New to saltwater

[toejam]

Hello, my name is Travis and I am going to be getting into saltwater. Before I go buy everything I would like some help with my setup. I have a 30 gallon that I would like to use to start my saltwater tank. It consists of a emeporer 400 and a 65 watt lighting fixture. I would like a easy setup and easy fish.
My questions are what fish, coral or sand and what is a skimmer? I would like to buy what I need on bigals or wherever to save some money. My wife likes the clown fish but there seems to be so many types.
I have a 125 gallon tank for my 3 goldfish. I do 50 percent water changes every week. So I already have a understanding of basic fish maintenance, like high nitrates and ph.
One more note my tap ph is 6.2
Thanks for any help and I want to start right than to kill fish trying to start wrong. Any links to start might help me, I have read alot and understand but with my setup it might change things.

 

[lexluethar]

I would not use tap water for saltwater. The tap water has things like metals, chlorine, and other contaminants that are not found in the ocean, so fish and coral usually suffer if you use tap water on saltwater fish.
A skimmer is a unit that cleans out the top of the water - something that is usually needed for satwater - because again pristine water conditions are a must.
For saltwater fish they require much lower nitrates, you usually want to try and keep them below 20 for fish, and if you want corals they should really be 0.
I would go with a few damsels to start out - granite they are a pain to get out later on, but they are hardy and easy to keep.
YOu need to use fine sand or fine aragonite in your tank - crushed coral or a lot of other types of subrate you find at ***** and walmart are way to large will not allow beneficial bacteria buildup, they will also hide food and allow it to breakdown, raising nitrates.
Unlike freshwater, you need liver rock (LR) in your saltwater tank, you can find this and your local fish store (LFS).

 

[renogaw]

also, try to read and understand the nitrogen cycle, and how it affects your tank. you do not want to put any fish into your tank while it cycles, which is the breakdown of ammonia into lesser deadly nitrites and eventually nitrates. you also do not want to do 50% water changes weekly, but more like 10% changes

 

[toejam]

Iam not sure I understand why I cant use my tap water. How do I change the water and even fill the tank to start? Do I use distilled?
I thought the coral would help buffer my low ph in my tap water.
Is my 65 watt enough for this setup?
I understand the cycle, I dont understand the live rock and sand if the tank is going to cycle like freshwater. It takes a month to cycle freshwater so could I do the same with saltwater minus live sand and live rock?
Iam sorry for the easy questions, I am still reading alot on the forum and want to post my thoughts and questions. I

 

[buckster71]

Travis,
You'll learn more about it. RODI (Reverse Osmosis Dionized Water) is what is prefered in Saltwater keeping.
While it is true that just plain ol' tap water contains alot of bad elements all inclusive with lead, it should be filtered before you add it to your tank. You can either buy it at a local fish store or generate your own by buying and RODI filter for your house.
But be wary as an RO filter does not take out chemicals such as Chlorine. That has to be taken out by chemical means (by a suppliment that you can find in any local fish store)

 

[lexluethar]

You can't use tap water because it has harmful minerals and chlorine that you don't find in saltwater oceans. You can use it in freshwater aquariums because in general freshwater fish are MUCH more hardy and less fragile. Goldfish (i had fancy gold fish for 3 years prior to switching to saltwater) are some of the most hardy fish you can buy. I'm sure a more experienced hobbiest can tell you more technical reasons why not to use tap - just don't do it. Use RO/DI water, most of the time you can find RO water at walmart, or RO/DI at your local fish store.
The coral (crush coral i presume) will help buffer your ph, but that isn't the reason why not to use tap water. Heck, tap water has high PH than RO/DI i believe and you are supposed to use RO/DI. I personally would go with live sand. IN order to raise the PH of the RO/DI water, you need to premix water 24 hours before putting it into your tank and placing a power head in the water to stir it up, allowing air to mix with the water - raising the PH.
I'm no expert on lights, but 65 watts really depends on the type of lights and what you are wanting to get. I think 65 watts of quality light on a 30 gallon tank would support soft corals and such, but not things like anemones and hard corals.
i didn't say the tank will cycle like freshwater, in fact i think i remember reading somewhere the bacteria is actually different (makes sense since it is saltwater). In saltwater aquariums the beneficial bacteria that break down ammonia into nitrite, and nitrite into nitrates live in rocks (live rocks that are porous, ask your local fish store or look online) and within sand. Base rock and sand without this bacteria is just base, and with the bacteria is called live rock and live sand. The cycle typically takes a month.

 

[buckster71]

Oh,
And stay away from distilled water, unless you buy stuff made for young babies, as I'm sure they make that as pure as they can ((I'M GUESSING)). That is because some places distill it in copper pipes. Copper will get into the water and potentially kill any inverts and corals that you would want to add. Not to mention the good little critters that you will have in your sand.

 

[usirchchris]

I have always used tap water...no problems here. Granted I do not have any corals, fish only. The little advice I would give is to make sure you quarantine anything new for at least a month, and have patience. Good luck it is a very rewarding hobby. Oh yeah, not saying don't use RODI water, I am sure it has benefits, but if you are on a budget as I am, just use a water conditioner (something that removes chlorine and heavy metals), and it should be fine to use tap if you are doing fish only. Never done corals, so I can't comment there.

 

[nemofreak]

tap water may not be the best choice but i use it and so does my friend who has a tank for 4 yrs.

