Thinking of starting up a salt water tank.

[Shaggy]

I want to start with a 10 gallon tank. Is it difficult to manage a samll salt water tank at 10 gallons? What do I need to buy besides the tank? Let me know.

[maxpayne_lhp]

Well some say it's ok. but if you can afford, a bigger tank is ideal and preferable cuase it'll be more balance. Better list up a budget cause marine tanks are expensive I think. And patience is golden ho ho...

[Fishfirst]

yes it is much more difficult to do a nano type tank. Parameters are very unstable in a smaller tank. I ALWAYS recomend a 30 gallon or larger. As for what you would need:
Filtration: Live rock, protien skimmer, sump, refuigum, or water changes for a small system (a combo or a single type of these filtration methods would be fine)
Lights: PC's, VHO's,T-5's, Metal Halides, or NO Florecents. It all depends on what you want in your tank. (corals need one of the first four)
Substraight: sand or crushed coral, I prefer argonite sand
Salt
heater
Preferably RODI water if you can get it for the tank, this will prevent a lot of your algae problems.
I would do a fishless cycle.
I would add liverock before fish if you go that route
I would consider getting a good book before you even start.
Quarentine EVERYTHING!

[maxpayne_lhp]

Cool! When I start keeping marine cultures, this is the first place I'll go

[TheOldSalt]

What kind of tank do you want, Shaggy?
Fishfirst might have scared you with all that reef tank stuff if you only want some fish, but if you want a reef I can give you some more details.

Anyway, yes, a 10 gallon saltwater tank is just plain foolhardy. The "inch per gallon rule" of freshwater fish is FIVE gallons per inch in saltwater, and that rule is only good for smallish fish. That is, a 10 gallon tank cannot hold enough to be worth the bother.

[Fishfirst]

yes tell us what you want in the tank and we can go over it with you a little bit more. I threw out those terms for you to look up in our glossary!!!! hahah, no jk sorry about any confusion... sometimes I don't explain myself well, if you don't know any of those terms ask us or look in the glossary, should be great fun getting you started!

[Shaggy]

OK, I will not start out with a 10. I will get a 30 or higher. I do want to have a coral/reef but hope to work up tot that. Rather start out with the fish, a few fish, like maybe 3 or 4. My goal is to start out with fish and see how it goes with the care of them, then work up to the reef stage, if that is possible. Do I need to start out with reef, or can I add them later?

[Fishfirst]

you can definately start out fish only and go to a reef later! I did it by upgrading from a 55 to a 125, but you can also do it by just adding liverock and corals slowly into the tank once you've got the lights for them.

[Shaggy]

OK, so give me a run down on what I need, and a little describtion of what each thing does, pictures of what they look like, so that when I go out and look to buy them, I will know what you all think is a good product.

[Fishfirst]

well to give you a picture of what you need, I need the size of the tank? Protien skimmers are size sensitive, and so are heaters. But I always buy salt in bulk because it is cheaper. I had much success with Red Sea Salt, or Oceanic Salt.
Red Sea Salt
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...&N=2004+113009
Oceanic Salt
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...&N=2004+113009
Instant Ocean has good review too
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...&N=2004+113009
As for a protein skimmer or refuigum
If you go small (40 gallons or smaller) I'd stick with the bargen brand Seaclone
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...+113771+113565
or if you want the absolute best for your money try aqua c remora
http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_...ro.asp?CartId=
If you are going larger try the aqua c EV series
http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_...ev.asp?CartId=
Also I'd get this right away to prevent huge algae problems
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...&N=2004+113773
or even this would work (the first one was for your future reef)
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...&N=2004+113773
of coarse there are several different brands of RO/DI units, none of which really work TONS better than the latter, so I'd shop around... I got mine free from a local reefer that upgraded his RODI
Good flow is key I'd go with Maxi-jets
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...G&N=2004+22788
Also something to test your Specific Gravity or salinity (salt content in the water)
Specific Gravity
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...+113761+113565
Salinity (the more accurate reading)
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...&N=2004+113761
A good test kit would be nice
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...&N=2004+113074
I'd also go with argonite sand instead of a crushed coral substraite.
Remember if you see a good deal on any of these sites, and petsmart has it, you can have them match that price so I'd print some of these off!

[Osiris]

Shaggy, fish got it down, now u gotta watch ebay u can get decent ro or ro/di units for $100 some with shipping, local guys here down it and pleased with it, petsmart price match is good i get my salt with them and filters.

If you join reefcentral.com you also get some benefit lower prices with drs. F&S.

[Fishfirst]

same thing with skimmers heaters and powerheads too

[TheOldSalt]

Bottled distilled water works as well as RO/DI, and since you live in the desert where water is expensive and not to be wasted, it's an option to consider. RO's waste a LOT of water; for every half pint you get, a gallon more goes down the drain. Horrendously inefficient. Some people prefer using them over buying water, but most people live in places with a lot more water available than you do.

[Fishfirst]

true that the old salt...

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by TheOldSalt

Bottled distilled water works as well as RO/DI, and since you live in the desert where water is expensive and not to be wasted, it's an option to consider. RO's waste a LOT of water; for every half pint you get, a gallon more goes down the drain. Horrendously inefficient. Some people prefer using them over buying water, but most people live in places with a lot more water available than you do.

Well I'm only using Distilled water now on my 55 gal, so I will probably do it for the other tank.

Well, what size would be a good starter tank? 33 Gal?

[Fishfirst]

that'd be alright... if you can go bigger, go bigger, you'll thank yourself later

[baby~doll]

what's FOWLR? fish only with live rock?
and what's nano?
thanks

[TheOldSalt]

Nano means "too small."
heh, heh...actually it means a tank which is very small.

FOWLR does indeed mean fish only with live rock, although if you have live rock, then it's practically a reef tank. The difference is in the absence of corals.

[baby~doll]

thanks old salt!

[Osiris]

if ya look, for my name starting a topic in the reef area, i have pics of my nano