Thinking about starting a saltwater 30g?

[carey]

Carbon and sediment filters need to be changed if the tds goes up over 0. The membrane should be good for at least a year, probably longer if you arent going to be making a ton of water.

 

[Exteremecheddar123]

thanks and i watched a brs video that showed me signals of when to chnage sediment filter, carbon blocks and membrane.

 

[fisherman08]

I have a 30 gallon and love it! My tank before was a freshwater tank and I converted it to saltwater with no issues. I have around 40lb of live rock with a 2.5" live sand bed.

 

[Exteremecheddar123]

Do you recommend 40 lbs? Its a 30 g tall . Is that like back up or is it all in your tank ?

 

[fisherman08]

That's what I have and it sits perfectly

 

[fisherman08]

this is my tank

 

[Exteremecheddar123]

it looks really cool ! where did you get rocks from? lfs?

 

[fisherman08]

I got them from a local fish store here in Vermont, I started with 10lbs of bone rock and 30lb live

 

[Exteremecheddar123]

lol not in vermont, i have to see what my lfs has for live/ dead rock. can you tell me everything else that you have? like powerheads,sand and other stuff? im trying to look for stuff now. how much did you spend?

 

[fisherman08]

I have two power heads, one is 750gph and the second is 450gph. I have a magnum filter with carbon, 40lbs of Fiji pink live sand, and a ebo-jäger heater. I do 10% water changes every two weeks and all my permamiters are perfect and have been for a long time now. Make sure you use R.O. In your water changes. I spent around $600 to start it all. Oh I also have a marine life led fixture.

 

[Exteremecheddar123]

yea i was looking into rodi and i prob gonna get the brs 5 stage plus. um for the powerheads, should do you think i should get something less powerful becuase the tank is only like 13 inches wide, but like 27 inches tall. should i jsut get the powerful one and point it downwards into the tank and then keep the less pwoerful one on top for gas exchange?

 

[fisherman08]

I think two 450's would be good but the placement is an art

 

[Exteremecheddar123]

what brand are your powerheads? hydor? & did you get sand from lfs or did you order it. did your lfs give you the live rock also or did you order it online?

 

[fisherman08]

I got it all from lfs and the power heads are hydor

 

[fisherman08]

Living in Vermont is hard to order any live stock online due to the cold temps here

 

[Exteremecheddar123]

My dad was talking to a friend who works at an aquarium and he said that the ro/di is not necessary if you do not have corals.

 

[Sniperhank]

My dad was talking to a friend who works at an aquarium and he said that the ro/di is not necessary if you do not have corals.

You can get away with not using ro/di water...but it can come at a cost. Who knows what is in your tap water? There are many unknowns that can build up and cause issues, things that are good for you but not good for fish in a closed system. My ro/di has been down for some time due to large amounts of fecal matter in my spring water. I've been using distilled water from Walmart with pretty good success...been over a year with it now. There is algae growing in the tank, as is to be expected, but with my skimmer, refugium, and media reactor it is doable on my end. Just don't expect a pristine, algae free tank.
Of course not having reef lighting can also assist with holding off algae growth as well.

 

[Exteremecheddar123]

For the algae growth,
Would I be able to get away with
Water conditioner & in my aq 50 gfo with activated carbon.
Would this be a suitable replacement of the rodi system
I would also be running a reef octopus BH-100 protein skimmer

 

[Sillyfishies]

It all depends on what's in your city water.

 

[Exteremecheddar123]

sillyfishies, since you are starting a 30g have you considered an auto-top off system? i think it will be crazy to constantly be bringing water into the tank everyday since it is so small it will evaporate quickly. i was looking into the tunze nano does anyone have comments on it's reliability? i heard that the float switches are inaccurate becuase they move. does anyone have any experience with the nano? or should i invest in the regular osmolator?