first SW tank

satanpie

satanpie

Banana plant addict.
Aug 25, 2007
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Long Island NY
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Hey guys, I have been doing Fw for a while, i have a 75g and a 45g and a spare 5.5g i used to use for a betta. Ive always wanted to try a SW project but it just seems intimidating, so finally i think im gonna try starting small, with the 5G. Excactly what do I need? Do i need a refrigium and power head and stuff? I have a hood that fits a 15 watt incandescent bulb, i know this wont be enough light. can someone give me some pointers and advice on setting this up as my first SW?
 
im one of those dream crushing sw people who say buy the right stuff or dont do it.. i mean ive seen 5gals before, but your choices for stocking it are very limited.. you better off saving up like 500 and making something nice..

but with 5 gals..its up to you if you wanna make it mech filtered or just rely on the rock. in sw aquariums the smaller you go the harder it gets to maintain because slight shifts in water chemistry will throw that bad boy off and theres more stuff to worry about in SW.(im not trying to make it sound hard because its really not especially FOWLRS)

your lighting is choice basically, depending on which corals you wanna keep or whatever you plan on.

imo think you should read alot of threads here and other SW information then give it a go when you have some money saved, but if you have your heart set on it im sure someone will help you out!

let us know what you plan on having in the tank and well go from there
 
Your 75G would be the best tank to use as your first SW tank. Unlike FW, it is more the opposite with SW.. the bigger the tank you start out with the easier it will be. As you get more experience and knowledge then you can tackle smaller "Pico" tanks but for a beginner it is extremely difficult and will probably end up souring you on the whole SW idea. We don't want that. ;)

Seriously though, for a beginner, I wouldn't recommend less than a 20G. I had a 29G as my first SW and I made sooo many mistakes with that tank in the process of learning, but at least with a 29G it was big enough to give me options to add things on to the tank without filling it with equipment (ie. overflow box + sump/refugium and other equipment). There just is so little you can do with a 5.5g that unless you do it perfect from the start it will be a headache.
 
Invest in a RO/DI filter 1st and foremost. You'll be glad you did.
 
Yes, ive heard that the bigger the better, but im just kind of gonna do this as a practice/experiment type thing, just to see what kind of work is involved and to see if its something im gonna like doing. My 75 is full and stocked and i am not planning on getting rid of my fish. ill probably just get some live sand, live rock and basically the smallest, easiest coral i can find and see if i can make it work
 
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