First saltwater tank, 40 breeder

[KleineVampir]

I could just throw my nerites into the saltwater tank.

 

[KleineVampir]

Well I finished the table today but sadly the electrician can't make it until Monday the 22nd...not too long but still a few days from now. Having an entire saltwater tank set up that's controlled by 2 switches is not a good idea! Oops turned the lights off and the whole aquarium with it! xD

 

[KleineVampir]

Well I went and got some salt and substrate, I got a kinda cheap powerhead for now...I got a refractometer instead of a hydrometer. Somebody tell me that was a good move because it cost me a decent bit more!

 

[KleineVampir]

Do you guys have any food recommendations for clowns? Has to be good if I want them to breed.

 

[KleineVampir]

Well everything's in place except one major thing: The light. The dumb store that I bought it from didn't have it in stock even though it said it did. The question is: Is it worth putting the water in there even without the light? Or should I just wait for the light? I imagine it doesn't really cycle without light.

 

[KleineVampir]

Apparently you can indeed cycle without light so I'm finally filling this aquarium! It's gonna take like 10 hours though, for the RO machine to actually pump out all that water.

 

[FishyDP]

Congrats on starting a sw tank. I would invest in an RO water storage container, it will make life easier. You could grab a 20g trash barrel with lid and put a bulkhead and ball valve on it. It will be good to have ready to go RO water available for top off and water changes. One of the biggest transitions from fw to sw is the necessity of topping off your tank from water evaporation, to keep your salinity stable. In turn, an auto top off is a great investment as well. Keep it stable..try to avoid big water chemistry changes at once.

 

[KleineVampir]

Congrats on starting a sw tank. I would invest in an RO water storage container, it will make life easier. You could grab a 20g trash barrel with lid and put a bulkhead and ball valve on it. It will be good to have ready to go RO water available for top off and water changes. One of the biggest transitions from fw to sw is the necessity of topping off your tank from water evaporation, to keep your salinity stable. In turn, an auto top off is a great investment as well. Keep it stable..try to avoid big water chemistry changes at once.

Hm. At least I got a lid for the tank. But yeah I guess I can just add in some RO water every now and then to keep it topped off. You're probably right about the barrel. I dunno how I'd do a water change now. I'd have to mix the salt in with the 5 gallon bucket I suppose. I have a pump so I might be able to pump right out of a 20g barrel.

 

[FishyDP]

Hm. At least I got a lid for the tank. But yeah I guess I can just add in some RO water every now and then to keep it topped off. You're probably right about the barrel. I dunno how I'd do a water change now. I'd have to mix the salt in with the 5 gallon bucket I suppose. I have a pump so I might be able to pump right out of a 20g barrel.

Even with the tank cover you will still get some evaporation. To explain further regarding evaporation in sw tanks- when sw evaporates it leaves the salt content behind (the salt will not evaporate). Water evaporation= increase in salt concentration in your tank. This is the reason to top your system off with fw regularly..to keep your salt concentration from fluctuation/getting too high. You could have 2 barrels, one for pre-mixed sw, and the other for RO water. It is a relatively cheap investment that is worth it, in my opinion. This way you are making water once a month, rather than weekly.

 

[KleineVampir]

Now that I'm getting close to having to actually decide what this tank is gonna be, (aside from that it's going to be saltwater) I'm kinda having second thoughts about what I want to do. The original idea was to have some live rocks and corals, and then somehow breed clownfish too. But then I learned that breeding clownfish is not really done in a reef tank. It might still be possible somehow but it might require at least another 10 gallon tank which I guess is no biggie.

I want a tank that achieves balance with minimal effort. It seems like water changes with saltwater are a huge pain in basically every way. It takes your time, effort, and money and arguably isn't even that good since it can destabilize the tank in various ways. One idea that would achieve this would be to just have a frag tank. Honestly I kinda like the coral more than I like the fish anyways. And with fish come so many problems I'm wondering if I should even bother. Then again if I only got 2 clownfish, hopefully the coral could generally process their waste. In other words, lots of coral and small bioload might be about as good as just coral except more interesting.

 

[KleineVampir]

More than likely I'll do the original idea. It'll be a show tank with lots of rocks and coral, and only 2 clownfish and a shrimp. With enough rock and coral, I'll probably be able to cut down the amount of water changes I need to do if any.

 

[RobW]

Ok so what I'm getting is that I should get the temp controller. A little expensive but that's ok. If that's what it takes it is what it is.

I'm not looking for a specific recommendation for substrate yet, just a general idea of what I should get. I've heard of sand and crushed coral I guess so far. Somebody said sand is good for keeping ammonia low...but coral is probably better for your KH and your calcium and so forth? This is a clownfish breeding tank so keep that in mind. I may not be able to do it now but I still want to gear the tank for clownfish.

