my fish store wants me to set up saltwater

puffer9006

Member
so i work at a lfs and they are setting up a bunch new tanks and want me to do alot of the set up. they were thinking about doing a bunch of nano cubes but i thought that would be a bad idea. i was thinking of setting up a bunch of 30g no LR or LS just some fake plastic things. connect them all to a gaint sump and put a big protien skimmer on it. they thing i was worried about is connecting all the tanks to the sump if a paristite broke out would it effect all the fish or is thier less chance of paristite. the way they have the tanks set-up is like a regular tank with LS and some LR and the fish dont last long if in the tank. only really hardy fish make it past say a week and a half.
just some food for thought though. this store has a little saltwater and the fish are not the best quilty. im one of 3 people who really know anything about saltwater in the store so we try to do good with what were given.
if you see any flaws in what im thinking about doing please speak up and any suggesting are welcome.
i really want to improve the saltwater in the store and not keep basic stuff in thier.
 

imurnamine

Active Member
I'd do it.
I work at a Pet Store, and I got my position as the Saltwater Specialist by being the only one who does salt. Do it, do it!!
 

puffer9006

Member
my boss is the same way with me she always has customers that ask about salt and she sends them to me
i just want to know if thier are any problems with the set up. im differently setting it up just need to figure out the plumbling.
 

hot883

Active Member
According to your first post; I would try and figure out why you say fish do not last more than 1 week before they die in the tanks set up now. Did I read that correctly?
 

puffer9006

Member
its really because they stack a bunch of fish in one tank with a heater and a fuval filter with maybe 1/2 sand bed maybe less and the fish dont do well
 

stanlalee

Active Member
Originally Posted by puffer9006
they thing i was worried about is connecting all the tanks to the sump if a paristite broke out would it effect all the fish or is thier less chance of paristite.

a large system like that with multiple tanks and fish going in and out should have a large UV somewhere in line after the skimmer. Not a garauntee but I wouldn't chain tanks in a pet store environment without one.
 

1journeyman

Active Member
I agree with the UV.
Obviously you aren't going to be able to QT your fish before you sell them so...
Bare bottom tank seems to be the best way to go. Less places for disease and parasites to hide.
Also, while certainly money is a concern, the more series you can build the better. That way if disease breaks out in one series you'll still have other tanks.
 

puffer9006

Member
so a big uv is now in the picture i was thinking about that but do they make one for like 1200g.
aslo can you go into waht you mean by using series in the tubing
 

stanlalee

Active Member
getting a big enough sterilizer wont be a problem as long as you match the flowrate to wattage (lower wattage needs slower flowrate to be effective). Dont really have to have a mega wattage one if you make sure the flow rate thru it is fairly slow.
I think what he meant by series is to not make all your tanks connected as one system so if something goes wrong in one system you still have a functional system. example if you have 18 tanks instead of plumbing them all together plumb 3 sets of 6 independent of the other so if one system has a mishap you still have 12 functional tanks. If two systems fail you still have 6 tanks and so on.
 

fishgeek01

Active Member
When setting this up it is important to have seperate series. I did a similar thing at the lfs i worked in before college, i set up their current saltwater section, can't say that i am proud of it, it had to be done low budget, and i am not a fan but here is what i know. First, set up several series, put smaller tanks on the bottom, like 3 20g highs, on the next level put 2 20g longs, and then some smaller tanks on top again like the 20g high. Just mix and match so that you have several different sized tanks in each series make sure you have a few larger tanks like 40 breeders or 55g so that you can house larger fish as well, that way you always have places to put different sized livestock should one of the other systems (series) fail. Dont put all the same size tanks in. go to a local farm supply store and look into stock tanks or use some cheap fish tanks. our distributers had tanks they sold for next to nothing because of chips, or the sealant looking bad, or nicks in the frames these make excellent cheap refugiums. rubbermaid makes several different sizes of stock tanks, some are even pre drilled, i went with the 100 gallon tanks. use this as a huge refugium add a dsb and lilve rock as well as cheato and put lights over it. use one per series. you can then use the plumbing to each stock tank to put in a uv sterilzer and a skimmer and whatever other filtration you feel is needed. the idea is volume, not nescisarily (sp) on display but total gallons. the more the better. with the lighting, only one section should have reef capable lighting on it unless you plan on doing a lot of corals due to expense, this can always be changed later on, the rest should be standard lighting for fish and inverts. auto top off is a good thing to have, with fresh r/o water of course, and the fuge will make it easy to heat the system if needed, or even cool it if needed. the top off can be on all three series together, just different float valves. only one top off tank needed. i recomend using a bare bottom tank in tanks where only fish will be and putting fine grade sand in your coral display tanks. this makes cleaning a breeze. a doser is always good for the coral section whether for phytoplankton or things like kalkwasser and calcium. let me know if i can be of any mroe help i have many more ideas, but never got to use them
 

