A college student's move to saltwater....

r00onmac

r00onmac

New Member
I am in college and i work in the residence halls and we aren't allowed to have anything over 10 gallons (but we can have as many 10 gallon tanks as we want, weird eh?)

anyways i have been dealing in tropical fish for my whole life (going on 21 years now lol) and i currently have a 10 gallon freshwater tank with like 15 tetras and a decent size pleco, but i have admired saltwater tanks for ages.

I am thinking of assembling a 5.5gal nano tank because i know that saltwater tanks don't "travel" as well as freshwater do and i move at least once a year so i need something i can carry from one room to the other by myself without emptying.... and you knew this part was coming.... can i get some opinions/recommendations?

first of all i plan on just getting the basic 5.5 gal from my local petco for like $12 and a glass top for like $10... i know that good live sand and good liverock are key to a good setup so i will probably go to a LFS that specialize in marine tanks, but i have read various places that an undergravel filer is good for these super small tanks.... any opinions on that option? or do you think with good livesand and good liverock i should be okay with such a small tank?

before you say "it depends on what you want to keep in it" ill tell you: i want NO MORE than a fiji devil damsel and MAYBE a clown (but I'm pretty sure once he grows hell be too big for a 5.5 gal tank)... in there i know its good to have a shrimp or two and a crab. and as far as plants/coral I'm fine with whatever pretty stuff ends up growing on the LR with the possibility of adding a low maintenance coral later to add some color if the LR doesn't produce anything worth looking at...

this project is completely open ended and any recommendations that can be offered are appreciated... i expect the project to cost around $120, is that realistic?
 
H

HarlequinNano

New Member
Probably not the shrimp are 25 a pop very sensitive to screw-ups
Chemicals and additives are about another 25
Tank is 25
Light is like 20

More reasonable would be 200
 
N

Nadia0201

New Member
All of the little things list testing kits, etc can make the total cost rise pretty fast . . .

I am personally starting with a 5 gallon mini-bow with the light replaced with a Coralife mini-compact flourescent bulb (higher wattage). I got that plus all necessities - i.e. LR, sand, test kits, etc. for $160.00 Livestock of course would be extra.

And I was told that you shouldn't carry even a small saltwater tank to the car (for travelling like 2 hours) since things will fall and break, etc. Packing a small tank up though for a move should be fairly easy. Or, if you are determined to move the whole thing, consider removing at least the very delicate items/fish before the move. When travelling for a couple of hours or overnight having a battery operated air pump (5-10.00) can keep your livestock alive. It's also great to have in case of a power failure in the dorm (which happened a lot at my college).

Anyway, good luck!
 
r00onmac

r00onmac

New Member
ill never travel more than a 10 minute walk/ 2 minute drive away from where i am... at least for the next 3 years.. and even after that i plan on staying in miami for grad school so expect that 3 years to become 5 or more...
 
djconn

djconn

New Member
I have a 5.5 (see Member's Tanks section) and I love it. I wouldn't do an undergravel filter but use an Aquaclear 150 instead. It will provide 1) flow to your tank and 2) a quasi filtration system especially if you put some rubble rocks/microalgae in the Aquaclear. In the world of nanos, we reply more on weekly water changes than on mechanical filtration to keep our water quality up to par.

One or two small gobies would be a nice additon to your tank. As far a shrimp go, I'd put in two or four sexy shrimp. They are awesome. I've got two in my 5.5. Also, using nice cured LR and live sand will greatly reduce your cycle time for your nano.

Your're asking all the right questions. Keep them coming and welcome to the site. :mrgreen:

What college are you attending?
 
r00onmac

r00onmac

New Member
Florida International University here in Miami FL.... the public university here.... good thing for us is that miami is a party town not a college town, so you dont see as much UM stuff as you would think.... which keeps me thinking that our 36,000 student university is just as important lol...


But you think the fiji devil and the clown would be okay in a 5.5? i know saltwater require more space than freshwater and in general ive heard 2-5 gal per inch of fish, and if the clown grows to 3" and the devil grows to 2-3" sounds like space will be tight...

what kinds of things will grow on a good LR? anything remotely pretty enough to add some color?
 
djconn

djconn

New Member
Cool. Maybe some mushrooms, yellow polyps, or green star polyps. It will really depend on your lighting.

I wouldn't personally put two fish that big in your 5.5 but that is just me. I'm sure others will says its okay.
 
r00onmac

r00onmac

New Member
are you still using those same lights on page one of your tank setup topic in the members section? if they supply enough to grow a beautiful tank like that,,, they should be more than enough for me...

ill probably stick to the fiji devil.... only reason i like it is because of the name (im a Phi Gam, also known as FIJI - http://www.phigam.org )
 
r00onmac

r00onmac

New Member
and the aquaclear your talking about is a standard 30 gal filter? like one made for a freswater tank, but throw in some rubble and stuff with the flow all the way down? do i keep in the carbon filter cartridge, or should i just use a sponge type filter to catch particles?

i feel like ive asked more questions today than my first 10 years of talking combined...
 
djconn

djconn

New Member
Yes, I'm still using the same lights. Very happy with them.

