First saltwater tank

[jackson123]

I have a 30 gallon and I want to finally try my first saltwater. What do I need to do to get started? What kind of sand? Lighting? Fish?

 

[alco1]

are you thinking FOWLR or reef??

 

[jackson123]

Probably not reef because it's my first tank

 

[bribo12]

For both you will need:
Live rock 1-2 lbs per gallon
Aragonite based sand 1 lb per gallon
Powerheads-koralias are great
Salt mix-instant ocean
Refractometer
Protein skimmer depending on bioload
Reef lighting if doing a reef

 

[jackson123]

What are the power heads for? Just circulation

 

[bribo12]

Yep flow otherwise you will have dead spots where algae will thrive

 

[jackson123]

What else could I use besides a skimmer

 

[bribo12]

What else could I use besides a skimmer

Hang on back filter

 

[jackson123]

Ok thanks

 

[jackson123]

How powerful if a power head do I need

 

[jackson123]

Since my tank was already set up as a freshwater and is still running, could I add salt and sand to it and fish at the same time?

 

[bribo12]

No it will need to cycle again with live rock. The bacteria for fw and sw are completely different

 

[jackson123]

O ok thank you

 

[bribo12]

No problem powerhead wise you want 20ish times turnover per hour

 

[alco1]

no so the tank has to cycle before fish.... I would probably recommend re doing the water from your fresh water tank. so you get everything setup with LR and aragonite and filters etc and then play the waiting game and daily, 2nd day checking parameters for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates, you will see an ammonia spike happen, then itll change to nitrite then to nitrate. once nitrate has gone down to 0ish after all those other spikes then its ready for fish

 

[teklabs]

I would also suggest starting with new water. You want to start off on the right foot. Don't chance it, water changes are a must. Water quality is what you are working hard to maintain. Start with the right water, don't make it more difficult.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[jackson123]

Thank you guys so much

 

[teklabs]

Trust members of this community, they have taught me so much!

 

[jackson123]

I won't be setting it up for a few weeks though because I am going on vacation

 

[nelix10]

I would recommend getting light that will support coral! You may quickly find that coral is a real fun part of saltwater ! Would be a shame to spend money then spend more on a new fixture