Calga Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 I read the setup section of this site. I barley understood it. What is LIVE rock and sand?? powerhead???gravity meter??? I am a beginner in marine fish. I havve had freshwater for quite a while. I have a ten gallon, what kind of light do I need, I can have 2 light bulbs. What is a good brand of salt that I should use, how much? Are 2 Percula clowns good for a 10g? What kind of clean up crew do i need. about how much do clowns cost...US? thanks for all your help i know my ?'s are endless but I am new to saltwater... thanks again in advance Link to comment
zizmans Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 My advice is to do what I did. Spend a week going through every thread on the sight. That's not to say I'm an expert, but it will deffinitly help you greatly. Alot of topics won't make sense at first, but the more you read the more they will. Also, go to a local fish store (LFS). But remember alot of them are ONLY concerned with making money. It is though a very good way to put visuals to the questions you have. i.e. "what are softhard corals, lighting, live rock (lr) - cured or uncured, sand, etc.) Many members here have 10 gal tanks and thier statistics are on thier posts. In my opinion (IMP) you probably need to get a different hood for your lighting if it is the original one that came with the tank. Or do it yourself (DIY) by changing the ballists. My advice is to buy a clamp on light. Usual rule of thumb is to have 3-4 watts per gallon. This is my advice for hardware, others I'm sure will have different opinions so read them all and figure out what is best for you. The prices I'm listing are for what I paid so shop around, 10 gallon (GAL) tank - done JBJ 36 watt 5050 - $50.00 this is a clamp on light, looks good IMO works well. The 5050 denotes the dual-bulb. There are other brands. Aqua clear 200 - $30.00 this a bio-filtration system. It is a small plastic box that hangs on the back of the tank. It sucks water in and pumps it back out into the tank at a rate of 200 gal per hour. Link to comment
tinyreef Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 not to brush you off but think about getting a basic marine book. this will help you save time and money later on. the boards here and at RC, reefs.org, and about.com can help you fine tune your setup but basics should be gotten from books imo. altho saltaquarium.about.com is a very useful source to learn the basics. i prefer a book but their articles are pretty good too. tullock's Natural Reef Aquarium is most appropriate for a nano specifically (until dave finishes his book : ). paletta's or goldstein's general marine books are also good. or you can spend more for the twin bibles of the hobby, sprung & delbeek's The Reef Aquarium I & II (III's on the way!) it's not that we don't want to help but explaining the basics would take volumes and having a book on-hand allows you to refer back as you setup. the best investments in this hobby are books, lights, water purifiers, and salt. the rest are just trimmings and optional imho. welcome to the marines! Link to comment
zizmans Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 I ran out of room so here's the rest. Picollo skimmer - $35.00 this is the smallest skimmer I've found. It is from a well known company called Sander. It's basically a tube with a container on top that collects the deposits. Normally this skimmer goes into the tank, but this is where your AC 200 comes in. Do not put the media (the filter that comes with the AC 200 into it, nor the plastic basket. Instead put your skimmer in there. Also you can fit a bag of reef carbon in there too, with the extra room, which will help with filtration. Tetra tec 150 - $25.00 this is simply an air pump. It gives your skimmer power. You can use any brand, but I find the ones with air control on the unit are better. Visitherm Heater - $30-40.00 IMO this is the best heater. DO NOT skimp out and buy a 10 buck heater. They fail, and you will regret it. Power Head - $20-40.00 Get advice from another member. You probably want 2 mini-jets 20 bucks each , or one Maxi-jet. I had to ask about this a couple of days ago. There is your Hardware, but that is only the half of it. Live Rock - $5-10.00 per pound (lbs). You need 10 lbs at least. general rule is 1 lb per 1 gal. Cured is rock that has been sitting in a tank for 6 months. UnCured, hasn't. I advise cured rock as your CYCLING time will be greatly reduced. Live Sand - Your lfs will sell you this stuff pretty cheap after you but the fore mentioned items. $free-2.00 per lb. You can go with a deep sand bed (DSB) or not, I say with a small tank (NANO) not. But read up on it. Search DSB and you will find ALOT of threads. Testing kits - VERY IMPORTANT you need to test amonia,ph,nitrite nitrate. I use fastest brand (very good) $40.00. Also calcium and alkalinity $15.00 each. There are other tests but these are the biggies. Salt - I use Instan Ocean $8.00 Now for the goodbad news. Set your tank up. Hardware, read all of the instructions. Put in your sand, make salt water using reverse osmosis (RO) water, your LFS will sell it you 25-75 cents per gallon. Bring your own container. put in your rock. Wait 4 weeks for your CYCLING to finish. This is when your tank has reached acceptable levels. This will give you plenty of time to read,read,read about the animals you want and how to maintain your tank. Remember, this is a BASIC set up, there are many other ways you can go, refugium, etc..I find this the easiest and affordable way to go. I'm sure some will agree and some won't. Link to comment
