Ive been doing a looooooot of researching

[Mudslinger14]

I came here a few weeks ago asking if I could start a 10g tank for my first saltwater tank.

The answer was no...Unless I wanted to do a lot of work, which I dont really.

So I plan on making my 36 gallon a saltwater tank.
I was looking at filtration, and I found about 35lbs of live rock for a pretty good price, and somewhere it said you could have a HOB filter with no cartridge or anything in there, just the water flow, and the live rock to act as biological filtration. Would this work? Im only planning on having a pair of clowns in it to start.

The rock is on craigslist and was just put up today, so the quicker the answer, the more grateful I am

 

[Pomatomus]

I don't understand....I had a 10 gallon FOWLR and it was easy...

 

[LD50]

You can do that, I would get your LR and put some bio media in your HOB (ceramic rings etc work great) and some kind of mech like a sponge. Other things you might want to consider are an extra powerhead (400gph would be choice) and a HOB skimmer.

 

[Mudslinger14]

Well im not sure. Another reason why I wont do the 10 gallon is because my 10g really sucks. The lighting is horrible and its kind of ugly to look at lol. Also I need a bigger tank to house the pair of clowns I want to buy.

 

[Mudslinger14]

Yes, definitely a skimmer. I've read up on how important they are for the bigger saltwater tank.

So it'll work? YAY! Gotta go tell my dad that we can go pick it up

 

[Mudslinger14]

Ahh right. So, at the moment I dont have the tank set up right now. How long would the live rock be ok in a bucket, or a 5g tank?
And would I need to set up a filter for it?

 

[Heathd]

If you are going to run an HOB, use a filter floss pad and have a spare laying around. Switch em out and so you can thoroughly clean the one you removed. This will help save you some scratch and keep you from having to worry about crap building up and giving you a nice little nitrite spike.

 

[Myteemouse]

the rock will be fine for Months in there if you keep water moving and do water changes every two weeks..
You might want to actually feed the rock with some flake food or live food the beneficial bacteria needs to have some sort of ammonia to feed on or it will start to deplete
this only needs to be done once a week or so
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[Mudslinger14]

Alright, thanks myteemouse!

 

[geronimo69]

Yes, definitely a skimmer. I've read up on how important they are for the bigger saltwater tank.

So it'll work? YAY! Gotta go tell my dad that we can go pick it up

You don't need a skimmer unless you want corals. They are MUCH more sensitive than fish to pollutants in the water.

Second, scrap the HOB filter, unless you're just running it with floss or a sponge. Your live rock will give you all the surface area you need for bacteria to colonize. That being said, I find water circulation MUCH more important. Get yourself a small powerhead as mentioned above. It will help move detrius from inside the crevices of the rock that critters can't get to. ( by critters, I mean starfish/bristleworms/crabs, etc ).

Third, what do you have for lights? You don't need much for lighting, if you're not growing corals. You'll simply get nuissance algae with an intense light on a FOWLR system.

35 lbs of rock
tank
powerhead for circulation
aragonite sand for subsrate.
heater (obviously)
Salt mix
RODI or Distilled water - IMPORTANT

Should be all you need to get a good tank started.

I would also suggest you visit nanoreef.com... there is plenty of information for smaller saltwater tanks there.