Saltwater help

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Anellydevan504

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Sep 12, 2012
Messages
13
I want to start a salt water fish tank right now I have a fresh water tank 10g and I want to do salt water
 
Wonderful :)...sorry, but what was your point? Are you wanting to know how to do set one up or just letting people know?
 
Saltwater tanks can be as easy as any freshwater tank other then measuring salinity. When you start getting into corals, inverts, and some sensitive specimens it can become difficult/expensive.
 
I think its much harder. Water changes are way more difficult and time consuming, there is more equpiment to have/maintain, checking levels isnt just the regular old nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia... Once you have coral it gets much more difficult then that. Salinity can be tough to get right at first, temperature is harder to set straight IMO, etc.
 
Nu-Nu the eel said:
Nope not easy to do. Might want to do some research.

+1. When Nu-Nu says do research, trust me...he is 110% right! He has successfully kept fish and corals so any advice he can give would be worth listening to!!!

In my opinion, you should consider a bigger tank (at least 20-30 gallon). While you are saving in cost for the 10 gallon you will probably be doing maintenance every other day to every few days if you want to keep algae and other gunk out. In addition, you probably could keep two fish (very small) and thats it in a 10 gallon. Planning, preparing, and patience are the keys here.

Here are some things you can do to start planning:
1. Look up the fish you think you might want. They have minimum space requirements. If these aren't met they will most likely get stressed and die. Liveaquaria.com can give you some basic info on fish. Make sure when you get a fish that it will be compatible with the others you want. Will you ever want a reef? Consider that when buying fish and equipment. It will save you money.
2. Look up "nitrogen cycle" and read it a few times. If you can't get this out of the way and finished you will never be able to keep fish without killing them. This is how you get the bacteria that breaks down waste in the tank. Here's a good reading start:
www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm
3. Prepare to spend some money. I believe that prevention is better than digging for solutions. Most marine hobbyists use RO or RO/DI water. If you do this now that's great. You will need a decent filtration system etc. Again, here is a list to start with however do research because I assure you we all have different things in addition to meet our needs. Sit down and make a list of items you need, items you want, etc. and list the prices. There is quite a difference in cost for freshwater vs. saltwater. We aren't trying to discourage you however it's important you know all this before leaping in.

www.fishlore.com/SaltwaterAquariumSetup.htm
 
Something else to think about is I've realized, really it seems like the more money you spend in this hobby, the easier it is for you. From tank size(bigger is better) to extra equipment not "needed" but will make everything alot easier on you. But after all of that. It's still harder than freshwater and you definitely should research for about a month before starting. Also, check creigalist and wait for a great deal! I just found one unfortunately I didn't when I started so it was even more expensive to start
 
Research more then a month ahead IMO. I researched 6 months ahead and everything went very smooth from my transition from fresh to salt.

Thanks nikki, lol. Everything she said was right.
 
Imo I still think it really depends on the ops wants. You could setup a small damsel tank with the store bought aquarium kits pretty much and store bought saltwater and have a decent little saltwater tank. This is obviously a bare minimum but it does work. If you told us what you would like to have as livestock or a general direction we could put together an equipment list for you and all the basics you would need.
 
Yeah. I researched for a month then researched as it was cycling and kind of did a research one step then do that step, research the next, then do the next. Made me stay patient.
 
Mrc8858 said:
Imo I still think it really depends on the ops wants. You could setup a small damsel tank with the store bought aquarium kits pretty much and store bought saltwater and have a decent little saltwater tank. This is obviously a bare minimum but it does work. If you told us what you would like to have as livestock or a general direction we could put together an equipment list for you and all the basics you would need.

I want a clown fish and the blue fish from neno
 
A 10 gallon is waaaay to small for a blue tang (dory)! A 125 is considered to small...more like 180+ gallons. Even a clown might not be appropriate for such a small tank. Possibly just the one clown, a goby, a shrimp and a CUC would be sufficient and would be a good bioload.
 
If there is one point of advice I would want to give, being new to saltwater myself, it is RESEARCH! You cannot do enough research in this hobby.. I check this forum daily and learn new things all the time.. The bigger the tank the better, for several reasons. Before you put any fish in your 10g, please make sure it isn't a fish that is going to get huge (I.e. blue hippo tang). I have spent a lot of time on different sites like liveaquaria.com and others about minimum tank sizes for fish.. Definitely check them out and/or ask questions on here.
 
Research research research. ;)
As for fish, alot of websites are incorporating "nano fish" sections to their sw selections. These are fish that fit comfortably in a smaller tank. As for tank size, bigger tanks ARE more stable and "easier" to maintain (the chemical levels usually dont swing so fast in them due to volume) but bigger also means more $$$ in almost all aspects (more salt, more water, more live rock, bigger equipment). Someone mentioned CL i would def keep a close eye on there. People are constantly getting rid of setups. As for the Blue Hippo Tang, PLEASSSEE do not disregard others advice about these fish. They can grow rather big and need excessive amounts of swimming space. Thats not even the catch, they are extremely sensitive to shock/ stress, which in turn makes them vunerable to Ick and other diseases. 125 minimum for them
 
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