HOW TO SET UP A TANK, condensed verions (retitled)

I've been out of the saltwater game for years and now that I'm getting back in I can't thank you enough for this thread. It is by far the most informative thread I have read in years.
 
stempy07 said:
I've been out of the saltwater game for years and now that I'm getting back in I can't thank you enough for this thread. It is by far the most informative thread I have read in years.
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Me too! And after buying all the equipment I need to get back in I quickly reminded why I left!!

Great thread though thanks. Was great to refresh my memory on the initial steps to take.
 
Is it not advised to have a thick sand bed anymore? I prefer the look of it over arragonite. I am setting up an 8 Gallon Nano. What are the reasons I wouldn't want to do sand?
 
Sk8r said:
1. if you're going to have corals you need to aim at having either an all-in-one tank---or a sump, skimmer, and good lighting. Your rock and sand take the place of a filter.
a. stony coral and clams: need brighter light, good circulation. For sps (colored sticks) you need high flow and a super skimmer.
b. 'soft' coral is more forgiving, can exist without a skimmer if you don't push it, but it's a good idea to have one.

2. if you're fish-only you can get by with a filter: you have to change it meticulously. Rock and sand will help it out, but are never as strong in the presence of a filter (up and down of food supply as it's cleaned and not) as without one. Still, with big messy eaters, you may need that filter. Putting a little mushroom rock in your tank is still a good idea: spread-out mushrooms are an indicator of good water quality. Shriveled mushrooms are an indicator of trouble---far ahead of when your fish will announce it by showing distress. Gives you a heads-up visual test and helps.

3. TO START: get aragonite substrate, 1 lb per gallon. Dry is as effective as 'live sand'. It all gets live eventually. I prefer medium grade, which does not blow about in a strong current: not as pretty as 'fine,' but in a high-flow tank, it stays put. Do not get crushed shell or coral---it has problems. I lay down eggcrate [lighting grid: Lowes] on the bottom to prevent rocks rolling.
a) rock: you need SOME live rock. about 10% live at 1-2 lbs per gallon. Choose really lacy, holey rock. Limestone. Dry rock will turn live. Takes about 12 weeks to cycle as opposed to 4 with all live rock, but will save you enough to afford better lights.
b) wash the sand before using it. Rock goes down first, then sand, then live rock if you only have a little.
c) use ro/di to mix salt with---usually 1/2 cup salt mix per gallon of fresh water. This yields a salinity of 1.024. Keep it there while you cycle: draw a 'fill line' on your sump or tank representing perfect salinity, and 'top off' with fresh ro/di as it evaporates.
d) marine tanks don't have lids as a rule. But a jump screen is a good idea once you get fish. Most will go airborne if frightened. You WANT that evaporation to go on, and the cooling that results. There are so many pumps and bright lights, heat is your enemy.
e) keep your temperature about 80, day and night. This is another reason to have no lid. It's a good thing to run your lights and everything BUT the skimmer, which just has nothing to skim until you have fish.
f) plan a quarantine tank: no rock, sand, no cycle, just bare glass and water and a heater, not even a light. Keep all new fish there for 4 weeks to be sure they don't bring in 'fleas'. Parasites are not nuisances in this hobby: they kill, and they get into your sandbed and reproduce and infest every fish you own. Quarantine is serious business. You can start a fish in qt 4 weeks before you expect your tank to be ready.
g) don't get 'miracle potions' of bacteria and for gosh sake, don't get a fish. You're good just with the natural dieoff from your rock, but if you just have to do something proactive, drop 4 flakes of fishfood in a day until you spot ammonia in your daily tests. Keep feeding imaginary fish daily---and 5 days after you fail to provoke ammonia, you are cycled.
h) expect sheets and waves of green hair algae. Phosphate is the cause, and rock and sand come in with a load of it. So does conditioned tapwater, which is why we suggest, nay, plead with you to use ro or ro/di water. You can get ro from your supermarket kiosk. Owning your own ro/di filter is a Good Idea, and you reach the breakeven point in about a year for a 50 gallon tank.
i) btw, the optimum tank size is 50-100 gallons for a beginner. The smaller or the larger the tank, the bigger the problems. For little tanks, it's like driving a sports car---every twitch produces a huge, often bad, result. For big tanks---everything is huge, heavy, and spendy, and water changes are (at 10% per week) both spendy and heavy to lift. The 50-100 tanks are middle of the road, let you keep blennies and gobies (50) or some tangs (100). Be sure, however, if the big fish (tangs and angels) are your love, you spring for the big and Lonnnnnnnnnnng tank. These are swimmers, high speed, and they need it, the way you can't keep a race horse in a little pen.
j) read the sticky on acclimation: a refractometer is a very good investment---it saves fish. If you are within .002 salinity, between the fish's bag and your qt tank, you don't drip acclimate: just put them in---and if you've prepared by finding out the salinity the fish's bag will be---you can prepare that tank so there is NO drip acclimation---which can kill. The explanation is in that sticky.
k)don't dose any chemical you don't have a test for.
l) if you have a salinity accident, correct it slowly, no more than .002 per hour. Topping off with salt water is a good way to raise it, just in the natural evaporation.
m) never trust a heater or thermometer. Use 2 thermometers, and touch the glass often in passing, just to be sure.
n) clowns are interesting fish, but they are aggressive---some more than others. The redder, the more so. And you should NOT get an anemone until your tank is about a year mature. Give your clowns a nice hardy coral to wallow in and they'll be quite as happy. Anemones are difficult, delicate, and in the hands of a new hobbyist, downright dangerous to the rest of the tank.

