First Salt Water tank...How do I go about it?

Question

I have three small tanks, all freshwater. I have had the two 5 gallon tanks for 1 year, and my ten gallon tank for three years. I have only lost (Killed by accident) one pleco, and I lost one fish to ICK. Other than that I have had no problems. I recently purchased a 50 gallon tank at a garage sale and I would like to attempt salt water tank (complete with coral). I have checked tank for good seal and I am okay there. I need to know where to go to learn all I can about setting up salt water tank, and please do not tell me petco, their fish people are quite ignorant where I live. Info I need: Do I use sand? How do I clean? How many bio wheels do I need? How often do I check ph and nitrates? Please help, would love to set it up for my sweetheart as a anniversary present.. Oh yeah, he wants sharks, can I have normal salt water fish with sharks?

Answer 1

I keep both saltwater and freshwater tanks (several of each, actually), and once you get the tank set up, they're not much more difficult than freshwater if you've planned it properly. It's good that you have some freshwater fishkeeping experience first, or all that I'm about to tell you may seem a bit overwhelming. There is a little more equipment, the water chemistry is a bit more involved, and any of the "specialized" materials (and the fish) for saltwater tend to be more expensive.

Since you are just beginning, I'd suggest starting with just live rock and fish plus a few hardy inverts, then add other items to the same tank as you get some experience and want to try more organisms.

A 50 gallon is a good size to satrt with. The larger of a tank you can use, the better - saltwater fish tend to be larger and more territorial/aggressive than traditional freshwater "community" fishes and more like cichlids in their behavior, so some planning is necessary on just what you can keep together. The larger the tank you have, the more options that are open to you. Just research the fish you want first, to be sure they are all compatible, and their adult sizes are appropriate for the tank size you have. Unfortunately, even the smallest of the saltwater sharks will be much too large for your tank. These will get around 3 feet in length and demand very high water quality (which is difficult enough considering how they eat!).

If you need to get a stand for the tank, try to get solid wood. The particleboard stands won't hold up if they get wet and the glue separates, and the iron/metal stands will corrode if any salt gets on them (or, you could get a metal stand, just use a flannel-backed tablecloth under the tank to protect the stand from splashed water).

Here are some of the other items you'll need. You may already have some if they came with the tank, but I'm including everything I can think of, just in case it wasn't included or you want to upgrade:

FILTER: You'll want to get one that's properly sized (filters 5x-10x the tank volume per hour - check the gallons per hour rating). There are lots of choices, and what you'll need will really depend on budget, what you're trying to keep, and personal preference. I'd consider the best type to be a refugium or wet/dry trickle filter. Next best would be a canister, followed by a biowheel, then a standard hang-on-tank. Unless you're using a fine sand or oolite substrate, you can also use an undergravel filter to supplement filtration, but I'd suggest powering it with a reversible powerhead to blow the water up through the substrate (prevents stuff from building up under the filter and clogging it).

POWERHEAD(S): To provide more water circulation in hard to get to places. This also helps circulate dissolved oxygen to the bottom of the tank. Have at least two for a larger tank.

HEATERS: For a saltwater tank 30 gallons or larger, I'd suggest getting 2 and putting one on each end. This will provide more even heating, and your tank has a back-up if one heater gives out. Figure the correct size as 5 watts per gallon (for a single heater) divided by 2 (if using 2 heaters). If you need to heat the water more than 10 degrees above the room temperature, go one wattage size higher.

LIGHTING: If you never want anything but fish, you can use the standard lighting and hood made for your tank. You might want to upgrade the lamps to a 10,000K tube or a 50/50 actinic. If you're going to try corals, anemones, etc., go with a compact fluorescent, T-5, metal halide, or combo system - these will provide more intense light that they'll need for photosynthesis.

