HELP noob questions

[Txredneck29]

Ok so a while back I started with a small 10gal glofish tank from petsmart didn't tank long to get an addiction. About 2 Months later a friend of mine was getting rid of a 40gal tank so I was able to get my hands on it and now have had it up and running for about 4 months with no issues. But it's a fresh water of course. And just yesterday I had a friend getting rid of a 100gal bow front tank. So I now have it with nothing in it at the moment. Another buddy of mine who is very knowledgeable about tanks said a saltwater tank is not only expensive as heck and high maintenance but also not someone that's a complete novice. Said it's best to do a 40gal type tank over a 100gal.

So in all this what can yall tell me is it really expensive and high maintenence to do so is it something a novice can do? Of course after seeing some of these builds with live coral I'm just in amazement of beauty but I don't Wana get myself into something I can't do

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[cgthebeast]

HELP noon questions

Well i think it really comes down to what type of setup you really want. If you want to do a reef then it's gonna be a pretty penny, the most expensive items are lighting, an rodi unit( it's a literal super filtration system, highly need it for a reef or any saltwater IMHO) and a skimmer. Rember you get what you pay for in this hobby. But you can also save money by waiting on deals.
Anyway i think if your really devoted to doing everything needed to run a saltwater aquarium then even a novice can do it.

Alright first thing first: what type of system do I want
A fowlr- a fish only with live rock (I recommend this if you want to do a reef tank later.) this is where no coral is involved at all. It's a pretty good way to mature your tank while saving up for those expensive lights that reefs need
Next; fish only- only fish literally an dry rock if that
Reef: everything an coral basically

Alright, once that's done start researching researching and researching. Plan everything out. Also the bigger the better but a lot of the bigger fish are not reef Safe so keep that in mind when you eventually stock.

I currently run a 10g Nano reef that's been very successful an i trying to upgrade it for my b-day (apparently setting up a new 10g FW is not allowed but getting a 4ft tank is haha) ok anyway, you have to be pretty strict in all saltwater water changes. A day either way is not the end of the world but you can't let it go the whole month without it.
I also run a HoB an plan to do the same thing in my 55 until I'm ready for my sump next summer. I use a 20g aquaclear that I rinse the media with tank water weekly. Always rinse the media or things will start living in it that you don't won't it to

Power heads, you need them. Wave makers are great but one of the objects you can upgrade to when your wallet recovers from the cost of everything else.

A good quality heater, plain an simple, no fish stew

Next substrate and live rock is also needed. I always go with live sand so you already have that bacteria in it help stabilize the tank. Now some live rock is needed but not all of it. Dry rock will become live overtime an you can save some cash by buying bulk dry rock from eBay an such

One more question, do you want a deep sand bed, a shallow sand bed, or a bare bottom.

I prefer a shallow has it keeps pockets of gas from forming as quick and looks more natural

Buy a good test kit, it's your life lien



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[Txredneck29]

Well that's what's hard for me on maintenance some times because the work I do I'm gone 22 days at a time and home for 20 so my frech water 40 gal I have now I run a marineland penguin 350 HOB and a Fluval 306 canister filter and it seems to do a great job I have 2 sets of lights on it one is a full fennix 36 " actinic led light and the other is a 36" fennix actinic/daylight light. Only Ave a few fish in it 2 siamese alge eaters 1 Chinese alge eater 6 glofish and 5 guppies. Tank seems to stay pretty clean and I do water changes when I'm home. But would be worries about doing a salt tank if it requiem weekly maintenence.

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[cgthebeast]

HELP noon questions

See that's why the saying "the bigger the better" comes in to tanks i have to do weekly water changes as my tank is so small, it's no bother cause of my schedule. if you go with re 100, keep it on the lightly side of stocking and run double to triple the filtration, then it should be fine. But to be on the safe side, a auto top off would be needed for a crazy schedule a well with fish that easily take prepaired food as you can load an program a high quality autofeeder.


