switching to salt

L

Liszie F.

New member
Hi all!
I have a 55 gallon freshwater setup right now, with 3 clown loaches. The clown loaches are going to a friend's house as soon as her 90 gallon is finished cycling. I was planning on making it a L. Stappersi species tank, but lately I've been lingering far too long at the saltwater setups at the LFS, staring at pictures, etc. I think I might be ready to re-take the plunge... (I tried a FOWLR when I was a kid and met with limited success- because that's back when I thought water changes were an option) I have steered clear of saltwater tanks in the past because I didn't have the time or money, however I have more time on my hands as of late and I have been saving my money up, so I think it might be about time.
In any case, I have a few questions about making the switch. Currently, the tank has an Aquaclear 70, a heater, and just factory standard single bulb strips- I'll get nice new bulbs designed for salt. I'll be getting a protein skimmer too, unless you guys think that's unnecessary. Is there anything else I need to worry about? I was just going to go FOWLR with some non-light needing inverts, like shrimps and little emerald crabs and maybe a chocolate chip starfish? Perhaps one of those mushroom corals too, I remember them being very low-light, low maintenance, from my earlier FOWLR.
I'm definitely still in the dreaming stages, but I know that stocking is going to be with relatively easy fish- clownfish (my dream fish), maybe a bangaii cardinal, gobies, firefish, etc. I'm also not sure about how many fish I can put in, I know saltwater stocking is different than fresh.
My main concern is the substrate- it's sand. I know crushed coral is the norm with salt, but my water is very alkaline already and the KH is pretty high. I don't think I need any more buffer. Do I really need to change it out, or will it be okay?
I will also need to re-cycle the tank, yes? Good thing I have ammonia left over!

Any other suggestions/comments/helpful hints would be greatly welcomed. I'm sure I'll have more questions later.

Liszie
 
Okay. So it's definitely a yes on the skimmer, then? I figured.
I read the article, and I did some research on RO/DI units, and I'm not sure if I need one or not. With the exception of being very alkaline and quite soft, (9 degrees GH AND KH, in other words it's all carbonate) which drove me crazy as a limnophile but should work out quite well in my salty endeavours, my water is good stuff- no detectable ammonia, nitrite or nitrate right out of the tap, low phosphates, etc... although apparently drinking it causes me to write run on sentences... Well, enough of that. :rolleyes:
How about the substrate?

Liszie
 
I finally bought an RO-DI unit, and am happy with that choice. The carbonate hardness might be an issue, and there can be other trace compounds that can cause trouble as well.

I prefer fine sand for the substrate, since it's less work, on average, than coarser substrates. High-flow tanks can have problems with sand being blown around, though, so what you'd like to stock will play into your choices.
 
I'll probably end up getting an RO/DI unit along the line, but it's nice to know it's not immediately necessary.
The tank is already setup and there hasn't been any sand blowing problems, so I'm probably good. It is just playground sand, so it's pretty fine.

Maybe you can help me with early stocking musings...
Would this be an appropriate stocking for a 55 gallon?
2 False Percula Clowns
1 shrimp goby (or maybe some other sort of goby, I don't know)
2 Bangaii cardinals
1 lawnmower blenny
1 or 2 cleaner shrimp
+ an assortment of little crabs and other small crawling things(something like this)
That seems a little understocked to me, but keep in mind this is my first foray into the saltwater world after ten years in fresh, so...(plus...there is a show tank at my LFS that has 2 clowns, 1 goby, a cardinal and a few little blenny-type things, that is twenty gallons! Prolly overstocked, though) If it really is understocked, I'd love any suggestions. :D

Liszie
 
I'd probably remove a fish or so from the list, but I'm fairly conservative about overstocking. I'm not particularly keen on the cleanup packages that are commonly sold, since I think they're too big, and some of the animals I'd rather not have. Crabs and hermit crabs are predatory, and will eat at least some of the snails.
 
