Salt Water Noobie Need your Expertise

[Fish Eat Fish]

I want to get into salt water and I have a few options. I have a 30 gallon tank that i can use that has a cheaper skimmer and HOB that i can easily convert into a refugium. With this setup how much would it cost me to set up a "non fancy" nano reef? How much live rock? live sand? How long does it take to seed or be ready for fish? Is it very difficult to keep it at the correct specs? How do I ensure it stays correct? As far as care how does it differ from FW? What kind of fish?

All help appreciated

 

[Pufferpunk]

Read some of the recent threads here from newbies--explains everything.

 

[sweeTang21]

saltwater is only as difficult as you make it lol. i dont find it much different then a planted tank for-say but in terms there are many differences. i will do my best to help as will everyone else. if your doing coral, you want to have an extremely efficient skimmer. one rated for a 60 gallon will work great. check out your skimmer and find out the specs on it and get back to us. also helps to have the best lights you can get. this will give you much more options for corals, and also promote much better growth in medium to high light corals. shoot for a bout 4-5 WPG. 3-4 with t-5HO and about 3 with t-5VHO. keeping the tank in spec is a little work on your part. TLC lol. keep in tune with the tank and monitor daily and this will prevent any heart brake. buying good equiptment is a start for sure. seeding the tank will take some time. it will help to have about 40lbs of live sand and about 1.5-2lbs of live rock. also pays to get a quality salt mix. i find that instant ocean and kent marine salt work very well.