new to saltwater

[caz]

hi, i have been keeping freshwater fish for sometime, and i would like to experiment in saltwater. my options are a 10 gallong a 55 gallon or a 75 gallon. im not sure which way to go, i know the bigger the easier, but i dont want it to be costly if all goes wrong. do i need special lighting?

thanx

[MonoSebaelover]

Welcome to the salt side. For a beginner the bigger the better and the fewer costly mistakes you will make because if a problem is coming then you have more time to realize it in a large tank while a 10g it can happen over night. There are 3 different types of saltwater tanks: Reef-has the fancy lighting, corals, anemones, and reef safe fish, FO-Fish Only, generally contains large aggressive sometimes non-reef safe fish and has no live rock generally just dead coral skeletons, and FOWLR- Fish Only With Live Rock- same as FO only has live rock which keeps fish healthier, brighter, more active, and the rock provides lots of biological activity. IMO the best for you to start with is the FOWLR, and just pick some peaceful reef safe fish so if you want to go Reef you still can once you get a bit of backround in the salt side. Anyway, hope this helps and good luck.

[caz]

thanx for your advice mono. would a ten gallon be very difficult for me to start out with? do i need special lighting? right now i have a 55 and a 75 fw tanks i would like to experiment with sw in a smaller tank so i would have to flop too many tanks around, and if i decide i like the sw, then move it to the 75. or would it be way too difficult for me to do a 10 gallon? also, if there is anything else you think i should know, let me hear it, im open to all opinions :)

thanx

[ben72227]

a 10 gallon would be extremely difficult for a beginner. Smaller tanks like that (called nano-reefs) are usually left for the more advanced marine ***********s.

as for lighting, if you do FOWLR, then normal flourescent lights will be fine, but it can help if you upgrade to more expensive lighting as it will bring out some of the more attractive coraline algae on the live rock and will make your fish look better. good lighting is a must for reef tanks, but you probably won't have to worry about it much for a FOWLR tank.

[caz]

ok, ive decided to go with the 75 gallon and give it a whirl, is sand a good choice for the bottom? also, any suggestions on what fish to get? i dont think i want any large fish, rather more like a community tank, i would like a pair of clown fish though :) but not necessary hehe
alos, i was thinking of adding a few sailfin mollies to cycle the tank. good idea or no?
thanx

[MonoSebaelover]

Good choice on the 75. Sand is the best substrate for saltwater. As to fish some good choices would be a pair of Clowns (Occelaris Clown or Percula Clown) along with a Basslet (Royal Gramma, Chalk Basslet, among others), a Pygmy Angel (Coral Beauty, Bicolor, Flame, etc), some gobies and some blennies would also work great. The best thing to do is pick your "show" fish, the fish you want the most then pick fish that will get along with that main fish.
The best way to cycle a tank is get some live rock then throw in 4-5 cocktail shrimp and let them rot which will generally take about a month to have all values at 0. This is a much better way to cycle a tank rather than using fish. Anyway, hope this helps and good luck.

[caz]

thanx for your help :) is the cycleing with shrimp necessary? so if i start it out i cant add fish for a month?


thanx

[caz]

one more quick question, what if i decided to go without a live rock? or atleast small amounts of it?

thanx

[Gealcath]

When you set up a SW aquarium for the first time, there is little to nothing present to eat up the ammonia that fish and inverts create, which will mean any fish you put in there will often die (unless of course you want to keep Mantis Shrimp or Glass Anemones, thier near impossible to kill, but will also kill anything else in the aquarium).

When the shimp decay it releases ammonia, which the Aerobic bacteria feeds on to make Nitrates, which is only toxic in high amounts (some inverts like some corals though will not do well with Nitrates)



Any type of rock will work, doesnt have to be live rock, as long as its porous rock, like Lava rock and Aragonite rock (this is the main part of the biological filter, where the bacteria colonize that break down ammonia, and will also help break down nitrates, unless you go with a biowheel, but that would limit the types of inverts you can get like Coral and Anemones since Bio-Wheels break down ammonia and nitrite into Nitrate at a faster rate then the nitrates can be broken down, if you use a skimmer dont use a bio-wheel)

[caz]

thanx! i set up the tank last night, and im waiting for the sand to settle. on the bottom. i bought some porus rock, not sure what kind, it said saltwater only it all white and has blotches of color on it. also i have a peice of lava rock, i might add a peice or two of live rock. so i guess adding the cocktail shrimp are the only way to go then huh?

thanx

[dethjam316]

i'd never kept a SW tank until recently either...i started a tank in august, and it's doing great. i was apprehensive at first, so i set it up in a regular 20g but kept the bioload low (i just have one damsel and various invertebrates) to make it a little easier for me. i intended to purchase all kinds of live rock, but budget constraints came to light (ha, budgeting my fish tanks), so i ended up with only 3 lbs of live rock and 15 lbs of "dead" porous rock.

i'd always read that "dead" rock would eventually become "live," and in in less than 5 months, all of the "dead" rock is displaying ever-growing areas of coralline growth on it. where am i going with this? if you have patience, you can probably save a lot of cash by just buying a few pounds of live rock and waiting for that rock to see the rest.

[Cearbhaill]

thanx! i set up the tank last night
Maybe slow down a bit?
Marine tanks are a game of patience, and the more time you spend in the research phase the more likely you are to see success.
Heck- I've been researching since last April and am only doing my final set up this weekend!