"new to SW" thread of questions

[Prometheus]

i am brainstorming for ideas of what to do with my 20 long. im considering a SW tank. iv done a lot of reading and research on the subject and now i want to ask some questions to fine tune my knowledge and, if i go this route, make sure i know exactly what im doing before i jump into it.

to start of with; assuming im going to get between 1 and 1.5 lbs of LR per gallon ~ will a filter be nessesary or can i just put a powerhead on each side of the tank for water movement?

i have a fluval 3 plus underwater filter but id like to avoid having to weekly clean it out if i can... which by the way, would i need to clean it out weekly? i plan to take this whole SW thing slowly, i know im going to be in this hobby for a while so any big plans i have can wait till im better equiped to handle them correctly. that being said my planned setup to start off with to get myself use to SW will be simply live sand, LR (1 - 1.5 lbs per gallon), a good lighting system, filter or powerheads, clean up crew, and a singel oscelarious clown fish. so i might have a low bioload, which is why i ask if i would need to clean the filter weekly.

~ this is just to get me used to SW, eventually i might add another fish, maybe some shrimp, and perhaps even corals. this all will probably take place ove the next year and a half.

 

[spring007]

i am brainstorming for ideas of what to do with my 20 long. im considering a SW tank. iv done a lot of reading and research on the subject and now i want to ask some questions to fine tune my knowledge and, if i go this route, make sure i know exactly what im doing before i jump into it.

to start of with; assuming im going to get between 1 and 1.5 lbs of LR per gallon ~ will a filter be nessesary or can i just put a powerhead on each side of the tank for water movement?

power head on each sides...make sure they are pointing towards each other since it creates a "random" wave movement.

i have a fluval 3 plus underwater filter but id like to avoid having to weekly clean it out if i can... which by the way, would i need to clean it out weekly? i plan to take this whole SW thing slowly, i know im going to be in this hobby for a while so any big plans i have can wait till im better equiped to handle them correctly. that being said my planned setup to start off with to get myself use to SW will be simply live sand, LR (1 - 1.5 lbs per gallon), a good lighting system, filter or powerheads, clean up crew, and a singel oscelarious clown fish. so i might have a low bioload, which is why i ask if i would need to clean the filter weekly.

if you can find a 5 - 10 gal sump then you don't have to use the filter at all...Sump is good in the long run because you can have macro algae in there. They are MORE than enough to reduce the waste...

Another thing that you can do is to stick two mangrooves into the tank
If you don't want to use a sump...That should take care of the filteration.

~ this is just to get me used to SW, eventually i might add another fish, maybe some shrimp, and perhaps even corals. this all will probably take place ove the next year and a half.

Good luck!

 

[micstarz]

Get a peacock mantis, Odontodactylus scyllarus. You'll be happy.

 

[Ricko]

With the powerheads you can also have them on the back wall facing the front panel on an angle, always has worked well for me.

 

[Prometheus]

ok, i give up. i cant seem to find info on building a sump. i can find stuff on a wet dry sump, but im under the impression that that's not what you're talking about. so i just skipped over those articles. can someone please explain to me how to build a 5 gallon sump? ( i think a 5 gallon would fit under or next to my aquarium easier than a 10 ) by the way, the 20G presently sits on top of a metal filling cabinet, so a sump wouldnt be able to go under it like with a normal tank stand. would that pose a problem?

also, since im pretty good a freshwater and i plan on being carefull with SW, could i just go with LR and two dueling powerheads and skip the sump completely?... at least to start off with while iv got just one or maybe two clown fish and about 3 shrimp? ill probably be pretty happy with that for a while. (im sure i can always expand and get a sump afterwards without having to start over right?)... and yes, i still am curious about building a sump, if for no other reason i love this stuff and want to know.

 

[BIGgourami]

wet/dry = sump

if you dont have many fish or other stock you don't need intense filtration

i run most of my tanks on LR, powerheads and an HOB filter or skimmer