I need advice for setting up a 75 gallon saltwater aquarium.

[Finthusiast]

Hello everyone hope you are doing good through these crazy times! For anyone who has seen me around, I have sent Crash my mayan cichlid to my lfs because I could no longer keep my fish tank However my uncle has bought all my fish equipment and wants me to set up a salt water aquarium for him. I have never done salt water before and I dont even know where to start. I think we have everything we need except for a pump for the 75 gallon tank. So main questions:

What pump do I need?

How do I start a saltwater ecosystem that will be safe for anemones?

How much maintenance will be required to keep the system working properly?

How to do water changes?

Any and all advice will be appreciated thanks in advance!

Edit: another question how do I cycle a saltwater tank is it the same as freshwater?

 

[Finthusiast]

Hey no replies yet just bumpin this up in case anyone can answer some of these questions. My uncle is trying to create an ecosystem that will contain some type of eel and other species that are compatable I am completely new to this but I know there are limited options just not sure where to start thanks again!

 

[Deadeye]

I only have a limited knowledge coming from a fluval 13.5 gallon, so I can answer a few.
1. Not sure about pumps.
2. Your best bet is to use salt that is good for coral and anemones (I use reef crystals), and then to wait a few months until the tank is really established so you can put it in.
3. Most maintenance is along the lines of weekly water changes, constantly checking parameters (especially if you want corals), and monitoring the salinity.
4. Water changes work like they do in freshwater, except refilling the tank takes longer because you have to take a 5 gallon bucket, mix saltwater and get the desired salinity, pour it in the tank, repeat. A 10-20% weekly water change is probably enough unless there are any water quality problems.
5. Cycling is interesting. In theory if you use all live sand and live rock, you will already have a cycled tank because you have just added loads of bacteria. You still would want to wait a bit before adding anything to kill off any unwanted parasites like ich or velvet. The same logic exists for cycling as freshwater (especially if you use dry rock/dry sand), wait a few days until parameters are all zero. But once again, saltwater cycling takes a long time due to different variables.

You may want to join a reef forum for this, they may be able to help you better than me.

Good luck!

 

[Finthusiast]

Hey thanks for the info! I know its quite complicated compared to freshwater. I will keep searching and check into some other forums that specifically are for salt water!

 

[Arthur11]

Cycling a saltwater tank may take a while, from few weeks to as long as two months. It depends on how much effort you are willing to put to quickly make your aquarium habitable and safe for your pet fish. The use of bacteria is one of the quickest, surest ways to cycle your saltwater tank relatively quickly. Bacteria compounds are available in aquatic stores and other pet shops and are stored in a bottle. You just have to release the bacteria compounds into the water to speed up the cycling of your saltwater tank.