Starting in Saltwater

[Emg]

When I first delved into salt tanks I started with a 20long. I bought about 20lbs of live rock and just used water from my tap and Instant Ocean salt. I had read about making a HOB refugium using AquaClear HOBs and I had a used AC 70 so I used that.

I used sugar sized argonite sand...mixed the water and tossed in the LR then let it sit for about a month with just the AC HOB running on it. I kept and eye on the parameters and after the cycle finished (dead stuff in LR cycles the tank)....I bought a pair of ocellaris clowns. Originally I was just going to keep it a fowlr because I didn't think my cheapo way of going about this would work for coral...but a friend gave me some easy keeper softies and I still have them 3 years later. I still run my reef tanks with just HOBs....2 AC 110s on the 50 (one set up as a HOB fuge)....two AC 70s on the 29 and a couple of HOBs on the 20frag....and no skimmer as yet.

Basically what I did was to give it a try using what I had. There are plenty of low light hardy corals that you can keep to start out with. Because I run my reefs on a low budget with the bare essentials....I stick to the hardier species of fish and coral and so far, after about 3 years.....they're doing pretty well. I went from a 20long to a 29 and now I have a 50 reef and a 29 reef and also a 20long set up as a frag tank for all the coral I've been growing from what I have. I joined a local reef club here and get to as many meetings as I can. Reef clubs are a great way to meet others with the same interest and gain knowledge and also swap and trade fish/coral/equiptment etc. I highly recommend that if you do take off in the reef area of the hobby...to look for a local reef club in your area ! They are a wealth of information from experienced reef keepers !

Give it a try.....GO SLOWLY ! Don't rush putting stock in your tank. Just let the Live Rock do it's thing...I waited a month and a half before I tried putting in any fish. I did start with hermit crabs and snails after a couple of weeks though....I couldn't stand not having anything in there...lol. They held me back long enough for the tank to be ready...haha.

All the best to you and I hope it works out ! RO DI water is a good idea...if you can do it, you should......though I have been able to run mine off my tap these past 3 years.....my tap water is very soft.....but after 3 years I do see some hair algae starting to take off here and there. We'll see how it goes from here....but now I can sell off some coral and use the money I make on equiptment or perhaps a new 75 tank...so I can put the 50 and 29 together into one ! :

 

[aj2494]

My water is pretty hard, but not too bad. I was thinking that if shops in my area don't use ro, maybe things I get will already be acclimated to hard water. I was obviously going to start with very hardy corals, because I like my tanks to stay alive. So maybe if I did a 50-50 mix of distilled and tap, I would be fine. Thanks for your help. Everything I've read so far makes it seem like it might be impossible to do this, but your post was a breath of fresh air.

 

[AnnetteG]

if you're going to be buying distilled water anyway, why not just go ahead and buy your saltwater from your LFS? Most of them offer that for around $1 per gallon and you can buy a 5 gallon jug or bucket from them cheaply and then just bring it in each time you need a refill. Most of them will be using ro/di water to mix their saltwater, so this would be easy for you and you'll know you're getting good water.

What kind of light is your tank going to have? Not all corals are super hard and picky. You'll be able to start out with mushrooms and palys and zoas fairly soon to bring some color to your tank. With such a small tank, it is also relativily cheap for you to get your rocks & sand from Tampa Bay Saltwater and you'd have a really interesting and LIVE tank in a very short time if you went with their "package".

Good luck!

 

[aj2494]

This is straight off the nano cube site:
12 gallon Nano Cube & 12 gallon Nano Cube Deluxe
24W Combo (10,000°K/Blue)
24W 6500°K Daylight

They also come with a nighttime led light.

 

[Conski]

THE LED nighttime sucks lol its good to showcase one single coral. but its nteresting!

the lighting is actually pretty nice, your going to experience heat issues.. so youll need a fan of some sort.. (it rarely doesnt overheat) but you can keep just about any LPS,zoa,softies,polyps you want too!

 

[aj2494]

It's got built in dual fans in the hood.

 

[kay-bee]

How much salt do you need to use per gallon?

The quantity of salt will depend on the salt mix brand and your target salinity level (in general terms the specific gravity/SG of salt water can be range from 1.020 to 1.027).

Very roughly you will likely use at least a half-cup of marine salt per gallon of fresh water. A refractometer should be used to determine the salinity of the saltwater rather than a pre-determined quantity of salt.

Is there anything special you have to do to reef water (by special, I mean anything other than tap water with conditioner and salt)?

