Hey Salty-Sider's

[reeeedfish]

Okay, so I wanted a new 90 gallon to devote to bichirs but my dad, who has a small 20 gallon freshwater commnity tank, wants to start a 75 gallon salty tank. He wants fish not reef, if that helps.

Our LFS has a kit that includes: Aragonite subsrate, an eshopps wet/dry filter, nova extreme 48" T5-HO lighting, salt mix, and the tank for 679 USD. It's missing live rock and a protein skimmer.

So... Would getting the kit, an eshopps protein skimmer(in sump) for 130$ and liveaquaria.com live rock for 3 USD a pound be better, or would it be cheaper to buy everything seperately online?

 

[demasonisrule]

Welcome to the salty side!

If you don't want a reef, don't get that kit, you don't need the lights that come with it or the wet/dry, so you'd be spending $679 on sand and a tank basically. Getting it all seperate would be much better. And FWIW, though I've never tried it, I've heard some bad things about liveaquaria rock, try marco rocks instead, I'd get some dry rock from marco, then get some live rock to seed the dry from your LFS.

 

[reeeedfish]

So for fish only I'd basically want the tank, some brand of canister filter, a protein skimmer, a heater, some dry rock from marco's and some live rock from my LFS, and substrate?

Oh, can you use freshwater canister filters for saltwater like eheim, cascade, fluval, etc.?

EDIT: if you have live sand, does it count as live rock?

 

[demasonisrule]

You'll need powerhead's as well to move water around the rock's. You should have enough flow to equal your tank's volume times 20. So let's say you have a 10 gal tank, you should have 100 GPH of flow. Also, you don't really need a canister filter, unless you want to run phosphate media, carbon, etc.

As far as live sand goes, if it's the kind in a bag with a little bit of water in the bag, that stuff is a total gimmick. If it's been in a running tank for a while then it's basically the same thing, but rock tends to have more good stuff on it.

You also don't necessarily need substrate. It will tend to make the tank look a little better, but your tank will be much easier to clean, and will stay cleaner with no substrate, unless you want a fish that likes/needs sand such as some gobies or wrasses.

 

[reeeedfish]

Wait, I don't need a filter?

 

[fishy55599]

Wait, I don't need a filter?

nope

 

[reeeedfish]

What lighting do you recommend, the nova extreme is only 130$!

 

[fishy55599]

i am no good with lighting im affraid, try post in marine reef and chit chat, most people are always there

 

[seffieuk]

Your live rock is your filter - but is that what you meant, or do you mean you are not having live rock at all?

Re: lighting, if you are not having coral, t8's will be fine, however I warn you, you and your dad might not want coral now, but I bet you do in the near future, unless your dad is going for something which eats coral?

to the salty side

 

[reeeedfish]

Yes, were going non reef safe w/ live rock. Thank's for the input. Just as a side note, I'm going to start my own 20 gallon long saltwater and going for a mantis shrimp, anyone know were to buy a peacock mantis shrimp online? Stomapods.com no longer exists!

 

[seffieuk]

Looking forward to seeing both your and your Dads tank develop, dont forget to start a journel

Take a look in the classifieds of marine forums - you sometimes see them there if someone has found one in their tank, however if you have a good lfs, they can order it in for you

 

[woody88]

So it's a FOWLR setup then. No lighting is required but you may want something for viewing pleasure.
As seffie said LR is your biological filter so no need for an external or internal filter.

20 x turnover on a 10G is 200gph by the way.

Welcome to the salty side.

 

[reeeedfish]

Thanks for your help everyone, sadly the aquarium just became long term as two of our ash trees have a inesct (emerald ash borer) in them that will be quite pricey to get rid of!