Starting out question

atomikk

atomikk

New Member
Hi,
I am very new to the SW hobby. I have kept freshwater, and cichlid tanks. Now I am more interested in SW and am curious about a couple of things. I am doing all my necessary prep work before I jump in and start purchasing things.
I am converting my 35gal freshwater into saltwater but I want to do it slowly since I dont want to drop 800-900$ right off the top. I was thinking of starting out with just buying either live sand or aragonite and RO or Filtered water. Then, every two weeks, I was going to add a component... like P.skimmer, then W/D filter (Eheim), then live rock and then lights. Could I get away doing this or do I have to buy everything at once? So like the cycle process will be about 2 months.
Also, I dont want to get into complications with a sump/refugium. Can I just use a W/D filter with a skimmer instead (with bi weekly water changes.. or even monthly)?
Thanks
 
birdy

birdy

Active Member
My first question is what do you want to keep in the tank? do you want mainly fish, do you want corals?
My recommendation is to start out with a Fish only tank with LR, if you want corals eventually just be sure you get fish that go well in a reef tank, later on you can get corals.
To convert your current tank, first empty and clean it out with vinegar. Have you used ANY copper based medications in the tank, if you haven't that is good, if you have, then you will not be able to keep inverts or corals in the tank, only fish.
Go with a shallow sandbed and LR, this will be the primary biological filtration of your tank (in otherwords you do not need a wet/dry). For a tank that size you "can" get away without a protein skimmer but I would still advise it (look at the cpr bakpak skimmer). Another option is a Hang on back refugium (cpr makes one). YOu will also need powerheads for circulation, and a heater.
If you are just going with fish at first then simple flourescent bulbs are fine, just go with one 10k bulb and one 03 actinic.
You will also want test kits and a refractometer.
 
atomikk

atomikk

New Member
What mediactions have copper in them? I do want to keep inverts, soft corals, LPS, and of course fish.
 
alison

alison

Member
Hi, I REALLY recommend getting at least a 55 gal. to start. I started with a 30 gal. and had problems maintaining the tank. A lot of other people will agree with me on this one. Trust me, it's cheaper in the longrun to get the 55 gal. now. I have 2~ 55 gal.s now, ones a reef the other a fish only. I know you think that's gonna be more work, and money but PLEASE trust me on this, you'll thank me later, really. I recommend you do go with filtration unlike what birdy said. I have 2~ aqua clear 300's and that does work fine, and it's pretty cheap too. Then I have a 220 watt. ebo jager heater, so it's easier to see the temp. You'll like that function. As for sand or crushed coral~ do sand DEFINATELY. That's what everyone here says to do. And you can do livesand to jumpstart the cycle. Since your doin a reef, get your lights since you'll need them for the corals. For a 55 gal. You'll need 220 watts minimum of power compacts, but I recommend higher like 2 times 175 and doing metal halides. There are cheap ---- stores you can do for that. But if you do power compacts for now, then you can get started now, and buy the higher lighting later. I recommend gettin you lights, rock and setting up all the same time, so as not to go through a new cycle when you get your rock, and if you get your rock before your lights, then you loose a lot of live stuff on the rock without the lighting. As for the protein skimmer, you can go without that for a month or 2. Aqua remora is a good brand for that. As for salt, I recommend instant ocean. Oceanic is great and new, but lots of people are havin ph problems from it. So good luck, and you can email me directly if you have additional questions about cheap places to get stuff online and etc... alison19782004@yahoo.com Good luck, ~Alison
 
snipe

snipe

Active Member
I would disagree with alison on getting it all at the same time. I am not doing it and most other ppl dont. Get all your mechanicle "excuse the spelling" stuff first skimmers, heaters, test kits, filters, ect, ect, ect. Then when your ready and have all that stuff buy your sand and your live rock at the same time. And let the cycle begin.
 
dedwards

dedwards

Member
I also disagree with Alison on the purchasing and buying a larger tank. I started with a 20g tank and it's not hard to maintain. You just have to know what you are doing and don't rush anything. My first purchase would be to start off with some live rock and possibly live sand if you want to go that method. The live rock will be easier to cure now since you can cure it at the same time your tank cycles. The same with live sand. You don't need all of your live rock but a few pounds would do fine. Then you can either add more live rock later or add some base rock which is a little cheaper. While the tank is cycling you won't need a heater or filteration, although it wouldn't hurt to run them. You will just end up with clean water. You will need a powehead running during the cycle because you don't want your water to be stagnent.(sp)
 
