My first try can you help?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Hydrometers are a couple bucks unless you get a digital one. You filter has to be established for salt the bacteria for FW will die once you put the salt in there. You can get some live rock frags from an LFS and that should help start the SW cycle. The live rocks are actually dead coral that has built up over a long time. There are tons of holes and capillaries in it to provide surface area for bacteria. Lava rock may work but it might also hold stuff that is not beneficial to corals. You can also DIY live rock with portland cement and pasta noodles. You usually cure the rock in a bucket with a pump but it can be done in the tank.

For fish only you can put smaller fish and inverts in the tank with a standard HOB filter. SW fish don't make any more waste than freshwater fish.
 
schulace123;1243248; said:
Use sand not crushed coral, crushed coral is just a nitrate producer.
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If you don't want to do a sandbed, just skip the sand all together and do a barebottom tank. This will limit substrate dwellers but also doesn't require anything to sift and stir the sand. A fine covering of sand or colored quartz on the floor can add some deco but only needs to cover the glass so you don't see it.
 
You don't need a skimmer. I run my 20 long reef with nothing but an upsidedown powerhead as a surface skimmer and wash the sponge on it periodically. You will have to keep up with water changes more closely without a skimmer though, and make sure to stock lightly either way since you're new to SW.
If you can find some cheap live rock, even uncured, then you may want to go with a FOWLR instead. The rock and a deep sand bed really helps eliminate nitrates and makes your work a lot easier. You don't even NEED to do all liverock, you can do a bit of liverock with some base rock and in several months it will all be cultured with bacteria.
If you go with cured liverock and have little die off you can stock sooner, if you go with uncured you'll have to wait a bit but you won't have to do anything to otherwise cycle your tank besides wait for the ammonia and nitrites to go away and the nitrates to stablize.
 
Whats the difference between him using a skimmer and chucking a bag of purigen in his HOB?

Couldn't he get away with a clown, his HOB with purigen and some matrix, a shallow sand bed and water? Surely theres no need to over complicate?
 
i wouldnt give up on this until you try. your exspense level isnt to high due to it being a smaller tank. do a DSB for sure this will require little maintanece just a bit of a stir once a week or so. only the top 1/4" to 1/2" tho. dont want to go to deep. the HOB filter will be fine but just make sure you always have water pre-mixed at standby. this will allow you to do water changes much faster. salt should dissolve for 24 hours first. by a small amount of live rock this WILL help your tank initially and this will allow you to add fish and be a bit more comfortable with it.

skimmers are not complicted to the least. only some tunning everynow and dumping the collection cup. thats it. skimmers for a tank that size would be rather inexpensive. i would save some dollars for a while and then look at getting one that can handle a larger tank. this way you can upgrade your tank when your comfortable.

FOWLR setups are not hard, just remember that if you ever need to medicate the LR will absorb most of the chemicals and make them useless, and since your not doing corals you wont have to worry about killing them with meds. inverts hate copper and small amounts will kill them off. its always nice to have a small tank on hand for medicating purposes.
 
you guys kill me sometimes :D

you need to remember nutrient import/export.

you can't just toss a bunch of sand in a tank or a bag of purigen and expect it to create a magic portal that will transport your fish waste, phosphates, etc... to some other dimension. you must remove that waste at some point.
best option is skimmer or waterchange. on a tank this small you can keep a few fish and do a 20% waterchange every few weeks if you want. or get a skimmer and make it last longer with happier fish.

if your going back to trops... save some $$$ for now and come back later. setting it up right the first time will really help and is totally worth it.
 
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