puffer9006

Member
wow thats really great stuff. i thought about it though what if i took each tank and had them flow down to the sump indivualy (sp). then the water goes though the protien skimmer then to the uv. after that bring it back up to the tanks. is that about right. i did plan on having a seperate system for coral. the thing im trying to work in is the ruge. im not sure how to work that in. i plan to put one on the coral tanks i figure one big 55g and some smaller tanks for other corals and inverts. do i need to have a fuge on the fish tanks?
any other ideas you have please share them with me im probly going to other fish store and look at thier set ups. thanks for everybodys help so far.
 

auntkaren

Member
You might also consider a little concession to your boss and set up one display nano tank. Make it display only showpiece and stand alone. Not connected to the system you are describing above. A 24G nano for example. Keep a "public" journal so that you can show others what is and was involved.
Put in corals and appropriate fishes and other inverts so that the customer looks, says WOW! and says I want to do that! I imagine your boss wants people to "want that" and to buy his merchandise. The customer will have you to come to and trust. One of our LFS's has done this and said that his saltwater sales went up 25% in a month! That's not a bad start.
Just a suggestion....
 

puffer9006

Member
ya we do have a couple nano cubes set up now over the store. i would like to set a nice tank maybe like a 55g but our saltwater sells will have to go up before that happens. i know a place were they have a nano 72g bow front and a 500g set up and it looks so cool.
i be sure to upgrade this page when i start building it. i think we are starting to build the stand for it on wensday.
if any body has other ideas on system to set up please speak up. it be nice to try to combine a bunch of ideas together.
 

reef diver

Active Member
Sounds like a cool idea, my philosophy is that the fish when first arriving will do way better with some rock in their tanks to hide in. My LFS has that philosophy, its like going(for me) froim where I live, and being transported to a tiny glas box lecvatating high in the sky, so Id say set it up like any good saltwater tank, not nearly as much as usually requiered, but enough to allow fish to hide. Also, why not a UV for each return liune to each tank, or in between them, so instead of one UBer UV with awesome results, youve got many smaller ones, between tanks, so there is less chance of cross infection, and its like 10000000 times better, cause its lots of litle ones that the effects pile up. Its like andding three to the one two punch, but the setup it self spounds cool, that would be my dream, a whole massive system set up around my future house, all linked to a massive uber sump/refuge in a basement or garage, and like tons of tanks all linked, NO water quality problems ever! problems EVER! And i realised that this really cuts costs, because you dont have to buy filtration for every tank, you have one large skimmer and thats it!, cause the refuge/sump take care of the rest, and a few uv filters
 

reef diver

Active Member
basically tyhe same setup as what u want to do. Man my english teacher would kill me for what is writen above
 

reef diver

Active Member
And when I mean live rock, i mean base rock quality, nothing special, not like a display tank, just enough to give the fish sme thing to hide in. And i would make it so its easy to tae out and catch a fish with, ur boss however, may not be so into this idea, its a bit more expensive, because of the little uv filters, the rock and the sand, but the fish survival rates while instore will go way up, and the fish will live longer and adapt better when they go into the new owners tanks, IMO treat ur store fish the way u would treat yours, nicely and with lots of care, because they are still fish. Also, with a nice looking setup for youyr saltwater people would be more apt to buy saltwater from u, I agree to the display idea.
 

puffer9006

Member
for hiding spots i was going to use plactic castle or big peice of pvc pipe instide of lr just because thier is more chance bacteria to grow of the lr. but i like the uv idea it seems that might cut cost. and it make sence to have one on each return line.
 

acrylic51

Active Member
Originally Posted by puffer9006
its really because they stack a bunch of fish in one tank with a heater and a fuval filter with maybe 1/2 sand bed maybe less and the fish dont do well
To make life easier on yourself they shouldn't put any substrate in these tanks due to chance of outbreaks, which would never be cured or solved.....you never see your bigger places running substrate in the FO systems for that reason.
 
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