FW guy looking to get into SW, help/info please

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ronin_man

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 4, 2008
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Burlington, Ontario, Canada
hey guys,

thought i'd post up here as i am just in the process of getting some info together on saltwater set ups.

first of all i'd like to say that i do know the time/care needed in keeping more sensitive aquaruims as i have been in the hobby (freshwater only mind you) for about 17 years.
over that time have had fish such as your typical community fish, discus, african cichlids, pike cichlids, oscars, etc, as well as some more aggressive fish like redline snakeheads, and freshwater rays. currently i have 3 tanks set up, a 33g and 65g community and a 150g where my 7inch fw ray lives for now though back in the day i had 11 tanks running all over my house, i have then since down sized as i am going back to school for futher education and dont have the time for them all.


i am looking at getting into saltwater, and dont know much about it.
i have a few books and have been reading alot on the net, and to be honest it seems so much more indepth than it probably is.

so i'd like to know what it boils down to, what are the bare basics needed to have a small set up? do i NEED all the skimmers and sumps and fuges and whatnot for a very basic very small set up with just a few fish? or can i get away with buying one of those nice looking little bio cubes from oceanic? i really like the idea of these i just dont know if its all what it cracks up to be, anyone have one of these?
http://www.oceanicsystems.com/products/biocube.php
i have heard they are good for starting with salt as i am just looking to get my feet wet (so to speak) in the salt world.
or if anyone has any better ideas i would be more than happy to hear them.
any feedback will be greatly appreciated.
 
What size are you looking at and any ideas on what you want to keep? You can get away without skimmers on smaller setups w/ waterchanges, as far as sumps you can usually get away without those as well, and as far as fuges, you can just make one in the back if it has chambers like the jbj nano I have, which I imagine it does. I didn't mod mine yet to do so w/cheato, but will in the future, however it is not needed either. As far as the units being all they are cracked up to be, you can run a SW tank with any tank, however I just really enjoy the look so I went with a nano and therefor choose that route. Sounds like you kept quite an array of fish, so I think you should have no problem 'getting your feet wet' with these either.
 
well as for size i dont want anything bigger than 30gal as its just going to be a starting point for me. i was thinking of something around the 15-20gal range would be best.
as for the fish, im not to sure yet, some pretty basic fish i would assume, if anyone could suggest some relatively inexpencive, small, hardy fish it would be appreciated.

as for the tank, i looked up these nano cubes, and they seem to be somewhat the same as the bio cubes that i can get here.
do these tanks need any added filtration or is the stock filter set up on them good enough for a few small fish?
 
ronin_man;2588208; said:
well as for size i dont want anything bigger than 30gal as its just going to be a starting point for me. i was thinking of something around the 15-20gal range would be best.
as for the fish, im not to sure yet, some pretty basic fish i would assume, if anyone could suggest some relatively inexpencive, small, hardy fish it would be appreciated.

as for the tank, i looked up these nano cubes, and they seem to be somewhat the same as the bio cubes that i can get here.
do these tanks need any added filtration or is the stock filter set up on them good enough for a few small fish?
Click to expand...


if your max size will be a 30 gallon, then i suggest you get the 30 gallon

not only can you keep more/larger fish in it.. it will be easier to maintain and not much more $ to set up

i have had a 29 gallon bio cube for about 3 years now (my first SW tank) and it works good, but the nanocubes are slightly better stock IMO, but only for the return pump which you could buy for the biocube for less than shipping on the nano cube...

both the nanocube and biocube are great for smaller fish
i've had in the 29
royal gramma
skunk clownfish
occelaris clownfish
firefish
scissortail gobies
jawfish
watchman gobies
chromis
cleaner gobies
neon damsels
flavivertex dotties
etc etc

its the corals that are rather limited

the good thing about the JBJ is you can get one with halide lights
the biocube only comes in PC, but you can buy retrofits for halides.. but im not nearly that handy
 
well i wasnt saying MAX of 30, but it was just a thought that smaller might be easyer to take care of.
but for some reason i forgot the fact that when i started freshwater, starting small actually made things harder for the simple fact of less water means more water changes and needing to pay even closer attention to water params.
geez... apparently you forget the small things after years in the hobby... lol

anyways... im actually now thinking that i might use a spare 33g or 50g or maybe even switch my 65g tall. i'd still be staying with the same small/hardy fish.
and im not to concerned with corals right now.
but cant you get fluorescents for marine tanks ? i know they make 10,000k T8s, isnt that ok for some corals ?
 
ronin_man;2594615; said:
but cant you get fluorescents for marine tanks ? i know they make 10,000k T8s, isnt that ok for some corals ?
Click to expand...


just 10,000K lighting wont produce alot of color or growth..

and a stanard T8 bulb isn't nearly bright enough

3-4 VHO floros (depending what tank you go with) would work, or equal number of T5's or of course halides

power compacts would be good for most soft corals
 
softies would work the best in a smaller tank as far as corals go. Fish i would go with a pair of clowns or a couple damsels, make sure your rock is on the bottom with damsels or you could have an issue as they like to dig
 
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