SaltWater Starter Tips ** READ FIRST **

[Feivel]

SALTWATER STARTER HELP: So you want to get into the hobby. FIRST thing to understand is that it does not have to be expensive but that there is an expense. Take everything you read with a grain of salt and try to get a second opinion when/if needed, Now there are a few things to think about before starting an aquarium and a few things to know about . First this hobby is like owning a dog, if your not into doing some regular weekly maintenance then you in for trouble. First thing to set-up is a good routine.

~Daily: Top off water, feed fish and visually check all your corals and livestock to make sure they are healthy, as this is the first indication something is wrong. Making sure all reactors/skimmers and pumps are running properly.

~Weekly: 10% water change is recomended, Change/rince filter socks, Empty skim cup, dosing can be done daily or weekly if needed

~Monthly: Change out medias like Carbon, GFO (granular ferric oxide) Top up bio pellets(if used) check sump light.

~A few thing your going to want to think about will be what type of tank you want, as the equipment can vary ALOT depending on your style, weather it be Fish only with live rock (wich is just a reef waiting to happen) Or a Beautifull rewarding REEF tank. First decide on the fish you want to keep as this will greatly affect the tank size. ALSO keep your budjet in mind.
www.liveaquaria.com is a very familiar base guide.

~All SW tanks should have a minimum of 1lb of rock per gallon of water. 1.5 is recomended.

~A drilled tank with a sump is very recomended to help hide stuff like HOB(hang on back) filters, skimmer, heaters, reactors and help grow beneficial algaes (yes intentionally growing algae) like chaetos or caulepra to help keep nutrience and nitrates in check. There are even decorative macros that are purple. the sump also acts as a secondary home for pesky fish or inverts that get aggressive.

~You will need some good lights to grow some of the corals. I use a 4 bub T5 tek light fixture(2 white, one blue, one pink) with 2 blue reefbrights for actinic (eye popping) results over my 75g reef. There are advancements in LED lighting but they are $$$. A lot of people going towards these. Also, A good timer to control the lights to 8-10 hours a day. Mine are one over a strecth of 12 hours. not all lights are on at all times but each is respectively on for 8 hours. they get about 4 hours of full (6 bulb) lighting

~A good skimmer to remove all the excess nutrience is a key. Shoot for double rated skimmer (75g tank 150g skimmer)

~A few reactors to help keep toxins and smells incheck, along with phosphates and nitrates. the three most popular are Bio-pellets, GFO and carbon.

~Tank Flow Rates should be approx 10x & 30x. IE 75g tank should have a 750gph(gallon per hour) return pump from the sump to the main display. in the display i should have approx 2250gph (75gx30) from koralia type circulation pumps. General rule of thumb you want as much flow in your tank you can get without disturbing the sand bed trying to avoid dead spots. there are 3 different style of flow, Laminate (lines) Circular and turbulant (random) all have pros and cons. Corals with skeletons like acans and candycanes as well as other soft corals like mushrooms, brains, leathers, prefer a lower flow rate inside the tank, were as Small Polyp Stony (SPS) Corals like the Acropora, Montipora, Birdnest, Gorgonian, prefer higher tank flow rates.

~Sand-bed. I recommend using 1-2" sand-bed. You can Research the benefits/drawbacks of a Deep SandBed(DSB) and also that of no sandbed or substrate. When buying someone else set-up it is important to rince the sand out very well as the bacteria living in the sand will die and rot and turn into nitrates, and you will get a cyano outbreak. Think of a pretty ant farm. now shake it violently. what will happen to the ants? same thing that will happen to the bacteria in the sand-bed Their homes, and paths will collapse and they will get trapped and die.