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[cgthebeast]

I would do a sump also just to make sure it can have the optimal filtration


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[Txredneck29]

I was thinking about running two of the marineland penguin 350 HOB filters and A Fluval fx6 filter on the 100gal but that's when I was still on the mind set of just staying fresh water.... was told can never really have to much filtration and with that setup would be waaaaannt more than enough filtering I would imagine lol

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[Txredneck29]

I've been trying to read up on all the sump stuff and all the other types of filtration. But it's way beyond my knowledge level I guess I'm just not understanding it all I need to go by my buddy's and see his setup

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[cgthebeast]

Canisters can be awesome but on a saltwater tank they can become nitrate traps


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[Txredneck29]

Hmm good to know. Never knew that. I may end up having to stick with a fresh setup just for the ease of it... my better half is home even when I'm gone for the 3 weeks but I'd like to keep it simple for her as well haha. She does a great job on our 40 gal setup

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[cgthebeast]

Yeah it takes awhile, going salty is something that shouldn't be a light decision, but you also don't have to learn about it over night either. Take your time, read an research, plan it out, trust me filtration is insane. Once of the oldest still working reef tank uses a under gavel filter.


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[Txredneck29]

Oh wow. Very true I've been trying to slowly look things up every day trying to learn more and more about it all. I've been able to find a lot of great info on here so far and I got a lot of help with my fresh tank from here as well.... a lot of great info from good people on here

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[cgthebeast]

An fresh can be exciting, could start getting some real monsters in a 100g. Or plant it, plenty of possibilities there too


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[Txredneck29]

I've seen a lot of planted tanks but I'm not sure how all of that works either as well.... like is there special sand, lights and fish for it and gona be a lot of learning on it.... we have two small live plants in the 40g and so far they seem to be holding up pretty well but I've been noticing on my fake plants at the top they are turning a bit brown

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[cgthebeast]

Oh wow. Very true I've been trying to slowly look things up every day trying to learn more and more about it all. I've been able to find a lot of great info on here so far and I got a lot of help with my fresh tank from here as well.... a lot of great info from good people on here

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We try, I Believe a lot of people really love this hobby an just want to try to help an show people how fish are actually animals, not just end table decorations in a glass bowl. That's why I've stayed in this forum.


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[Txredneck29]

My better half will sit in front of our tank for a good while just watching them swim around d she loves it and all the colors in ours we have just fell in love with it and I want to do something g exciting with the 100 gal also thought about having fresh but making it seem like it's salt as well

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[cgthebeast]

I've seen a lot of planted tanks but I'm not sure how all of that works either as well.... like is there special sand, lights and fish for it and gona be a lot of learning on it.... we have two small live plants in the 40g and so far they seem to be holding up pretty well but I've been noticing on my fake plants at the top they are turning a bit brown

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Alage, prob a type of ditotomic. In planted, you can buy special substrate, use root tabs, or just with low care plants such as Anubis. Lighting is also important, but much cheaper then reef lighting (believe me, my upgraded lighting is costing me my arm) an almost all fish like live plants, some like to eat them though so watch out for that.


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[cgthebeast]

My better half will sit in front of our tank for a good while just watching them swim around d she loves it and all the colors in ours we have just fell in love with it and I want to do something g exciting with the 100 gal also thought about having fresh but making it seem like it's salt as well

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Read up a bit on African cichlids. They are color like saltwater fish but are fresh. Thy do require harder water an if you decide to stock them, then don't mix lakes or any other fish like s.a. Cichlids with them. Only certain types o catfish can live with them but cichlids are pretty rewarding


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[Toffee]

I would use the 100g as saltwater fish only tank then use the 40g as sump.

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[RnBMum]

One of the biggest helps for me (aside from coming here, of course) was joining a local aquarium society. I have met tons of hobbyists and professionals, with all types of interests and experience levels, and we are all just a little bit nuts.

As an added bonus, my annual membership ($35) gets me discounts at all the LFSs, access to auctions and sales within the society, and most helpful, someone who is local and cal actually offer hands on assistance if I need it.

Just my $0.02...


Allison
Freshwater fish-head for more than 20 years now, but salt water newbie.

 

[Txredneck29]

One of the biggest helps for me (aside from coming here, of course) was joining a local aquarium society. I have met tons of hobbyists and professionals, with all types of interests and experience levels, and we are all just a little bit nuts.

As an added bonus, my annual membership ($35) gets me discounts at all the LFSs, access to auctions and sales within the society, and most helpful, someone who is local and cal actually offer hands on assistance if I need it.

Just my $0.02...


Allison
Freshwater fish-head for more than 20 years now, but salt water newbie.

hmm i need to look around in my area for this very thing see if i cant find some locals as well,