??? about saltwater...

[adpierin11]

My mother is planning to have her 30 gallon become a saltwater tank, fish only. She's looking at a nemo fish *sorry I don't know much about saltwater fish* and possibly something else, not for sure what yet....
She only wants about 2-3 fish in the tank. And she has talked to a lot of people regarding keeping a saltwater tank.

I guess the one question we have been getting mixed reviews on is she has been told that if she has a protein skimmer and some live rock she doesn't need a filter. Is this true?

She has already bought the filter just in case, but another question is a lot of people are saying that they never had to change the water in their aquarium. I am a big skeptic of this and am wondering if this is infact true as well?

I want to hear from you guys instead of people who are trying to sell her something what is infact true and not so true. She has had a saltwater aquarium when I was a child about 21 yrs ago and it housed an eel and an octopus, but they both somehow crawled out and died.... And she has forgotten a lot from her previous experience so any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

*This is for my mother, I am still planning on the 75G cichlid tank... I don't want anything to do with saltwater anytime soon.*

[Scuba Kid]

The "nemo fish" would be a clownfish. Most likely an occellaris. If you have enough liverock and a decent protein skimmer, than no you shouldn't need a filter because the liverock should have enough beneficial bacteria on it, although it would not be a bad idea to have a sump-style filter with a refugium incorporated.
And yes, she should be doing waterchanges on the tank.
Buy plenty of books on saltwater keeping and do plenty of research before beginning. When she thinks she has done enough research, she should research some more.
I suggest The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert Fenner as her first book on the subject. There is TONS of useful information on setup and keeping including different filtration methods, liverock, livesand, etc and good information on different groups of fish.

[Ice]

She can also read The Complete Book of the Marine Aquarium by Bill (or is it Vincent ?) Hargreaves as well. I found this book is well put together as well. A couple other books worth getting/reading are :
The New Marine Aquarium by Micheal Palletta
Saltwater Aquarium Models by John Tullock

These two are easy reads without getting extremely technical with terms and set-up.

[CollegeReefer]

A 30 gallon tank is the recommended size tank for your mothers "nemo". The best thing to have for filtration when it comes to saltwater setups is live rock. Live rock will take care of your biological filtration. The next best thing to have is a protein skimmer. This however is not needed to run a successful saltwater tank but is a hobbyist best friend. Protein skimmers take out a lot of the organics in your tank (fishfood, waste, etc) that can cause ammonia levels to rise if left in the tank. I have a protein skimmer on my 75 gallon and no protein skimmer on my 20 gallon. Both of my tanks parameters are perfect. I do weekly 20% water changes on my 20 gallon where I do water changes in my 75 gallon much less. The last beneficial part of filtration, which once again is not needed but is very helpful is a sump/refugium. It plays three important roles. It adds more water volume, it allows a place where you can grow macro algae and have a safe haven for micro fauna, and lastly it allows you to hide your protein skimmer and heater out of site. I have a sump/refugium on my 75 gallon but don't on my 20 gallon. I hope this gives you an idea on the 3 most common things used in filtration. A power filter is not needed for this type of saltwater setup. Some people however use a power filter to add more biological filtration by dumping the media and just adding liverock rubble. You could do this if you have already used the powerfilter, otherwise I suggest just taking back and put that money you saved into a good protein skimmer and/or adding a sump/refugium.

On a different note, as many others have said it is always a good idea to read up on how to run a saltwater tank. Many on this forum will encourage you to go and read some books which is always a great idea, however I feel that there is enough information on this forum and other forums that you wouldn’t have to rent or buy a marine hobby book. Before I started I spent a lot of time reading threads on nano-reef.com and reefcentral.com. I didn’t pick up any books till after being in the hobby for 6 months. There is so much to be learned when it comes to our hobby but the basics I feel to running a tanks successfully can be found on the web. I would also encourage you to go to about.com and do a search for saltwater. They have some very good articles on keeping a saltwater aquarium. Good luck with this little venture. And just to let you know, I will be setting up a 55 gallon saltwater tank for my mom really soon.

[Fishfirst]

www.wetwebmedia.com would be my choice for reliable information

about.com has some things that I feel are wrong.

[wetpetshawaii]

I found The Saltwater Aquarium Handbook by George Blasiola very informative....when choosing your Occellaris Clownfish it is better in my opinion to buy the ones that are Tank bred....vs. the wild caught ones that most commonly originate from Indonesia The tank bred ones are born in a tank and will not be dependent on an anenome host.....I find that the ones that are bred have a better chance of survival in your new captive enviroment.....Aloha!!!

[flamingo]

A large majority of clowns are now Captive-Bred to begin with.
Though, I doubt your LPS would be able to tell you if they were, unless, they import them from ORA, etc.
Whether you buy a wild caught specimen, or a captive-bred, neither will require an anemone, or possibly even take to one.

About.com isn't the greatest, I would agree, but they do have an "online course" that you can sign up for. If they still have it- they send you an email on different subjects daily or so, on basic subjects. While most of the info is simple and something you would have already guessed, it never hurts to check it out.

[Betta1]

I have recently set up a 29g reef tank myself and the basics can be learned quite easily as my tank is thriving (have found new coraline and new mushrooms today =D). Unlike freshwater I relied souly on some friends of mine to setup my SW tank, they let me know everything I need to. My setup is a 29g, 24in smartlight w/ 65w 50/50, 30lb live rock, 30 lb live sand / coral chips and an emperor 280 hob filter. I plan on getting what I believe is called an airlift protien skimmer, it's a cheaper skimmer that works on an air pump rather then a motor but I've found that my tank works well without it.

If you are rather experienced in freshwater then the jump to SW isn't overly tough, theres just more involved in a SW tank but like freshwater you can look up the basics and trouble shoot problems

[Fishfirst]

I plan on getting what I believe is called an airlift protien skimmer, it's a cheaper skimmer that works on an air pump rather then a motor but I've found that my tank works well without it.

save your money... those things pull as much skimmate out as a 1% water change each week does :P I would even go for a seaclone before buying an airlift.