~CUC (Clean Up Crew) There are various kinds of snails/hermits/crabs. most are reef-safe some are not. Some stay more on the sandbed, some stay IN the sand-bed, others stay mostly on the rocks, and others on the glass. some stay in an anemone and others clean parasites. So a good mix of all of them is essential for a striving Reef. You want to aim to have 1hermit/snail per gallon at a 50/50 mix I like a few more hermits to snails. I have probably 50-60 hermits and 30 snails, 2 cleaner shrimps, 2 >>caribean<< peppermint shrimps (said to eat aiptaisia, make sure there caribean) and a sand sifting starfish. I have a mix of halloween, white, fast, red, blue, blue knuckle, scarlet etc hermits and nassarius, trochus, cerith, red stripe mexican turbo snails. My tank is about 2 1/2 years old.

~Salinity. A Fish Only tank can get away with a 1.021. a starter reef should be closer to 1.024-1.025 and a heavy stocked reef should be 1.026 and stable. Major fluctuations in the salinity can have adverse effects on trace elements available to the corals. i.e. a 1.021 will have less Mag/Cal/Alk value than a mix at 1.026. A close eye should be kept on matching salinity during WC(water change) and the use of a Auto top off system is recomended. There are 200$ top of the line tunze laser ATO's and there are, like mine, DIY models for under 30$ where a jug and float valve are used.

~Making a Mess, because you will is inevitable. Always have at least one towel on hand,a spare bucket. You will also want to go take a stroll through the dollar store, there are baskets with slits and holes, clips and clamps, cleaning brushes, hooks, teflon tongs, turkey blastor, plastic pot scrubbers. Jus containers. ETC The best part is,,,, its the dollar store OH & NOTHING METAL as it will rust .

~ Dosing. The required task of manually or by aid of a programable dosing pump, to replenish the used trace elements such as calcium, alkalinity and magnesium.... but well get to that when your ready

Thats still just scrapping the top but the needs to knows for now. We will teach you what you need to know when the time comes Dont forget to coral dip HAPPY REEFING

Sebastien Larabie
Last Edited 24/01/2013

[gerryo]

That is very well said, Feivel.   

I wish someone had put together all those hints when I was starting.  Could have saved a lot of time, money, and prevented quite a few dead corals.

Thanx.
gerryo

[BadTiming]

Wow nicely done, lots of good information here.

I would like to add one recommendation and that is a QT tank and dip. Once your tank is setup and stable with fish and corals the last thing you need is a pest (AEFW, red bugs...)or that impulse buying cause you had to have it only to find out it's not compatible with your setup. It's a lot easier to pull out of QT than the Display.

[charlie]

Wow nicely done, lots of good information here.

I would like to add one recommendation and that is a QT tank and dip. Once your tank is setup and stable with fish and corals the last thing you need is a pest (AEFW, red bugs...)or that impulse buying cause you had to have it only to find out it's not compatible with your setup. It's a lot easier to pull out of QT than the Display.

That is very well said, Feivel.   

I wish someone had put together all those hints when I was starting.  Could have saved a lot of time, money, and prevented quite a few dead corals.

Thanx.
gerryo

Totally agree, thanks Sebastien, this is now a sticky.

[Feivel]

Thanks guys, just a few things i have learnt over time and figured i could do my part too

Heres a few of my reference sites that i found informative Dont forget to snoop around them as you may find TONS MORE great information around.


ReefFlix Youtube for fish tanks
http://www.reefflix.com/

LA Fish Guys explain Bio Pellets YAY!!!!! lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLhmI8vtnfw    Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMx4HOsG3Rc  Part 2

Here is an info chart on one of our "Favorite" Friend, the Aiptasia
http://www.saltyunderground.com/pages.php?pID=11

Lights, Explained, in Saltwater terms
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Lighting.html

Flows and Styles
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=16+2167&aid=2662

Water Changes
http://www.reefs.org/library/article/t_brightbill_wc.html

Magnesium in the tank
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/10/chemistry

Cal & Alk
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-12/rhf/index.htm

Good All Around Site.
http://www.chucksaddiction.com/waterquality.html

Chucks Addiction - HitchHikers Lists
http://www.chucksaddiction.com/hitchhikers.html

Zooxanthallae explained, Dont forget the tabs on the right
http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/kits/corals/coral01_intro.html