 

[toejam]

Things are clearer now. I did go to the local fish store and he advised me on a coral base to buffer my tap water. Thats why I am here because there information has been wrong before on keeping goldfish alive. They only want to sell fish.
Lex why did you quit with the goldfish? I had a hard time when I started but learned into killing 6 or so that I had to do major water changes every week.
Thanks for the help. I will start on this tomorrow and get some pictures up as I do it.

 

[lexluethar]

I quit goldfish for a few reasons. I too did kill a few fish at first (prolly 3) but it was because i didn't understand the cycling process. Then we had a winter storm in Missouri last winter and didn't have electricity for a week - my fish survived with a tank temp of around 60, but died a few weeks later. I think it was the stress of the temp changes. Then i saw saltwater and wanted a new challenge (b/c other than the first few weeks, i had the same goldfish for about 3 years and everything was fine / boring), so i started reading up and looking online about saltwater.
It seems that a lot of local fish stores are either ignorant about the topic of saltwater fish keeping, or just care about the dollar. I told someone yesterday you hear a lot of "well this has worked for me and i've been in the hobby for 20 years", well just because its worked for them doesn't mean its right, or that it will work for you. My advise is just to read up, don't purchase anything until you read up on cycling, what type of fish, what type of corals, size of tank, etc. Come up with a game plan. A lot of people "dive in" (no pun intended) and don't have a gameplan, then three weeks later come onto this site and complain about how things failed miserably. Plan and read, do your homework and your chances of losing a lot of money and killing a lot of fish will diminish greatly.
mike

 

[snakeblitz33]

Save yourself some money and fill your tank up with tap water and dechlorinate it for a couple of days. Then add the appropriate amount of salt to get your salinity correct (about 1.020 for fish only).
Fish don't care about what lighting you have, bacteria doesn't either.
An Emperor 400 is way too big for a 30 gallon aquarium, I would recommend the Emperor 280.
A protein skimmer is a piece of equipment that "skims" out fish waste and excess nutrients, (and some argue much needed minerals). It prevents cyanobacteria and other unwanted bacteria and algaes from spreading. If there is nothing to eat, there is nothing to fuel the bloom. I recommend a CPR Bak Pak skimmer with no biobale.
Biobale and bioballs and sponges collect excessive amounts of nutrience and create sort of nitrate traps. If you have anything like that in your system, I recommend getting rid of it. Others however say that it is beneficial and that you should leave it in. It's really your decision.
Live rock is one of the key componants to a healthy system. Live rock is not actually alive, but filled with bacteria and microinvertebrates that help cycle and eat excess nutrience. When you first start your tank, some of the life on the rock is going to die off, this will cause an ammonia spike and a Nitrite spike, and then eventually a NitrAte spike. Things will eventually calm down. During all of the chemical reactions, bacteria will be growing. You will see diatoms which are brown and will form all around the tank, and the last stage is a film of green algae. During taking care of your aquarium, you may as we all have, experience a cyanobacteria outbreak. I recommend some research on this. Cyano is caused by excess nutrience. Prepare yourself for what will come, and try to always find a more natural means to cure your precious ecosystem.
If there is any other information that you would find helpful, private message me. I must warn you, I do not know everything, and you must take everyone's advice with a grain of salt.

 

[sprieto]

What was the "coral base to buffer my tap water" that was suggested to you?

 

[grumpygils]

https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/264597/a-list-of-extremely-helpful-threads-for-all-hobbyists/40
Hey Travis,
Welcome to the boards. You might find the above thread useful. It has links to many informative threads.
Mc

 

[snakeblitz33]

I'm not sure what "coral base to buffer my tap water" is, however, if you buy a dechlorinator such as "Prime" or a simple dechlorinator and follow the instructions, I'm sure everything will work out.
Dechlorinate your fresh tap water first for a couple of days and then you can add salt.
If you add salt and then try to dechlorinate it, the pH will not stabilize and you will have to start over.

 

[hammerhed7]

The coral base they are talking about is most likely crushed coral, stick with sand, your salt mix should deliver the proper ph, providing you do frequent water changes.

 

[renogaw]

the only thing i truly do not like about this conversation is the suggestion for using tap water.
there is more than just chlorine in tap water, and the dechlorinators will not remove it.
there are phosphates, nitrates, copper (VERY BAD FOR SALT TANKS), hard solids and metals, flouride, etc etc etc.
you will have lots more issues than these additions, uncontrollable algae growth and unexplained deaths of inverts.
also, the ocean's salt level is at 1.025-1.026, or to be more precice 31-32 sg. fish will not be comfortable at 1.020, and any invert that is placed in there will definitely not do well since they need the higher salt levels as well.

 

[marka1620]

You can pick up R/O water at Walmart in 1 gallon jugs. It has the green cap and label. Costs about 55 cents a gallon.

 

[toejam]

I use prime for my all my water changes. I also use coral in my canister filters for my goldfish tank to keep the ph stable.
I am going to go buy sand tonight, what am I looking for in particular? I know there wont be a simple white fine grain choice. Should I find something fine, course or in between? Should I buy a bag with live sand just for the top?
I will get the r/o water from walmart.
I just bought a heater, Hydor Koralia 1 - 400GPH and Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Saltwater Master Test Kit.
I also figure 30 - 40 lbs of live rock at local fish store.

 

[lexluethar]

I would buy fine sand. What you use in your goldfish aquarium is probably really large pieces or rock or coral. In saltwater you should use fine sand or aragonite - but small enough pieces where there is no space between grains. Here is a thread talking about the different types and the benefits: https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/297040/crushed-coral
The sand actually won't be "alive" when you purchase it because it has no bacteria in it, unless you get sand from an established tank.