Questions on my first salt tank design.

[CarRamrod]

Hey guys, I an new here. I have been reading for weeks about setting up a saltwater aquarium. I would like to run my setup by yall to confirm im on the right path for my first small tank.

 

For years i have been wanting to do a big saltwater tank (55-100 gallons) but i have never pulled the trigger. Until now. My neighbor was throwing away his daughters 20 gallon tank and I wanted to set up a nano tank to see if i would really enjoy this hobby before i jumped into a huge setup. I also want to do this as budget friendly as possible. I love to spend money on things i enjoy, but i need to know i enjoy i it before i put big money down.

 

The tank is the Marineland LED 20 gallon kit. I have everything from it. the hood with a daytime and night time light, the HOB penguin 150 filter, and heater.

 

 

So i was planning on starting with just a live rock/sand tank and stocking some simple clownfish to start off. I thinking of buying 20LBs dry aragonite aquarium sand and 15 # dry aragonite rock. Should i go for more rock? I would like to buy this seed kit from ipsf.com http://ipsf.com/livesand.html I know i could seed from an established system but, as an engineer, i like to know exactly what i have with what i am doing.

 

With the 150 filter I was thinking just using it as a skimmer to clear the water when needed with the filter pads and taking one apart and just using the screen when no filter fabric is needed. Along with this i was going to get a Hydor 260gpm pump for the main circulation.

 

This is where I am at. I will run this and let the rock and sand cycle before i add anything else. I would like to get a better light and a RO/DI pump to make water. And it would be nice to have one of these if doomsday ever happens.

 

 

Options for later?

add LR to 150 filter and/or add macro algae for a make shift refugium

 

 

 

Thanks for all the help.

[xCry0x]

You have to be careful with used tanks for SW - if they were using it for fresh water, which they probably were, and ever treated it with copper based medication, the copper can leech into the silicone that holds most glass tanks together and is lethal to inverts.

 

Personally, I think "live sand" is overrated. You throw anything live in a plastic bag and throw it on a shelf I can't see it staying live for very long.

The best thing you can do if you want to seed your tank with critters is buy some actual live rock from a functional system and some chaeto.

 

Also, filter =/= skimmer. Skimmer usually means protein skimmer which is completely different from a hang on the back filter that sucks water in and pushes it through some filter media.

 

Really all you need to get going with a tank is

 

1) Tank

2) Rock

3) Heater

4) Something to move water around

5) A light

 

A quality light allows you to keep coral, a cheapo whatever halogen light is fine if all you want are fish.

 

Ideally you also get 6) some sort of filter, hang on the back works fine, to run some carbon in and most likely some kind of phosphate remover.

[CarRamrod]

Ok this was a freshwater tank, but it was only used for maybe 2 months......maybe. I remember when he said he bought it. The only thing that was uses for treatment was something called Prime, which removes chlorine and chloramine. So i do not believe it contains any copper.

 

About the live sand, Im not buying live sand. Im buying the dry stuff and am going to see it with a kit. I read about these kits and they are 2 day shipped from hawaii and made after you order it to ensure freshness. Do i need Chaeto if im not doing a refugiam at first?

 

Yea i didnt mean a skimmer as a protein skimmer, I was meaning just use it as a filter.

 

Yea the light is a big expense i will do if/when i want to do coral. I was just wondering if there is a cheaper light that can switch from day to night automatically.

 

I have everything on your list. I do want to try to make this a minimalist tank at first. So do i need to run the carbon in the filter the whole time or only use it intermittently?