First saltwater tank

[BLUElobster99]

Ok so for christmas my parents were saying they were willing to buy me another 55 gallon and fund a saltwater tank. I want to start off easy. I have several freshwater tanks ranging from a 10 to a 50gallon. I have experience but i still have a lot of questions.

I want an arrow crab.

What care would i need to take for this crustacean?
I have a aqua clear 50 laying around and i was thinking of adding a lot of live rock. So would an HOB do the job? And what should i use as filter media? Should i just put live rock in it? How often would the water need to be changed? And how much salt should be in the water?
(I will be using RO water in the tank)

 

[bribo12]

Ok so for christmas my parents were saying they were willing to buy me another 55 gallon and fund a saltwater tank. I want to start off easy. I have several freshwater tanks ranging from a 10 to a 50gallon. I have experience but i still have a lot of questions.

I want an arrow crab.

What care would i need to take for this crustacean?
I have a aqua clear 50 laying around and i was thinking of adding a lot of live rock. So would an HOB do the job? And what should i use as filter media? Should i just put live rock in it? How often would the water need to be changed? And how much salt should be in the water?
(I will be using RO water in the tank)

Hey there,
It's funny you want a sw tank for an arrow crab rather than the beautiful fish or coral but arrow crabs are pretty cool. You will want 1-1/2 lbs of rock per gallon. So you should shoot for around 70 lbs of live rock. Arrow crabs are mainly scavengers so food isn't really difficult for them. You can use the hob and run purigen and phosphate remover in it. I'd suggest you get a protein skimmer as well.

 

[Mcmcoker]

IMO when it comes to sw tanks you always want to think down the road. If you're anything like me then you'll probably start out just wanting a arrow crab and then as you get more into it you're going to want more, ie. pretty fish, corals... If your parents are willing to fit the bill then id recommend getting as much as you can. Lights, power heads a skimmer maybe even a carbon/gfo reactor. I don't know what kind of budget your working with but those are all things you would want if eventually you plan on doing more with the tank. For now if all your doing is the arrow crab then a hob filter with Purigen or chemi pure would be fine and of course 50 to 70 lbs of LR. eBay and bulk reef supply are great places to look for the other items I mentioned. Getting dry rock instead of LR is also a good way to go to save money and just get one piece of actual LR to help seed the tank since it sounds like you're going to be starting off slow. Also, although many people here seem to frown upon this I recommend getting bottled bacteria to cycle the tank. Can cycle the tank in a few days instead of 4 to 8 weeks. Look up dr. Tim's bacteria

 

[Mcmcoker]

Also look up mr saltwater tank.com, sign up for his newsletters. You'll get daily emails for about 2 weeks packed with great info for someone just starting a sw tank with a lot of do's and donts