First Salt Water Tank

[Fire534]

I have a 1200 gallon koi pond but was thinking about getting a salt water tank. I never had a salt water tank before and was wondering if there is some kind of starter kit. What things should i be looking for in the kit? Is a 55 gallon tank good to start with? I also heard that a salt water tank is had to keep up with and is hard work to set up, Is this true? All help will be good. Thanks

 

[Navarre]

Hi Fire534

Great to see you taking an interest in Marines.
Interesting concept with the pond for marines, would need to talk about that in great detail but for now your 55 gallon would be ideal for starters.

People do say they are hard to setup and hard to maintain. I dont agree. You just need to be disciplined and follow simple guidlines. I prefer to think of ourselves as not Reefkeepers but Water managers. our first and most important job is to maintain the highest water quality. If we can achieve this then usually the rest looks after itself!


What type of filrstion method are you thinking about using? What type of marnine tank do you want to keep? Fish only, Reef etc.
Fish only is less expensive as their requirements are not so expensive (lights for example)
A full blwon reef tank is an awesome sight to behold but not without added expense. Lights are a main priority here of course as most inverts need excellant lighting.
Soft corals usually like higher nutrients than hard corals that like a low nutrient environment.

Anyway, just a few pointers to set you off, lets get some feedback and see what we can come up with

 

[hyrookin]

yeah, it all comes down to what you want to keep,and more importantly
what you can afford to keep, both money and time wise.
I currently have a 55 gal. that has been problem free for over four years,
with minimal equipment. although some may disagree, live rock is not a
neccessity for a fish-only tank.the same goes for a protein skimmer.dont
get me wrong, the benefits are great,I just want to point out that if you want
to start out light, you certainly can.my tank has 2 aqua-clear 500's, which
are simple hang on filters(the main filter media is sponge,which allows for
a very good bacterial growth,a powerhead for water movement,a heater,
and aragonite for substrate.a system like this does require a more dilligent
maintenance routine,and less time between water changes.
the best thing for you to do while deciding is to read as much as you can,
and keep asking questions on this site, as opinions may differ,they all are
insightive and knowledgable.
hope this helps!

 

[Navarre]

hyrookin is right, these things are not essential.
Live rock has obvious advantages, it filtes and looks great! but its not essential!.. Same goes for skimming. They have benefits but they are not great for all types of systems.
With more diligence you can be successful.. If we go back 15 years or so, people used to undergravel filters and had success with marines. It was far more simple then than it is today and yet they still had success.
As long as you do your research and are prepared to make the extra effort that some systems may demand then go for it.

 

[bgraber]

Not the same kind of success tho.. Not many people were growing sps corals and the like.. Reef keeping started booming in the early 90s with the advent of the Berlin method(live sand and protein skimming) and Jaubert system(plenum under sand and protein skimming).. Look that stuff up.. Do Much research before you start.. I wish i would have done a plenum.. Basically traps air and water underneath sand to produce an oxygen rich area for bacteria. Otherwise without sand stirring animals, the sand will get compacted, no air will get in there and create bad stuff.. This Can happen.. Not always I guess.. For Long term results, look into it a bit deeper than a HOB filter and sand.. my $.02 worth.