unclebobsuncle
Aquarium Advice Newbie
Hi
i am new to saltwater... i have had fresh water tanks for years, currently run 2, a 50gal and 75 gal, gold fish and tropical with no problems and well established.. we are now wanting to venture into saltwater, to explore the new breeds and so forth saltwater can provide...
however, i have been spending time reading up on here and other websites as well as various documentation and so forth and it has just made me more confused than anything, seems there are so many different opinions on what is best, worst etc. i am hoping someone can lay it out for me and tell me what i am still in need or, or what i have that i shouldnt...
currently i have a 55gallon tank. i have an emperor 400 bio wheel filter on the back and a gravity fed filter behind with a maxijet 1000 pump. i am using filter pad and bio balls in the gravity filter at the moment.
the substrait is natural gravel with live sand over it, about an inch of sand, varies across the tank, as i let it fall naturally and gave a nicer bed than flat... maybe this is wrong...
i have a single heater, currently keeping it at 75oF but it not maxed out so can turn it up..
lighting is just a single 32inch flourecent, powerglow bulb, 40W.
we are wanting to obviously have fish, i have been told the best fish to start with are damsels, which is what we shall use and then go from there. as far as coral goes, id like to have some, im not looking for a huge coral reef tank, although they look nice it is expensive and plan on doing this over time, so for now just live rock and some coral, but keep the start up costs down until i am confident i have it all right. unlike fresh water tanks, if you screw up and kill everything, thats a huge chunk of change you just destroyed...
i have heard bio balls are actually bad, but then i have heard, they are great... some people say, put sand in the sump, other say, it will just ruin your pump...
the pump is old now, i plan on replacing it but it works fine just doesnt always restart on its own if power goes out so will be replaced.
currently, i calculated im pushing 660gph from both filters, i was told looking at between 7-10 times tank capacity which i am well within, is this correct?
basically i just need someone who knows, to just let me know what i need to change or add or remove, before i start spending money on live rock and eventually fish... its been cycling for about a week in its current form, im in no rush, just want to make sure least get a good start...
thanks...i hope...
nick
i am new to saltwater... i have had fresh water tanks for years, currently run 2, a 50gal and 75 gal, gold fish and tropical with no problems and well established.. we are now wanting to venture into saltwater, to explore the new breeds and so forth saltwater can provide...
however, i have been spending time reading up on here and other websites as well as various documentation and so forth and it has just made me more confused than anything, seems there are so many different opinions on what is best, worst etc. i am hoping someone can lay it out for me and tell me what i am still in need or, or what i have that i shouldnt...
currently i have a 55gallon tank. i have an emperor 400 bio wheel filter on the back and a gravity fed filter behind with a maxijet 1000 pump. i am using filter pad and bio balls in the gravity filter at the moment.
the substrait is natural gravel with live sand over it, about an inch of sand, varies across the tank, as i let it fall naturally and gave a nicer bed than flat... maybe this is wrong...
i have a single heater, currently keeping it at 75oF but it not maxed out so can turn it up..
lighting is just a single 32inch flourecent, powerglow bulb, 40W.
we are wanting to obviously have fish, i have been told the best fish to start with are damsels, which is what we shall use and then go from there. as far as coral goes, id like to have some, im not looking for a huge coral reef tank, although they look nice it is expensive and plan on doing this over time, so for now just live rock and some coral, but keep the start up costs down until i am confident i have it all right. unlike fresh water tanks, if you screw up and kill everything, thats a huge chunk of change you just destroyed...
i have heard bio balls are actually bad, but then i have heard, they are great... some people say, put sand in the sump, other say, it will just ruin your pump...
the pump is old now, i plan on replacing it but it works fine just doesnt always restart on its own if power goes out so will be replaced.
currently, i calculated im pushing 660gph from both filters, i was told looking at between 7-10 times tank capacity which i am well within, is this correct?
basically i just need someone who knows, to just let me know what i need to change or add or remove, before i start spending money on live rock and eventually fish... its been cycling for about a week in its current form, im in no rush, just want to make sure least get a good start...
thanks...i hope...
nick