Salt water newbie

[Dearth]

I am a long time fresh water aquarist that is looking at setting up a salt water aquarium but have some questions.

-I have always been told to set up largest tank you could afford which has always stopped me cold from setting up a salt water but recently learned about nano aquariums And from reading various forums a lot of serious salt water aquarists dislike nano aquariums but I would rather take baby steps so what size of nano aquarium would you recommend 9, 10, 14 or 20 gallon?

-what kind of coral, rock, sand and bottom feeders/fish would you recommend for stabilizing tank and how many of each would you recommend?

-is darker setting better than having an aquarium in a bright area?

Thank you for any info you can provide

[Proteus]

I think that the biggest issue with small tanks is water volume. Large tanks with more water can have a little more room for error.
I have a 26 gallon cube that I love. I down graded from a 250 gallon system and I'll tell you the smaller is cheaper to operate.

Find a tank suitable to what you want. And get the required equipment. Ie. skimmer lights sump

Live rock and sand. Then add water. It'll will be a month or so before you could add livestock. But research what kind of tank u want. Specimen or reef. Fowlr

This is a great site for info from much more experience reefers

[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!

[Lonster]

Think about using dry base rock if you want to make sure that there are no bad hitch hikers and save a bit if money. You'll have to wait a bit longer for the cycle to finish but then you can spend a bit more on your skimmer or lights.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Lonster

Think about using dry base rock if you want to make sure that there are no bad hitch hikers and save a bit if money. You'll have to wait a bit longer for the cycle to finish but then you can spend a bit more on your skimmer or lights.

the price for dry rock and live these days is almost par so not saving that much def not enough for a simmer or lights and with not getting any pests also comes not getting any good things.


even if i had the choice to use free dry rock id still go majority live rock.

[reefwars]

liverock for a 20g got to cost what $40 at most:P

[claymax]

i cant seem to find live rock for less that 8$/lb....

[mrhasan]

You can buy the aqua cultured live rock from ecoliverock. I use it and is happy with it. Costs around 4lb/pound with free shipping (but you have to buy min of 20 pounds).

[Proteus]

Or post a thread on here :LF LIVE ROCK

Normally sells $3-$4 lb

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by Titus99

Or post a thread on here :LF LIVE ROCK

Normally sells $3-$4 lb

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