Yes, it the same aquaclear as FW models. Some folks run the carbon pad just to 'polish' off the water a little but you'll have to replace them every month or so. I've run a carbon pad occasionally as well. I've heard that some people even run the sponge filters but I wouldn't suggest that. I run nothing in mine most of the time. And yes, you'll probably have to run it with the flow all the way down. Aquaclear had changed their model names I think so I'm not sure if its still called the 150 or not. I'd just get the smallest one or the next size up.

If you've got a few more bucks laying around, I'd even suggest adding a small 9w clip-on light to the back of the Aquaclear to provide some light for your new 'fuge-filter'.
 
r00onmac

r00onmac

New Member
purchased.... im on my way to my first nano... YAY! lol... i dont need the lights to put the LR and LS in and cycle right? it can just be those and the filter running?

edit: also, since i live in miami, like 15 mins from south beach... do you think it might be beneficial to go get sand and water from the ocean and cycle my tank? or should i purchase sand and water...

apparently tap water + salt mix isnt good enough, but right now thats my plan unless someone can suggest somethign else....
 
r00onmac

r00onmac

New Member
UPDATE

so i went and got about 10 pounds of LS and 7.5 pounds of cured Fiji LR and put it in the tank with a 160gph filter circulating it (took the filter out and put in a sponge to catch the loose sand also put some small LR into the chamber)

right now its running with no light, no lid, and no heater... basically because i couldnt afford a heater right now... i dropped 80 beans on the tank, catalina water, cured fiji LR, LS....

My " NEW CORALIFE 12" AQUALIGHT DOUBLE LINEAR AQUARIUM LIGHT" shipped today from ebay, and im in the process of making a glass piece to put below the lights and a wood lid to cover the whole top and make it pretty... better pics soon to follow...

will the fact that i dont have a heater hurt the liverock while it cycles for a week or so until i get a chance to get one? if so ill go grab one tomorrow or borrow one tonight if its a ::HUGE:: deal...
 

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r00onmac

r00onmac

New Member
the tank is hovering around 70 degrees F right now... supposed to be like 83 right? guess im borrowing a heater....
 
I

incysor

New Member
r00onmac said:
I am in college and i work in the residence halls and we aren't allowed to have anything over 10 gallons (but we can have as many 10 gallon tanks as we want, weird eh?)

anyways i have been dealing in tropical fish for my whole life (going on 21 years now lol) and i currently have a 10 gallon freshwater tank with like 15 tetras and a decent size pleco, but i have admired saltwater tanks for ages.

I am thinking of assembling a 5.5gal nano tank because i know that saltwater tanks don't "travel" as well as freshwater do and i move at least once a year so i need something i can carry from one room to the other by myself without emptying.... and you knew this part was coming.... can i get some opinions/recommendations?

first of all i plan on just getting the basic 5.5 gal from my local petco for like $12 and a glass top for like $10... i know that good live sand and good liverock are key to a good setup so i will probably go to a LFS that specialize in marine tanks, but i have read various places that an undergravel filer is good for these super small tanks.... any opinions on that option? or do you think with good livesand and good liverock i should be okay with such a small tank?

before you say "it depends on what you want to keep in it" ill tell you: i want NO MORE than a fiji devil damsel and MAYBE a clown (but I'm pretty sure once he grows hell be too big for a 5.5 gal tank)... in there i know its good to have a shrimp or two and a crab. and as far as plants/coral I'm fine with whatever pretty stuff ends up growing on the LR with the possibility of adding a low maintenance coral later to add some color if the LR doesn't produce anything worth looking at...

this project is completely open ended and any recommendations that can be offered are appreciated... i expect the project to cost around $120, is that realistic?
Click to expand...
UG filters are a no-no for saltwater. Period.

You should be able to do this easily for $120. Especially if you're able to do a bit of DIY. If you're only interested in shrooms and some polyps a couple of these bulbs with a DIY reflector would probably do just fine.
http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_ ... 7151625485

You will need some type of HOB filter, and a ready supply of saltwater to do weekly water changes, but with an extensive background in FW, you're a bit ahead of the game.

B
 
r00onmac

r00onmac

New Member
hehe well if u managed to read down to the bottom of page 1... its setup.. im waiting on my lights to come frome ebay and i need to make a glass/plexiglass lid of some sort because i know the lights cant sit directly above the water... right now im using plastic wrap over it just to keep the water from evaporating while the tank cycles...

i bought 5 gallons of catalina water and only used about 4 after the rocks and sand so ill prolly use the rest in a DIY auto top off system and then find a better place to buy water from for hte future..
 
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incysor

New Member
Oops...Didn't read all the way down...Thought I did, but must have gotten confused with one of the several other 'I'm new' threads. :pom

Top-off water needs to be fresh water. RO/DI water.

When you lose water to evap, salt is left behind so your salinity rises. Adding fresh water stabilizes that.

If you replace water lost to evap with saltwater, your salinity will just get higher and higher.

Cycling without a heater isn't gonna hurt anything. I don't actually have a heater on any of my tanks, but they stay in the 75-81 range without one. 83 would be on the very high end of the envelope.


B
 
r00onmac

r00onmac

New Member
well my room is really cold.. so i got a very very very small flat heater pad thing made for water... so it raised it about 1-2 degrees... once the lights are on it should raise a little more..

where can i get water like that? DI=deionoized? think i could use deionized drinking water then?
 
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