bfoleyiii

bfoleyiii

Member
I too just started with SW, so while I'm a newb I can give you some ideas the issues I ran into and things I would do differently.
I started with a 12g nano......Go bigger
I went with CC...dont do this...go sand
You can seed your sand with some from the LFS, *buy* a cup from them to start yours off.
So far the live rock has been the most expensive thing for me, I did 15lbs at once from my LFS and at 8 bones a pound it sucked. Find someone that is wanting to dump some LR in the classifeds and see if you can save some money. (when I start my next tank I am thinking about making some live rock...but that is going to take some research)
Lighting, well I have 96w PC under my hood, light can get expensive too....again check the classifieds and see what you can come up with
Look to get a RO/DI filter, I spend about 7.5 a week on water it seems, water will soon surpass the lighting and then move on to the rock (I have a nano and do water changes very often and a larger tank shouldnt be quite so needy)
GET A GOOD BOOK, sorry for the caps but this is very important and I am waiting on mine to show up, dont do like I did and depend on the internet for all your information, reading a book is very important.
Hope this helps some.
Good luck and enjoy.
Bob3
 
atomikk

atomikk

New Member
Thanks a buch for your posts. I will definitely consider doing the following:
-buy the water (with salt), 10lb of LR and 40lb of arag
-get the powerheads
-get the heater
-get 30lb of LR
-get the lights, 2x65w pc /w 2 cooling fans
-get the Skimer
BTW could I use, for the time being, my freshwater LifeGlow for the initial cycle?
 
birdy

birdy

Active Member
you do not "need" the power compacts until you are ready to put corals in the tank, although the lighting you have now, could encourage problem algae growth.
 
atomikk

atomikk

New Member

Originally posted by Birdy
you do not "need" the power compacts until you are ready to put corals in the tank, although the lighting you have now, could encourage problem algae growth.
That is why I asked if I can use my LifeGlo flourescent befoe the pc lighting..
 
dedwards

dedwards

Member
You can always head over to saltcreep.com and signup there, and use me as a referral. There are some serious aquarists over there and they give good and honest advice. My tank went from looking like a martian wasteland to very nice from their advice.
 
atomikk

atomikk

New Member
Ok, what about a cycle with my freshwater flourescent lights (LifeGlo)? Can I run them while I cycle my tank?
 
birdy

birdy

Active Member
Do you have any idea what the kelvin rating of that bulb is, I am thinking it is just better to go without a light during the cycle than to use that bulb, algae tends to grow during the cycle anyway, why encourage it with the wrong bulbs. Or grab a new bulb for the break in period of your tank, they are only about $20.00.
 
alison

alison

Member
Hi, all I was saying is that you WILL lose some stuff on your liverock without lighting, and recommend some sort of lighting, even florecent, just somethin. Like I had some liverock that had polyps and corals on it, and they died because I didn't get lights before i got the liverock back when I first started. And about going bigger, is what I meant is that I personally started out small like the 30 gal. I mentioned, and now that I've gone bigger I've noticed a huge difference in the way it maintains itself. I've been reefin almost 6 years now, so I know what I'm doin, but it sure made my life easier goin bigger, and until you've gone to a bigger tank you don't know. Now I'm goin to a 220 next year. Bigger really is better when it comes to tanks, and maintaining themselves. But that's just my experience. But I know how it goes when your on a budget. The size of tank you mentioned will work fine, and sounds like your on the right track. Good luck, and welcome to reef addicts annonomous. lol. ~Ali

Oh, and Happy Holidays!:)
 
atomikk

atomikk

New Member
thanks for the advice alison. I have decided I will be going for an upgrade in the tank saize because I am forced to. My 35 gal has been treated with ich medication and therefore cant be used to house inverts. :( So I will be changing my tank size to probably 65 gal or 75 gal. So my projects will take a pass for now. I also am going to go with a hang-on refugium.
With the lights... I might go MH, but I have been told that pcs are just as good for the things that I want to keep. So I might go with 225w pcs. What skimmer is goo fro a 65 or 75 gal?
 
alison

alison

Member
Hi, I would go with the 75, because a lot of the fish your gonna want need a minimum of that size. And a 75 isn't gonna cost much more unless you get a special kind like a bow, or corner tank, or hex. As for the skimmer, most say that a Aqua Remora works the best, and fairly affordable, but I've yet to find one, so they must be online somewhere. I have a knock off of a Knop and it works awesome, and pulls a lot. I think I paid around a 100$, and got one rated WAY higher than what I needed. As for the lighting, I have 220 watts of pc's on my 55 gal, and I cannot keep hard corals longterm, like hammer coral, torch coral, brains, plates, etc... I even have a hard time with some softies, but can keep most soft corals. In a few months when I can afford to I'm goin with 2 times 250 or 2 times 175. They say the 2 times 250 you can keep anything, but I worry about heat, and I'm gonna include my pc's in the hood as well. But pc's you mentioned work ok for starting out. So, good luck, and we're all here for ya. ~Ali
 
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