SUBSTRATE - you want something made of aragonite to help keep the pH from changing, I like the smaller shell material that Carib-Sea puts out - it doesn't have to be live sand, either. Some folks like crushed coral, but the particle size is bigger than I like, and it tends to have a lot of dust that never rinses completely out. Another very fine grained material is oolitic aragonite (looks like small white balls) and aragonite sand. Here's an idea of the materials available: http://www.caribsea.com/pages/products/dry_aragonite.html While it's possible to keep a marine tank with regular aquarium gravel, sand, or no substrate, the aragonite will keep the pH from falling below 7.8 (it should be 8.2-8.4).

SALT MIX: If you're only keeping fish, you can go with one of the less expensive brands of synthetic sea salt. If you get any invertebrates (shrimp, snails, crabs, corals, anemones, etc.), switch to a better quality mix before you add them. These cost a little more, but you won't need to be using additives for the trace elements they need either.

HYDROMETER: This measures the amount of salt that's dissolved inwater. There are two kinds you can get, one made of glass that floats on the surface (more accurate, but easy to break) and a plastic container that has a needle that rises and falls as the amount of salt changes (less accurate, bubbles attaching to the needle gives false readings). For fish only, you want the specific gravity to read 1.020 - 1.026. If you're keeping inverts, you want it to be 1.024 - 1.026.

WATER TESTING KIT: minimum of pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate.

CLEANING SUPPLIES: elbow length gloves, gravel vacuum, 5 gallon bucket, large plastic container and powerhead for mixing the salt (to be done well ahead of water changes), algae scraper, razor blades (for coraline algae and diatoms that like to attach to the glass).

WATER CONDITIONER: for removing chlorine or chloramine from your tap water (unless you plan to use a reverse osmosis filter or buy RO water, which is preferred for a reef tank).

The following are optional, but strongly suggested:

PROTEIN SKIMMER: This removes dissloved and small organic materials that would normally contribute to the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate in your tank. Not 100% necessary for fish-only tanks, but will be handy if you have inverts to keep up good water quality by removing organic materials that become nutrients for algae.

GLASS COVER: This reduces evaporation and keeps the fish inside the tank (some are jumpers), although with a metal halide lighting system, it can overheat your tank.

LIVE ROCK: This give the tank a more natural appearance, provides hiding places for the fish and inverts, and increases the biological filtration. Not to mention, you get all kinds of cool critters that hitchhike into your tank (shrimp, snails, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, sea stars, etc.).

CHILLER: If you use metal halide lighting, or the water temperature regularly gets above 85o (for corals or anemones, fish can take a little more heat), you may need to invest in a chiller to keep the tank cool. The water temperature should run 76-80oF.

There may be additional items that you could need, such as kalkwasser to raise your pH if you can't get it to 8.2, but you won't know these until you get the tank set up and running, and test your water.

You may decide that you want to use a UV sterilizer, but in my opinion, these are unnecessary. They don't necessarily kill all the parasites and disease-causing organisms, and they only affect free-floating algae, not any that's attached to your glass, rock, or substrate. The bulbs also need to be replaced yearly. Rather than pay the high price for one of these, you'd do better to buy an inexpensive 10 gallon setup kit and a heater and use these as a quarantine tank.

Before going out and buying all this, I would suggest some reading to see what you're getting into by keeping saltwater. I did research for almost 2 years before I set up my first tank, and I had about 20 years of freshwater aquarium experience already. Rushing into a saltwater setup usually doesn't give you good results, and the equipment and fish are a little too expensive to be finding out in a few weeks you got something that's not appropriate for what you want for your tank. I'd also recommend a good reference book for some research. Either of these would be a good one to start with: The New Marine Aquarium by Michael S. Paletta. Microcosm Ltd. ISBN 1-890087-52-1 or The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert M. Fenner. Microcosm Ltd. ISBN 1-890087-02-5

Some web sites you can check out for more info on keeping saltwater are the following:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marsetupez.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marineSetUp.htm
http://www.peteducation.com/index.cfm?cls=16
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/

As far as the fish, what species are good for starters will depend largely on your interests. Even though they are hardy, I recommend against damsels, mostly because of their aggressivness - add one of these, and they'll terrorize any fish you try to introduce later. The exception I'd make here is the green reef chromis.

