Salt water newbie

[Lonster]

Buying live rock from someone that is shutting down is pretty risky IMO. Especially with a new person not knowing what type of things to look out for. Paying $160 at the lfs vs. $50 gives you some decent extra money to spend, and can make a difference with a skimmer for a small system. He said he wanted to watch his spending so just throwing in my 2 cents.

I used all dry rock and I am happy with a pest free tank.

[mrhasan]

Aqua cultured ones are pest free too.

[Snaz]

Nano tanks are wonderful. A good size is 20 - 30 gallons, with a 29g Biocube a great tank for beginner or expert. Nano's offer a visual perspective that is not often available with a large tank and that is closeness. You can get your eyes within eight inches(or less) of every nook, cranny and growing thing in your tank.

My tank looks like a bit of a dog's breakfast from afar but I designed it to my viewing pleasure which is on a stool with my nose pressed up against the glass. So much life!

Smaller tanks are no more difficult than larger tanks in my opinion. In fact it is easier because maintenance is a breeze. My weekly 10% water change is half a bucket of water. You ask some of the big reefers around here how long it takes to prepare ro/di, mix and hump five buckets in and out of a system and it would be hella of lot longer than my half bucket. My additives? 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in 20ml of water, simple.

Welcome to reefing and Nano!!
Keith

[Enigma]

Originally Posted by mrhasan

If 20 is your limit, I would suggest that you get a 20 long. Awesome footprint and should give you a bit more space for more corals and one or two more fishes. I have also being into freshwater for like 10 years and started saltwater about a month ago and its going great till now. Small is not bad as long as you have proper filtration and do regular maintenance. The only downside I would say is that it limits your livestock to a "huge" extend!

X2. 20 long tanks have very nice dimensions. Though I think 40 breeders have the "best" nano dimensions.

[mrhasan]

Can't agree more

Plus to me, smaller fishes are cuter than their larger counterparts. The other day I was a hardly 1/2" hippo tank and that's probably the cutest fish I have ever seen!

In my 20long, I haven't done any major water change in the last 1 month. Just did regular top offs.

I personally don't like cube aquariums because they actually give less place for the fishes to swim in straight.

Originally Posted by Snaz

Nano tanks are wonderful. A good size is 20 - 30 gallons, with a 29g Biocube a great tank for beginner or expert. Nano's offer a visual perspective that is not often available with a large tank and that is closeness. You can get your eyes within eight inches(or less) of every nook, cranny and growing thing in your tank.

My tank looks like a bit of a dog's breakfast from afar but I designed it to my viewing pleasure which is on a stool with my nose pressed up against the glass. So much life!

Smaller tanks are no more difficult than larger tanks in my opinion. In fact it is easier because maintenance is a breeze. My weekly 10% water change is half a bucket of water. You ask some of the big reefers around here how long it takes to prepare ro/di, mix and hump five buckets in and out of a system and it would be hella of lot longer than my half bucket. My additives? 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in 20ml of water, simple.

Welcome to reefing and Nano!!
Keith

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by Enigma

X2. 20 long tanks have very nice dimensions. Though I think 40 breeders have the "best" nano dimensions.

40 long is even more awesome. And I don't think 40g would be considered nano :P

[Dearth]

Thank you for the information after reading some more I think I might use my 33 gallon tank standard glass rectangle shape and I do have some accessories that I can convert to salt water and will have to buy the rest and I already have rock I have 18 lbs of fake lava rock gifted to me for Xmas a few yrs ago but never used in my fresh water tanks.

One problem I do have is every room in my house is bright and always had algae issues because of the light are salt water aquariums affected in the same way? If so is there a light diffuser that I can use without spoiling the looks of the tank?

Another question I have is what is the best light medium to go with as all I have are the standard fluorescents but coloured (red,blue,yellow) are LEDs or halogen better to use?

Again thank you

[mrhasan]

LED will definitely be more economical in the long run but the initial investment is going to be very high.

You can always use T5HO lights for moderate results but the best for SW (if you plan to keep delicate corals) would be metal halide lighting.

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by mrhasan

Yah that would be even better since there cycle will most probably take a day or two (or maybe no cycle at all).

Any live rock will give you a cycle of some kind, no matter where it comes from, due to transfer / handling
Just saying don't expect it to be 'cycle free'

And I'll agree with reefwars ...
It will be inexpensive enough to buy LR for a tank that small, so don't bother with base rock
Some things shouldn't be skimped on, such as rock, skimmer, and if you want SPS, quality lights are important too

[oyf709]

Just in case no one has suggested this yet, for a nano tank, you can even try bare bottom tank. A lot easier to manage as a smaller tank and give you a cleaner look. I would suggest this simply because in a nano tank, you can't really achieve DSB anyways.