new to saltwater need help

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joshlandis24

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Dec 12, 2010
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columbus ohio
Im looking to start salt water in my 75 gallon I have heaters light hang on filters an power heads
What do I need? What kind of sand??price
Any info helps if u can give me a step by step would be great.temps? Time to let settup before I add fish
 
Im looking to start salt water in my 75 gallon I have heaters light hang on filters an power heads
What do I need? What kind of sand??price
Any info helps if u can give me a step by step would be great.temps? Time to let settup before I add fish

What you need most is research! then more research.

To start you need a hydrometer to measure salinity and a salwater basic test kit for cycling. Sand - Sterile sea sand or agronite, no pool filter or other commercial grade sands. Temps - 78 degrees. Use Liverock to cycle you thru - guideline 1LB LR per 1gal water- quality and age of LR will determine length of time can be 4-10 weeks. Read the sticky on cycling procedures.
 
What you need most is research! then more research.

To start you need a hydrometer to measure salinity and a salwater basic test kit for cycling. Sand - Sterile sea sand or agronite, no pool filter or other commercial grade sands. Temps - 78 degrees. Use Liverock to cycle you thru - guideline 1LB LR per 1gal water- quality and age of LR will determine length of time can be 4-10 weeks. Read the sticky on cycling procedures.

Thanks man yea deff going to do all the research before hand jus trying to get the most info I can

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It's been a while since I had a salt water tank, had to shut down due to move. I suggest starting with a good agro and letting it cycle at least a week before adding live rock, minimum 1 lb per gallon and cycling at least a month for small tanks and progressively long for tanks over 30 gal. Watch for the ammonia spike in the water tests after that it will drop to normal levels where you can start adding a few small fish or shrimp until the tank completely levels off just monitor the water quality closely for after adding the first fish. For my 29 gal it took a month and a half before I added fish and I held off on my first water change for 2 months after for beneficial bacterial growth and didn't add larger fish until after the first water change and had no problems. Hope it helps, good luck.


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It's been a while since I had a salt water tank, had to shut down due to move. I suggest starting with a good agro and letting it cycle at least a week before adding live rock, minimum 1 lb per gallon and cycling at least a month for small tanks and progressively long for tanks over 30 gal. Watch for the ammonia spike in the water tests after that it will drop to normal levels where you can start adding a few small fish or shrimp until the tank completely levels off just monitor the water quality closely for after adding the first fish. For my 29 gal it took a month and a half before I added fish and I held off on my first water change for 2 months after for beneficial bacterial growth and didn't add larger fish until after the first water change and had no problems. Hope it helps, good luck.


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Thanks for all the info

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I agree with the above advice, research and research more. You will need a lot of things, from rock and sand to filtration. But before I could offer you much help, what do you want to do with the tank? Is this going to be a FOWLR or a full blown reef? Is your tank drilled or non-drilled? What kind of live stock do you want to keep? The answers to these questions determine what you need. As far as basics that are the same for all tanks, here's your list.

1) You need sand and rock. www.reefrocks.net You can not beat his prices, your going to need to decide how deep of a sand bed you want and decide how much to purchase from there. Only use aragonite sand, it provides benefits such as buffering ph. For rock, you need atleast 1-2lbs. per gallon depending on how porous the rock is. You can choose to use live rock, but I prefer to start dry to avoid pests.
2) You need some kind of filtration. If the tank is drilled or you want to use an HOB overflow, that means a sump/fuge. If it's not drilled and you do not wish to use an HOB overflow, your going to need some kind of mechanical filtration, but your going to have to keep up with maintenance more if you go this route.
3) You need to decide if you want to purchase or make your own RODI water. If you choose to buy from your LFS, you need buckets and lids. If you want to make it, your going to want a RODI Unit. Bulk Reef Supply makes a nice unit that is affordable.
4) Salt, kind of obvious but you need to decide what kind you want. I'd buy the buckets, they costs more up fron, but save you money in the long run. If you are going to do a reef, get reef salt as it provides more calcium and trace elements for coral growth.
5) You already have lights and powerheads, but you have to make sure they suit your needs. If your doing a reef, you need to make sure your lights put out enough PAR to support corals, and you need to make sure your powerheads create enough flow to keep a reef.
6) Protein Skimmer, get as large of a skimmer as practical for your particular system. I'd recommend trying to double your tank volume, so in your case look for a skimmer rated at 150+gallons. Stick to name brands on this, cheap skimmers will come back to bite you. Reef Octopus is a good affordable brand as is Bubble Magus. If your on a huge budget you can splurge for a Bubble King, though some of them cost more than my entire system, lol.
7) Testing supplies, such as an API test kit. They have basic kits and kits for reefs, which you need depends on your tank. You will also need a refractometer to measure salinity. Hydrometers will do in a pinch, but they are wildly inaccurate.

These are all essentials for a successful sw tank. What else you need depends entirely on your wants. If you want a full blown reef, you may want dosing systems, reactors, tank controllers, and about a million other optional add ons. The tank can be as simple or complex as you want it to be. Feel free to ask any questions you have as your going along, good luck!
 
Use the search bar I know it sucks but there are a lot of start up threads and great info if you search the right words. But all the posts above have been great too
 
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