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firstone

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Feb 7, 2007
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Hello all, I am a newbie to the whole saltwater world, its very exciting but very confusing at the same time!! Im only doing research as I have a 30 gallon tank and my hope is for fish only, to start :). Anyway heres my conundrum.... filters, there are so many to choose im lost dont know if i can just use protien skimmer with live rock or should i go wet dry and protien skimmer? My goal is to have a very clean tank with minimal maintence so would two filters be a good idea. Also how can i fit powerheads into this whole equation? finally which is the best substrate, as i stated before im looking for clean so id like to use a gravel cleaner. However sand looks beautiful. again im a beginner so maybe sand is too advanced for me :(

I really apprieceat any response and apologize for the mammoth post :)
 
Hello there firstone...Welcome to the forums..

Answers to your questions...

Filters - If you have in the tank, 1 - 1.5lbs of live rock per gallon, and sand...there is no need to have any other filters..The live rock and sand will provide with all the mechanical filtration that the tank needs..

You do need to be fitting a protein skimmer, best of buying one that is rated at twice your tank size..So, for a 30 Gal, you want to be buying one rated for 60 to 70 Gallons...

Powerheads - I would put a couple of 900 litre per hour powerheads to give you good current. Something like two MaxiJet 900's.

Substrate - You want to be using sand. Sugar sized grains, aragonite type. This will help with buffering the pH and wont trap any detrius, bits of food etc etc..We dont use gravel in a marine aquarium because of bits getting trapped in between the chips of gravel and causing bad algae blooms, high nitrates etc ...

I hope this has helped you a little bit...If there is any other questions, dont hesitate to post them and we all will do our best to point you in the right direction..

Niko
 
thank you so much!
one more question, not to get to greedy, how does one clean the sand or do u just not, then how would would do a water change?
 
Well, how clean the sand stays is really down to the circulation in the tank with the powerheads...When you see a place in the tank with brown diatom algae on it, it usually means that there is not enough water flow in that area of the tank..The powerhead placement takes a little while for you to find a good balance that give circulation...So, there is not really much need to clean the sand..If you do need to clean it a little, syphon it out when you do your water changes...Trick is to keep edging the syphon hose closer to it so it's just right to be pulling the brown off the surface and not such up loads of sand...

Which brings me onto the water changes...What most people do is buy a large rubber-maid container, put a powerhead and heater, fill it with Reverse Osmosis water, add your salt and mix it in there. Set the heater to the same temp as your tank...Then, after 48 hours of mixing, you now had a good load of pre-mixed saltwater to do water changes on the tank...When you do a water change, do about 10% of the tank volume per week.

In case your wondering what reverse osmosis water is...Well, marine aquarist buy what is called a " Reverse Osmosis Unit " or RO Unit. This generates about 98% clean water. The filter removes metal traces, chlorine, copper traces, phoshates and many others from the water..If you simply use tap water, there is a very good chance that you will encounter major green algae problems...mainly green hair algae as this algae feeds off the nutrients in the water...

Hope this helps a little

Niko
 
I am understanding exactly what you are saying, i hope! so thanks for the reply. However can I use tap water and just use the chemicals in it then add salt, then add to tank or would i still end with alge problems. Only suggesting this becuase an RO system is quite expensive and im wondering if there is any way to get around it?
again thank you so much :)
you have helped enormously!
 
ok....to start off with...couple of things really..Take some of your tap water to the local fish shop and get them to test it for nitrate and phosphate and post the results of the tests...Unless you have spankin gorgeous tap water, it will lead to bad algae problems...Another way around it is ask your local fish shops if they sell RO water, or pre-made salt water...this will help you out loads..But, i know they cost a bit, but getting an RO unit will be one of the best things you can buy for your tank mate...

All the chemicals remove is chlorine and chloromides...We also need to rmove metal traces, phosphates and more for it to be up to an excellent standard for the tank...Try looking on eBay, you can sometimes fall on an RO unit for a reasonable price..What country are you in?

Ask away with any more questions you have...

Niko
 
Wow i cant thank you enough. I live in the US, Michigan. Quick one, im assuming distilled of Brita filtered water is out of the questoin, i know the britta would take a while, but ive got a while, haha. :)

again thanks
 
more questions....
sorry guys but you have cleared up so much for me

In the above post it says use 1-1.5 lbs of live rock/gallon and sand. So im planning to use sand then mix regular rock with the live rock, with hopes that the dead rock will become live! is this a bad idea. Would this still give me the filtration im looking for? The reason i ask is live rock around here is about 5/lb so thats about 150 bones......
also when stacking rock how does one not create dead spots, i mean it has to touch the rock somewhere? right? anywho thanks guys/gals
 
Yes, alot of people use dead or base rock and then pile the actual live rock on top of it, within a few months it will start to become live...As you will be cycling the tank with the dead rock in there, it should be fine by the time you come to start stocking the tank ( 4 - 6 weeks )...

Dead spots around the rock are created when water cannot flow around them..You do have to take water flow into concideration when aquascaping your tank...

Niko
 
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