Potential new salt hobbist

[fishtaco]

Originally Posted by Mecc
http:///forum/post/3163572
I wouldn't even know where to get a tank drilled at. What happens if the the tank cracks during drilling you out a tank then?
how big of a sump pump do you need to run that type of filtration?
How big of holes would need to be drilled and where would be good places on the aquarium itself to place those holes? How many would need to be drilled?
This is a perfect example of why a nano is a good way to start, I don't have the slightest idea either how to get a tank drilled, but I do have two stock nano's that are full of healthy critters, are absolutely stable when it comes to water quality and only require about 45 minutes work a week at most for both. I also don't run a skimmer and use water straight from my well. I might upgrade someday too, but I doubt I will take down either of my nano's when I do. Hope this helps and I included a picture of one of my nano's that was set up about 6 months ago, I got this tank on sale new at a local fish store for 100 dollars, spent another 50 on crushed coral, live rock, heater ect. Probably spent another 15 dollars on a damsel, hermits and snails. The coral is all from 5-10 dollar frags, so at the most I have about 250 dollars on this tank. Not trying to step on any toes here, but I don't think you have to spend a buttload of money to have a nice little tank.
Fishtaco

 

[mecc]

lol No one has discouraged me yet, I don't believe anyone is stepping on toes, as in freshwater there are many methods to the madness

I'm just trying to get as much info as I can so I can make good sound choices with fish and any other things that I may want to keep in the tank but I need to get some of the basics out of the way, this is a big investment long term I want to be as ready to take it on as I can. I have read the 101 guide that someone posted that helped out a ton, and everyone that has answered me has given me outstanding information and made me think of things that I hadn't thought of before and for that I thank you all!!
Like I said yesterday I should be getting the tank from that guy this evening I'll get an inventory of what he sold me and post it so I know where I stand as far as equipment needs. He told me I'll have a filter powerheads and some other things again havn't been able to talk with him for more than 10 min on this. He is kind of in a pickle needing to sell tanks Since the wife and I were sort of looking that made this work for us cost wise start up.

 

[socalnano24]

as someone else mentioned a nano is probably simpler for what your looking for. An external Sump and drilling a tank starts to get a lot more complicated. (Even though it is a good route to take if you know what your doing or are a very good DIYer) Here's a picture of my nano, its taught me alot for my first tank

 

[rigdon87]

I don't kno if this was said but the larger the tank the easier to maitain and more forgiving.I would get the biggest tank your wallet can afford,this will give you more options with fish and you wont find yourself wanting to upgrade in a couple months

 

[mecc]

I'm very familiar with the larger tank concept. I have a 60 gal freshwater planted tank as I statted before. I'm just limited in space Plus I don't think the wife would approve of me getting another tank over 55 gallons lol I'd be sleeping in the tank.

 

[rigdon87]

Originally Posted by Mecc
http:///forum/post/3163694
I'm very familiar with the larger tank concept. I have a 60 gal freshwater planted tank as I statted before. I'm just limited in space Plus I don't think the wife would approve of me getting another tank over 55 gallons lol I'd be sleeping in the tank.

OK.But im willing to bet money that within 6months you'll be tearing that 60g freshwater down and converting it into saltwater(then you'll have to buy all new equipment,and nothin in this hobby is cheap) and with that bein said all the money you spent on that 29g would of been a waste.Its kinda like this, youv'e got a brand new ferrari and a geo metro wich one are you gonna drive more.saltwater is just so much cooler,but don't take this the wrong way im trying to help you and save you a little doh in the process

 

[mecc]

the wife and I have actually talked about the possibility of converting the 60, but with what I wanted and have done with it,(planted Community with hope of going Discus) I'm most likley not going to do that anytime soon. We wanted a 2nd tank for our bedroom ( hence the lack of space issue) So even if we did convert the 60 we would still want the one upstairs. the Wife is actually wanting her own tank to maintain ( more like me maintain and her enjoy looking at the animals lol) We had debated with fresh and salt for the last 6 months or so and came to realize that we both wanted to try a salt tank.
I'm going in with this in mind If I can do it in a smaller tank which is going to be difficult then I can do it in any size tank. Same thought I had with my freshwater, I had a 20 gallon for years up until 3 years ago. Yes the 60 is much easier to take care of, I bet I spend less than an hour a week maintaining it. The plants help out alot with that fact too

I'm excited and counting down til I get off work to go pick the tank up!!

