New Member

[t3d]

Wanted to say Hi to you all :happy: . I have been admiring saltwater tanks for about a year now, and now is my time to get into this hobby. I am so happy to find this board...thanks to the creator

! I plan to start a 20 - 30 gallon tank today! I plan on buying the tank, filter(skimmer), light, test kit, heater, thermometer, live sand, and uncured live rock today. Question should I put all of this together today? Should I get uncured rock to start my tank with live sand? I dont want to kill anything. I think i will need a special light if I want life to come out of the rock, any suggestions for that? THANKS! :jumping:

 

[birdy]

Hi

Well my first suggestion would be to buy a book, The Conscientious Marine Aquarist, is a very good one.
After you have read that book then you can think about getting started.
Is a 30gallon the biggest you can get? I honestly would recommend a tank size like a 58 or a 65 gallon if you need to start out small, 30gal is a bit smaller than I recommend but is doable if you are very committed.
Start out by buying your tank and stand, put the stand where you want it and level it with a level, use shims to get it level, then fill the tank with tap water and check the level again and be sure tank isn't leaking, put your pumps and filters on the tank and run them to be sure everything is working properly. If everything is fine, then drain the tap water completely out fo the tank.
Either buy an RO/DI unit or buy it from a LFS, Fill the tank with the RO/DI water, mix your salt in the water first, after the water is the correct salinity (35ppt on a refractometer, or 1.025 if you are keeping corals and inverts and fish, 1.022 if you are keeping fish only).
Start up your pumps and heater, filter.
Add the sand and uncured LR, lights are not necessary right now IMO, skimmer is. Things will be cloudy for a while from the sand, this is normal, Once the tank is cleared up , start testing your water, you should see a spike in Ammonia, then a spike in Nitrite, then a drop in Ammonia, a rise in Nitrates then a drop in Nitrite, then a drip in Nitrates, once nitrates stop falling (usually around 30), you can do a 20% water change check levels again after a week and then add your cleanup crew. Do not worry about levels other than Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate during the cycle.
Lighting: this depends on what you want to keep, if you want only Fish then a simple two bulb flourescent fixture with one 10k bulb and one actinic bulb will be fine, if you want reef we can talk about that later.
Hope that helps a little.

 

[t3d]

Thanks Birdy..
If i don't have the correct light will the LR die?

 

[birdy]

nope, what makes LR "live" is the bacteria that is on the LR, the bugs and critters on it are also part of the "live". Neither of those things are going to be effected by no or low lights.

 

[schubert]

Please consider a bigger tank. I started with a 40g tank and still have it, but it is really too small to contain all of the livestock I would like to own. You'll soon find yourself wishing to add more and more, but you don't have a lot to work with with a 30 gallon, not even a 40 gallon. Larger systems may cost more and take more work at first, but they are more stable and will allow you SO much more freedom and choice, not to mention beauty in most cases.
If you have already bought the tank, you could consider using the 30 as a quarantine tank. That's a perfect size for a QT tank. However, I understand if you are on a budget and still want to go smaller. I just want to prevent other newbies from making the same mistake I made. But yes the Conscientious Marine Aquarist is a great starting place.

 

[ophiura]

I would look in our archive forum at some of the advice for new hobbyists, make a list of what you need, and get recommendations on items before wasting any money. :yes:

 

[mudplayerx]

Welcome to the boards. Make sure you do about 2 hours of research here prior to each purchase