setting up a small 32litre tank with 2 clown fish

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DeclanOH

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Aug 6, 2016
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Hi, :flowers:

I am new here and interested in getting a salt water tank with only 2 clown fish. I have been to my local fish shop. They had a start up kit including tank(filter/heater), two clown fish, sand, rock and water for 190 euro.

I have gold fish tank(54 Litre) since I was a child and the oldest goldfish I have is 14 yrs old.

I want to find out the basics of does and dont's. example do I need a clean up crew for this size tank, what do I really need in setting up a salt water tank, what type of flakes / pellets or something compeletly defferent.

Thanks in advance.
 
For a basic fish only tank, you can run it almost exactly like almost every other fish tank. Just make sure you feed sparingly and do your weekly water changes.
Ask your lfs about what they carry to check salinity. It's important and hydrometers can read way off. As it sounds like a large store they should have refractometers and probably even sell you water for your water changes if you don't want to mix it yourself.


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For a basic fish only tank, you can run it almost exactly like almost every other fish tank. Just make sure you feed sparingly and do your weekly water changes.
Ask your lfs about what they carry to check salinity. It's important and hydrometers can read way off. As it sounds like a large store they should have refractometers and probably even sell you water for your water changes if you don't want to mix it yourself.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

Thanks for the reply, my LFS has water, do I still need to check salt levels. Also for a 32 litre tank or an 8 Gallon tank do I need a clean up crew. Do I have to put in real coral or can I put in the fake stuff for decoration.

My LFS was saying with him giving me the sand the live rock and also the water he said I could put in the fish right away is this true.

Thanks.
 
Thanks for the reply, my LFS has water, do I still need to check salt levels. Also for a 32 litre tank or an 8 Gallon tank do I need a clean up crew. Do I have to put in real coral or can I put in the fake stuff for decoration.



My LFS was saying with him giving me the sand the live rock and also the water he said I could put in the fish right away is this true.



Thanks.


Yes you need to monitor salinity, water evaporates and leaves behind salt causing salinity to rise. You need to do daily top offs with ro/di water to maintain the proper level. You'll also need a larger tank for a pair of clowns, something more in the 15-20 gallon range. No you don't need a cuc, they don't really clean they just add to the bio load, the cleaning is your job with your weekly water changes and maintenance. And no, your lfs is misleading you, you still need to cycle the tank before adding fish to it.


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You will want your tank to have rock in it, be it live, dead, macro, base...whatever. It just needs to be porous for the beneficial bacteria to grow on and in. This is what you build up when you cycle your tank.
If your LFS is selling you rock that is already cycled through their systems, it is possible that you could avoid needing to cycle your tank...but in all reality that isn't a chance I would take when it came to one of my tanks.
 
You will want your tank to have rock in it, be it live, dead, macro, base...whatever. It just needs to be porous for the beneficial bacteria to grow on and in. This is what you build up when you cycle your tank.
If your LFS is selling you rock that is already cycled through their systems, it is possible that you could avoid needing to cycle your tank...but in all reality that isn't a chance I would take when it came to one of my tanks.

With daily topup for when water evaporates do I have to use ro/di water. The reason why I am asking this is because we have at ro/di filtered drinking water system. Could I use this for popups.

Also would I need a powerhead?
 
You should always use ro/di water to ensure you know what is going into your system.
Yes, you need a powerhead. You want between 10-50x turnover of your water column. This helps provide enough co2 exchange as well as preventing uneaten food and poop from settling in dead spots. This way it won't become part of the nitrate cycle and can be removed by your system's filtration.
 
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