Planning a reef tank ?'s

[Sniperhank]

+1. When I bought my 55, it was a freshwater setup. Most of the stuff, like the rocks and decor, were garbage. But the one piece of decor was a large piece of lava rock, it is totally in there. If you are going to make purchases for your tank as freshwater as you get ready for sw, I'd make sure some of the stuff, as much as you can, be able to make the switch to save you money.

 

[Flreefer]

Yeah, I agree, every little bit will help out! There's always something you want or need and don't have the money for. Lol

 

[Sniperhank]

Yeah, I still need my last radion and there are some coral in the diver's den calling my name hard...

 

[Bearchumjs]

Maybe I will just use my husbands idea about catching a bass or bluegill. Gather some rocks from the river and some driftwood... It will look nice.

 

[Sniperhank]

Man, I can get a bucket and scoop a couple blue gill out of one of the ponds in my backyard...

 

[Bearchumjs]

Man, I can get a bucket and scoop a couple blue gill out of one of the ponds in my backyard...

LOL! How much to ship it here?

 

[Sniperhank]

Well, WA is quite the way for me to try to throw them.

 

[Bearchumjs]

Well, WA is quite the way for me to try to throw them.

Maybe. I think he'd rather catch it himself anyway.

 

[Bearchumjs]

Went to the river and got some rocks. I've cleaned and soaked the "bed" rocks. Now the larger display rocks are soaking.

Since this is temporarily a fresh water tank should unstop posting here and make a new freshwater thread? I'll miss posting here. I can update when I start buying saltwater stuff...

Ignore the floating driftwood... It'll get saturated eventually.

 

[Bearchumjs]

I seeded the filter with a piece of filter media from my betta tank. Got all my rocks clean. Just waiting for the water to clear up. Will get a background, castle decoration (the kids really want it), filters for the small filter, and a goldfish tomorrow. Let the cycling begin! Also going to get some glass tops if they are a good price at petco. Otherwise I'm ordering from amazon. Goodnight!

Oh- and spray painting the light fixture worked really well. It looks 1000 times better!

 

[Bearchumjs]

Ok. I got the castle, filter cartridges, 5 goldfish and the glass tops. Also 2 plants- water wisteria and micro sword. I also added a bubbler.

The first purchase I'm going to make towards saltwater is going to be a new HOB filter. I want a Marineland penguin power.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0009IMDQM/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1332858821&sr=8-1

My current filters are currently maxed out. One is a regent 20-40 gallon and the other is a tetra 5-10 gallon. I did the math... That's 50 gallons total. I'm under-filtering. If I use that new filter in a freshwater tank will I be able to use it in saltwater as long as I clean it really well and put in new filter cartridges and bio wheels?

Here's my latest tank photo.

 

[Bearchumjs]

Buttafinga!!

Forgot to add the photo.

View attachment 85247

My goldfish Goldie.

*english accent*
"Oh master Robin! Back from the crusades?"


Robin: "My dog Pongo?"
Blinkin: "Run over by a carriage."
Robin: "My goldfish, Goldie??"
Blinkin: "Eaten by the cat."
Robin: "My cat??"
Blinkin: "choked on the goldfish... Oh it's good to be back home, isn't it?"


Hahaha! I love that movie. It's so stupid!

 

[jwalsh]

Just a tip... I wouldn't hesitat to over filter especially if you are planning a reef. I have a 75 gal filter on my 29gal and I would probably get a 110gal filter for a 55 gal somewhere around 400+ gph

 

[Bearchumjs]

Just a tip... I wouldn't hesitat to over filter especially if you are planning a reef. I have a 75 gal filter on my 29gal and I would probably get a 110gal filter for a 55 gal somewhere around 400+ gph

Ok. I'll go for that. I think they make one of those penguins for like 90-120. I will definitely over filter then.

 

[Bearchumjs]

Just a tip... I wouldn't hesitat to over filter especially if you are planning a reef. I have a 75 gal filter on my 29gal and I would probably get a 110gal filter for a 55 gal somewhere around 400+ gph

Did you ever try out the "mini-fuge" idea?


Also- my husband wants to know if you can use protein skimmers on fresh water. I say no because the water is different than saltwater.

Also, does having a saltwater tank give your room a salty ocean smell? Cause- I'm not gonna lie... That would be awesome.

 

[Bearchumjs]

Just a tip... I wouldn't hesitat to over filter especially if you are planning a reef. I have a 75 gal filter on my 29gal and I would probably get a 110gal filter for a 55 gal somewhere around 400+ gph

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000HHOI8G/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1331060805&sr=8-1

This one would be good?

 

[Ibrahim]

Did you ever try out the "mini-fuge" idea?

Also- my husband wants to know if you can use protein skimmers on fresh water. I say no because the water is different than saltwater.

Also, does having a saltwater tank give your room a salty ocean smell? Cause- I'm not gonna lie... That would be awesome.

No you can't use a protein skimmer on FW. Your room will only smell salty the first time you fill it.

 

[mr_X]

I'm wondering if we should move this thread to the fresh water section.

 

[Bearchumjs]

I'm wondering if we should move this thread to the fresh water section.

I was thinking the same thing. Can we leave it here and I'll only post when I have saltwater questions? I started a thread over on freshwater. Since I'm planning on switching to salt and the majority of this is salt water info, I'd like to leave it here. This way I don't have to start a new thread every time I have a saltwater question.

I only posted some of my freshwater tank stuff because I though some people might have been interested in knowing I have bought my 55 gal. tank and what I did with it for now.

 

[jwalsh]

Did you ever try out the "mini-fuge" idea?

Also- my husband wants to know if you can use protein skimmers on fresh water. I say no because the water is different than saltwater.

Also, does having a saltwater tank give your room a salty ocean smell? Cause- I'm not gonna lie... That would be awesome.

Yeah that filter will work and as for the mini fuge I did try it and it seems to be working just fine. I did epoxy a piece of plastic mesh into the opening for the filter outlet just to make sure all the micro algea stayed in. But I made sure the mesh is course enough to let the pods out if they wanted to come out