new SW help

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jsodwi

jsodwi

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MFK Member
Jul 9, 2005
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south of heaven
OK I've been skimming through this forum because I am about to set up a 29g salt tank for my daughter. I willl not be running a protien skimmer but I have read that there is no filter media needed? Whatkind of filtration is needed besides water flow? Also can I take water out of my 300g freshwater to get the 29g started and just add salt. Also what is the temp I should be looking for and also salt content Thanks for any help
 
Don't take water out of the freshwater tank, get R/O water. Temperature should be 78-80. What do you plan on keeping. Wait, Oddball's crystal ball is telling my Percula Clownfish.
 
If you're planning on keeping live sand and live rock you might be able to get by without any filter media. A power head or two would be a good idea.
 
If you use R/O water, you can get it at your LFS fairly cheap for 29g and keep an extra 5 gallons stand by. I reccomend using Instant Ocean salt. You can buy smaller bags or large buckets. 1/2 cup of salt per gallon. On a hydrometer the salt should read 1.024. Get a ph test for salt water (higher readings) Ph should be about 8.2 to 8.3. When you add the salt, mix it in a seperate container to make it dissolve more efficiently.The R/O water from your LFS should be about 8.2 anyways so that isd not a concern until it is in the tank for a while. Make sure if you get live rock that it is precured. Dont add fish right away. Let all the gunk from the rock filter out first. Dont get too fine of sand or it will get into your filter and cause probs. Get a reef sand or depending on your livestock, go a little more coarse. Clarkii clowns are great and get about 5.5 inches. Yellow and black.
 
Precured rock is live rock that has been in a tank at your LFS for enough time for all the dead stuff to fall off and removed from the rock. When it is shipped to the lfs, there is alot of die off and you can really smell it. If it smells bad then it is not completely cured (clean). Either way, what I do is when I buy the rock, I get it home and throw it in a barrell with salt water with a big power head and run it for 3-4 days. You wil see all the sediment at the bottom of the barrell.And that also helps to bleed out some of the bristle worms. Those things are a nightmare.
 
ummmmmmmmmmmm NO skimmer.. NO fiter meida .............where ever you read tha dude needs a new job use a skimmer... i still prefer bio meida with a skimmer
 
HarpoGarza;601718; said:
If you're planning on keeping live sand and live rock you might be able to get by without any filter media. A power head or two would be a good idea.
Click to expand...

u would still need a skimmer
 
im NOT a SW guy by any stretch-of-the-meens, but if you get about 1.5-2lb per gallon of live rock then you should be good as far as filtration is consened, as long as you get good current flow, you could also get away with a good sized biowheel setup with a powerhead and a sand depth of 4-5" over time it will turn live from the rock. just dont over-do-it with stocking, if you plan on getting corals in the future(most people do) then you WILL need a skimmer... if your just going to keep a couple of gobies and clowns then this will work very well for you without a skimmer, but look into the BAK-PAK filter its a good all-in one or the Oddysea Pro Pak its a good bit cheaper but still good.

CPR Bak-Pak 2
bp2_180.jpg

Oddysea Pro Pak
pro20pack20single20copy.gif


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all the above advice should be taken with a grain of salt as i dont keep SW, I just had a GOOD indepth look in to it awhile ago.
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G.L.H.F. Portabuddy.
 
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