Wanting A Marine Tank, Many Questions

[agp]

I'm contemplating about starting a marine tank, but I have many concerns and questions.

1. I know that the bigger than tank, the easier it will be, but how much harder exactly will a 10G tank vs. a 40 or 50G tank be to keep?

2. I've read many things about RO/RODI water, are those recommended, preferred, or necessary? If not necessary, what are some affordable alternatives?

3. Protein skimmers - what are they, and are they recommended, preferred, or necessary?

4. Same with sumps - what are they, and are they recommended, preferred, or necessary?

5. With freshwater, plants grow tall, can be cut in half, replanted, and then you have twice the amount of plants you started with. Does this apply to corals? Is it possible for one coral to grow big, be cut in half, and then grow into two corals?

I will post more questions when I come up with them, thanks!

 

[Ace25]

I think a small tank, like a 10G tank is much EASIER to do and a lot cheaper than doing a larger tank. You don't need much equipment at all to do a 10G tank. The only problem with a small tank is keeping parameters stable (like salinity from evaporation, you have to top off daily with good fresh water). You can get by with just a heater and powerhead on a 10G tank and just do big weekly water changes (5G/50%). If you do that then things like a sump/skimmer are not necessary.

As far as RO/DI.. it really is a staple to a good SW tank. You can get by with using just RO water (from dispensers like at grocery stores) but from my experience using those is they do not maintain the filters well and the water is what I would consider "bad" more often than not, ie TDS 50 and above, where as good RO water should have a TDS of around 20, and RO/DI will have a TDS of 0. It is about $150 for a good RO/DI setup for your home and worth every penny IMO. I did the "grocery store RO water" for about 5 years myself and always had minor issues until the end when it got real bad, silicates were really high and caused some major problems because the filters were bad on the RO machine. That was when I finally bit the bullet and bought my own RO/DI unit and wondered why the heck I waited so long.

Protein skimmers are not required IMO on any tank, but more so on tanks 20G and less. Larger tanks will see some benefit with them, but IMO you can do other things that help with filtration for a lot cheaper than a good protein skimmer like build an Algae Turf scrubber.

Sumps just let you put equipment out of the tank into a place you don't see it, like heaters and stuff. They also add more water volume to the tank. On small tanks it is more hassle than it is worth to add a sump, not to mention a lot more costly.

Yes, you can cut corals when they grow and "replant" them, this is called fragging in the SW world and is done all the time. That is how we spread corals around to each other.

 

[OgreMkV]

First, get a few books. I suggest Marine Aquariums for Dummies. But start reading. You should pretty much be able to answer these questions for other people before you really start your own tank. I will answer your questions as I started my tank... your mileage may vary.

1) Yes, a 10G is pretty tough to maintain. I have a 10G quarantine tank and it's a pain to keep everything stable. My 46G is much easier. IMO, a larger tank starts to get more difficult because of the sheer volume of water involved. Yes, the tank itself is more stable, but if you need to buffer the water, it's a much longer process in a larger tank.

2) Yes, yes, and yes. RO water is the best route to a stable tank. FOr my 46G tank, I use about 5 gallons of RO for top off every two weeks (mixed with a alkalinity buffer) and about 5 gallons of salt water every two weeks for water changes. I purchase both my RO water and saltwater for a local LFS. It's $0.25 a gallon for RO and $1.25 a gallon for salt. It's worth it to me to not buy the salt, RO unit and mix it myself.

3) A protein skimmer helps remove the organic junk that builds up in tanks. As soon as you get fish, you need one, though (IMO) a coral only tank can do without. For a 46g tank, I recommend the Tunze 9002 nano skimmer. I have one and it's a good, easy to use piece of kit.

4) Sumps are places to store a bunch of stuff that you don't want in your main tank (like skimmers, top-off units, filters, refugiums, etc). I don't have one at all.

5) It's called fragging and once your tank is going well, it can be a tiny source of income (or trade for other corals). THough corals do grow much slower than plants.

OK, here's what I did.

I got a 46G pentagonal tank at Petco on sale. For marine tanks, I prefer more squarish tanks than the long skinny 55g standard size. I got an aquaclear 70 HOB filter, a maxijet 90 with a sponge filter and a heater.

You will need lights. If you start out sticking with FO or soft corals, then compact fluorescent lights are fine. Even some SPS will grow in them, but I upgraded to LEDs. T-5s and Metal Halides are other good choices for hard corals.

I put in aragonite sand, dead rock (not life rock), and the equipment. Added salt water. Let settle for several days. I put one course sponge and mostly ceramic noodles in the BOH, though there is room for phosphate pads and carbon if I need them.

Then I bought a tiny amount of live rock, really high quality stuff. Put that in the tank with a dead shrimp. Let it cook for about a week, taking ammonia, nitrate, nitrite readings once a day.

Then we added corals. Very slowly. One or two small frags, every few weeks.

It took 8 months before we added fish, then we got a horrid algae outbreak and added the skimmer, which cleared that right up.

I hope that helps. It DOES NOT mean you're ready to go. But it'll give you some starting points for google searches and book reviews.

I hope that helps
Ogre

I'm contemplating about starting a marine tank, but I have many concerns and questions.

1. I know that the bigger than tank, the easier it will be, but how much harder exactly will a 10G tank vs. a 40 or 50G tank be to keep?

2. I've read many things about RO/RODI water, are those recommended, preferred, or necessary? If not necessary, what are some affordable alternatives?

3. Protein skimmers - what are they, and are they recommended, preferred, or necessary?

4. Same with sumps - what are they, and are they recommended, preferred, or necessary?

5. With freshwater, plants grow tall, can be cut in half, replanted, and then you have twice the amount of plants you started with. Does this apply to corals? Is it possible for one coral to grow big, be cut in half, and then grow into two corals?

I will post more questions when I come up with them, thanks!