hello nanotank.com

x8justblazeit8x

New Member
hello nanotank.com community!!

im absolutely new to nano tanks and the whole saltwater fish aquariums!! i love the colors of the saltwater!! I have 20 gallon tall aquarium lying around my house and want to make it a nano tank with reef and fishes!!
Ive been watching this http://www.youtube.com/user/ipsfdotcom.
I already have a heater.
1.
ive been looking at this for lighting.. thinking of buying 2 of them..

http://www.dtpetsupplies.com/catalog/Li ... rofit-kit/

what are your opinions? I want to a good lighting system but im a cheap
:lol3:

2.
I've been trying to do my research for a couple of days now.. and I still don't understand the maintenance of it.. is it: you take out a couple of gallons a week or so and put a new batch of salt water?

3.
the kind of tap water you use? is it water on from the sink? because I live in North Carolina and I think the tap water isn't all that clean. But I do have a fridge with the water dispenser, and I use that water that comes out and put it in a brita water filter pitcher. Can I use that?

4.
Filtration? any suggestions? i read about a natural filtration? protein skimmers, are they necessary? For both filtration and protein skimmer, where is a good buy on the internet?

5.
powerheads?

6.
any other things i need to purchase to get it started? or any other info?

thanks a much and please be detailed
:lol3: remember im a cheap!
 

AlexfromSATX

New Member
Justblaze, Welcome to nanotank.com!

1.
ive been looking at this for lighting.. thinking of buying 2 of them..

http://www.dtpetsupplies.com/catalog/Li ... rofit-kit/
That will be fine to use for right now, the main issue you might have is light getting to the bottom of the tank for some corals. Coral placement will be something you will have to plan out accordingly in order to keep corals happy. The lighting is a good start for low light corals. If you want to keep SPS or LPS you may be looking at upgrading your lighting sooner than later.

2.
I've been trying to do my research for a couple of days now.. and I still don't understand the maintenance of it.. is it: you take out a couple of gallons a week or so and put a new batch of salt water?
I do weekly changes, and I take out 20% of my water weekly. I buy premixed saltwater at my LFS (Local Fish Store) so I don't have to mix it myself. otherwise you should have your salt mixed at least 24 hours in advance so everything dissolves, some people just mix it the day of and have no problems, but they say its better to pre mix. I don't know what is really true just giving what I have seen people do. Along with water changes you should definatley invest in a refractometer to measure your salt levels. This is very important in a Salt water aquarium especially so you can match the level with the new salt for water changes to the current water, also so you know when enough salt is enough. And finally don't forget the test kit, these can help you determine a lot within your aquarium before really bad things happen.

3.
the kind of tap water you use? is it water on from the sink? because I live in North Carolina and I think the tap water isn't all that clean. But I do have a fridge with the water dispenser, and I use that water that comes out and put it in a brita water filter pitcher. Can I use that?
It is recommended to get RO (Reverse Osmosis) water. I go to a local Grocery store in town and use a Purified water, that specifically says on the bottle that it is filtered by Reverse Osmosis, Distillation and Carbon. The gallon jugs are about .68 cents and I use this as top off water. And you LFS should have this water as well for a reasonable price. Tap water will give you mega problems in your aquarium, some people claim to use it with no issue, but the majority that have, have had really bad algae outbreaks. Not sure if running through a Brita filter would help, not too familiar with how it works.

4.
Filtration? any suggestions? i read about a natural filtration? protein skimmers, are they necessary? For both filtration and protein skimmer, where is a good buy on the internet?
In our small aquariums, your Live rock should be enough filtration, and weekly water changes will help keep parameters within acceptable ranges. Skimmers aren't that necessary, in my opinion, unless you have a very large Bio-load from fish and corals, and/or you are lazy on the water changes, and/or you have a larger tank with harder to keep corals. Some people use the HOB (Hang on back) filters to put heaters and sometimes modify into a refugium, this creates more flow and can be convenient place to put bags of carbon should you need to use it. I would suggest Ebay, Craigslist, or a local Reef club to purchase these items. IF you have to you can purchase them through one of the sponsors sites, but since you mentioned price was an issue, second hand equipment might be your best route.

5.
powerheads?
I like the Koralia Power heads, but almost any will do.

6.
any other things i need to purchase to get it started? or any other info?
Patience is a Key success factor to reef keeping, just keep researching and getting different ideas. There are many ways to keep a reef tank you just have to decide how much time and capital you have to put into this great hobby. Good Luck!!
 

x8justblazeit8x

New Member
thanks for replying!! I plan on putting it together piece by piece for now because I'm going on a vacation in a month or two and I don't want my tank to die.. LOL

but i have a couple of questions on your answers

1. Can't I just buy 2 because its one bulb is 65 watt? I thought some what the rule of thumb was 3-7 watts per gallon?

2. refractometer and hydrometer? whats the difference between them? can I just use one of them? also I read some where you can just leave the saltwater mix on the side for weeks? a quota of premixed saltwater?

4. i plan on having a HOB filter just because i seen on that youtube link they have a way to reuse the filter just need to replace the carbon. I saw a DIY on a HOB filter to make it suck only surface water because they said that where most of the chemicals are. is this true?and i also saw a DIY HOB filter (http://www.nanotank.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1307) does it help since its "filtered" thru it?

protein skimmer? (http://www.google.com/products/catalog? ... CoQ8gIwBA#) would this work? do you need it?
 

AlexfromSATX

New Member
1. Can't I just buy 2 because its one bulb is 65 watt? I thought some what the rule of thumb was 3-7 watts per gallon?

2. refractometer and hydrometer? whats the difference between them? can I just use one of them? also I read some where you can just leave the saltwater mix on the side for weeks? a quota of premixed saltwater?

4. i plan on having a HOB filter just because i seen on that youtube link they have a way to reuse the filter just need to replace the carbon. I saw a DIY on a HOB filter to make it suck only surface water because they said that where most of the chemicals are. is this true?and i also saw a DIY HOB filter (http://www.nanotank.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1307) does it help since its "filtered" thru it?

protein skimmer? (http://www.google.com/products/catalog? ... CoQ8gIwBA#) would this work? do you need it?

1. The lights would work, but it wont give you much room to keep corals with higher light requirements. The watts per gallon rule, isn't exactly a science or proven to be correct. What really matters is your PAR readings. Which is hard to measure if you don't have the correct equipment. Here is a great article on lighting and what these valueas all mean : http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Lighting.html Personally, I would go T5 or Metal Halide, just more room to grow.

2. Hydrometer - Not that accurate, but cheap
Refractometer - Very accurate, around $35 - $45 on Ebay
Plenty of people have kept SW aquariums with Hydrometers, but its not a very reliable reading, so just be aware of that when you use it.

3. Saltwater can be pre-mixed and set aside for weeks.

4. Surface skimming is great because this is where the oxygenation for the aquarium comes from. and it gets rid of the film up top too. More oxygen exchange the better. The HOB mod that you saw is a filter modded into a refugium. Great for a place to put macro algaes and more rubble for filtration.

As far as protien skimmers go, It's really preference. They help pull out more bad stuff, but not really needed unless you are planning a huge bioload, as far as that particular skimmer, I don't know much about it.
 
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