Starting a small saltwater tank

[Aya2649]

Hey everyone. Im new to this forum and to saltwater.
My birthday is coming so i thought why not try to set up a tank.
But being a big noob i dont really know the basics when it comes to saltwater, only freshwater.
I dont want a very big tank.
Currenlty i have an empty 20 gallon hex if i could make that saltwater, that would ne cool!
I also have a few ten gallons
Or can get a whole new tank.
I dont have any ideas on fish either since im not very knowledgable about saltwater fish expect from tv.
So any nano set up
Or easy to maintain setup would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!


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[Ztous]

Think long and hard on tank size before you start. Bigger will not only be easier but it's far more future proof in terms of live stock. Go to live aqauria and surf through their fish selection taking a look at the size recommendations. Once you know what's going to live in your tank deciding on tank size is much easier. Something like a 20 gallon will have 3 fish any more would be hard to care for.

If you decide to go with the 20 hex then learn how to drill it and run one of your ten gallons as a sump. This will give a little more volume and let you hide your equipment like heaters.

 

[Homestead_Dad]

I'm new to the hobby so my advice or opinions aren't worth much. Ztous makes some good points. 20 gal means limited livestock selection. It also means water parameters change rapidly. Now from what a I understand though is that water parameters can be controlled with water changes. With 20 gal your water changes would be from 2 to 5 gal. While they would probably be more frequent that is easy compared to a 20 to 40gal water change for larger tanks.

If I were going to do a 20 gal hex I'd probably do sea horses if I had the time or maybe just a angler fish and some other oddities like nudibranchs. Another option would be a clean jellyfish tank. Good luck and have fun.


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[newbie2014]

I'm new to the hobby so my advice or opinions aren't worth much. Ztous makes some good points. 20 gal means limited livestock selection. It also means water parameters change rapidly. Now from what a I understand though is that water parameters can be controlled with water changes. With 20 gal your water changes would be from 2 to 5 gal. While they would probably be more frequent that is easy compared to a 20 to 40gal water change for larger tanks.

Excellent point. Not to mention bigger expenses to start and maintain a new hobby that youre not even sure if you will like in the long run. IMO, start with small and simple setup. Not 10, but 20-40 gal. Once you can manage it, then big tanks are easy peazy, once you have the budget.

 

[BigBlueTang]

If I were going to do a 20 gal hex I'd probably do sea horses if I had the time or maybe just a angler fish and some other oddities like nudibranchs. Another option would be a clean jellyfish tank. Good luck and have fun.


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Hey man, everyone's opinions are worth something

That being said, I strongly disagree :lol:

Angler fish are hard to get eating frozen, and sea horses need pretty much expert care. Not anything to be tried by a newbie. I'm most certainly not an expert, but not a complete newbie either and I wouldn't feel comfortable trying either of the fish you mentioned. Jellyfish again, are very hard to keep.

If you stay with the 20 hex, realize you will have to do more work to keep it stable, especially if you want corals. If you want a fish only, you should be able to get on fine. I would recommend one firefish, a watchman goby, maybe one clown or royal gramma. If you want more movement, maybe a Pygmy Wrasse. If I were you, I'd pick up a 40 breeder( 40 gal tank with great reef dimensions) at Petco tomorrow for 40$ and get rolling, with a 10 gal sump. Build or buy a stand. Your fish list to what you can keep jumps up a ton, and you could probably keep 6-8 small fish with no trouble. And the stability in a 50 gallon system is a lot more than a 20.


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[Homestead_Dad]

Hey man, everyone's opinions are worth something

That being said, I strongly disagree :lol:

Angler fish are hard to get eating frozen, and sea horses need pretty much expert care. Not anything to be tried by a newbie. I'm most certainly not an expert, but not a complete newbie either and I wouldn't feel comfortable trying either of the fish you mentioned. Jellyfish again, are very hard to keep.

If you stay with the 20 hex, realize you will have to do more work to keep it stable, especially if you want corals. If you want a fish only, you should be able to get on fine. I would recommend one firefish, a watchman goby, maybe one clown or royal gramma. If you want more movement, maybe a Pygmy Wrasse. If I were you, I'd pick up a 40 breeder( 40 gal tank with great reef dimensions) at Petco tomorrow for 40$ and get rolling, with a 10 gal sump. Build or buy a stand. Your fish list to what you can keep jumps up a ton, and you could probably keep 6-8 small fish with no trouble. And the stability in a 50 gallon system is a lot more than a 20.


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Oh, yeah those wasn't really recommendations just what I would do.


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[WatDatThing]

I don't know. I started with a 55 (because I already have it) a month ago. I kinda regret it now. The fishes I really want requires at least a 70 (I didn't check liveaquaria). My son wants Dory, forget that. I want a yellow tang, forget that too. Angels are beautiful, no cant do in a 55.

I should have listened to my lfs guy. He said tank is the cheapest equipment in this hobby.

