whats needed for salt water set-up
- Thread starter gonefishing13
- Start date
Take this reply as a general answer. I might miss some things but here it goes
salinity meter
salt
a large container to mix salt water
protein skimmer
live rock
filter
sand depending on the fish you get
lighting if your going to get coral
and about 2 months to cycle a tank. Salt water tanks take nearly twice as long compared to fresh water tanks. The beneficial bacteria that consume ammonia and nitrite in a fresh water tank differ from the bacteria in salt water tanks.
salinity meter
salt
a large container to mix salt water
protein skimmer
live rock
filter
sand depending on the fish you get
lighting if your going to get coral
and about 2 months to cycle a tank. Salt water tanks take nearly twice as long compared to fresh water tanks. The beneficial bacteria that consume ammonia and nitrite in a fresh water tank differ from the bacteria in salt water tanks.
Oh ps if your gonna start a brand new salt water tank invest in some coral or live rock that has been established in a salt water tank. It will dramatically shorten your cycle time. But I would only recomend a salt water tank if you have deep pockets, even small set ups under 100g can easily cost thousands just from corals.
+1 I have a 14g biocube and the corals in there easily add up to around $600. This isn't including corals or fish I've lost.
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You don't need a filter. Good quality protein skimmer plus live rock in display should be sufficient depending on size of tank. Cannister filters tend to create nitrate issues. Check out reef central. Wealth of info on there.
as it turns out, surprisingly little.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?507366-Reef-Tank-In-A-Flower-Vase
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?507366-Reef-Tank-In-A-Flower-Vase
I disagree with the whole "no filter" idea. I've been keeping and maintainin reefs for years and all of them have filters. None of them have detectable nitrates. I would consider the protein skimmer less necessary, at least in the beginning. You can still run 0 nitrate without a skimmer, but as your bioload grows it will be more necessary to improve water quality and reduce water changes. I also recommend eventually getting one if you want to do corals though. you will see a difference!
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Yea the whole no filter advice is kinda bs to me also, every reef I've seen has a filter.
You'll have to get a protein skimmer which is rated 10x the recommended to even have a chance of that working. All a protein skimmer does is remove debris before it can impact water quality and generally have a turn over rate of 2-4 of the tanks volume which isnt nearly enough.
To laceiswaiting
Canisters are generally the best to keep nitrates down. Only in canisters you can obtain denitrifying bacteria which leads to a significantly lower nitrate level. There are countless threads about people switching to wet drys and noticing a spike in nitrate levels. Canisters only have a negative impact on nitrate when not regularly maintained just like ANY filter.