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basic needs to start a saltwater aquarium

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  • basic needs to start a saltwater aquarium

    ok... I have a 29 gal aquarium and a 10 gal aquarium. I want to do a saltwater aquarium but have NO idea what i would need to do... as cheap as possible
    i'm thinking I could make a wet / dry out of the 10 gal.... if a wet/dry is what I need.
    please help me get this going.
    to me freshwater set ups are easy as pie, but the saltwater tanks are like taboo... lol

  • #2
    Need to make a sump out of the 10 gallon if you want one. I know that much
    Mentally Challenged

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    • #3
      Do you want a fish only tank, fish only with live rock and live sand, or a reef tank?

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      • #4
        Yeah what you want to keep will determine what you need. The cheapest tank would be without corals. But I dont recommend going into the dark side with the mindset of the cheapest. I am not saying you need to spend a ton of money but SW isnt for the cheap.
        Resident fish bum
        330G FOWLR
        34G Reef
        330G Discus biotopish (no longer running)
        28G JBJ Reef (no longer running)
        Treasurer, GHAC

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Darbex View Post
          Yeah what you want to keep will determine what you need. The cheapest tank would be without corals. But I dont recommend going into the dark side with the mindset of the cheapest. I am not saying you need to spend a ton of money but SW isnt for the cheap.
          +1

          Saltwater cost starts where freshwater ends. This is not a cheap hobby but you don't have to spend your life savings either. You can buy good used stuff. You need to determine what you want to keep and go from there. With saltwater it is always better to start with as big a tank as you can. IMO

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          • #6
            29gal is an odd size for a SW tank as well. You will require a stronger light for the depth of the tank and with it being only 12" wide there's not a whole lot you can do scaping wise. I would try and get a hold of a 20L long if you want to keep the 29gal footprint and use that instead. It will save you on lighting. Based on what I learned these past couple months I would get these to start up the tank. I guess if you really wanted to, you could just toss a 2 bulb t5 fixture on a tank and call it a day, but your livestock will hate you and it would take a lot of work just to make it presentable.

            -20L (20.00)
            -10g Sump could be nice, but maybe look into some of those Finnex HOB refugiums on ebay. 40-60bucks for a good size refugium, pump and light. It would minimize the space needed for the tank. (HOB refugium 60.00... turning the 10gal into a sump along with buying pump and plumping would probably put you in the 80.00+ mark)
            - You're looking at probably a 4 bulb T5HO fixture. Could get by with a 2bulb for some stuff, but 4 bulb would be much better. If you are patient, you can probably find a used name brand one here for 40.00-50.00, If you want new and cheap, look into aquatraders.com. You can get anything new between 60-100 depending on the extras with the fixture.
            - Auto Top off. You will hate life if you don't get one. If the tank is free standing, you'll probably need an electronic ATO (jbj or avast marine) but if you put tank on a shelving unit or something, you could rig up a gravity fed top off which work really well. I love mine. (Look at around 100.00 for an electronic ATO and 20.00 for a gravity fed ATO if you buy a small float valve from ebay.)
            - 10-15lb live rock with sand (~60.00)
            Depending on location, you could probably do without a heater and skimmer.

            Overall, you're looking at a minimum of 200.00 to get started the right way. Not including the salts, test kits, Tylenol etc etc.

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            • #7
              Most basically reef tank:

              1) 29g
              2) live rock
              3) power head
              4) lights
              5) heater

              Everything else is extra.
              I ate my fish that died.

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              • #8
                Whoops, I totally forgot powerheads

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                • #9
                  How about a list for a basic fish only tank?
                  Mentally Challenged

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by sunkenmetal View Post
                    How about a list for a basic fish only tank?
                    Most basically SW fish tank:

                    1) 29g
                    2) live rock
                    3) power head
                    4) heater

                    Everything else is extra.
                    I ate my fish that died.

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                    • #11
                      Lights, Live rock, powerheads, sump, skimmer, heater I would guess. Reef tanks are generally pretty low nitrates with a small bio load and can be skimmerless because of that, but pretty sure a big skimmer is required for fowlr tanks

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                      • #12
                        A skimmer on a FOWLR?
                        Mentally Challenged

                        My Flickr

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                        • #13
                          yes, fish, live sand & live rock
                          Originally posted by bytwnracer View Post
                          Do you want a fish only tank, fish only with live rock and live sand, or a reef tank?

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                          • #14
                            I was thinking small tank, small fish... Red Fire Goby and a few other fish that range in that size
                            Originally posted by sunkenmetal View Post
                            How about a list for a basic fish only tank?

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                            • #15
                              do i really need a wet / dry? can i use a fluidized bed filter instead? it's all filtration i'm looking for in it right?

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