By the way whats a good way to clean the tank out with? I read somewhere white vinagar is this true or not?

 

[mecc]

ok well I think my 100 bucks has bought me a headache... they guy was trying to tell me all kinds of stuff that made me wonder how he was able to keep anything alive. He informed me that Wal mart had the best prices for the supplies I needed.... Umm last I checked they carried no salt equipment/supplies for aquariums.
He then told me how to feed the fish by turning off the filter airstone ( yes there are 4 for them in the tank!! he said he loved bubbles in all of his tanks.) the heater and the powerhead. then when they are done eating turn it all back on. He told me he like to triple the filtration on his tanks ( last I checked a powerhead just moved water and an airstone was just that to put air in a tank, or to create an effect.) The lighting he had is for a basic freshwater set up how he was able to keep any live rock alive I will never know!
So here is what I got
Marineland 280 filter (unknown if it works)
Marineland powerhead 660 (unknown if it works)
Heater unknown wattage (going in the trash most likely)
air pump( junk)
tank
hood (Junk)
Light (Junk)
Power strip (unknown if it works)
The tank needs LOTS of work and cleaning, I'm thinking by the time I get this tank in a usable condition it may be in Dec or Jan.
He also told me ( which would explain why everything was stuck together) that every 6 months or so he would add salt to the tank. (said nothing about water changes) Everything was crusted over with salt. took a screw driver and careful scraping to get underneath the rock so I could pull it out. He also couldn't tell me how long the tank had been dry. I hope I didn't buy a lemon so to say lol. I think I can make this work if not I'll sell the parts or something and get a new system.
I think he was into aquariums for the wrong reasons and had these set up to say he had a type of fish or tank. But I don't think he overly cared about the animals.
So where do I start from here other than just cleaning the tank super well?

 

[flukes]

OOOO NO,,, what a bummer!! I hope that you at least received a stand for the tank. I would be very disappointed if for $100 all you got was a dirty 29 gallon tank.
This is not the best of ideas and normally don't recommend this but if the tank is really bad you can use CLR cleaner then rinse then water with a little bit of bleach, rinse and rinse some more.
Try to keep your chin up,,, something good will come around for you!

 

[mecc]

This guy was borderline poster boy hoarder I don't even know if he knows whats in his house.
No stand this was on his counter in his kitchen of all places, says he has 3 in the bathroom including a 75 gal.
Lesson learned on that I think we can make this work just going to take some elbow grease and some time.
He substrate (if you want to call it that) was a mix of crushed coral sand shells, and cm sized stones. He had some sort of live rock along with some larger shells, a large piece of quartz ( which if cleaned up may work in my 60 gal) I think that we will be piecing this together over the next couple months and hope we can get it going.
If the filter on this is no good, which is very likely what is a good filter for salt on a 29? do the Bio wheels make good filters for salt?

 

[flukes]

I used a Penguin bio-wheel over the back filter when I first started this hobby, it work just fine but made a mess. Salt creep was horrible, because it would splash water as it reentered the tank, and noisy too. You may want to consider a canister filer or do you remember on my thread with my new tank and the black thing that meowzer commented on? That is a Fluval U3 Advanced Three Stage Underwater Filter for Aquariums 24 - 40 you could consider this. It works great, super super quiet but it does take up a lot of room inside the tank though it would also serve as a power head. When looking at the picture that I posted keep in mind that it is only a 20 gallon tank.

