Starting in Saltwater

aj2494

aj2494

R.I.P. Guys
Jul 31, 2008
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Buffalo, New York
I am relatively experienced at keeping freshwater, but now I want to get a 12 gal nano cube to make a nano reef. I have a couple questions about cycling and changing water.

Is it ok to cycle this as freshwater, and then just add salt? I have established media that I can bring in from a freshwater tank, but I don't want it to get salty.

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

How much salt do you need to use per gallon?

And lastly, I've read that you really only need to do a 10-15% wc bi-weekly. This sounds a little sketchy to me, so is that ok to do?

Thanks in advance.
 
i would suggest a 14 or 29 gallon biocube, only becuase like me (with my 14gal) once you really get into the hobby i PROMISE you will want more space, especially when you discover corals ( you posted this in the reefkeeping and not FOWLR so i assume you want to keep them)

Your gonna want atleast 800 dollars (trust me even if thats a little over what you need you will be glad you saved)

The only thing special your gonna want to do with reef water other then keep Trates down alk and calcium in check is actually make the water into RO which trust me you have to do.. dont treat the water, you want your reef to thrive and personally IMO the only way to do so is by using RO/DI (or even just RO)

i change my water every 2 weeks on the sunday.

Lastly dont cycle it in fresh, im pretty sure theres a difference in beneficial bacterias in the water that would die as soon as you put the salt in if you cycled it in fresh.(ths im not sure of but it sounds right?!)

So go bigger(your choice...but youll thank yourself if you do) get RO., and good luck :) someone like amph, dave, or ACE will elaborate more im sure

Biocubes are great starter tanks, come with good light in stock (i moved to a 150watt MH over mine but i lose out on antics(sp), with those lights you can keep any LPS basically and softies and polyps.. id stay away from SPS anyways.

do alot more research before you go out and by ths as well, BUT i did totally impulse buy my biocube one day when i had an extra 500 dollars saved up for something and i have to say (not to be cocky) my tank is great so impulse buying isnt always an auto defeat, but i sure as hell had no idea what i was doing and luckily for me my LFS talked on the phone for me the entire set up process
 
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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. I think $800 seems, a little high for what I am looking at. With the tank I am looking at, the tank, stand, hood, lights, and filter (with built-in skimmer) are $185. I would need a heater, and I keep reading mixed ideas about RO units, and most say it's helpful, but not necessary. I know live rock and sand are pricey, but not insanely expensive. I already have everything else from my FW tanks.

Reading a little more, I guess I didn't understand how tough corals can be to take care of. Are they really that difficult?
 
they can be pretty tough

cycling a sw is nothing like cycling fw
a sw tank is not just a fw tank with salt.

first off the water you use should be as pure as possible, and theres technique in mixing the water.
live rock is the filtration in the tank, and you need lots of flow both for the bacteria and coral.
people do less water changes in sw because they stock lightly and sw is hard to come by, after you run water through a RODI unit and mix in the salt, it has become much more expensive than tap water.

any filters or media pads or bioballs in the tank are generally frowned upon.
crap builds up and becomes nitrates in sw, its a whole different game.
 
Ok, well, I did a lot of thinking and some research, and I was starting to think, with such small wc's, why not just buy distilled water and use reef crystals after? I can't think of any problem with this, and it may even be cleaner than RO. And would I even need to use Prime to condition the water?
 
Nothing is more pure then Ro/di it's like god himself cried the water out
 
I hope that this helps.

aj2494 said:
I am relatively experienced at keeping freshwater, but now I want to get a 12 gal nano cube to make a nano reef. I have a couple questions about cycling and changing water.

Is it ok to cycle this as freshwater, and then just add salt? I have established media that I can bring in from a freshwater tank, but I don't want it to get salty.

Although the bacteria are basically the same in both fresh and saltwater they exist in different environments. So you will need to cycle with saltwater.

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

The lower the TDS readings are in the water the less severe the issues will be. ex. hair algea, cyno ect.

How much salt do you need to use per gallon?

How much salt depends on many factors, You will need to get salinity meter or refractometer to determine your level. Also depending on what you are keeping. Many fowler tanks run salinity around 1.019 sg.. Whereas reef tanks are around 1.025 sg.

And lastly, I've read that you really only need to do a 10-15% wc bi-weekly. This sounds a little sketchy to me, so is that ok to do?

In the beginning while cycling your tank I would do 15 % changes every 2 weeks. Then once the tank is stable you can adjust your water changes accordingly. If the tank is overstocked or over feed then you will need to do larger changes to maintain water quality.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
 
My best advise for someone just getting into this is the cheaper you make your setup the more your tank will reflect that
 
I am not going to spare an expense, but if there is something that is almost as good as ro water, and it's better for my purpose, why not do that instead? Also, I haven't really gotten an answer to my questions about distilled water. Distilled water seems like it should be pure H2O, so why not? And again, I don't even see a reason to need prime.
 
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