How much care/maintainence?

[cynor]

So I'm trying to convince someone to let me get a Salt tank going, specifically a FOWLR build. I think I've gotten past most of the hurdles, and they love the way aquariums look and stuff. However the last hurdle seems to be care and maintenance. From what I've read once you setup a salt tank the care/maint is really easy right? Just monitor levels, do a PWC every week or two, and obviously feed the fish.

Like compared to a FW you don't really have to vacuum up poop from the sand like if you used gravel. And the LR means you don't really have to change filter wheels and stuff correct?

Obviously that's assuming it's setup right with ample flow, LR, Sand, cleaning crew, etc.

 

[Sniperhank]

A FOWLR setup is pretty much exactly like a FW setup in terms of maintenance.

 

[cynor]

A FOWLR setup is pretty much exactly like a FW setup in terms of maintenance.

Well maybe I should rephrase my question then... if you set it up with enough LR and a sand bed do you need some kind of mechanical filtration? I mean can you even vacuum sand like you can the gravel in a FW? And if you have cleaners like shrimp and crabs do you need to really worry much about like cleaning the LR of anything?

 

[Schism]

You have to do everything that a freshwater tank requires. Since in saltwater tank live rock is the biological filter. Bio-wheels/biomedia etc is not really used or does not have much of a purpose.

However, saltwater fish are fragile in comparison to freshwater fish when it comes to tolerating pollutants such as ammonia, nitrite and nitrate so usually that also means more maintenance.

 

[cynor]

You have to do everything that a freshwater tank requires. Since in saltwater tank live rock is the biological filter. Bio-wheels/biomedia etc is not really used or does not have much of a purpose.

However, saltwater fish are fragile in comparison to freshwater fish when it comes to tolerating pollutants such as ammonia, nitrite and nitrate so usually that also means more maintenance.

What kind of maintenance are we talking about though? Like I think the main thing they are worried about is cleaning filters and not so much checking levels of things in the water. Possibly vacuuming out the tank too, though I know a PWC is pretty easy to do.

 

[Madreefer420]

I change my filter sock every day... A little over the top but that's cause I have upgraded mu pump and realize that I need to split some of the flow so I plan to make a refuge and that should help everything

 

[MacDracor]

Well, I'll admit to being a bit lazy with my tank. I top off, but do an actual PWC maybe once a month. I just dose Essential Elements and a liquid calcium supplement every couple of weeks.
I never clean the sand. That's what bristle worms and snails are for.
I have no mechanical filtration, in general.
It should be noted, however, I that I am running a rather hefty refugium with tons of macro and lots of little inverts.

 

[lovefishys]

I still highly suggest you get some sort of filtration and clean the sand! Snails are not enough to clean and remove bacteria from the sand. I would recommend doing a water change at least once a week if you do not have filtration for your system.

 

[danbstrong]

I still highly suggest you get some sort of filtration and clean the sand! Snails are not enough to clean and remove bacteria from the sand. I would recommend doing a water change at least once a week if you do not have filtration for your system.

Never touch established sandbed i have 25 tongan nassarius snails to keep it stirred if you want a low maintenance tank you need good skimmer adequate flow and refugium for nutrient export and water changes with a good salt mine being a 55g sps dominant i also use a calcium reactor i dose nothing other than feeding my fish once a day parameters are alk 12dkh calcium 420 magnesium 1350 ph 8.0 these are the main important parameters

 

[Schism]

Never touch established sandbed.

For a deep sand bed that is used for denitration this may be true. But for all other sand beds this does not apply. Also DSB's can be disturbed in small sections safely.

 

[danbstrong]

For a deep sand bed that is used for denitration this may be true. But for all other sand beds this does not apply. Also DSB's can be disturbed in small sections safely.

I just use nass snails they move the sand around in small amounts im sure releasing nutrients into the water for my chaeto to consume so i guess their keeping it clean if you dont have inverts moving sand around i guess it would make since to manually clean it just seems easier to throw some sifters in there i also used to have a sleeper goby that constantly sifted the sand until my emerald crab caught it when the goby died i had small cyano outbreaks every other month untill i "hired" the nass snails

 

[MacDracor]

I still highly suggest you get some sort of filtration and clean the sand! Snails are not enough to clean and remove bacteria from the sand. I would recommend doing a water change at least once a week if you do not have filtration for your system.

Umm... Why? Snails, hermits, and worms do a very fine job of cleaning the sand, but why would you want to remove bacteria from it?
Live Rock is the filtration. With my refugium, this is supplemented by macro algae. That, as it turns out, is all the filtration I need. My levels are super stable, and I know many aquarists who are jealous of my steadily low Nitrate levels.
Cleaning the sand bed is overrated. I consider it to be a chore for freshwater tanks, and tanks with insufficient CUC inverts.
The purpose of water changes is to replenish trace elements and to dilute (through removal) dissolved nutrients. If nutrients are consistently low, and you are able to measure with trace elements need replenishment, water changes can be done much less frequently.
I'm not calling this "good" behavior, or billing it as the best way to run a SW tank. I'm just saying that if you do everything *just* right, SW tanks, even reef tanks, can be very low maintenance.

 

[danbstrong]

Umm... Why? Snails, hermits, and worms do a very fine job of cleaning the sand, but why would you want to remove bacteria from it?
Live Rock is the filtration. With my refugium, this is supplemented by macro algae. That, as it turns out, is all the filtration I need. My levels are super stable, and I know many aquarists who are jealous of my steadily low Nitrate levels.
Cleaning the sand bed is overrated. I consider it to be a chore for freshwater tanks, and tanks with insufficient CUC inverts.
The purpose of water changes is to replenish trace elements and to dilute (through removal) dissolved nutrients. If nutrients are consistently low, and you are able to measure with trace elements need replenishment, water changes can be done much less frequently.
I'm not calling this "good" behavior, or billing it as the best way to run a SW tank. I'm just saying that if you do everything *just* right, SW tanks, even reef tanks, can be very low maintenance.

Never once touched the sand lol my nass snails do a great job stirring the sand ive never even heard of anyone cleaning the sand but to each their own good luck

 

[Convict2161]

Never once touched the sand lol my nass snails do a great job stirring the sand ive never even heard of anyone cleaning the sand but to each their own good luck

Man!! I've said it before and I'll say it again!! SICK TANK!! Just sick!!

On topic now. I never touch my sand either. Just 5 gallon water changes every week. I just tossed my skimmer also.

 

[danbstrong]

Man!! I've said it before and I'll say it again!! SICK TANK!! Just sick!!

On topic now. I never touch my sand either. Just 5 gallon water changes every week. I just tossed my skimmer also.

Thanks!! Nothin in there was bigger than1"-1 1/2" frag its 3 years old now im gettin ready to frag it all down move to 150 waitin on 150 to cycle also once i put a calcium reactor on there growth rate doubled i attribute this to stabile alk and cal we had a good run