30 Gallon Low-Tech Setup, by bruinsbro1997 (if it'll even work!:))

[bruinsbro1997]

Okay so long story short, my cousin does not want a thirty gallon freshwater tank for his birthday, so I'm keeping it! Giving fish away to my grandma for her tanks.

I just want to house two ocellaris clowns, nothing else, no inverts, maybe a few corals. That's it. Thirty pounds live rock, arganite sand.

Now for questions:
1. How long should it take for the tank to cycle once I add in the live rock?
2. What kind of HOB filter do you suggest? One of the constraints about this tank is that it's got to be low cost. So no canister filter or protien skimmer for me unfortunately. Is a saltwater tank okay without these or are these a must-have necessity?
3. Is the tank overstocked already with two clowns? I want this to be as understocked as possible.
4. I understand water changes for saltwater are different from those with freshwater, what is the difference?
5. Do you reccomend a hydrometer or refractometer? I cant' find a refractometer anywhere.
6. Do LED lights shine bright enough for low-tech tanks? Found some at Petsmart for only 60 bucks.

 

[huma-huma]

cycling will take between 4-6 weeks, sometimes a little longer.
id go with the biggest hob filter as possible perhaps a 50g model or bigger
i dont believe its overstocked with 2 clowns but i wouldnt add any more MAYBE a small bottom dweller and inverts

you need to mix the sw ahead of time and let it completely mix before adding it to the tank

refractometer all the way, swingarm hydrometers accuracy can be questionable. i know they sellthey on ebay for cheap.. dont have a link on hand but i know alot of others do.

LED lights shine amazing on any sized tank

 

[bruinsbro1997]

cycling will take between 4-6 weeks, sometimes a little longer.
id go with the biggest hob filter as possible perhaps a 50g model or bigger
i dont believe its overstocked with 2 clowns but i wouldnt add any more MAYBE a small bottom dweller and inverts

you need to mix the sw ahead of time and let it completely mix before adding it to the tank

refractometer all the way, swingarm hydrometers accuracy can be questionable. i know they sellthey on ebay for cheap.. dont have a link on hand but i know alot of others do.

LED lights shine amazing on any sized tank

Thank you huma huma!
4-6 weeks? Ah I can wait that long.
Do you think Aquaclear 110 will suffice for the job of a HOB?
What kind of bottom dweller do you reccomend? There are lots of them...
When I meant water changes I meant a new term I came across, carey told me you have to "top off" tanks...what does that mean? My LFS also sells RO saltwater for 69 cents a gallon. Should that be good for water changes?

Refractometers on eBay? Will look into them, my dad has an eBay acount so he can order one for me.

Yay! LED lights were on sale at Petsmart and Marineland too!

 

[huma-huma]

theres ways to speed it up some (use established filter media or live rock from a well est sw tank, etc)
aquaclear 110 should work great
i honestly cant recommend bottom dwellers, dont have enough experience to help
top-off is what we as hobbyists have to do toour tanks because of evaporation... imagine setting a full glass of water outside in the sun..eventually itll evaporate and not be a full glass...same principle with fishtanks. and yes lfs ro water will suffice.
Id stay away from marineland led's, have heard negative remarks about them

 

[slitherbomb]

I've only heard bad things about the marine land LEDs in regards to whether they can grow coral or not. If you want a fowlr tank then it'd be a good route. If you get the reef capable ones, you would be able to house low to medium light coral.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

theres ways to speed it up some (use established filter media or live rock from a well est sw tank, etc)
aquaclear 110 should work great
i honestly cant recommend bottom dwellers, dont have enough experience to help
top-off is what we as hobbyists have to do toour tanks because of evaporation... imagine setting a full glass of water outside in the sun..eventually itll evaporate and not be a full glass...same principle with fishtanks. and yes lfs ro water will suffice.
Id stay away from marineland led's, have heard negative remarks about them

Yay! I had some pre-seeded media that I was going to give to my cousin for his filter but now that he's not getting it I'll just use this stuff to speed the cycle up
The water evaporates? Does this apply to all tanks or just tanks without hoods?
Can you do a PWC every one to two weeks in saltwater?
Okay, no Marineland LEDs...

I've only heard bad things about the marine land LEDs in regards to whether they can grow coral or not. If you want a fowlr tank then it'd be a good route. If you get the reef capable ones, you would be able to house low to medium light coral.

What about Zoo Med T5s? They have Coral Sun bulbs I can use...

 

[slitherbomb]

Not sure. What are the specs on the zoo meds?

 

[bruinsbro1997]

They put out somewhere between 6,700-10,000 watts, depends on the bulb.

 

[slitherbomb]

How many bulbs and at what watts?

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Two bulbs. What watts? There's different types of watts???

 

[slitherbomb]

Yeah lol. Each fixture size usually has the same amount of watts per bulb like a 48" fixture would have 54w per bulb and a 36" fixture has 39w per bulb. Do you know if it has a single reflector or if each bulb has its own? Right now it sounds like you can house low to medium light coral.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

OOOhhh sorry don't know that part then! Will update you guys on that when I find out about it...

I only really wanted low-light corals, mushrooms, zoas, carey also said some leathers would work as well....

 

[Buffy]

One of many refractometers:

NEW 0~10% Salinity Refractometer Salt Water Aquarium SG | eBay

 

[Mjpendrey]

Is the pre seeded media from your freshwater?

 

[carey]

Following to see how this turns out!!

 

[HalfMoon B]

THe 36" zoo med is t5ho, with 34 watts per bulb, dual fixture. It's the same as the one I have on the breeder. Not sure about what fixture you need though bruins

 

[bruinsbro1997]

One of many refractometers:

NEW 0~10% Salinity Refractometer Salt Water Aquarium SG | eBay

Thanks buffy! Looks good to me so far

Is the pre seeded media from your freshwater?

Yes...is that okay? Or are you not supposed to use that?

Following to see how this turns out!!

Thank you carey!

THe 36" zoo med is t5ho, with 34 watts per bulb, dual fixture. It's the same as the one I have on the breeder. Not sure about what fixture you need though bruins

Yep that's the one. When you mean fixture do you mean bulbs? I wanted to get one Coral Sun and one Ultra Sun, heard those were the best for corals....





Okay so so far this is what it's looking like:
-thirty lbs. live rock
-argonite sand
-HOB filter Aquaclear 110
-Zoo-Med T5's (thank you HMB )
-RO Saltwater 69 cents per gallon
-top off with RO 69 cents per gallon
-stocked with two clowns...maybe a firefish or bicolor blenny?
-was thinking cleaner and peppermint shrimp as a maybe...
-nassarius snails????
-zoas, mushroom and leather corals so far...what do pepole think of candy cane corals? that's it so far, they're all very cheap and sound easiest according to research...

Edit: I know anemones are hard and usually not for beginners but the LFS has one in their display tank that's thriving and it looks like the maroon clown in there is hosting it! Why are they so hard to keep? Is it because of lighting requirements?

 

[HalfMoon B]

According to Carey they need SUPER high light, and probably a 4 light fixture, so maybe she will confirm, buoy I would say TWO of those fixtures might work if the tank is not too deep?

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Last time I measured I think it was 18 inches high...

 

[huma-huma]

the est filter media wont work if its from a fw tank
and the evaporation is with all tanks, and even beyond that , its just physics that any body of water exposed to some sort of heat or humidity will lose water to evaporation.
sw is just like fw in terms of pwc's, some people do them every week, some do it every 2 weeks...some even longer. that is strictly based on the needs and circumstances for each tank