Prenoob here.

[MarkysGirl]

I joined this forum even though I don't have a reef tank yet. I have been keeping FW tanks for 20+ years. I currently have a 75 gallon planted tank . The 75 was recently upgraded from a 55 gallon that I had up and running for 11 years. Now the empty tank is sitting in my garage and I am considering starting my first marine tank.
I want to do as much research as I can before I put any water in the tank and this seemed like a great place to start. I am pretty sure I would like to grow corals and I also really want some clown fish and a host anemone.... I could watch that all day long! I also love goby's and blennys so far.
The guys at the LFS tell me that if I am capable of taking care of my FW tank as well as I do that I should be able to handle the care of a marine tank.
Anyway, I want to do this right the first time, I am not opposed to spending money for stuff that will be best for the animals I want to keep.
My first question is whether or not I want to get an RO/DI system or just buy water for water changes at the LFS...doing some research here to try and decide. I would have to hook up the system to make water and then disconnect it when not in use due to the space available in my home.
Thanks for having this resource available for us noobs!!!!!

 

[kurt_n]

Prenoob... that term made me chuckle!

Welcome to ReefCentral. I've never done freshwater, but ventured directly to the dark side with a reef tank. In what I've learned over the years, I think a planted FW tank is harder to successfully keep than a reef tank so I think you're in good shape.

The thing I've learned about this hobby is that success is totally dependent on consistency. Consistency of water is the number one thing that leads you to success. Not saying you're guaranteed to have an awesome tank with good water - but if you don't have consistency, it's going to be tough to have a nice tank.

The best way to guarantee consistent water is do make it yourself.

If you have an awesome LFS that you trust with your life, then there shouldn't be an issue buying water from them. It just depends on the quality of the LFS... and that's tough to gauge if you're just starting in the hobby.

I guess I'm saying that there's no real good, obvious answer to your question. It really boils down to how good the store is you're looking to deal with. And unfortunately, one doesn't often realize how good they are before they enter into that relationship. But making the water yourself removes one variable from the equation.

 

[CuzzA]

You'll be surprised how much water you're going to need all the time. I would suggest purchasing an RODI. Evaporation rates are typically much higher in marine systems due to the added flow required to keep our inhabitants alive. And you never know when you might need to quickly make a batch of saltwater at a moments notice. Water quality can go south quickly for a number of reasons and you don't want to rely on someone else to provide you with water. It will pay for itself in no time and you get to control the quality of the water. As Kurt mentioned, consistency is key. An auto top off coupled with an RODI is, in my opinion, an integral part of almost all systems and water quality is one of the most important aspects that a successful system relies on.

Also, most RODI units will come with various connectors so you can hook it up to a sink, garden hose, etc. It can be disconnected and reconnected, but I think you'll find you can permanently hook it up to any water source in your home. Mine is hooked up under a bathroom sink and ran through a wall to fill my ATO reservoir in a closet which is then fed through another wall to my sump.

 

[JoelA7]

My space is really tight. So I have distilled water delivered. 24 gallons every 2 weeks and I keep extra 48 gallons on hand. It's not cheap but much less expensive than crashing a tank. RODI as good and much more cost effective if you can manage it. You just can't use tap or well water.

 

[MarkysGirl]

So let's say I hook up this thing to my sink and make 10 gallons of water to do a water change and then keep some for topping off the tank....how do you make sure it is the right temperature before you put it in the tank? I have learned so far that salty fish and other creatures will not tolerate temp changes as easily as their fresh water friends. Maybe I will see if I can see one in action at the LFS. I just can't wrap my head around how this stuff gets accomplished.

 

[mandarin_goby]

I just add room temp water to the reef tank and have had no problems so far (2 years now). I also have had FW tanks for a while now (55 planted currently) and if you can keep a FW tank running, a reef isn't that much more difficult.

I agree that keeping up with top-offs is more of a big deal with evaporation since salinity increases as a result. Aside from that, I haven't had too many issues out of the norm. I would definitely get a RO/DI off the bat - going back and forth for water got old really fast.