Most of all-----come here and ask BEFORE you do something, and NEVER impulse-buy a fish or invert. It mostly ends badly, and sometimes takes out a tank in the process. There's nothing your fish store gets that they won't get again, especially if you ask. Don't buy 'rare' things: translation: it usually doesn't thrive and often dies. Don't buy exotic fish. Same reason. These aren't decorator items. Get tough little guys that eat plain food and can put up with a few beginner mistakes. Leave room in your tank for them to grow. Many fish we keep reach a foot in length: know how big your fish will grow, and pick what will be happy in your tank.

Good luck---and always ask. There's a 'why' for all of this. It's better to know one sure way that works and get experience at this---and then you can try new theories. Don't get in a hurry, don't take chances, and don't shortcut. If there were a faster way, I assure you, everybody would do it. This is a hobby that's been around for more than a hundred years, and people have tried almost everything, finding many things that don't work. We've sifted out the things that do work, and if you can just get through your first year, you'll find this all makes basic good sense.
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Thanks a lot Sk8r, this post is going to give me a lot help, its been long i have been thinking to re design my tank, give some extra lights and you just told how it should be done. Now i am expecting that i would make a bit great one, also thinking to give it a bigger size.
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chemdry sydney.
 
You answered a question I've had in regards to initial amount of live rock in the tank. Patience is a requirement for 12 weeks in lieu of 4. The savings though make the wait worthwhile. Thank You
 
i am planning on setting up a 10g tank and was wondering if i could do a diy 2.5 gallon sump for this size tank? or would a 10g diy sump be fine for a 10g tank, i prefer to stay smaller due to the fact that i do not have much room,
 
Is it not advised to have a thick sand bed anymore? I prefer the look of it over arragonite.
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Sand already is aragonite (usually). So the question is, thick or not.

Thick gives the advantage of removing nitrate. And it give the disadvantage of poison gas, if it is stirred up. So I choose thin (1") instead of thick.

could do a diy 2.5 gallon sump for this size tank
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You can do any size sump with any size tank.
 
So glad I found this forum and this thread. So much info to take in from all the posts, but the original post already helped me a lot. I'm not sure whether this been asked before (didn't go through all 6 pages), if it has been, please bear with me.

