Beginner Saltwater Tank

[Tropic Home]

I live 200 yards off the beach in Costa Rica. I would like to start a saltwater tank with my 5 year old and stock it with fish we find in the tide pools. The plan is to use water from the gulf and add more as needed (weekly, monthly..???). My question is can I use a regular hang on filter like a Tetra Whisper or Aqua Clear. I've been told I should step up the size to double what the tank is. We plan on starting with a 20gallon. All advise is appreciated.

 

[thominil]

Bad idea IMO. No telling what is in the water.

 

[Tropic Home]

???? Well they live in it to start with don't they?

 

[Zer0]

Well, i don't know much about getting things directly from the ocean and using it, but some places have laws against that. I would advise that you check out your area and see what its laws are. Also, if you do in fact decide to get things from the ocean, including the water, never return them to the ocean. Once you get them, their death bed, is your tank. You could possibly release things back into the ocean that were in your tank, that could effect the ecosystem. Also, where are you getting this tank from? Because im sure that if you are getting the tank from a store, that store would have other things that you would need to start a saltwater system. Like salt, for instance, so you can make your own saltwater instead of using the oceans water. Its just an opinion, but i would still advise against getting things like water from the ocean to use in your tank.

As for the filter, you CAN use a filter, but for such a small tank it really isn't needed. Weekly or monthly water changes, depending on how large the water changes are, will take care of the filtration you need. Also, you could just get live rock, which will take care of all your filtration, aside from water changes. Also, if you want to do weekly water changes, then you wouldn't have to change too much of the water, but if you plan to do a monthly water change, then to make up for it, you would need to take out more water from the tank. You see where im going with this?

Also, yes, the fish and creatures may live in the water.. but how many of them die from disease.. worms.. infections.. etc.. Just think of all the bacteria.. BAD bacteria that is in the ocean water, that you would be putting into your tank. When you mix the your own saltwater, or get it pre-mixed, you get all the benefits of saltwater, except without all the bad things. We are not worried about all the bad things in the water that we could tell you about.. we are more worried about all the things that we CAN'T tell you about.

 

[thominil]

I agree except for the filter part and not needing one. It is the skimmer that pwc's will cover for on small tanks, not the filter. There needs to be SOME kind of biological filtration or the fish will be swimming in a pool of ammonia. Live rock is a good source of biological filtration, a filter will be fine though.

Tropic, yes they live in it, but that is also in an ocean with LOTS of water.

 

[Zer0]

Alright, so then, you would need a source of filtration lol. But still thom, if you have live rock doing all of the filtration, and weekly water changes.. then a filter wouldn't really be necessary for any other reasons than filling it with carbon to keep the water clear.. or just stuffing other things in it like filter media etc..

 

[thominil]

I agree except for the filter part and not needing one. It is the skimmer that pwc's will cover for on small tanks, not the filter. There needs to be SOME kind of biological filtration or the fish will be swimming in a pool of ammonia. Live rock is a good source of biological filtration, a filter will be fine though.

Tropic, yes they live in it, but that is also in an ocean with LOTS of water.

There, bolded and increased font size. You miss that now and something is wrong with you.

 

[Tropic Home]

Thanks for the advise. I was trying to keep this as simple as possible. We live in a pretty remote area, but I will look into things at the aquarium store in San Jose. I figured by using ocean water I wouldn't have to worry about keeping any ph or salt levels in line. Sounds like doubling the filter size is not nessasary.

 

[spoonman]

The ocean replenishes nutrients in the water all the time. Your tank has no way of replenishing the nutrients that are used up by the things that you have in the tank. Very bad idea in my opinion....

 

[Zer0]

Well, i don't know about the oceans pH, but i sure do know that as water evaporates.. salt doesnt.. so you would have needed to keep on top of the salinity. Also, yes, doubling the filter wouldn't do much for you. As long as you have a filter that is rated for 20-30G's.. then having a filter rated for 50-60 gallons would just look retarded, and would be overkill. Before you decide to start taking from the ocean, i would advise that you do your absolute best to try and retrieve all of these things first, from either online,( but since you live in a remote area that may be hard..) or from fish/aquarium stores around you. Remember, nothing ever good comes fast in saltwater. Things take time, and alot of research. Unless you just want to haord things like a madman, and when they die.. just get new ones. And clearly.. that's the psychopathic path.

Also, spoonman, he said he would have been doing water changes with the ocean water, so in reality, as long as he kept up with the water changes, nutrients and elements needed in the tank, would in fact have been replenished. But still you are right.. lol.. a tank with just saltwater from the ocean, never being changed, won't replenish any nutrients or elements needed to sustain ocean life.

 

[roka64]

I agree, the beach/tide pools are pretty much the filter for all kinds of pollution. If you can, get water from farther out, I think I have heard about 5 miles or so, but you still risk contaminants and parasites.

 

[spoonman]

Also, spoonman, he said he would have been doing water changes with the ocean water, so in reality, as long as he kept up with the water changes, nutrients and elements needed in the tank, would in fact have been replenished. But still you are right.. lol.. a tank with just saltwater from the ocean, never being changed, won't replenish any nutrients or elements needed to sustain ocean life.

Sounded like he was just going to top off with ocean water (not changes). Seems like you would just keep getting higher and higher salinity as the water evaporates and you keep adding more and more salt water. I will step out. Me no salty, but trying to learn.

 

[spoonman]

His original quote

The plan is to use water from the gulf and add more as needed (weekly, monthly..???).

His words

 

[roka64]

I agree, the water will evaporate not the salt. You want to top off with RO/DI FW.

 

[Tropic Home]

Not quite as easy as I though. I'm guessing with a normal Saltwater tank you are checking the salt levels, in which case I guess I would have to do that as well. Not sure if it is as simple as adding fresh water occationally to bring down the salt content. Our area is quite prestine and the water I would be collecting is from the beach front with lots of wave action and offshore currents. Does adding shellfish (muscles and oysters) to the environment aid in filtering? Thanks to all for the info.

 

[jessicasmarine]

Agree with thominil, you need a filter. In response to the "they live in it" comment. They live in it but the ocean is massive and can constantly dillute any pollutants that may be present. Sure the pollutants may be in higher concentration near shore, but the fresh salt water coming in is like a constant water change to the tide pools. Your tank would not be able to recreate this. Getting water from the ocean is not a bad idea, but you need to go quite a ways out to get good water.