hello

[Fishtanknewb]

After going to my lfs a million times and seeing the cool looking saltwater fish i spent the next 2months reading up on forums and sites and became even more determined when i saw how amazing some tanks looked.
So after begging my mom to let me start my own little fish tank to c if i can handle a saltwater tank...
i started a 2.5 gallon nano saltwater tank with 1lb of live rock and 5lb of marine sand after a mounth of letting the tamk just sit there i decided to take a shot at putting a fish or 2 in there...
so the next day i brought a small mollie home and it stayed in the tank for a week and was doing great. so i decided 2 try a damsel it lasted for 2 days then the gills turned red and i woke up the next day it was stuck 2 the filter...
So a little after my being so mad/upset i just left the molly in the tank which ended up staying another 2 months but then out of no wear just fell...laying on bottom of tank
And now i took apart the entire tank thinking mabey it would be better 2 do a 10-15 gallon tank so now i wanna start of right and make sure that i am the one asking questions and not using the wrong topic con anothers post to answer my queston
So if any 1 has any advice on what type of equiptment i should use/and mabey even where i went wrong with the failure of my last attempt
Thank u for ur time
~TheNewb~

 

[an411]

Smaller tanks are harder to control cause the littlest fluctuation in something can throw your water parameters off. So my suggestion I would start with a little bit bigger of a tank then a 2.5 gallon

 

[Fishtanknewb]

Ok so lets say i start a 15gal tank what would i need
- does a tank that small need a protein skimmer
+and if so do those skilters work just as well or is plain skimmer better
-would it need a refuge(if im spelling it rite)
Thats all the questions i can think of now and ty for reply
~TheNewb~

 

[Shooter7]

It does not "have" to have a skimmer, however, you will need to do weekly to every other week water changes. I try to do at least a 40% water change on my 10g on this schedule.

Does not have to have a refuge, but a lot of people create small refugiums out of HOB filters. Check the nano forum for further ideas on how to do that.

 

[us01male]

Good luck on this adventure, I am also almost new to salt water and it has been a learning experience for me.

 

[XSiVE]

[welcome]

for a 10g
get about 5-10lbs of live rock, I would suggest using a skilter, or another small HOB skimmer.. and a small powerhead to keep circulation going.. your live rock should provide all of the bio-filtration you need. Make sure to keep up on 20% or more weekly water changes... and make sure to test your water parameters carefully.. be extra careful with your specific gravity when doing water changes, as a system that small can see large swings with just a little error.

 

[szwab]

[welcome]

Good to see that you have been doing some research. The lower the water volume of the tank the greater the effect everything has ie. temp changes, changes in specific gravity, nutrient build up etc. A greater water volume can buffer a system to a point. Tell us a bit a more about your system. What salt are you using, what s.g. did you keep your tank at? what was the filtration used? Did you test your water at all and what were the results. anything and everything will help get you answers.
On more thing mollies are really brackish fish not full blown salt water. It can be done, but requires a lengthy acclimation.

 

[Fishtanknewb]

ty for the welcome and my system is basic and small so that might be a problem
in my 2.5 gal tank i had a 7 watt heater and a 5-15 gallon filter
so ya another question i have is is that 2 big of a filter:/

 

[szwab]

assuming it's a power filter type. That should be fine. What are your plans for the larger tank?
I've never owned a skilter but from what I have heard they are ok. not the greatest. Tha said water changes can make up the difference in what they lack.