 

[BigBlueTang]

Oh, yeah those wasn't really recommendations just what I would do.


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All good, I knew what you were saying but didn't want OP to think that!



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[BigBlueTang]

I don't know. I started with a 55 (because I already have it) a month ago. I kinda regret it now. The fishes I really want requires at least a 70 (I didn't check liveaquaria). My son wants Dory, forget that. I want a yellow tang, forget that too. Angels are beautiful, no cant do in a 55.

I should have listened to my lfs guy. He said tank is the cheapest equipment in this hobby.

This is a perfect statement. The tank really is one of the cheaper things in the hobby, and make sure you research what you want so you can get the tank that accommodates them.


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[kevin21]

Only thing that tweaks this a bit is the larger the tank the more maintaining that needs to be done. Everything obviously costs more. Water changes, feeding, dosing, lighting, etc. I have a 28g nano and my weekly 5g water changes costs me about 8 cups of salt per month and $10 per month in RO/DI water. Extremely manageable. If I had a 125g say, obviously all of these numbers increase. Interesting to think about sometimes.

This is a perfect statement. The tank really is one of the cheaper things in the hobby, and make sure you research what you want so you can get the tank that accommodates them.


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[75mixedreef]

There is nothing wrong with starting small instead of diving in head first. You might not be sure that this is what you want to do, so using what you have on hand is not a bad idea. The one thing is that you do not want to buy anything that could not be carried over to a larger tank if you wanted to upgrade, like lights.

I usually recommend a minimum of 40 gallons for stability, but you could start with a fish only system and get rock cured and a couple fish and see how it goes. If you are fine with the maintenance then go for a 40 breeder tank and have fun with it. Just keep your sandbed shallow if you have one at all. That can build up nitrates and toxins that can poison your tank when disturbed (like during a move or upgrade).

Have fun.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I started with a 30g tank and ran it just fine for almost 3 years before I made my first upgrade to a 75g. Now, 12 years later I have 4 tanks and 400g of saltwater in the house!

Be careful about what you are getting into here!

 

[bmitchell138]

I started with a 30g tank and ran it just fine for almost 3 years before I made my first upgrade to a 75g. Now, 12 years later I have 4 tanks and 400g of saltwater in the house!

Be careful about what you are getting into here!

Same here. I started with a 29 gallon tank and 10 gal sump for a little over 6 months and then upgraded to a 93 gallon cube.

 

[kevin21]

I am going to throw my vote in there, I would suggest a 40g as well. Seems like a really nice starter size and manageable. I have had a 55g, 75g, and now I only have my 28g. My next tank will most likely be a 75g, as soon as life stops being so hectic. 75G offers awesome dimensions in terms of width, unlike the 55g. But just starting out, a 40g seems like the best place to start. Unless you want to go with an all in one system, in which case the 28g jbj nano has been nothing but great to me. I ditched the hood and threw a kessil over it instead though.

 

[oahureefer]

Think long and hard on tank size before you start. Bigger will not only be easier but it's far more future proof in terms of live stock. Go to live aqauria and surf through their fish selection taking a look at the size recommendations. Once you know what's going to live in your tank deciding on tank size is much easier.

If you decide to go with the 20 hex then learn how to drill it and run one of your ten gallons as a sump. This will give a little more volume and let you hide your equipment like heaters.

Great advice, learn about the fish you want that will determine tank size. Adding a sump to your display regardless of size is a good idea, adds water volume to stabilize and like he said keeps equipment hidden from view

 

[newbie2014]

I am going to throw my vote in there, I would suggest a 40g as well. Seems like a really nice starter size and manageable. I have had a 55g, 75g, and now I only have my 28g. My next tank will most likely be a 75g, as soon as life stops being so hectic. 75G offers awesome dimensions in terms of width, unlike the 55g. But just starting out, a 40g seems like the best place to start. Unless you want to go with an all in one system, in which case the 28g jbj nano has been nothing but great to me. I ditched the hood and threw a kessil over it instead though.

I switched from a planted tank to saltwater tank about 18 months ago. I just used the 40 breeder and other equipment (filters, powerheads, pumps, conditioners, feeder...) that I already had to supplement my new hobby. Once I got corals, I added Marsaqua LED and vortech pumps. My water change is done with a homedepot bucket. Big ship, big sail.

Learn how how to manage a saltwater tank first. Once you have the swing of it, then adding bigger fish to a bigger tank is a catwalk.

 

[Virtual Balboa]

What I learned after setting up a 29 gallon is that I wished I had a sump right away. Also don't expect that you'll keep your expenses cheap. It gets out of hand pretty quickly. Expect to buy a water filter for RodI. You'll need that right away. I agree with going with a 40. Specifically a 40 breeder. Wider tanks make life a lot easier than narrow. Mine's only 12" wide and that's hard to work inside. With saltwater get used to spending money. Haha