Is a reef aquarium hard to do?

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Quartz92

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jun 13, 2009
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Toronto, Canada
My meaning is that, to run a saltwater set up is it hard to do? I have never had saltwater and am looking for some advice! Start from the beginning right from tank size!

Thanks for helping,

Quartz92
 
Hey Quartz92;

Unfortunately, you've asked an impossible question. What's hard for one is easy for another. Tank size? Whatever you want. I lean toward the bigger the better myself. Anyway, salt tanks. Generally speaking, a salt tank really isn't a whole lot different then a FW tank. Ya buy it, ya fill it, ya put the fish in. ;) Tank temps are kept lower. 72-73 degrees on average. You'll have to keep track of the salt levels in the water but that's easy enough. And the salt gets everywhere so you'll be wiping things down on a regular basis. Ummm, other then that, pretty much the same 'ole.

Enjoy!
 
Tank size at least 30 gallons or larger. Smaller tanks are not so forgiving. What type of SW system do you intend to keep. Fish only, fish only with live rock, or full reef? IMO it's more up keep and the initial cost is higher. Don't forget to cycle ths tank with a raw shrimp instead of live fish.
 
I have to disagree with the tank temps posted by Brad S. Keep em more around the area of 78-80 for a reef. If doing a fish only and you have fish that are used to colder seawater keep the temps lower in that case.
 
No, not peppermint shrimp. Go to the grocery store and buy some frozen shrimp and put one in the tank. As it begins to rot away, it creates ammonia, which is needed to cycle the tank. Once the tank is cycled and the ammonia is zero and nitrites zero, you can then start adding fish.
 
Okay thanks thominil! and thanks ghostknife for the corerrection I thaught it was a little low. Step by step what would you do to start a new saltwater reef lets say?
 
Sand, live rock, RO DI salt water then the raw shrimp. Cycle for about a month. This is assuming you have all the equipment ready (skimmer, lighting, power-heads, test kits, and sump) to start.
 
Okay thanks thominil! and thanks ghostknife for the corerrection I thaught it was a little low.

If you want a reef tank (corals), then yeah... 78-80 is where you want to be.

Step by step what would you do to start a new saltwater reef lets say?

First step I did - which may not work for everyone - was read over as many old posts on this forum that I could find. I spent at least a month pouring over the posts of this place. Just as with every hobby, you'll find conflicting ways of doing things, but you'll start to see the common things that most people do that have success - and also the common things that many folks do that cause problems down the road. Armed with that info, then you can ask pointed questions to narrow down how you want to run your tank.

Along with that, I found there are a couple good books to start out with. First one is Michael Palletta's "The New Marine Aquarium". It's a good introduction to the hobby. For a meatier read, Robert Fenner's "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" is a must read at some point.

I got into a reef tank without ever keeping freshwater. I don't see it as hard. I'm not going to lie and say it doesn't take time, or is cheap... but I'm glad I got into it.
 
I agree with Kurt on the need to research and especially the recommedation on Bob Fenner's book. (I still need to read Paletta's).

I had always "feared" doing a SW tank even though I went OCD with FW and gained a ton of experience in short order. Once convinced (by my then GF, now wife) to try it, I found that it isn't harder at all, just different. IMO, The hardest thing about starting a reef tank is being patient. I would recommend that you start out by reading everything you can find in the articles section here and elsewhere. If there's a local reef club, join and learn. I spent over a year researching before I finally gave it a go and I still learn from the folks here, other forums, and in our club everyday.
 
More water volume = easier to maintain stable water conditions. So yes, a sump would be a big plus, but not a requirement. As for the QT, highly recommend, IMO. You would use it to keep your new fish for a time to make sure they are ok before adding them to the reef tank, or if a fish gets sick or doesn't look right..
 
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I have to disagree with the tank temps posted by Brad S. Keep em more around the area of 78-80 for a reef. If doing a fish only and you have fish that are used to colder seawater keep the temps lower in that case.
GhostKnife, you beat me to the punch. Good point about the 78-80. I would even say 82 degrees is Okay.
One point that needs to be made...You need patience to do a saltwater tank right. If you rush any of the steps you will end up in big trouble fast. So read up and take it slow.
 
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Thanks everyone for the advice. What I would like is if I asked you to design a 58g and list off everything I need what would you design? Please educate me, step by step procedure! Ive reserched a bit but I need some insight from others!

Here are some must haves :p,
- Percula Clown Fish.
- Live Rock, no live sand!
- Keep the budget on a low.
- Accomadate the tank mainly to FOWLR, but have it so that it would be easy to convert to Reef.
 
Ideal Set Up?

- 55g tank, appropriate heater and filter.
- about 50lbs of live rock. (How much is live rock, just curious?)
- Substrate, b/c I am using live rock I would prefer not to use live sand or crushed coral, anything out there I could use?
- Pair of false percula clownfish
- Pair of yellow tangs
- Pygmy Angelfish (Can these be kept as a pair?) (If not keeping clams)
- 4 Yellow Belly Damsel
- Cleaner Shrimp and snails.

