To Salt or Not To Salt???

G

GlassOfFish

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Jan 5, 2007
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Hello All!

I recently purchased a 33 gallon tank (36"x12.5"x17") fully intending to set up a freshwater tank. I haven't purchased anything else for the setup. While visiting my LFS a couple days ago, my daughter noticed "Nemo" in one of the tanks. Since, I have been considering trying to set up the tank as saltwater. Initially, I think I would prefer to stay away from corals however after a year or so I may consider including some. As far as experience goes, I had freshwater fish as a kid and maintained a freshwater tank until about 5 years ago. Was wondering if I could get some help with the following questions before I make my decision.

What additional equipment (lights, filter, skimmer, etc.) would I need to set up the saltwater tank and how should I set it up? I have hard water in my area. What and how many fish would you recommend for a newbie? What about inverts?

Thanks in advance for your help!
 
well....ok lol this has been a long day for me but i felt i had to help cause i love helping people switch to saltwater. its a little more work if a saltwater tank is on the smaller side but if you keep it simple it wont be to hard. for filtration i highly recommend a canister filter on a tank that size if u get one i recommend for ur ease to get one recommended for a larger aquarium, since yours is a 33 gallon id get a filter for 50 gallons or so. make sure u use chemical,biological, and mechanical filtration(which a canister filter will provide). other wise ull need a heater(titanium heater is best; wont break) and besides that ull have to mix your own salt or buy it from a local aquarium store. if u have hard water like i do here in SB its best if you get reverse osmosis water or buy ur own unit. as far as lighting no less than power compacts/compact floresent. those will support most soft corals and some nice hard corals as well as a sea anenome for the "Nemo". if you will have just fish then you dont need a skimmer but its recommended. as for stocking it really depends on the fish you pick out.

ne way if u need ne thing more if have some questions on specifics just message me i do this for a living so i enjoy helping!
 
Germanman,

Thanks for your response. I appreciate your help. After some review of your response and available items, I am considering the following for my set-up:

- Eheim Classic Canister Filter (model 2215-37)
- 2x 100 watt Titanium heater
- Coralife Pure-Flo II 50 gpd 3-stage RO unit
- Coralife Lunar Aqualights Compact Fluorescent 36” (192 watt)
- SeaClone Protein Skimmer 100

Am I forgetting anything? Also, are there any recommendations for live sand and/or live rock?

In terms of fish, I would like a clownfish, maybe an angelfish (flame or coral beauty) and a royal gramma. Would these work? Could I include any more? What would you recommend for a saltwater newbie? Also, what invertebrates would you recommend?

Thanks again for the help.
 
A good hydrometer or even better, a refractometer would be necessary. You may want to consider a UV light although some think it's unnecessary.

A couple of clowns would look really nice. Some Angelfish can grow to over a a foot long so would be too large for your 33G (unless you'd like to upgrade, hehe :devil:).

Here are some Angelfish:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=18

I love gobies and some are not too large. Chromis look nice too as well as the Royal Grammas. The site aboves elaborates on care level and recommended size tanks, etc.

There are so many kinds of live rock. My LFS sells LR for $6-$7lb but others sell it for a little more or less. Here are some different kinds of LR:

http://www.livestockusa.org/ROCK.html

I have the same light you were referring to, the Coralife Lunar Aqualights, just a different size. Titanium heater is a good recommendation too.
 
angels dont usually get along and flame angels can be a hit or miss i got lucky and mine seems to be behaving. ne way that set up looks great and a UV would help but u can always get one later like i did. the seaclone is a good skimmer but a CPR back pack skimmer would be better...or just my preference lol. well ur on the right track feel free o pm me ne time if u have questions! :)
 
5xevy and Germanman,

I appreciate your responses.

Is a good refractometer? Other than the refractometer, is there any other water tests I would need to do other than the standard water tests that were also necessary for my previous freshwater setup? I will probably hold out on the UV light for now.

Is it okay to only do live rock and regular sand or vice versa? What type of sand would you recommend? I know with freshwater, the substrate had to be vacuumed periodically. Is this necessary or possible with sand?

Should I consider adding any powerheads in the tank for water circulation? I thought it might be better to go ahead and get the fish used to them up front in case I decide to try and add any corals later. If so, which kind and gph do you recommend?

How many smaller fish (say 2-4” full grown size) would be considered a good load for my 33 gallon tank? As far as angelfish, I was thinking more of the dwarf angelfish such as a coral beauty or a flame. According to the website provided, one or the other should be okay in my tank size. Is one a better choice than the other or are they pretty much equal in care? Would you recommend trying any starfish?

Thanks again!
 
Hi Glass. It's strange- I posted another response last night but the servers were acting strange and I guess it never showed up on the thread. Anyway, what I had posted was that I apologize- I always think of the larger Angels and overlooked the possibility that you could have been referring to a Flame or Coral Beauty. Coincidentally, that's what you were thinking! Hehe. They're both gorgeous fish in my opinion.

I've never had those particular kinds of Angels but according to that site, it looks like the Coral Beauty is slightly easier to care for. What else are you thinking of putting in there?

That refractometer looks fine. As long as you calibrate it correctly it should work great.


Is it okay to only do live rock and regular sand or vice versa? What type of sand would you recommend? I know with freshwater, the substrate had to be vacuumed periodically. Is this necessary or possible with sand?

If you're going to have either live rock or sand instead of both, I would definitely opt for the live rock. Whatever you decide just remember it's usually a one-time expense (unlike salt or other things). I vacuum my sand every time I do a water change or as necessary if I see noticeable debris. When the sand starts coming up the vacuum part, before the tubing, I pinch the tubing so it falls back down.

Sorry, I don't have any experience with Starfish (yet, hehe). Powerheads? I have a couple but it's really up to you. Here's a site with some reviews of some popular models. If you think you might get one in the future then you might as well now, right?

http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/prpowerheads/Powerheads.htm

Let us know what you decide!
 
well im my experience both the angels are easy to take care of but they have a tendency on so9metimes attacking corals and calms. i got lucky and my flame angel doesnt. i hand picked him out of about 100 flame angels at the whole sale and unfortuantally not all people have that opportunity. most books and experts agree to add angels as the last fish and i strongly agree. also in smaller set ups they can be quite territorial. in my experience the flame angel is better suited for an aquarium and more resistant to problems but its a hit and miss with dwarf angels eather way. as for the rock id say maybe some base(dead) rock and then mostly live rock and then get a bag of live sand and do ther rest just bulk sand. its really up to u as long as u do ur research it will work out great just the more live rock and sand the more stable your system will be biologically. ill post my new tank animals soon as well as a more detailed description of the set up. also ill try and link a video if i can.
 
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