First time attempt at saltwater setup (Fish Only)

[bear44]

I'm new to the hobby of keeping fish and started my first tank in april which is a freshwater tank holding 10 small angelfishes and have been successful so far. Guess i'm now addicted and want to start my 2nd tank already. Due to the cost of reef and live rock setups i plan to do a Fish Only saltwater tank of 30gallons and will house 2 clownfish only.

things i plan to get:

30G tank
AquaClear 50
Eheim jager or Aqueon Pro heater
30LB live Sand
Powerhead (not sure which one yet)
Instant ocean salt (or a better one if you know)
floating thermometer
hydrometer
(and will be sharing some other stuff with my current tank like nets,food,Seachem price etc)

i don't plan to get a protein skimmer and will either use tap water or buy distilled water from the stores.

i just want to know how am i going to biologically filter the tank without live rock. does it work the same as freshwater with the biomodules housing the bacteria?

 

[Henry405]

You don't have to use all LR when starting a new tank. Most people use a combination of LR and dry rock. The LR will seed the dry rock and it'll eventually become live.

1lb of dry rock costs about $2-$3. A good ratio to start is 25% LR to 75% dry rock.

I recommend getting a refractometer, hydrometers are very inaccurate.

Also, tap water makes it easy for algae to grow so its always advised to use distilled water if possible

 

[bear44]

You don't have to use all LR when starting a new tank. Most people use a combination of LR and dry rock. The LR will seed the dry rock and it'll eventually become live.

1lb of dry rock costs about $2-$3. A good ratio to start is 25% LR to 75% dry rock.

I recommend getting a refractometer, hydrometers are very inaccurate.

Also, tap water makes it easy for algae to grow so its always advised to use distilled water if possible

what if i get all dry rock? can i just put ammonia into my tank and the dry rock will become live when bacteria grows on it?

 

[Flake]

yup. you certainly can. It'll take longer but it'll work like that.

 

[Smitty]

Many people do only put in dry rock because they don't want to risk any bad hitchhikers and they know what is in their tank so yea, that will work.