I'm considering going salty

aquanooby

aquanooby

AC Members
Jul 24, 2009
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columbia South carolina
Real Name
lew
Hi all I am going to turn my 36 bf freshwater into salt water :)
I currently have a fluval 205 and a hob that came with the tank, basic light fixture. My substrate is caribsea sand which I would like to use also.
I know one thing I'll need is an upgraded light and also I'll be getting an all glass top. could you help me with anything else I'll need and pointers I would like to do this correct from the start. I do want corals. I have pics of my tank as it is now in my gallery. Thank you all for any help : )
 
ditch the canister, get a protein skimmer, and some live rock. Sand from freshwater will not work, from what i understand. I have a CPR BAKPAK skimmer i bought used at my LFS for 90.00 and it keeps my 55 clean just fine. So...new sand, live rock, and a skimmer. Light can come later, you'll have to cycle the tank first anyway, which will give you some time. And you will need test kits for Ammonia, ph, nitrate and nitrITE and a hydrometer at least to monitor the cycle.
 
oh, and powerheads, too. So at least $100 for the skimmer(if you can find a steal), about 40lbs live rock at $ 6-7/lb $300 roughly (sometimes you can find good live rock on craigslist for 4-5 bucks a pound). sand isnt so bad, maybe $50. and maybe $75 or so for powerheads. you can buy salt and mix your own water (be sure to use RO water), or buy premixed salt water from your local LFS. Depending what kind of corals you want the lights get pretty expensive...start at maybe 200 or so for a PC fixture for soft corals and up to 5 or 6 hundred for matal halides. I would start with softies, because you WILL decide you want to upgrade to a bigger tank with a sump/refugium and metal halide lights. Just my opinion...
 
from what i learned...canisters accumulate lot of waste and tend to increase nitrates...i took mine out from SW over to FW...currently am running a protein skimmer and just live rock and sand...everything is going just fine for my current stocking..
 
ughh I just bought it lol i thought you just took the carbon and foam out of it o well
 
Hobnestly there's not really any reason to ditch the canister, just don't plan on using at as a bio/mechanical filter (those media types are what tends to catch a lot of waste). The filter will still work just fine for water flow and for chemicall filtration if you deem that nessesary. As has already been said, two thumbs up for skimmers.

Personally I run a Hob filter fed by my protien skimmer (I don't run the motor/intake on the filter itself) wich accomplishes three things: to serve as a bubble trap, chemical filtration (I use a phosphate absorber) and to act partialy as refugium (I have it filled with rocks and shells - it appears to be home to a couple bristleworms and some sponges - probably quite a few other things as well). There doesn't seem to be any significan't solid waste buildup, the skimmer catches some of it; at the same time there probably isn't much waste to build up in my tank, with a whole two fish in it...
 
Canisters are great... if you use them properly in SW. They are just a mini sump/refugium. Just don't use the media that is made for it.. too expensive and not nearly as good as alternatives (live rock rubble in bottom, bag of Chemi-Pure Elite, and filter pad on top.

Protein skimmer, IMO, is definately NOT required at all on smaller tanks... tanks 40G and less. I have a 29G tank that is doing great with just a HOB filter. No skimmer. No sump. 2 Koralia Powerheads.

Glass tops.. good and bad. Trap heat, prevent oxygen exchange, and reduce light is the bad. Good is it stops jumping fish. I tried glass tops and never could get myself to stick with them so both my tanks are open tops.
 
I cant chance an open top brand new expensive carpet lol now way if i build too much heat I'll build a chiller (i am an hvac tech)so no problems on that front. i have been told the hob will create salt creap so im questionable on that
 
when i had canister on my 55g everytime i stop running canister for cleaning load of crap just falls back in the tank from pipeholes. i absolutely hated that. i dont know the exact reason for that but i really like using canister as a mini sump/refugium idea. the only thing is that there wont be any light in the canister. i wud love to run water thru live rock and macro algae. is anyone succesful in producing any live food like plankton using canister filter if yes plzzzz guide me so i can set it up on my tank.
i am trying to find ways to get away with expensive sump/refugium on my undrilled 60g tank.
 
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