Any other fish I should add? Please comment, suggestions and critisizum wanted.
 
Ideal Set Up?

- 55g tank, appropriate heater and filter.
- about 50lbs of live rock. (How much is live rock, just curious?)
- Substrate, b/c I am using live rock I would prefer not to use live sand or crushed coral, anything out there I could use?
- Pair of false percula clownfish
- Pair of yellow tangs
- Pygmy Angelfish (Can these be kept as a pair?) (If not keeping clams)
- 4 Yellow Belly Damsel
- Cleaner Shrimp and snails.

Any other fish I should add? Please comment, suggestions and critisizum wanted.

LR varies honestly, you can order it or you can get it at your LFS if they carry it as far as price goes.. it depends on where you are honestly if seen it for 3.50LB and ive seen it for 10.00lb...my LFs store sells it for 6.50 already cured and it is a good cure job, he actually has reef tanks set up with corals and fish that are all for sale so you buy literally the same stuff in his display tanks. I hope I dont offend anyone but the whole poundage ratio to me is off. Lr comes in alot of different forms and same are much denser than others. I fount out the hard way that I can get 20 lbs of LR that is ewual is volume to 10lbs of another LR...so I decided to go with I want 1/3-1/2 of my tank to be LR. I have 4 pieces that are about the size of a softball but that are about 4 lbs a pice but in the tank.. they take up no room which is more important than actual weight of the rock, as far as substrate goes live sand is a help, it already has the beneficial bacteria in it but if you get regular sand it will develop, id say at least 3 inches deep from what i have read and heard.. from 3-6inches deep with the sand bed. the sand and LR work very well together with your natural filtration. your 55 might be a little small for 2 tangs, they need alot of swimming room, buy your fish according to adult size so you dont buy something that you have to get rid of later on b/c your tank is too small, he 2 clowns should be fine, they arent aggressive and dont get very large, pygmy angels can be a bit territorial and usually fight with other of the same species and Ive heard that they like polyps so if you plan to go reef, you might want to keep that into consideration, as far as damsels goes. im not a fan of them lol. they are really pretty but they are territorial and if you add them first, everything you add after them will get tortured, i lost a few fish to my yellow tail and I cant catch him...not unless i literally tear down the tank and net him..the cleaner crew and all that is pretty standard of norm..i am a fan of goby's because they keep the sand bed rotated. and I have a mandarin who is doing exceptionally well but they are not the easiest fish to keep. mine just has little comp for food. just do your homework on what you want in your tank.

As far as making a list of setting the tank up... the first thing I would do would be to figure out what you want your tank to "look" like, not everything is compatible. If you have an idea of the end result of your tank(which never comes lol) it is alot easier to get the correct equipment, animals and corals to do so. trial and error is an expensive way to learn....the last thing you want to do is get like a parrot fish or angel or an eel and then add "reef" animals, goby's and things like that and corals have one thing in your tank destroy it all..

1 write out or draw out, make a colage or whatever of what you want, get the proper equipment first even if it means waiting on corals and fish...
2. figure out what type of set up you want to have, biological filtration, mechanical, canister etc.there alot of things you can add to your tank to improve it from skimmers to uv-sterilizers and so on but, not everything is needed.. maybe recomended but not needed.
3. start it all up, and TAKE YOUR TIME...you cant... speed up the process of starting a new tank unless you buy an already set up tank and your maintaining it.. but if you are starting from scratch, just give it time...
i personally do not have a sump, id like one but it really doesnt fit with my tank set up. i have mechanical filtration plus biological with the LR and sand/CC and I do weekly H2O changes and my tank is growing very nicely..
like stated earlier, there is no single "right" way...whatever you decide to do just stick with your routine maintenance and you will be fine...

just bare basics, lighting, LR and a good deep sand bed, skimmer and power heads to provide good movement around the rocks, that is where your oxygen comes from in the tank so water flow is very important for oxygenating and aiding in with keeping your nitrates/ites, amonia down(most of that comes from the sand bed and LR)

PLEASE PROFESSIONALS CORRECT ANYTHING IVE STATED AND FEEL FREE TO ADD ON..LOL THERE IS SOO MUCH INFO IM SURE WE COULD ALL WRITE A BOOK ON WHAT TO DO TO GET STARTED LOL. HAPPY REEFING!
 
I personally would not do regular substrate myself. But it's just me. You don't necessarily have to do live sand, you can get just the regular marine sand, which will become live sand over time as everything that's on the live rocks will multiply and move to the sand, thus giving you live sand. I like the black sand myself, but there's also white as well, or off-white. I wouldn't pay the huge price for live sand myself when you can get marine sand much cheaper, and end up with live sand down the road.

Another thing to add is you can get base rock much cheaper, and then just get 2 or 3 pieces of live rock, and within a few months, all the base rock will then be live rock. Just some tips to try and make it a little cheaper in the beginning, and you have the time. I've seen some nice stuff on ebay for about $.75/lb.
 
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