Getting started.

[Kyle383]

Hello everyone. Im going to slowly try to get a salt water tank going in the next week or two, but i would like to make sure im totally ready for this before i go ahead with this project. I was wondering if anyone has any tips for me?
I have been doing ALOT of reading and research. i think i should be able to pull this off given some time and work.
I am going to go with a fish only tank for now to get started because from my understanding its the easy way to start with saltwater.
I have a thirty gallon tank coming my way. I have the salt and filter. And test equiptment. Working on finding a protien skimmer.

Is live rock a must? I have seen tanks in the LFS with no live rock in them but i dont know if that healthy or not.

Any pointers or anything for a absolute saltwater newb would be great.

Thanks for looking. Kyle

 

[Heathd]

live rock is not a must

 

[01yellowr]

Sounds like you are off to a good start. I would say get the live rock and live sand, they help with bio and the rock gives the pods a place to hide when the lights are on. Im guessing you dont like the look of the tanks with a lot of rock in them. I dont either so in my 29 I have about 15lbs of rock but 40lbs of live sand to make up for the rock. You dont realy nead a skimmer unless you are planing on putting alot of fish in the tank. I have 3 running without skimmers for 4+ years you just have to stay on top of you water testing and changes. My 29 has 1 clown, 2 fire fish, 1 neon goby and a bunch of snails and hermit crabs. With that load I do a 25% water change about every ten days or so and everything is fine. What kind of filters do you have?

 

[Kyle383]

Thank you for the reply 01yellowr that clears alot of things up for me. Thanks for the info about the skimmer. I thought i was going to need one but im not planning on having very many fish so thats good to know. And i havent found out the name of the filter yet. But will let you know more when the tank arrives.

Thanks, Kyle

 

[snyder810]

i'm the opposite of those thus far, i like my SW tanks with a lot of rock, a lot of current, and a skimmer and i've been pretty successful with it thus far...

imo the current is very important with SW, don't let them just sit in a stagnant box like most Freshwater tanks...

i'd also stay away from conister filters and i've been advised the same before, they end up being nitrate factories if not really kept up with