 

[fretfreak13]

Just throwing this out there, my stocklist for my 29 gallon:
-2 clownfish
-1 royal gramma
-1 midas blenny
-1 Mandarin (you MUST have a fuge unless you want to spend a lot of money to dose your tank with copepods. These are expensive little fish sometimes. I have 2 fuges)
-1 yellow headed jawfish
You might want to knock off one or two of those fish if you don't have a working sump, which adds water volume to your tank. I have a 20 gallon sump, protien skimmer, I run carbon and chemi-pure, and I have a fuge down there (the other is a HOB). I'm still adding to my sump, putting in some type of sponge material and turning it into a wet/dry possbly. Micro algea is good too, it helps eat up bad things in your water. Some other good nano fish to look into are: Gobys, Blennies, Dartfish/Firefish, dwarf angels (may nip corals), and small wrasses like the sixline.

 

[rigdon87]

Originally Posted by Mecc
http:///forum/post/3163844
So here is what I got
Marineland 280 filter (unknown if it works)
Marineland powerhead 660 (unknown if it works)
Heater unknown wattage (going in the trash most likely)
air pump( junk)
tank
hood (Junk)
Light (Junk)
Power strip (unknown if it works)

Originally Posted by Mecc
http:///forum/post/3163867
This guy was borderline poster boy hoarder I don't even know if he knows whats in his house.

.Lmao this is good stuff.At least you have a sense of humor about it

 

[mecc]

ok attempting to upload some pictures for you to see what I'm up against

 

[mecc]

I have to take it as it comes, I work retail and talk with people that make me wonder how they get through life. So ending up with this tank just adds to it the whole thing. he is a customer of mine and I thought I'd be helping him out since he is moving and gaining a tank in the process, well I gained a tank at least lol
It is rather comical if you think about it
BTW the white thing in the last picture is a chunk of salt that I think was attached to the heater

 

[mecc]

what's a good canister filter for a 29 salt?
how true is the 15-20x per hour flow rate that I read in the 101 guide?
Just tested the powerhead 660 and it is in good working condition and very usable. Cleaned it up barley tell it's used
Small steps...

 

[flukes]

I hear that wal-mart has all the stuff you will need for your aquarium and I'm sure that they will have a great and wonderful selection of canister filers to choose from

(sorry I could not help it)... You shouldn't need a big canister filer for your 29 gallon tank. What you might want to do is go to your closest pet store and see what they sell, the reason for this is so that you can buy filters for it easily. I hope that when you posted that the nearest place for you to buy saltwater fish was an hour away that you have some place close that maybe sells fresh water supplies and there you can buy a canister filter. I like that ones that have a spray bar on them.
Between the power head that you have just restored and the return on the canister filer you should have enough water turn over without adding any more power head

.

 

[mecc]

That was a good one.... lol
Well after doing some calling around and some internet searching looks like I'm going to be spending over 500, So instead of doing all that the wife and I decided to go get the nano cube for less and get this up and running.
I'm not done with the other one I got last night we are going to clean it real good and use it as a quarentine tank/sick tank/emergency tank. I think that this is a good idea based on other places I have read in case an expensive fish gets sick I can treat it in a separate tank with out worry of harming other things in the main system.
So I'm off tonight to get the nano we will get the salt sand in the next week or two, then either find an R/O system for home or get some r/o from the store we will then get some live rock and get it up and running, hopefully before Thanksgiving I'll be up and running.
I'll be asking more questions I'm sure as I go
like this one what is a good home R/O system and how do those work, do they hook up to a sink ro do you need to hook in to your amin line?

 

[fishtaco]

Wow, looking at that tank in the pics, I think you made the right choice with buying a bio-cube.
Fishtaco

 

[mecc]

Yeah we have built the stand for the cube last night put the tank on it but it sits empty currently. We will be doing a leak test on in today as well as a pump test make sure nothing broke while it shipped to the store before I bought it.
I'll start cleaning the other tank up for a quarentine system as well, Worst case we sell it off to someone else for a loss but at least it will be in better condition.
Like I said before
Lesson learned!