I'm entering the saltwater hobby need advice please

[AquaAlexCardinale]

I think it's time to finally go saltwater. I've been keeping freshwater all my life and I still will. But I think it's time to do one saltwater tank, the only thing I have to worry about is my budget. I have a very limited income and do not want to pay over $700. I will be a beginner to Saltwater.
The size tank I've chosen is 40 Gallon Breeder. I'm going to do just Fish Only With Live Rock. Going to buy live sand and live rock to sped up the cycle.Or should I do dead rock and dead sand? How do I seed the rock and sand if it is not live?
Should I buy already mixed saltwater from lfs or do it myself? With already mixed saltwater, how long before I can add fish?
So with LIVE Rock LIVE Sand, a good quality HOB filter, heater, protien skimmer,light, and hydrometer, how much would I be looking at for a 40 gallon breeder salt?
My stock I've planned will be a pair of some sort of clown (maybe maroon or snowflake), yellow watchman goby, blenny, some sort of shrimp and inverts and maybe a flame or bicolor angel.
Any help would be greatly appericated. I'm gonna buy the 40 gallon breeder at the next ***** 1 dollar per gallon sale.

 

[jay0705]

No skimmer for fowlr. Dry sand. Add mostly base/dry rock w a piece or two of live rock to seed it. For a hob filter, get a filter rated for around 70-90 gals. Cheapest to mix ur own sw. Get a good refractometer to test ur sg. Ask lots of questions lol and welcome to the site

 

[AquaAlexCardinale]

No skimmer for fowlr. Dry sand. Add mostly base/dry rock w a piece or two of live rock to seed it. For a hob filter, get a filter rated for around 70-90 gals. Cheapest to mix ur own sw. Get a good refractometer to test ur sg. Ask lots of questions lol and welcome to the site

Ok so I can save money with out having to buy a skimmer. Awesome so I'll get mostly base rock and then a few pieces of live rock. Aqueon quietflow 75/90 should be a good filter right? Now with saltwater, how does one do a water change? Do you simply just do small 10-15 maybe 20 percent and replace with freshwater and check with hydrometer to see if the salinity is correct? What should the correct salinity be for fish? How long does a saltwater tank take to cycle and how long before I can add fish?
Thanks for all the help.

 

[jay0705]

If u take out sw u replace sw w the same sg. U only add fw to replace evaporation. Sg should be around 1.020-1.023. Cycling has no time frame bc it varies soo much

 

[AquaAlexCardinale]

If u take out sw u replace sw w the same sg. U only add fw to replace evaporation. Sg should be around 1.020-1.023. Cycling has no time frame bc it varies soo much

Ok. So I would just need to take my salt mix and mix it with water during a water change and add that to the tank right?
How would I know when it's ok to add fish?

 

[jay0705]

Premix it yes. You want it mixed w a power head for atleast24 hrs prior to use.
Fish safe, test your water. You should see ammonia, nitrite, nitrate. In that order once only low nitrate is read your tank is ready to slowly add fish

 

[AquaAlexCardinale]

Premix it yes. You want it mixed w a power head for atleast24 hrs prior to use.
Fish safe, test your water. You should see ammonia, nitrite, nitrate. In that order once only low nitrate is read your tank is ready to slowly add fish

Awesome!!! Very good to know! So basically cycling the same as freshwater almost.
So how would this stock be for a 40 gallon breeder?
a pair of clowns ( unsure on type, leading candidates include maroon, or common), yellow watchman goby, lawnmower or scooter blenny, and a flame or bicolor angelfish with some inverts.

 

[jay0705]

Piece of raw shrimp removed after 24hrs will help start your cycle.
fish. Maroons are VERY hard to pair due to there aggressive nature. If u want a pair to perc or occ clowns. Scooter blennys are actually draggonets , and not blennys at all. Your list is good tho.

 

[flower]

Hi,

Limited budget and saltwater tanks don't do very well. The tank is the cheapest thing you need.
Good live rock costs about $10.00 per pound, and you need to build the rock about half way up the back of the tank. You can add dry rock and a few pieces of live rock and save SOME money, but not much.

You need a RO (reverse osmosis) unit or you will have to buy water, since tap water will create so many algae issues it isn't worth trying it. So the days of using freshwater tap and add a little declorinator are gone.

Then the cost of the fish themselves... Power heads, hydrometer/refractometer, sand, and lighting... test kits, filter....$700.00 start up, no way. I spent $1000.00 to set up a 30g... $2000.00 to set up a 75g and $3000.00 to set up my 90g. You can cut some corners, such as dry rock instead of all live rock, and nobody needs a skimmer for the first 3 months at least.

When I first started out, a fellow told us we could convert our freshwater tank to salt for about $600.00... LOL...you should have seen my husbands face when the tally was a little over $1000.00, and we already had a canister filter and a 55g tank to start with.

 

[lmforbis]

Not sure about the angel in that size tank but the rest are good. I'd recommend a percula or oscelarous clown not a maroon if you want a pair. It is hard to get a maroon pair unless you buy them as a bonded pair. If they aren't bonded One will kill the other.

 

[AquaAlexCardinale]

Piece of raw shrimp removed after 24hrs will help start your cycle.
fish. Maroons are VERY hard to pair due to there aggressive nature. If u want a pair to perc or occ clowns. Scooter blennys are actually draggonets , and not blennys at all. Your list is good tho.