I've found that you can't keep as many fish in a reef as you can in a FW community tank - I think of saltwater fish as similar to cichlids in that they need more space. But, you can add so many cool inverts instead - there's so many varieties of shrimp, crabs, starfish and snails.

Flow is more important for a reef than for FW - you really want water movement, and also mechanical filtration is less of a concern - I have 3 Eheim canister filters on the FW, but nothing similar in the reef since they can become nitrate traps - essentially, the live rock provides for biological filtration and mechanical filtration isn't as crucial. You can use filter socks, but again, they have to be cleaned often or you'll have nitrate issues. I do have a skimmer on the reef though, which does remove organic waste - I think of it as my tank's diaper (and it smells the same, seriously).

For my 40b reef, I do a small water change every 2 weeks, about the same as with my FW tank. If you're already used to that, then no worries. For water changes, use saltwater, for top-offs, use RO/DI water.

Best of luck and welcome!

 

[acabgd]

As for water temp - I obviously don't heat the freshwater topoff container. It's next to the tank and ambient temperature, water additions are small with an ATO and no need to check temperature of that water.
As for water changes, you need to get another heater, then heat the newly mixed saltwater to the same temp as your tank.

 

[Dan_P]

Welcome!

To get yourself on firm footing, read a couple books on this hobby. Keeping saltwater aquariums is substantially different from freshwater aquariums. Reading will arm you with knowledge to help you sift through the information you find on the internet. Obtaining information only from the internet is a lot like walking through a cow pasture for the first time. A little bit of information beforehand will keep your shoes clean so to speak.

Good luck. You are in for some exciting times!

Dan

 

[ReefKeep66]

Welcome to the salty side of the hobby! Looks like your getting some great responses so I won't post my usual book long response. I would definitely recommend an ro/di unit.

 

[uncleL]

Welcome to Salt!! Check out YouTube FishTank Doc. and my very simple 75G......good reefing.

 

[kurt_n]

So let's say I hook up this thing to my sink and make 10 gallons of water to do a water change and then keep some for topping off the tank....how do you make sure it is the right temperature before you put it in the tank? I have learned so far that salty fish and other creatures will not tolerate temp changes as easily as their fresh water friends. Maybe I will see if I can see one in action at the LFS. I just can't wrap my head around how this stuff gets accomplished.

Two things going on...

Top-off water is *fresh* water that you add to the tank to make up for evaporation. The salt doesn't evaporate, so you use fresh water to bring the tank level back up to where it was and insure the salinity of the saltwater doesn't drift around too much. Don't underestimate evaporation... I've got a 46g and even with it 90% covered on top, I still lose a quart a day. Assuming you're topping off daily, that water can be room temp or whatever temp the water is at... it won't matter. The water I add is probably 50-60 degrees and doesn't cause problems.

Salt water for water changes is a different story. You want to "age" the salt water a bit before it goes in the tank. You'll find a lot of different advice about it with some folks saying let it sit 10 minutes and others saying let it sit 2 days. I can't really say what is right, but it does take a bit for the salt to thoroughly dissolve and mix, and the salinity/pH to stabilize. You can check for yourself... mix up a batch and test salinity and pH. Then test it 12-24 hours later. Pretty sure you'll see a decent change.

Regardless, what works for me is mixing up saltwater and storing it in a large 20g container (covered) in my garage. Many folks use Rubbermaid Brute trash cans. In the container, I have a heater set to my tank temperature, and a powerhead to keep the water circulating and aereated. This allows me to do a water change when needed with tank temperature water. It also gives me an emergency reserve of saltwater in case I need to do an unplanned water change. (It will happen if you stay in the hobby long enough.)

 

[MarkysGirl]

Wow, Thank you guys so much! I am really excited about this tank and am dreaming of all of the great inhabitants I will have in my new eco system. I have already decided that I have room in another space for a 75 rather than the 55 I was planning on. The more research I do the more excited I am to get started. The forum here is so huge and I have been spending every spare minute reading everything I can as well as sifting through the stuff on the internet. Again thanks so much and I look forward to many years here.