Salt tank advice.

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wckdkl0wn

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May 16, 2008
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I know i was going to use my 125 gallon tank for a freshwater setup but I have always wanted a saltwater tank. Been keeping freshwater tanks for 10 years now. First off let me state that I know nothing about keeping a salt tank. Any advice would be great.

These are the tanks I have that I could use for salt or fresh. None are drilled or have overflows.

125 gallon (6ft)
10 gallon
15 gallon (odd demensions)
20 gallon standard


All of you that have been keeping salt tanks now for a while what would you recommend to a beginner? Which tank would be easiest to care for? What fish for a beginner? Filters? Lights?

I'd like to have a reef tank but they seem like they would be more difficult. So lets skip the reef and start with the basics.
 
Before I start, I think you should request a mod move this to the salt forum... you'll get much better advice.

Personally, I woul go simple and start small... say the 20g. You can start with some smaller guys with Live Rock. The equipment will be much cheaper so you can get a good grasp whether you want to take the plunge or not. I would research and get some reef safe fish just in case you want to start adding corals and make a "micro" reef, you won't have to change up all your stocking.

Past that, I'm a pretty much salt noob... so hang in there.
 
hey cassharper, havent seen you on fishgeeks in a while. or maybe i just havent been paying attention.

Anyway I was also thinking about making the 20 gallon salt. Might as well since thats the very first tank i ever started with with freshwater.

How does the cycling process on salt work? Same as freshwater?

some things i am confused about is what is the skimmer used for? do all salt tanks require that? also what is the Refugium used for?


ah and sorry for posting in wrong section.
 
The skimmer removes organic compounds from the water. If you're setting up a fish only tank the more skimming the better. They will help a lot with tank maintenance, enabling you to maintain better water quality. There is some debate on the use of skimmers with reef tanks, but most people do use them heavily.

A Refugium is basically a part of your filtration system. If you could set up one of those 10/15 gal of yours under the main tank but connected you could put all the equipment there to save space in the display tank. The refugium would be a part of the 10 gal separate from the equipment.

As for the Refugium, I have heard of people putting Live rock and live sand in it, you may want to experiment with Cheato (good at reducing nitrates) or other forms of decorative algae. You could also try a mangrove or two, but that's a little impractical if the refuge is under the tank.

Another good reason for a refuge is that it lets your live sand flourish no matter how many predators the copeopods have in the main tank. This keeps the tank sand alive and active. No point buying live sand and then having your fish kill it for you!

I'm not sure if you're thinking about stocking and such yet, so I didn't address it. I am no expert and I recommend trying the salt section of this website. If that is not productive then there are always some salt dedicated forums out there (reef central comes to mind).

Good luck with the swich, and don't forget to ask lots of questions!
 
I would go the 125 route. Doing a small saltwater tank does not make it any easier to care for in fact its actually harder. It would cost more money to start off with but your chances of success are much higher with the bigger tank. Ideally something around 40 gallons would be good to start with because it won't cost a fortune like a big tank but will be big enough to be relatively easy to care for and harder to mess up.
 
yeah. The smaller the tank if something goes wrong it might kill everything before you have a chance to do anything about it. I larger tank is much more forgiving. Which ever way you decide to go just start out slow. My first salt setup was a 29Gal bio cube. Peacock Mantis shrimp, 2 pecular clowns, carpet anenemone, and a few damsels. The Mantis killed the damsels after awhile, btu everything else is still kickin :) The really isn't that much more to salt. Just some more $$ to spend imo (depending on what your housing) GL to ya man.
 
Maybe I will start somewheres in the middle and get a 55 gallon tank. Can someone give me a rundown of what they would use on a tank this size?

Whats the difference in crushed coral and live sand?

Heres just a list of fish i was looking at to start with. The ones I have been looking at pretty much all have easy care level, reef safe, peaceful, and stay relatively small.

Neon Blue Goby (Elacatinus oceanops)
Firefish (Nemateleotris magnifica)
Yellowtail Damselfish (Chrysiptera parasema)
Spotted Cardinalfish (Sphaeramia nematoptera)

Banded Coral Shrimp (Stenopus hispidus)
Blood Red Fire Shrimp (Lysmata debelius)
Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis)
 
i would forgo the Coral banded shrimp unless you managed to find a pair and they were the only shrimp in the tank.. if you DID end up setting up the 125 i would imagine that'd be enough space for all those shrimp
as for equipment, something like this
AC 110
coralife skimmer (forget the model name/number, sorry :()
and if you KNEW you wanted to make this a reef tank eventually you may as well get the lights ASAP, but what kind depends on what corals you'd want
and a few powerheads
 
Instead of the ac 110 could I run an emporer 280 or 400? Reason for asking is I have an older biowheel filter currently on my 20 gallon tank. I tried to identify it but it doesnt have any markings on it at all. Closest filter i could find to it was the emporer 280 but on the top cover i have a notch in it with a water flow switch. So i am assuming that is what it is.

It will be a long time down the road before I add coral to the tank. Might upgrade before I do anyway. So the standard lights would work?


so really from what I have read is the only difference so far is the skimmer and the salt right?
 
most definately, penguins are regularly used in SW, i just said AC cause that seems to be the most popular and readily availible

the standard lights would work well for a fish only ot FOWLR tank, yes

basically.. alot of people jump to the comclusion that ALL SW have to have corals and some insanley complication filtration and lighting system..
simple tanks are barely more than maintaining salinity
 
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