fist salt water tank!

[ky98gt]

I have pretty much at this point mastered fresh water aquariums.. I have bred ciclids , and have two very nice sucessful tanks. I would say that I know all there is to know about fresh water, but that would sound arrogant ! I know fresh water filtration, fish and their diseases etc etc...I have seen it all! I work at a Petland, and run the fish department. However we do not do salt water as of right now, and I have never experminted with it either!

This is my understanding...that a sucessfull saltwater fish tank consists of a good canister or 'wet-dry' filter (i will be using a fluval canister), protien skimmer, a couple chunks of live rock ( I have heard one- three pounds per gallon from different people) and obviously a power head to move everything around...along with the proper lighting.

To start off...I want a simple tank. I will be using eneough live rock to igniciate biological filtration, but nothing major in that area. I want a lion fish. I will be getting a dwarf to start with, in a 30gal L setup.

Am I straight on everything? Any advice for a greenhord saltwater enthusiast??

 

[Overstocker]

Read "The New Marine Aquarium", great book and up to date (no 1950's era info)

 

[fishfreek]

a sucessfull saltwater fish tank consists of a good canister or 'wet-dry' filter

Na... Most of us dont have canister filters or wet-dry filters on our tanks. Canister filters will need to be cleaned regularly to prevent a buildup of nitrates. If your doing a FO tank then nitrates are less of a deal than if your doing a Reef. Most of us elect to go with a sump/refugium style setup over a wet-dry with the addition of a DSB and 1 1/2lbs per gal of live rock for not only deco but also filtration.

a power head to move everything around

Most likely multple powerheads. Shoot for a minimum of 1 water flow with 15X-2 not being uncommon.

The lighting will greatly depend on what your goals are with the tank. Again if your thinking fish only then you can do with a single or double florecent fixture but if your thinking of growing soft corals then look for power compact or VHO.

For a 30L consiter the lion fish as your only occupant and make sure you get the dwarf vairety as lionfish can get quite large. They are preditors and that makes them having a fairly large bioload expecially if you cant get all of the food out of the tank after the feedings.

 

[ky98gt]

a sucessfull saltwater fish tank consists of a good canister or 'wet-dry' filter

Na... Most of us dont have canister filters or wet-dry filters on our tanks. Canister filters will need to be cleaned regularly to prevent a buildup of nitrates. If your doing a FO tank then nitrates are less of a deal than if your doing a Reef. Most of us elect to go with a sump/refugium style setup over a wet-dry with the addition of a DSB and 1 1/2lbs per gal of live rock for not only deco but also filtration.

a power head to move everything around

Most likely multple powerheads. Shoot for a minimum of 1 water flow with 15X-2 not being uncommon.

The lighting will greatly depend on what your goals are with the tank. Again if your thinking fish only then you can do with a single or double florecent fixture but if your thinking of growing soft corals then look for power compact or VHO.

For a 30L consiter the lion fish as your only occupant and make sure you get the dwarf vairety as lionfish can get quite large. They are preditors and that makes them having a fairly large bioload expecially if you cant get all of the food out of the tank after the feedings.

Thanks for the info..the response about the conister filter makes sense now that I think about it.

I am still not at all 100% on lighting..Like I said I intend to keep some live rock, but only eneough to be benefical to the aquarium...not a reef or anything of that nature yet. Will I be able to run a high aquality light in the normal tank light fixture?

Also- I have recently decided on a 38gal setup for the dwarf lion as it uses the same stand, lid and light fixture and costs only 6$ more!

 

[malkore]

if you're not going full reef, you don't need expensive, high intensity lighting. I'd still suggest a single 96 watt power compact, or a triple tube NO fluorescent, just so the tank and it's inhabitants are well lit. plus that much light will make your corraline algae on the LR spread.
Get at least 1lb of LR per gallon. LR isn't cheap in all locations...here its $5.99 a pound, for uncured reef rock...so you're looking at $200 for all live rock, enough to support a decent fish load in your tank.

In addition to the great book already mentioned, a good companion/2nd read is The Conscientious Marine Aquarist.

 

[noone]

A bit off topic... Ok, completely off topic.

Malkore, I looked at your 15 gallon tank setup and noticed you had your heater completely submerged. I did not know you could do this. Is it safe for all heaters, or is it only specific brands.


Sorry for being so off topic!

 

[CBRGuy]

There are a few heaters that are submersible. Visitherm,won,ebo(eventought they say they are not) just to name a few.

 

[malkore]

Yep, you gotta make sure it states its a fully submersible heater.