I have a saltwater tank, any advice?

Question

I recently bought an aquarium and decided to go saltwater. Anyone have any advice or tips they wanna share with me. Am I missing anything? I am mostly following what my LFS (Local Fish Store) has told me to do. I added BioSpira (bacteria used for cycling). And every week I add 15mL of Cycle. Email me if you want to see a picture. I still don't have a test kit, and I know I need one. What should I look for in a kit? I heard that using water from the beach would be best to top off my tank. I live in Florida and a trip to the beach isn't too hard.

So here's my set-up.
*29 gallon tank
*Heater
*therometer
*crushed coral (about 1inch)
*2 lbs. of LR (LiveRock)
*A trickle filter, atleast that's what I think it is called. (It sucks up water through a tube and processes it through carbon and a biofilter)
*Shells from the beach (yes they're clean)
*A castle
*A Hydrometer

So again any advice?

Oh and I have 2 damsels and a little blue hermit crab. Is tap Water okay to top the tank off? Of course i'd add Stress Coat before. The castle is made for salt water tanks :).

Answer 1

You may want to take the castle out, they often will start to disintegrate in a salt tank and poison the fish. The main test kits that you need (beside the hydrometer) is a pH, nitrates and nitrites. I have heard that it is not best to use real ocean water, but I have heard that it is good for the tank too so I am not too sure on that one. I would think that it would be good for the tank because it has all of the good bacteria in it, as long as the water is not polluted. Also, I would set up a quarantine tank so you can make sure that they are not sick before you introduce them to the main tank with the live rock.

Answer 2

I started with a 29 gallon as well (8 yrs ago). I'd had lots of freshwater tanks and wanted to give saltwater a try. I promised myself that if I could keep it going for a year, I could upgrade at that time - turns out I was ready in 6 months! There are a lot of interesting fish & inverts and the 29 was just too limiting! Now I'm up to 3 saltwater tanks.

If you're planning to keep inverts, you should add a little more live rock. The usual amount is 1 1/2 lbs/gallon if the LR s Pacific and 2 lbs/gallon if it's Atlantic (Atlantic is less porous, so less surface area for the bacteria). LR isn't necessary for fish only (FO), but it will help with the filtration and you can make "caves" for the fish to hide.

It sounds to me like you have a regular power filter - see this link for a trickle filter: http://www.firsttankguide.net/trickle.php These are the best type of filtration. If what you have is a power filter, and you want to keep inverts/corals eventually, you might want to look into either a trickle filter or a protein skimmer - these are the best at removing excess organics from your tank.

For a test kit, try to get one that uses liquid reagents rather than test strips - the liquids are more accurate. Also, check the expiration date before you purchase! A good test kit for fish olny should include a high-range pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and alkalinity/hardness. If you're going for inverts, I'd get a test for calcium as well.

I wouldn't use seawater from the beach - too much chance of contaminants! Tap water with dechlorinator is okay as long as your tap water doesn't have any dissolved metals or nitrates, and can keep your pH up around 8.1-8.4. Where I started saltwater, the tap water was 8.3 already, but I have since moved and now have to deal with water that only wants to go as high as 7.8 unless I use reverse osmosis water and add kaulkwasser and osmoprep to replace the minerals.

Don't follow the direction on the bag (or the newer hydrometers) to mix saltwater. A fish-only tank should have the salinity around 1.020-1.023 at 78o. If you're keeping inverts, you're better off with the salinity at 1.024-1.026 at 78o. The bags will tell you 1/2 cup of salt/gallon (which is not enough) and the newer hydrometers also show a range that is too low for inverts!

The only other thing I don't see you mention is a good book for reference. This can be an invaluable resource for finding compatible fish species, fish diseases, for when something goes wrong!

Good luck with the tank!

Answer 3

No tap water is not okay. If you want to use tap water then you need to dechlorotate the water, then you need to add salt to the water. Follow the directions on the back of the bag. I wouldn't use water from the beach to top off the tank, you don't know what's in it. 29gal is kind of small for a saltwater set-up. You need to decide whether you're going to stay as a fish set-up or if you're going to go coral later on. We're currently looking into getting coral. It makes for a really good-looking tank. Salt-water can get expensive. Your really should have a pound of live rock per gallon. With only 2lbs in the tank, it's not doing anything. They might as well be dead rock.

Answer 4

Tap water is ok if you treat it. !!DO NOT USE WATER FROM A BEACH!! You can introduce all kinds of parasites and bacteria and sterilizing the water could cause your tank to become sterile, not a good thing. I would recommend a bottom filter to move water through your crushed coral. This helps the lime in your coral adjust your ph levels. Also get a good book on treating saltwater fish diseases, many freshwater treatments will kill saltwater fish.

Answer 5

I just want to add to be careful adding beach water. It may have the right salinity etc.. but water close to shore can be contaminated and kill your fish. Everything else appears great. Good luck.

Answer 6

just to let you know you have alot of hard work ahead for a salt water fish tank you need to keep a close look at the salt meter so you dont kill your fish

Answer 7

it seems like you have all you need but i would make sure to purify the water from the beach first lots of bacteiroa that can harm the fish if you don't