I use a crushed coral bed with a layer of sand on top.

 

[RobW]

Now that I'm getting close to having to actually decide what this tank is gonna be, (aside from that it's going to be saltwater) I'm kinda having second thoughts about what I want to do. The original idea was to have some live rocks and corals, and then somehow breed clownfish too. But then I learned that breeding clownfish is not really done in a reef tank. It might still be possible somehow but it might require at least another 10 gallon tank which I guess is no biggie.

I want a tank that achieves balance with minimal effort. It seems like water changes with saltwater are a huge pain in basically every way. It takes your time, effort, and money and arguably isn't even that good since it can destabilize the tank in various ways. One idea that would achieve this would be to just have a frag tank. Honestly I kinda like the coral more than I like the fish anyways. And with fish come so many problems I'm wondering if I should even bother. Then again if I only got 2 clownfish, hopefully the coral could generally process their waste. In other words, lots of coral and small bioload might be about as good as just coral except more interesting.

Unfortunately, that's what it takes if you want a successful tank. Not doing water changes at all is never a good thing. Especially when detritus builds in the system without it being removed properly. You could look into an auto water changer on bulk reef supply for 200.00 bucks.

 

[KleineVampir]

Unfortunately, that's what it takes if you want a successful tank. Not doing water changes at all is never a good thing. Especially when detritus builds in the system without it being removed properly. You could look into an auto water changer on bulk reef supply for 200.00 bucks.

I didn't mean to say that I wouldn't do water changes at all. I'm just saying I'd like to reduce the amount of water changes I need to do as much as possible.

 

[KleineVampir]

Hey guys, I'm making some headway. Got the salt in there for the most part, but it's still heating up. I got 2 substrates. One is "alive" and one isn't. Which one should go first? Or should I just mix them up together when I rinse them?

 

[FishyDP]

I wouldn't rinse the live sand. You will kill the beneficial/live organisms in it, which is the point of getting live sand. You can just put it in the tank. I suggest using a piece of PVC pipe to feed it directly to the bottom of the tank, so you dont get too much of a cloudy mess in the water column. Have your skimmer running to help clean up the organics/die off from the live sand. You should definitely rinse the other sand thoroughly. Glad to hear you are making some progress.

 

[KleineVampir]

I wouldn't rinse the live sand. You will kill the beneficial/live organisms in it, which is the point of getting live sand. You can just put it in the tank. I suggest using a piece of PVC pipe to feed it directly to the bottom of the tank, so you dont get too much of a cloudy mess in the water column. Have your skimmer running to help clean up the organics/die off from the live sand. You should definitely rinse the other sand thoroughly. Glad to hear you are making some progress.

Skimmer...right, because that's a thing I have! xD Yeah I should probably upgrade from the HOB to a sump. It'll just be HOB for now, but pretty soon I'm gonna have to figure out the whole sump thing. I get the idea behind them but I don't actually understand how they work or how to set one up. Would you say the sump with the skimmer is much better than the hob?

 

[FishyDP]

Oh right, I forgot you are using a hob. I have never used a hob on a reef tank..but I guess if you have the right media in it and perform regular maintenance it could do the job. My first reef tank did not have a sump, I just used a hob skimmer..that is an option. My preference would be a skimmer over a hob, as the hob is likely to trap detritus (fish poop, uneaten fish food ect) which will eventually turn into a nitrate issue. What kind of media are you running in the hob?

After changing tanks and getting a sump, I will never keep a reef without one. There are many benefits to having a sump. One major benefit is that you can keep all of your equipment in it, rather than in your display, which is desirable for most reef keepers.

 

[KleineVampir]

Oh...heater too? I never thought of that.

Currently there's next to nothing in the HOB. Yeah...I thought there would be more that came with it but it's just one thing you slide in there. It looks like it'll work for now but obviously I'm gonna need to pick up some more media before it's actually good.

If I get into sumps, should I just get one that's already put together? I don't really want to make my own but I probably could if I had good enough reason to. I wouldn't know where to start with sumps right now.

 

[FishyDP]

Since you already have the hob you could just start with that and do more research on sumps, and possibly upgrade down the road. For a 40 breeder you could grab a 10g tank for like $15. You will have to drill the 40..but I think you are good to get some experience with the hob to start. For media I would suggest some very fine filter floss, which will work similar to a skimmer removing fine particulates from the water column..not quite as efficient as a skimmer though imo. Make sure your water passes through the floss first, and change it often. Next you could run some seachem matrix or marine pure. This type of media is just basically very porous rock, which will house a ton of beneficial bacteria, much more than your average live rock. Again, I dont have alot of experience with hobs on SW tanks, but this is how I would consider setting one up. Oh, maybe run a course sponge before the filter floss..to catch big particulates first, then smaller. Changing out the sponge and floss often will be key.