Newbie Please HELP!!

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femlatina

New Member
Hello my name Amada and I am new to this site.

I wanted to know if I can have step by step instruction on how to setup a 30gal saltwater tank. What do I need? What is the 1st step? I want to have live and a coral reef.
This is probably a dumb question but, what the heck. I live in Florida next to the beach can I go get the sand and water at the beach will that work.
 
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funkngroovy

New Member
Hi Amanda, welcome to the the forum.

Well, you have asked one huge question there.

I will need to point you in the direction of some reading so that I am not typing all day here.

http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articl ... 00638.html

http://www.coralplantations.com/step-stocking.html

http://www.masa.asn.au/masawiki/index.p ... ners_Guide


These are some articles that are written with the begginer in mind.
You will need to do some searching for yourself when you understand particular concepts within the article.

There are also more links within most of these articles.

Hope this isn't too daunting :shock:

Keeping a marine system is easy once you get an idea of what is going on in that little glass box, but if you don't understand the basics you will get very frustrated very quickly.

Your beach sand will be a start. Especially if you are on a budget. I use silica beach sand for my DSB (deep sand bed) another topic to google :!:

If you start your tank off with a good depth of sand bed and about 40 pounds of live rock you will have started your cycle.

Anyway, get on with that reading first.

Get some photos up for us, We LOVE a new tank!!!

ps, take a look at other peoples tanks on this forum, it will give you a really good idea on the process.
 
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drnsee

New Member
Hi, where in FL do you live? I live in Tampa Bay but I'd never use our beach stuff... Petco water is a good start~ I'd definitely check out whatever Geoff recommends. :)
 
TimSchmidt

TimSchmidt

New Member
:welcome to Nanotank.com!

Geoff has you off to a great start.

For fish and coral you will need to think which corals and fish you want then get the equipment to meet those creatures needs.

Tank, sand, water, live rock, lights, and possibly some form a mechanical filtration (sponges, filter floss, etc.) are all things you will need to read up on.
 
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femlatina

New Member
Ok so I started reading and believe me I have read a lot. Anything to get it right the 1st time.
I decided to convert my 55gal fresh water tank to a saltwater tank and use the leave the 30gal for my freshwater fish. Every where I read it said to start with a big tank because its more room for errors, and if I know me there will be a lot. I decided that I am not going to dive right in. I want to get the thing little by little. This weekend I got the skimmer, power head and the filter.

I got the Marineland Emperor Power Filter 400. I read it was a good fliter, so I will see. I am having problem with lighting. I just don’t know with ones to get.
 
TimSchmidt

TimSchmidt

New Member
What do you want to keep in the tank? If you want corals you may want to look into T5 or Metal Halide lighting for a 55 gallon tank. If you just want fish than any light will do.
 
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femlatina

New Member
Question about lighting, my tank has a lighting hood do I have to change that whole hood or just the light bulbs for a coral set-up
 
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drnsee

New Member
femlatina said:
Question about lighting, my tank has a lighting hood do I have to change that whole hood or just the light bulbs for a coral set-up
Click to expand...
It depends on what kind of lighting you have now. Corals need intense lighting. If you have the standard normal ouput (then your bulb will probably be between 18 and 25watts) over your 30 gallon, it will not be sufficient for corals.

There are many lighting options for corals from power compacts, very high output, T5's, and metal halide. In general, you should have at the very least 3 watts of lighting per gallon. This rule is flexible, considering the depth of your tank, water clarity, and the type of corals you want to keep.
 
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funkngroovy

New Member
How about posting a pic of the tank, with the dimensions.

We will be able to help you out much easier.

Do you have access to Natural Sea Water or are you going to mix your own?
 
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Boo

New Member
Others have mentioned this before but figuring out what corals you want to keep will go a long way toward determining what lights you need.

If your desire is to keep mainly fish or mushrooms you can pretty much get away with low lighting or just about any lighting if you want to keep small ployped hard corals you will need much more intense lighting.

Petco water should be just fine.

If you are afraid of "lots of errors" I would recommend starting with hardy fish and/ or corals at first. A little research will go a long way but Mushrooms (Corallimorpharians), Zoanthids (Polyps), Clowns, just to name a few, are all hardy and forgiving when it comes to lighting and water quality temp and other things. They can be very colorful and eye appealing. Unless you get into the exotic colors they tend to be on the lower end of the cost scale as well.

One final note. Tank bred fish tend to be hardier then fish caught straight from the ocean and tank raised "aquacultured" corals will be hardier then fresh ocean collected. So asking the store is always a good idea as well.

There is no worse of a feeling then buying something, placing it in your tank and having it die or melt away. It happens to all of us but in the beginning its better for the self confidence to hedge your bet and stick with hardy critters until you get your feet wet < pun intended> :D
 
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rockerpeller

New Member
Since you're looking at going with the 55gal, try looking at protein skimmers. Although they aren't needed (and I know some will disagree :lol: ), for you're 1st tank, having one will buffer any mistakes that come along on the way as well as taking "crap" out of the water.
The skimmer can sit in your sump tank, as with heaters etc.
 
aj2656

aj2656

New Member
Greetings and welcome to forum!
You are getting so very valuable information from allot of good people.
Keep reading the more you understand the basics of how everything works and reacts will get you a long way.
To the filter question; the 40 lbs of live rock that Geoff recommended will be the main source of your biological filtration the rule of thumb is one pound of rock for each gallon of water, and as Tim has explained you will need some kind of mechanical filtration as well its to get the chemicals out of your water.
The one thing you need to keep in mind is patience will get you a long way in this hobby!
Above all I think patience should be in the first important aspect pointed out to someone getting into this hobby.
Please feel free to keep asking questions!

Allen.
 
TimSchmidt

TimSchmidt

New Member
Sock filters can help get floating detritus out of the water, but they need to be clean regularly. Honestly you could probably get away with little to no mechanical filtration in a tank that size. Just during your maintenance suck out all of the detritus that will collect in your sump.
 
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