Future First Saltwater Tank

[oyf709]

crabs like Sally light foot need algae on LR, i don't think they will go after macro algae.

 

[Scottyhorse]

It will come 3 colored water lines. The red hooks to the faucet, the black goes down the drain, and the blue is your filtered water. It will come with a faucet adaptor as well.

When you set up your tank, you will want to use either RODI or water from your LFS. You never want to put water in your tank that comes directly from your faucet. Petco sells "real ocean water" in their saltwater section. I started a nano with this last year and had good luck with it, but eventually switched over to making my own water due to the cost.

If you decide to make your own water, you will also need a salt mix. I have used Instant Ocean Reef Crystals with success. You can also use plain Instant Ocean, but the Reef Crystals has additional calcium and magnesium which is needed by corals. Typically, most salt mixes will mix to 1.025 with 1/2 cup of salt per gallon. To measure your salinity, I recommend a refractometer (around $40), but you can use a swing arm hydrometer (around $10) if need be. Just make sure you knock all the bubbles off of the arm when measuring, as they can give you a false reading.

I know I've said a lot, but I figure you can just read through your thread when you get ready to set up or just ask again.

So setting that up seems fairly straight forward.

I'm also going to mix my own water. That was like the first thing I decided. Haha

This is starting to make a lot more sense now haha.

This is kinda off topic, but what should I do with my fish tanks when we loose power?

 

[Scottyhorse]

crabs like Sally light foot need algae on LR, i don't think they will go after macro algae.

Hmm okay. So a no go on the crabs then? Just shrimp, snails, and fish?

 

[Qube]

So setting that up seems fairly straight forward.

I'm also going to mix my own water. That was like the first thing I decided. Haha

This is starting to make a lot more sense now haha.

This is kinda off topic, but what should I do with my fish tanks when we loose power?

You could keep a 10g going on one battery powered air pump ($10 at Walmart) for quite some time. That combined with wrapping it with blankets in the winter, and floating frozen water bottles in the summer, you should be good. Corals can go several days without lights, but anything more and you would need to look into supplemental power.

 

[Beengirl]

Hmm okay. So a no go on the crabs then? Just shrimp, snails, and fish?

I should clarify that I'm not a fan of emerald or ruby crabs, but I love my Pom Pom crab!! She's so cute! You could do one of those. Pom poms do like to hide and are nocturnal, so you won't see it much. I go weeks sometimes without seeing mine, the she'll just pop up. Of course, I have a lot more hiding places in a 55g than you will in a 10g.

 

[Scottyhorse]

I should clarify that I'm not a fan of emerald or ruby crabs, but I love my Pom Pom crab!! She's so cute! You could do one of those. Pom poms do like to hide and are nocturnal, so you won't see it much. I go weeks sometimes without seeing mine, the she'll just pop up. Of course, I have a lot more hiding places in a 55g than you will in a 10g.

I could do a pom pom? Cool!