I wouldn't recommend using tap water, particularly if it contains chloramines because ultimately that gets converted to nitrates. If using distilled (ok if copper cooling coils weren't used in distilling process), RO (recommended) or RO/DI (highly recommended) water than nothing else needs to be done with the water. Tap water adds the 'unknown' factor to the system because it could contain substances that we can't test for but could be detrimental to the well-being of sensitive corals and invertebrates.

Not all tap water is equal. Some may use it with little or not issue, others may have nuisance algae outbreaks or worse.

The water in the reef tank itself may require some adjustments but that will depend on the consumption and uptake rate of essential elements and compounds by corals and other life forms in the tank. Usually a water change will address the replenishment of these in a small tank (test kits will come into play to determine if water changes alone are sufficient).

I know I will want a larger tank eventually, but I want to start small. This will be my fourth tank, so again, I want to start small.

Smaller tanks are absolutely do-able but can be somewhat more challenging in terms of maintaining stable water parameters and quality as the margins of error are significantly reduced. Something as simple as evaporation or a single dead snail can result in salinity fluctuations and water quality issues, respectively that would be otherwise greatly minimized in a larger volume set up.

I guess I didn't understand how tough corals can be to take care of. Are they really that difficult?

As long as the requirements to sustain the corals are met they're generally not that tough. It becomes tough when those requirements (or the understanding of those requirements) aren't met that the care of corals can become difficult. The requirements involved depends on the particular type of coral (some corals have strict requirements).

My well water runs at 218 tds after my water softner. I am between 1-2 tds after my ro-di.

You may be due for a DI resin change. Ideally the output of RO/DI water should be 0ppm. Detectable TDS after the DI indicates impurties are not being completely sequestered. I personally change my DI resin when output is 1ppm.

 

[Conski]

It's got built in dual fans in the hood.

Okay man, since you really havent wanted to listen to me about RO ATLEAST!!!! listen to me about the dinky crap fans in the hood of the biocube, yours will overheat... they all do... and in summer ive had mine get up to 87 before i got a fan over it and took the hood off.. you wll most likely have problems

 

[archer772]

The quantity of salt will depend on the salt mix brand and your target salinity level (in general terms the specific gravity/SG of salt water can be range from 1.020 to 1.027).

Very roughly you will likely use at least a half-cup of marine salt per gallon of fresh water. A refractometer should be used to determine the salinity of the saltwater rather than a pre-determined quantity of salt.



I wouldn't recommend using tap water, particularly if it contains chloramines because ultimately that gets converted to nitrates. If using distilled (ok if copper cooling coils weren't used in distilling process), RO (recommended) or RO/DI (highly recommended) water than nothing else needs to be done with the water. Tap water adds the 'unknown' factor to the system because it could contain substances that we can't test for but could be detrimental to the well-being of sensitive corals and invertebrates.

Not all tap water is equal. Some may use it with little or not issue, others may have nuisance algae outbreaks or worse.

The water in the reef tank itself may require some adjustments but that will depend on the consumption and uptake rate of essential elements and compounds by corals and other life forms in the tank. Usually a water change will address the replenishment of these in a small tank (test kits will come into play to determine if water changes alone are sufficient).



Smaller tanks are absolutely do-able but can be somewhat more challenging in terms of maintaining stable water parameters and quality as the margins of error are significantly reduced. Something as simple as evaporation or a single dead snail can result in salinity fluctuations and water quality issues, respectively that would be otherwise greatly minimized in a larger volume set up.



As long as the requirements to sustain the corals are met they're generally not that tough. It becomes tough when those requirements (or the understanding of those requirements) aren't met that the care of corals can become difficult. The requirements involved depends on the particular type of coral (some corals have strict requirements).



You may be due for a DI resin change. Ideally the output of RO/DI water should be 0ppm. Detectable TDS after the DI indicates impurties are not being completely sequestered. I personally change my DI resin when output is 1ppm.

I agree with all of this and tamableanimal and I were just talking about that and he is going to be changing it out very soon. PC lighting WILL get HOT and those fans arent usually enough. I would never skimp on the water please use RO/DI its much less chance of problems, get a refractometer and NOT a hydrometer and go with the largest tank you can, I would suggest a 65 breeder or larger but thats just me. I am sure all of us have tried most of these things and found out they dont usually work and thats why we are suggesting these things and we are not trying to make you spend extra money, if you go with what has been suggested things will go much easier for you and you will be able to enjoy your tank much more.

 

[aj2494]

I wish I could get a larger tank, but I'm limited by the fact that my parents wouldn't let me, and I'm going to college soon. I just wouldn't feel right dumping another tank on my parents. I guess it seems like this just isn't going to work for me. If I didn't need RO/DI, it would probably be fine, but the projected expenses seem to just keep piling up. Unless I can find a used RO/DI unit, it will be too expensive for me. Thanks for your help guys.