You'll want to add the smallest and most peaceful species first, and this will reduce some of the aggression in the tank. It's a general guideline that you shouldn't mix fish of the same color or body shape, or different species from the same families to prevent any of the fish from seeing another as a potential rival. There are a few species that can be kept in schools or in mated pairs, but this is the exception rather than the rule. I prefer the smaller semi-aggressive and peaceful species myself, but your preferences might be different. Some of the ones I would recommend as starters are the chromis, a pair of ocellaris clown (the "Nemo" fish - any two juveniles will work because the dominant one will become a female, the other a male), Bangaii cardinalfish (if you have a good saltwater person at your fish store, they should be able to pick out a male and female for you), longnose hawkfish, canary blenny, jawfish, clown goby, scissortail gobies, dwarf angelfish, and firefish. That's more than you should keep in a 50 as adults, so you'll need to so a little choosing of which you like, or you might want something completely different. Here are a few links to look at, so you get an idea of care level and prices:

http://www.marinedepotlive.com/
http://www.tropicalfishoutlet.com/
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/categ.cfm?pcatid=15
http://www.saltwaterfish.com/

I do recommending that you buy your fish locally - you get a better idea of the size and health of the fish, plus you won't have to pay for shipping. If you do decide to buy online, only buy from a company that guarantees live delivery of the livestock (some also extend the guarantee for a few days after arrival, which is even better!).

Good luck with your tank!

Answer 2

for sharks u will need much more than 50 gallons.

The smallest sharks need no less than 150-180 gallons.


Anyway.. since it is your first saltwater tank, you really need to do a lot of research, since you want corals for a reef tank ... be aware that you will need to spend alot more money than a regular FO SW tank.

You will need to have the tank established for at least 8 months before you buy coral.

But for the basics you will need to get live sand or crushed coral. Live sand is my favorite as it doesnt limit your stocking as much as crushed corals.

Then you will need to make the saltwater. I use istant oceans salt mix. i found that buying the 180 gallom mix for 40 dollars is by far cheaper than buying little boxes. You will also need a hydrometer. You need to measure each bucket of saltwater before adding it to the tank. You need the specific gravity to be at 1.020-1.024.

Onc you get the water at the right SG. You can hook up the filters. For a 50, look into a canister filter or a stonger HOB.
I would use a aquaclear 70 HOB. I also like using a internal powerfilter as well.

The next step is allowing the tank to run for 2 weeks.

Then i would get a protein skimmer. ranging from 100-200 dollars.

Then you should look into the lighting. For corals you need a super lighting system. Coral life for example. You will need special 10000K lighting for the tank and the system should have a lunar light. Ranging from 100-500 dollars.

Then you need live rock. This is good for bio-filteration and cover. You should buy this in the first two weeks of the tank. Make sure it is cured.

The live rock is recommended 1 1/2 - 2 pounds per . So a 50 gallon, look to get 75-100 pounds. At 7.99-10.99 dollar per pound. Expect alot.

Then regular fish tank stuff. heaters, airation etc..


After you get some fishes after 4 weeks!!!! You need to cycle the tank and make sure it is fine before making final stocking..

After 7-8 months!!! you can get corals. You should have inverts etc by this time. The corals will range from 40-200 dollars each.

Then you can get your final stocking with smallerreef fishes.

The problem is 50 gallons isnt alot when it comes to saltwater and alot of fishes arent suitable. So sharks would be out of the question.

Again reef tanks are a whole different animal when compared to saltwater FO tanks. So since you have no experience with SW .. i would wait alittle... ALSO SW is completely different than FW..

So while you had somewhat success in FW... you really need to reasearch SW alot more...

Answer 3

There's really nothing I can add to Copperhead's and Bettachris's posts about getting started, but I can tell you that a 50 gallon tank would be inadequate for keeping a shark.

The smallest shark I can think of is the bamboo shark. You can purchase bamboo shark eggs and hatch them in your tank, but they grow to be nearly 4 feet long and will need at least 100 gallons.