule.. if you dont know about it dont buy it.
#2 if you dont test for it, dont put it in the tank.
#3 Save up and buy the best, cheep will get you in the end
#4 NOTHING in a SW tank goes fast, so be patient.

 

[Ashlee]

Quality LR makes a huge difference.

That being said...why would you NOT want it? Looks good, provides food for your fish, and gives them someplace to hide.

I think anyone that has a tank devoid of LR is probably not experienced. At all.

Whether you have LR or not has nothing to do with whether or not you will need a skimmer.

WoW

Fleshy probably the worst post you have ever made. Lets quickly go over some things....

Why to stay away from live rock...

-Its expensive
-It kills our oceans
-Its easily made with concrete and sand with has better pores for better bio filtration
-Ceramic bio media has more bio
-lace rock can be used instead
-Sand is more important than rock

Live rock is the biggest waste of money I have ever seen.

 

[Ash]

So long as you start the tank up right, get all the proper equpiment for the set up you want and monitor you water..... its really no different....

You just need to take it SLOW and easy and dont rush with it, be patient, let it properly cycle and your good to go.... once its set up, for me its the same as freshwater.... I wouldnt skimp on changes... I dont do them as frequently as I do my freshwater tanks.. but still frequently.

I would also recommened slowly adding your stock.