can salt water fish live with only just the salt?

Question

I was wondering if you could have a salt water aquarium with just salt? Like not having any live rock, reef, or coral. And all you would have to do is let the salt water cycle for 2 mounths put the raw fish in the water and let it rot to get the right bacteria in the water, the wait about 2 mounth's. and all you would have is "healthy" salt water and a salt water fish that you could have with out any live rock. or maby you could put plastic plant's in there or regular rock that you would find in your back yard (rock like that)? I am hopeing to start my own 20 or 29 gallon salt water aquarium, and i am trying to get all the information that i need.

Thankyou for your information.

Answer 1

As the others here have already said, this is something you can do. I mentioned live rock in an answer to one of your earlier questions: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Av_py6MMoYk2EQDXyamudMbty6IX?qid=20070721230200AAgBjNT and listed this as "optional".

I would recommend against using any rock from your yard in your tank. Depending on where you live, the rock could be inert (not react with the water at all), or it could contain metals which would leach in the saltwater (and these might be toxic to your fish & bacteria), or could alter the pH in a way you wouldn't expect. It's much safer (although more expensive) to use the aragonite substrate and rock sold in pet stores for use in marine tanks. Plastic plants and replica corals are fine to use (and easier to keep, because they don't require special lighting), although these should be for aquarium use as well. You might find things in craft or dollar stires, but the paint or dye may not be safe in the water, they might contain wire, or the plants may have flame retardants.

You seem to have a basic understanding of how to do a fishless cycle for a saltwater tank, but you should also get the chemical test kits so you can monitor the progress of the conversion of the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. You can use the fish (or shrimp, a pinch of fish food, or 100% pure ammonia) to provide the ammonia source. Once you're only registering nitrate, though, you should add a little more ammonia and wait until this cycles through before you begin to add the fish, and then add slowly, one fish at a time, beginning with the smallest and most peaceful of the species you intend to keep, and working toward the more aggressive. You can "cheat" a little on the process by raising the temperature so the bacteria multiply faster when you don't have fish in the tank while cycling. You might see if any of the fish stores around you sell live sand from their marine tanks (don't get the stuff in bags, bottles, or boxes, who knows how long this has been sitting on shelves or if anything in it is still alive). Just observe the tanks carefully first - you don't want to add live sand if there appears to be any red slime algae or sick or dead fish in the tanks. If you can't find live sand, ask an employee or manager if they will give you a filter pad from one of their marine tanks when they change them (although this may mean an extra trip for you; same precautions apply). The filter pad will also have the bacteria on it, and if you add the bacteria from a cup of live sand or a filter pad, you have that many more individual bacteia to multiply in your tank. I don't think I gave you this specific link in the last question I answered, so I'll give it to you now: http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm - this has the steps of doing a fishless cycle. Note that even though the comments at the end of this article say not to use fish food to cycle because they contain phosphate, both the shrimp and fish have it as well - the only way to avoid adding this is to use the pure ammonia to cycle.

Even if you don't intend to use live rock, some fish will appreciate having hiding spots. You can get dry versions of live rock (called base, lace, or reef rock) that sells for around $1.50/lb, and stack a few pieces into a "cave" or two. You can also use pieces of PVC pipe for this.

Good luck with your tank.

Answer 2

Actually there was a study done over 10 years. Started with two tanks, one salty, one fresh. Over the course of the 10 years, they lowered the salt in the salty one, and raised the salt in the fresh one. At the end of the 10 years, when they were the same salt level, they put the fish together, and they were fine.

Answer 3

You are describing a fish only tank. Yes, it is done all the time. You have grossly over simplified it though. I think I'll let copperhead give you the specifics.

Answer 4

If you put only dehydrated salt water in the tank it works really well and you don't have to keep changing the water.

Answer 5

Yes you can do basically just that... but with a few steps more... I'm with fivespeed, wait to hear from Copperhead, he's the man with the plan when it comes to saltwater questions.

MM

Answer 6

check out wetwebmedia.com for research. yes you can set a tank up like that, but i prefer to use the rock. what kind of fish do you want?? budget??

Answer 7

no sorry... eeeeewwwwww