I'm totally new in this and I need all the help I can get. I'm thinking of setting up a pico (2-5g...Or maybe more but less than 10g) with just sand, live rock and some inverts. No fish (obviously), no corals (don't think I can handle them at this stage). What do I need to know and do in terms of setting up (equipment needed...what are the things I absolutely can't do without), brands of equipment to look for, which inverts are good for beginners, and in what quantity, damage prevention and control etc...you know the whole nine yards a beginner needs to know so that they don't mess up. I'd rather take my time, do my research, weigh the pros and cons, discuss with experienced people then get my hands on this. Thanks!

Oh another thing. I am well interested in getting "dry" rock and "dry" sand even if it takes 12 weeks. I don't mind the waiting...but how do I find them at a store? Anyone know if Big Al's sell them? Or online is my only option?
 
I never thought of an invert-only tank (beside obvious species tanks, etc), sound perfect for a pico. Just get a rock from the LFS, and any live/dry sand, and start cycling. Wait a month, and add your first snail :)
 
Nice condensed piece, thx! I second making it a sticky... I'm setting up a new tank and it's nice to have the basics in one concise article.
 
Hi all, I'm new to marine tanks (kept fresh water for a couple years). I bought myself the Aqua One 400 tank with sump set up (400L). I bought 40kgs of live rock and have had it in the tank for 1 week now. The rock has been generating a thin white film over it the past couple of days. Any ideas on what this could be and if it's a normal part of the cycling process. Any help would be greatly appreciated :)
 
Priya said:
I'm totally new in this and I need all the help I can get. I'm thinking of setting up a pico (2-5g...Or maybe more but less than 10g) with just sand, live rock and some inverts. No fish (obviously), no corals (don't think I can handle them at this stage). What do I need to know and do in terms of setting up (equipment needed...what are the things I absolutely can't do without), brands of equipment to look for, which inverts are good for beginners, and in what quantity, damage prevention and control etc...you know the whole nine yards a beginner needs to know so that they don't mess up. I'd rather take my time, do my research, weigh the pros and cons, discuss with experienced people then get my hands on this.
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First off I would like to thank Sk8 (can't remember his screen name now) for starting this thread. Read through the entire post and read all comments. Which obviously some people never did as you see a repeat of questions. But that's nothing new in the forum world. It has been a great help and I feel more comfortable about starting my tank. Anyways.

As far as the all invertebrates tank, I think that sounds like a great idea! I have been doing research all week everyday and just writing up lists of everything I need to get started and how I am going to set it all up. And starting out with invertebrates sounds likes great way to slowly build up to coral and so on.
 
New 60 Gal FOWLR) setup

New 60 Gal FOWLR) setup

This is very good stuff. I'm planning a first tank for my son (and me) to work on. Will start with FOWLR but would like to get into some corals eventually. I have basically a 60 gallon aquarium setup and the only thing I can use is the glass tank and heaters. I'm putting a parts list together and I think I have it all down as far as what I should buy, but I'm not sure about a mechanical filter. I wasn't planning on doing a sump at least right away..but I can be convinced if I can DIY it for a reasonable cost. Here's what I have:

Aquarium - 60 gal 49" X 16" X 20" (ish)
Heaters - 2 rated at 50 Gal. Should be good
Sand - 60 lbs. (not live but will become live) - $55
Rock - Will find live rock here on on CL (50-60 lbs) - $2/lb = $100
RO/DI filter - $100 on ebay or CL - $100
salt mix - 160 Gal from Amazon - $40
lighting - Need advice

Already at $316...not too bad considering. So my main question is what do I need for filtration or water movement for this? Would love your input and I'll keep researching as well. Lots to read.

Jon
 
Awesome

Awesome

New to the site and this is exactly what I was looking for. Glad there's knowledge people on this forum that could be of help to us new comers. Thanks
 
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