I probably don't need both the crabs and the blenny, since they both do essentially the same thing, right? Eat algae. Haha. I just love how cool it is to see the little inverts crawling around the tank. If I had to choose, I'd probably go with the blenny though.
I've been browsing through the tanks of the month looking at the stocking on similarly sized tanks, and it really does vary a lot. I guess it also depends on how good the filtration system is! One 29 gallon tank had about the same stocking, and it seemed to be doing fine, wheras there were 100 gallon tanks that had less fish! I'll ask around and get as many opinions as I can before I come to any sort of conclusion. Besides, I have a lot of time, there's not even salt in the tank yet! ;)
Another question, though (yup, they just keep coming), about cycling. When the time comes, do I put the live rock in then add ammonia or do I need to wait for the ammonia to go away before I add it? I'm pretty sure it's the first one, but I want to make sure...

Thanks for ALL your help. I'm very appreciative. :D

Liszie
 
Live rock doesn't require an ammonia source. The ammonia will just cause more stress for any animals in the live rock.

Stocking levels do depend on the filtration, as well as crowding, so it's hard to make concrete rules.

A couple of hermits probably won't do much harm, so if you like watching them, buy a few!
 
Well, live rock can provide for an instant cycle, if it's been cured well and not transported far. In practice, shipping live rock leaves enough dead animals inside the rock that ammonia is often present for a while.
 
Okay, another question, this time about the protein skimmer. I'm looking at the ones that are available, and it seems like they are either designed for nano tanks or like 100-200 gallon tanks. Can anyone recommend a brand (affordable- please! I don't want something so cheap that it is going to fall apart before it's even set up, BUT I don't need the latest and greatest technology either... I just need to to work.) and model that would work for my purposes?
Thanks!

Liszie
 
Skimmers are almost always rated higher than they should be. Some ideas for you are one of the cheap Octopus skimmers (needs a sump) or an AquaC Urchin/Remora, or Coralife SuperSkimmer for hang on back. Hang on back skimmers are much rarer though. Stay away from Seaclone, CPR, etc.

About the live rock, it all depends on the source. Mailorder? You're going to have to wait for a complete cycle as it was exposed to air for a significant period of time (its shipped moist with paper towels, not under water). The LR will fuel the ammonia source due to its own die off. Local, cured, and shipped submerged (buckets) the whole time, you'll probably not have a cycle and can start adding livestock after a few days settling time.
 
Yeah, there's a place down the street from my house (score!) that sells live rock, fiji, I think. I'm planning on getting most of my livestock there as they've never steered me wrong. Most of the marine fish there are captive bred, which is nice. The only problem with them is they don't have a lot of stock and special ordering takes just short of a lifetime... (I ordered dwarf hairgrass in late summer and have yet to get it :rolleyes: )
What do you think of my stocking?

Liszie
 
I'd say your fish stock list is fine, though don't get one of the huge cleaner packages, you'll end up with lots of starved snails. Go for something like 20 total snails of various types (turbos, astrea, etc), and 2-3 nassarious sand borrowing snails. Hermits are ok. Depending on the LR, you may have some brittle star hitchhikers, which are also good to have, though the very large ones can be predatory.

Lots of good stuff to learn :)

Watch out for pairs of cleaner shrimp, they can be very aggressive to one another.
 
Yeah, I read up on those cleaner shrimp and some people said that they shouldn't be kept together and others claimed they had kept large groups for years, no problems, yada yada... I remember from my original FOWLR a banded coral shrimp I had that ate every single fish I tried to put in. I'll never forget the morning I came downstairs to find him chewing on my firefish, looking for all the world like he was smoking a very long cigar. Traumatic experience for a little kid, I'll tell you...
Anyway, would one of each of two different varieties fair better than two of the same species?

Liszie
 
Liszie,

I have a 55 FOWLR - - very sinilar to what you are doing. I have added a few soft corals over the last year. I use the Remora Pro HOB Skimmer with the skimmer box and I have two powerheads in the tank for flow plus the heater. If I were to do it over again, I would have used a sump and gone with an in-sump skimmer to hide all the equipment in my tank. Come to think of it, if I were to do it over again, I would have gone with a 75 or 90, but the 55 set-up was free. Here is what I have:

15 to 20 snails
10 to 15 crabs
2 clowns
1 yellow tang
3 green chromis
1 purple firefish
2 peppermint shrimp

When it co
 
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