Ok so I will def do that. So I'll just do percula or occ clowns then. Oh nice so I can have a much cheaper mandarian then with a scooter blenny.

Hi,

Limited budget and saltwater tanks don't do very well. The tank is the cheapest thing you need.
Good live rock costs about $10.00 per pound, and you need to build the rock about half way up the back of the tank. You can add dry rock and a few pieces of live rock and save SOME money, but not much.

You need a RO (reverse osmosis) unit or you will have to buy water, since tap water will create so many algae issues it isn't worth trying it. So the days of using freshwater tap and add a little declorinator are gone.

Then the cost of the fish themselves... Power heads, hydrometer/refractometer, sand, and lighting... test kits, filter....$700.00 start up, no way. I spent $1000.00 to set up a 30g... $2000.00 to set up a 75g and $3000.00 to set up my 90g. You can cut some corners, such as dry rock instead of all live rock, and nobody needs a skimmer for the first 3 months at least.

When I first started out, a fellow told us we could convert our freshwater tank to salt for about $600.00... LOL...you should have seen my husbands face when the tally was a little over $1000.00, and we already had a canister filter and a 55g tank to start with.

Hello.
When I do Water changes, I plan to buy ro water from fish store since it's only a 40 gallon breeder.
For a fish only tank, do I need a refractometer? My LFS said I could use normal freshwater lights for fish only. I'm going to buy dry rock and a few pieces of live rock.

Not sure about the angel in that size tank but the rest are good. I'd recommend a percula or oscelarous clown not a maroon if you want a pair. It is hard to get a maroon pair unless you buy them as a bonded pair. If they aren't bonded One will kill the other.

I'll either do percula or occ clowns.

 

[lmforbis]

I think it can be done for $700. With out including the fish. Reed saver rock from Bulk Reef Suply is $2.49 and orders over $49 ship free. A couple small pieces if live rock are enough to seed the tank. $50 for a box of instant ocean (enough for 200 gal) which will last for a long time. Probably get rock, sand, tank, and salt for $350-$400. Lights don't have to be great for FOWLR just pleasing to the eye. HOB filters aren't too pricy. a couple power heads aren't to pricy either.

 

[AquaAlexCardinale]

I think it can be done for $700. With out including the fish. Reed saver rock from Bulk Reef Suply is $2.49 and orders over $49 ship free. A couple small pieces if live rock are enough to seed the tank. $50 for a box of instant ocean (enough for 200 gal) which will last for a long time. Probably get rock, sand, tank, and salt for $350-$400. Lights don't have to be great for FOWLR just pleasing to the eye. HOB filters aren't too pricy. a couple power heads aren't to pricy either.

This is going to be a few month proccess for me.
In November, I'm going to buy the tank, sand, salt, rocks, and such. Probably when the black friday sale hits my store the owner does a BIGGER salt on saltwater than freshwater, added bonus to going salt. Then get it cycled.
In December if all goes right, I plan to add about 4 fish.
January I should be able to add the remaining fish and inverts.

 

[lmforbis]

I'd add the fish slower maybe I per month and quarantine each for a month prior to adding them.

 

[jay0705]

Draggonets are not a beginner fish. Read up on them first. Honestly I usually get my scooters only slightly cheaper then mandys

 

[jay0705]

Cost wise I bought 34 lbs of rock and 40lbs of sand yest it was $190. 20lbs of it was branch rock tho

 

[AquaAlexCardinale]

I'd add the fish slower maybe I per month and quarantine each for a month prior to adding them.

Ok will do thanks.

Draggonets are not a beginner fish. Read up on them first. Honestly I usually get my scooters only slightly cheaper then mandys

Ahh.... didn't know that so may scratch them then. Are blennies ok for beginners then?

 

[jay0705]

Most yes. A true blenny generally is a fairly easy fish to keep. I have an alage blenny. Midas, fang, twin spot, ect are all nice

 

[flower]

Hi,

Find a good beginners book, the only thing freshwater tanks and saltwater have in common, is that they are both aquariums. They are truly a world apart.
What critter you add into the tank, dictates what you can add later. The best thing to do is find out what critter you absolutely want, and build your system around that.

The reason a dragonet is not a beginner fish is that they require lots and lots of copepods, or they starve. So you need an established tank with a huge population of them. You can't purchase enough copepods to feed the fish. You can buy copepods to seed the tank, then wait for the population to grow...about 1 year.

Absolutely set up a quarantine tank... Depending on what size fish you want, a 10g or 20g is usually enough. Each and every critter should be kept in the QT for at least 4 weeks before being moved to the display. A QT not only protects against disease and parasites, but it will also help you to not add too many critters too fast, which is the #1 reason for beginner hobbyists to fail.

 

[AquaAlexCardinale]

Ok cool. So I know how important QT is from Freshwater, and I can apply my knowledge from fresh to salt if it works.
But what about feeding? My dad works at a local pet store and he always brings me home tons of frozen foods like bloodworms, krill, silversides, etc. I use them for fresh. but can they work for salt too? I also buy New Life Spectrum and they have saltwater foods too so I can easily purchase those.