first saltwater aquarium, weird 15g setup, many questions

[skipper03]

i've been keeping aquariums since i was 9, but have had zero interest in saltwater until very recently! this will be my 31st and 32nd time setting up a tank, and the 5th & 6th aquariums currently in my room.

i'm taking this spare 10g and 5g, and connecting them with a clear pipe so that the fish can swim between them. i've been wanting to try connecting tanks like this for a long time lol. i want to try and make them very different looking environments. i haven't bought anything new yet, just old equipment i've already had. i do know that this light probably wouldn't cut it for most coral.

i think i know what i want, a single green clown goby, and because they appreciate coral, probably try that as well. part of the idea with the connected tanks setup is that i can remove the bridge and keep the goby away from the coral if it damages it, so it can recover!

i've been doing a lot of research for the past week, combing through all of my fish books and collection of tfh magazines actually reading the saltwater parts for once, as well as searching online, but i still have a lot of questions!
- wouldn't live sand and/or live rock add some bioload to the tanks if little animals are living in them, especially tanks this small? wouldn't that be more animals to worry about and take care of?? i understand the beneficial bacteria aspect but the invertebrates part is wild to me.
- why do saltwater people use different filters than freshwater people? is it just because the tanks tend to be bigger? am i ok to use a hob and an internal power filter? they're both made for like, double the size tank they're in. also the hob does have a weird protein skimmer attachment for the intake, if that's worth adding.
- this setup is on top of my dresser. would the vibrations of the drawers cause issues? i've kept animals (fw fish, axolotls) up there before, and they sometimes seemed mildly spooked when it happened but otherwise fine. but i have no idea whether it would scare a coral to death or something.
- how does the water work? especially with corals, because they need all those trace elements? do you get a salt mix that has them included? or do you dose them individually?
- are there any branching corals (because that's what green clown gobies like) that are beginner-friendly???
- should i get seperate tools (e.g. siphons, buckets) for this setup so that it and my freshwater aquariums aren't cross-contaminating each other?

 

[griss]

Welcome to RC and the salty side of the hobby. You’re likely to get many varied answers and there is no single correct way to successfully maintain a reef aquarium. We’ve got a good group on here who have a lot of years in the hobby. I’ve been in SW since the early 80’s and there’s others here who’ve been in it longer than me.

1. Live rock and live sand, yes, the hitchhikers (assuming you get ocean collected rock) will add to the bio load. But, you’re also adding a lot of biodiversity which is a good thing…not just bacteria.

These days, our choices for real (ocean collected) live rock is very limited. Companies like Tampa Bay Saltwater, KP Aquatics, Gulf Live Rock have a good reputation. Marco rocks sells dry rock and maricultured rock. Australian live rock is also available but pricy.

Many people, to save money, buy dry rock to build the base of their reef and top it off with real live rock.

2. Filters - actually, there’s a wide range of filters that SW hobbyists use. So, some are the same as FW, others are different. Most, IMO, is based on personal preference and past experiences with different filters. My personal choice of filtration is live rock and sand, a protein skimmer, and maybe a refugium. I know people who have had successful tanks with just a HOB filter (Whisper Power filter) or canister (Eheim) filter.

3. I don’t think the drawers will be an issue. My concern would be the moisture and weight that a dresser isn’t designed for.

4. Trace Elements - a good salt mix will add trace elements but, based on livestock, your tank might use more than the salt adds. Based on the small system, an additive like All For Reef would likely be good for your situation.

5. Montipora Digitata is a fairly easy small polyp stony coral to keep as long as you maintain the proper pH, Alkalinity, Calcium and Magnesium. Stable water parameters are the key to success with reef tanks. That’s why a lot of us keep larger tanks, the parameters are easier to keep stable.

Other branching corals would be photosynthetic Gorgonians, Colt corals, Sinularia, Nepthea.

6. Separate tools - I tend to lean on the cautious side and would get separate.

Final thought, the tube joining the two tanks leaves a couple pretty risky failure points.

 

[skipper03]

Welcome to RC and the salty side of the hobby. You’re likely to get many varied answers and there is no single correct way to successfully maintain a reef aquarium. We’ve got a good group on here who have a lot of years in the hobby. I’ve been in SW since the early 80’s and there’s others here who’ve been in it longer than me.

1. Live rock and live sand, yes, the hitchhikers (assuming you get ocean collected rock) will add to the bio load. But, you’re also adding a lot of biodiversity which is a good thing…not just bacteria.

These days, our choices for real (ocean collected) live rock is very limited. Companies like Tampa Bay Saltwater, KP Aquatics, Gulf Live Rock have a good reputation. Marco rocks sells dry rock and maricultured rock. Australian live rock is also available but pricy.

Many people, to save money, buy dry rock to build the base of their reef and top it off with real live rock.

2. Filters - actually, there’s a wide range of filters that SW hobbyists use. So, some are the same as FW, others are different. Most, IMO, is based on personal preference and past experiences with different filters. My personal choice of filtration is live rock and sand, a protein skimmer, and maybe a refugium. I know people who have had successful tanks with just a HOB filter (Whisper Power filter) or canister (Eheim) filter.

3. I don’t think the drawers will be an issue. My concern would be the moisture and weight that a dresser isn’t designed for.

4. Trace Elements - a good salt mix will add trace elements but, based on livestock, your tank might use more than the salt adds. Based on the small system, an additive like All For Reef would likely be good for your situation.

5. Montipora Digitata is a fairly easy small polyp stony coral to keep as long as you maintain the proper pH, Alkalinity, Calcium and Magnesium. Stable water parameters are the key to success with reef tanks. That’s why a lot of us keep larger tanks, the parameters are easier to keep stable.

Other branching corals would be photosynthetic Gorgonians, Colt corals, Sinularia, Nepthea.

6. Separate tools - I tend to lean on the cautious side and would get separate.

Final thought, the tube joining the two tanks leaves a couple pretty risky failure points.

i see, thank you!

on the dresser - it's extremely sturdy, made of solid wood, so i'm not worried about it. i've had a 20g up there before, and i'm sure it could handle more. the tanks are also on a tray, which should prevent most water damage.

on the tube - what do you mean exactly? like, uneven heating and filtration? i took that into consideration and am gonna do two filters and two heaters, and basically try to make it so that each tank would be fine on its own. i don't think that the fish i want would be able to get itself stuck in the tube, as its maximum length is about equal to the diameter of it. i guess elements could be unevenly distributed? and maybe if the flow was stronger in one tank than the other, and is pushing water towards the tube, it might be able to cause the other tank to overflow somehow? i'll test this setup out with some tap water tonight and see if that's possible.

 

[griss]

Just be careful with the dresser

Failure points - yes, heat, filtration, and the potential to have two different water qualities (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, temp, pH, Alk, Mg, salinity, etc.) between the two tanks.

U-Tubes are also notorious for losing siphon.

I’m not saying it can’t be done, there’s just a lot of challenges to it.

 

[griss]

On a side note, if you like Pink Floyd, try streaming KSHE-95. Local station that’s the longest broadcasting classic rock station in the world. They’re local to me and my go to station.