need help with new salt water aquarium
- Thread starter calvindo
- Start date
escape2thewater
Active Member
A second welcome! There are many "good" ways to do the same thing in this hobby with none being totaly right or wrong. You will find this to be the case with many areas and you will just have to decide what is best for your tank. As for filteration most favor a sump type system underneath the tank and also a refugium if you have room for it and the more LR the better. And of course never forget a good skimmer too! BTW you may need much more for a reef system, this is pretty much for FOWLR & inverts.
Kyle
Kyle
calvindo
Member
Thanks! this is really awesome... For starters like me, do you recommend starting with some salt water fish? rather then a reef tank? I do REALLY want a salt water fish tank, but unsure what i'm getting myself into... friends say it's really high maintanance and very difficult to maintain.
I sorta need more details regarding filtration system... do i go with a wet/dry system or an under the tank system. Which is best? is actually my question.
How about fish thats easy to maintain for starters? do i got with Triggers, groupers, eels? I hear those are fairly easy to maintain.
Thanks!
Calvin
I sorta need more details regarding filtration system... do i go with a wet/dry system or an under the tank system. Which is best? is actually my question.
How about fish thats easy to maintain for starters? do i got with Triggers, groupers, eels? I hear those are fairly easy to maintain.
Thanks!
Calvin
birdy
Active Member
Well my suggestion would be to do a FOWLR, you want a live sand bed, and 1.5-2.0 lbs of LR per gallon. A good protein skimmer is important. I would do an overflow into a sump where your skimmer, and heater and maybe a refugium would be held. The type of fish in this type of aquarium would be more on the community fish level. If you want an aggresive tank (triggers, lionfish, eels, puffers) then I think you do want a good wet/dry but you can go to the aggresive forum and ask about filters there. You can always do a wet/dry but I don't think they are absolutely necessary especially if you do want to convert your FOWLR into a reef someday (which many people do)
terminus est
Member
Here is what I would do. May cost some more money now but will be much less work in the long run with better results.
I. Tank- get about 3-5 inches of aragonite sand on the bottom, you can use silicate sand with no ill effects but it wont have that white look and wont help buffer like aragonite. Get some LR, most fish like caves and stuff and it looks better. In a Fish only w/LR you can put as much as you like but personally I would do a rock wall with 50-80 pounds of LR or more. You can save yourself a lot of money at this step though. Buy about 2/3 base rock (at as much as 10% the cost of LR) and use this as a base and then hand select the other 1/3 of LR and place over the base rock. It will eventually seed and turn the base into live anyway. Put a couple powerheads in. In my 65 I have 3 maxijet 1200s. One is behind my rock wall eliminating the dead areas back there and the other two are at either back corner aiming up and towards the center glass. Theres your tank.
II. Refugium- This is a really important part of the tank and will help you greatly. Get the biggest tank you can fit, or use a rubbermaid container, I prefer to see whats going on in my tank though. Ad about 3 or 4 inches of sand. Get an overflow and run it down to the fuge and have a waterpump or powerhead putting water back up into the main tank. After the initial cycle get some macro algae in here as well as some LR rubble and find a NO light(I used the one that came with my 55 tank) with a 10k bulb and you have a working refugium that will work wonders at ridding your main tank of algae and filtration. I was shocked at mine. You can also add a protien skimmer if you want to this rather than having it in the main tank.
Due to the lack of time i will let someone else deal with fish.
I. Tank- get about 3-5 inches of aragonite sand on the bottom, you can use silicate sand with no ill effects but it wont have that white look and wont help buffer like aragonite. Get some LR, most fish like caves and stuff and it looks better. In a Fish only w/LR you can put as much as you like but personally I would do a rock wall with 50-80 pounds of LR or more. You can save yourself a lot of money at this step though. Buy about 2/3 base rock (at as much as 10% the cost of LR) and use this as a base and then hand select the other 1/3 of LR and place over the base rock. It will eventually seed and turn the base into live anyway. Put a couple powerheads in. In my 65 I have 3 maxijet 1200s. One is behind my rock wall eliminating the dead areas back there and the other two are at either back corner aiming up and towards the center glass. Theres your tank.
II. Refugium- This is a really important part of the tank and will help you greatly. Get the biggest tank you can fit, or use a rubbermaid container, I prefer to see whats going on in my tank though. Ad about 3 or 4 inches of sand. Get an overflow and run it down to the fuge and have a waterpump or powerhead putting water back up into the main tank. After the initial cycle get some macro algae in here as well as some LR rubble and find a NO light(I used the one that came with my 55 tank) with a 10k bulb and you have a working refugium that will work wonders at ridding your main tank of algae and filtration. I was shocked at mine. You can also add a protien skimmer if you want to this rather than having it in the main tank.
Due to the lack of time i will let someone else deal with fish.
dacia
Active Member
I believe the best filtration is LS and LR. The more the better. They add surface area for lots of beneficial bacteria to grow which reduces the ammonia and nitrite levels.
Some plants are good if you can keep cutting them back when they start to overtake your tank. Some people around here let them grow and grow and grow until their tank looks more like a lagoon and a pristine reef. Most people will agree that plants and algaes are better left in the refugium since they are able to do their job (reduce nitrate) there without making your tank look like a swamp.
Some plants are good if you can keep cutting them back when they start to overtake your tank. Some people around here let them grow and grow and grow until their tank looks more like a lagoon and a pristine reef.
Most people will agree that plants and algaes are better left in the refugium since they are able to do their job (reduce nitrate) there without making your tank look like a swamp.