first time salt water tank need help

[smithj156]

i have a 100 gallon tank im wanting to set up for fish and light coral.. i have never had a salt water tank its a used tank i know i have power heads.no fillter that i see i can take pics and post tomarrow so yall can see what i have to work with.. just want to know what ill need to make it work thanks for your time

 

[abdhalim2]

anyway welcome to AA~~
lots of article and thread in here for beginner....keep on reading and do some work on it...after that, u may ask questions and ppl here are frenly to give feedback for u...

 

[uscamaro]

Here's a helpful link to get you started:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articles/categories/Saltwater/Articles/

 

[cmor1701d]

Patrick, your link is broken. I have the basic article line in my sig. Here's some good starter reading though.

Stock list and tips for maintaining your SW tank

How to cycle your tank with out the use of fish

Quarantine article

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure: A Quarantine Tank for Everything by Steven Pro

Refugiums

Reef Aquarium Water Parameters

And.

 

[smithj156]

what would be a good filter to start with im going to get some live rock to start and then add some fish and coral

 

[smithj156]

would this be a good filter set up Amazon.com: Magnum 350 Pro System Aquarium Canister Filter - up to 100 Gallon: Kitchen & Dining

 

[mr_X]

i wouldn't use a cannister filter for a reef tank. this is what you are planning.
get about 100-125 pounds of live rock in the tank, and perhaps a decent protein skimmer. that will be enough.
did you read the links that were posted above?

 

[smithj156]

i have started too im going to have live rock and fish not just a reef tank

 

[mr_X]

a reef tank has fish in it and also live rock. what sets a reef tank apart from just a fish tank with live rock is corals.

 

[cmor1701d]

Regardless of if you decide to add corals later, 1 - 2 pounds of LR per gallon and a quality protein is the best salt water filtration you can have.

 

[smithj156]

cant really aford 100 or 100 lbs of live rock how bout the base rock and let it sit in my tank for a while and a good filter till i can afford the good live rock

 

[abdhalim2]

u can use base rock and put some LR top of it...after a while, i will be 'live'....but i dunno how much base rock can be use together with LR.....maybe 50-50.....

 

[atte]

I think you can start with all base rock during your cycle if you really wanted to. People generally use live rock to seed beneficial creatures like snails, coralline algae, etc. As long as a bacterial population becomes established on the rock, it is classified as "live". I would go with a few good chunks of live rock and base rock for the rest of it if you're looking to save on costs.

 

[cmor1701d]

LIVE rock just means it is housing beneficial bacteria. So yes, base rock will become LR over time (cycling). It's best to add some LR to start the Coraline algae and hopefully some good hitchhikers, but it's not necessary.

 

[smithj156]

heres a few pics of what i got as you can see it was a salt water set up befor i think a reef tank what is the lil black box in the corner.. also are those just pumps do i need 3 for this tank if u could exsplain what the clear tube is.. sorry im just tryin to see what i got.. i got all u see and a heater and the stand for $100 i thought it was a good deal please let me know what you think

 

[smithj156]

heres a few more pics thanks for any input bad or good wont hurt my feelings.. havent set it up because its going where our chrimas tree is now.. i cant waitt to set it up always wanted a saltwater tank

 

[abdhalim2]

for the clear tube,its more like for skimmer but i dont know what type of skimmer...there got small tube for oxygen to mix with water thus give some bubbles for skimmer to operate...IMO

 

[smithj156]

what are the lil black boxes. everything is from germany so plugs need a converter..my wife got it from someone on base she in the milatry

 

[abdhalim2]

is the lil black boxes at the corner of the tank..??? and have some drilled hole under it..?? if so, its for overflow system which goes to sump....

 

[smithj156]

no just one hole in the side and some vent holes in the top.. what are the lil black pump looking thing do i need that many for this tank