Would Like To Set Up A 30 Gallon Long Saltwater Tank

[fish-r-fancy]

Hi I plan to setup a 30 gallon long saltwater fish tank. This will be my first ever saltwater tank so I need some advice. I wont be setting this up until like Christmas but it's always good to get a headstart so I know what I need to buy. well first of all I need to make my biggest disision, fish only or not. What do you reccomend for a beginner? Also what are th epros and cons of each. Is there anything special that I will have to buy if I go with fish only or not? As for the protein skimmer these were the 3 that I was considering:

Protein Skimmer 1-$199.99

or

protein skimmer 2-$98.99

or
protein skimmer 3-$35.97

I am definitely leaning towars protein skimmer 3 because it's only #35.97 and it can handle tanks up to 50 gallons so it will be more then adequete. What do you recommend?

Now on to the filter. I know that I will need a very good filter because of the fact that it's saltwater and these are the fliters that I was considering:

filters link

I was considering either the first filter with 250 gph that is capable of filtering up to 45 gallon aquariums or the second 1 that filters 300 gph and is capable of filtering up to 75 gallon aquariums. I'm leaning toward the second one because for $10 more I'd rather get the better one.

As for substrate I have no clue so I will need a lot of advice on that.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Mr Miagi]

A Lees skimmer is not worth the $30 IMO. Ive had one, and removed it because its just too much hassle, and hardly pulls anything out of the water. Your much better off running number one, but the link for Skimmer 2 isnt working, so I cant compare!

As for FOWLR or Reef, id go reef personally, both have pros and cons, but for a beginner non is harder/easier than another if you know what your doing. You can start with FOWLR though, until you feel comfortable, and just upgrade the lighting when you want to change over. But buy everything reef ready for your FOWLR, like powerheads, skimmer etc, which wont need changing, and buy better lighting and your almost there.

Substrate, tats personal opinion, but I like a finer grain sand, (even though it gets blown around a bit). Its called Aragonite. If youve got an LFS with marine, it might have samples you can look at.

 

[Redstratplayer1]

Please dont shop at petco we should boycot that place for crulty to fish/coral/inverts hell almost every thing.

There id probaly a good store near you i thought there were none by me but a google serch proved tha Absolutly Fishy a amasing store was 5 minets away.

For online stuff looke at http/www.premiumaquatics.com/

http/www.drsfostersmith.com/product/Shop.cfm?N=2004

 

[Mr Miagi]

Filtration wise, marine tanks are filtered by LR, so you dont have to use an external filter with media, infact they can become nitrate factories if not cleaned regularly (once per week). Tend to use external filters for using chemical filter media like rowaphose (any phosphate removing chemical) or carbon. You can even use LR rubble in cannisters, its better than sponge, wool or noodles.

 

[SkiFletch]

Just so evreybody else knows, I parsed out the second link and its to a Red Sea Prism

Prisms IMO are not worth their weight in plastic, pieces of junk. Dont mean to sound harsh, but I dont want to see you buying one and then being sorry with its performance

My favorite small tank skimmer is the 60gallon capacity Coralife Superskimmer. There's a lot of US vendors you can get them from online, a google search will suffice . If you plan on running a sump, I'd suggest looking into a used Euroreef or ASM skimmer.

I agree with everything Mr. Miagi said. LR and powerheads are your filtration, aragonite sand for a substrate, and get everything ready for a reef. Then just upgrade lighting and you're good to go.

 

[fish-r-fancy]

Just so that everybody knows I don't shop at petco, I shop at a small family owned business I just used petco to get the links up. I was thinking and I think I'm going to upgrade at around x-mas time and start a 100 gallon reef tank! Any suggetsions on that?

 

[SkiFletch]

A 100g? Well, my suggestion is to decide what your favorite saltwater fish, corals, inverts are, and design the hardware around them. I know I'd have a couple tangs and a tank chalk full of wrasses with LPS everywhere if it were my 100g

Your stocking will determine your hardware.

 

[fish-r-fancy]

This is what my plan is. When I said a 100 gallon I meant a rough estimate I was thinking maybe 90 gallons-150 gallons.

I don't want to jump into coral to soon but I think I'm just going to stick with the basic corals (only corals) sold at my lfs. Here are some reef capatible fish that I found on liveaquaria.com under beginner marine fish:

Ocellaris Clownfish - Tank-Bred
Blue Tang
Yellow Tang - Hawaii
Bicolor Pseudochromis

Are these all good beginner fish like the websit states?

 

[Eversurf]

I got two XP2 Rena filter for my 55G, it might be overkill, but if one dies then my fish will live. I do not have a skimmer yet. What I did is I got some crush coral 40lbs for the bottom and then covered it with 40 lbs of live sand. I then added 30 lbs of live rock in it and now I'm adding my cleaning crew. I made the mistake of having my live rock delivered by ground and when it showed up( it was still wet) there was a lot of die off and that made my amonia spike like crazy. Make sure to get a good water testing kit. I bought everything online froogle is king. A lot from Ebay, the filters from Amazon and the sand from another vendor.

Take your time...and have fun!!!

 

[SkiFletch]

Those are decent starter fish for a 90+ gallon tank. Tangs can be a little tricky as they're ich-prone but if you make sure you buy a healthy looking specemin and put him into nice clean water it should do just fine

 

[Lynden]

Don't overlook Neon Gobies benefitial and pretty. Would make keeping a Tang alot easier.

-Lynden

 

[fish-r-fancy]

Also what is RO water and where do I get it?

 

[Mr Miagi]

Also what is RO water and where do I get it?

Ro water stands for Reverse Osmosis, and is very pure water. The process removes up to 99% of all impurities, so things like chlorine, copper, flourine, etc is removed before making it to your tank. Where to get it? You can buy it from some LFS's, or from an RO unit. TFF has our own Sponser, who sells quality RO units, cheap, and at a discount for TFF members!

 

[fish-r-fancy]

Oh thanks. I know I keep changing my mind on what tank size that I'm going to get but I made up my mind (or at least I think I did) I'm happen to know somebody that is selling their 240 gallon 8 foot tank!

 

[Redstratplayer1]

That is a big tank get it buy it fast that would be so cool you could stock almost anything check out thias 240 gal tank melevs reef