zizmans Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 deep sand bed (DSB) Also a good way to get info is to ask your LFS if they have back issue magazines. Good articles, pictures, usually about 50 cents a piece. Library - as most reef books are at least 30-100 bucks. Link to comment
ajroahkni Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 Originally posted by Calga i know my ?'s are endless but I am new to saltwater... thanks again in advance Live Rock - It's actually taken from the sea - or replicated as such. Thus it has CRITTERS on/in it that assist in breaking down the baddies of your tank. "Cured" LR is wet throughout travel, or been sitting underwater, so the stuff on it is all 100% alive. "Uncured" is LR that's been sitting wet, but not underwater. It's got die off, which will have to be regrown. Live Sand - Sand that is biologically active. It's got CRITTERS in it. Powerhead - An aquarium specific water pump, that provides circulation by sucking water into it and jetting it out. Provides circulation. Specific Gravity Meter - a thing that you take water into to make sure it's OK as far as the saltiness of it. Freshwater - you must've kept a comet or a goldfish or a betta - how come you don't know all this stuff already. You need at least the JBJ clamp-on light that ziz talked about. Forget about your two light receptacles, you should probably replace that. HINT: Spend some BIG $$$ on your lights, unless the tank is FISH ONLY, then who cares about light besides what you can fit in the FW hood. Salt - Instant Ocean is pretty prevalent in use. May not be the best, but neither are you. HOW MUCH - that's what your SG meter is for. Typically 1/2 cup per gallon. Two Percs - You should first be a keeper of water and LR/LS. Trust me, you'll either be happy with just that for a few months, or you really shouldn't be thinking about keeping a nano-reef. Clean-up Crew - At least a couple of hermits and snails. Do a search on the web of online marine stores and see what clean-up crews they offer for a 10g. That'll give you an idea of what to do. Cost of Clowns - Cost of your fish should be the least of your concerns. You'll have spent at least $200 to get the tank ready before you even have fish. Best of luck to you. John Link to comment
BeerNuts Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 "Cured" LR is wet throughout travel, or been sitting underwater, so the stuff on it is all 100% alive. "Uncured" is LR that's been sitting wet, but not underwater. It's got die off, which will have to be regrown. hmm? Cured Rock is rock that has gone though a treatment proccess usally 1-2 weeks where it is cleaned persay to remove all the dead stuff from it. After this time it has all rotted off in curing vats so you can add it directly to your tank so you don't have to worry about it all dieing in your tank spiking ammonia or changing the pH. This also usally lets most "hichhikers" come off to be lost in the curing vat/tank. I good way to reduce your chances of getting unwated hichhikers such as Mantis Shrimp etc... UnCured rock is rock that has not gone though any treatment. From the ocean to you. uncured rock usally has far more life on it than cured rock good and bad life... My 10lbs of uncured rock that I just added to my new tank is covered in alge, seaweed, tube worms, and creatures that are emerging from it. After 1 day I have 1 crab, 2 britle sea stars, 1 shrimp, 1 snail, and a countless number of marine worms. For More Info about Cured/Uncured LR, and how to Cure I would go Here Link to comment
Keng Yew, Leong Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 There's info about the basics on this sites' information section.Give it a try. Link to comment
onthefly Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 I agree with Tiny........Get a good book and search the hell out of this sight and you'll be good to go! Link to comment
WhiteRat Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 I spent two and a half years reading and wishing before I put together my first reef tank. As a result, I find myself in the somewhat scary position of thinking I know about things that people who have had reefs longer than I have seem to have overlooked. Oddly, my LFS' coral tanks have improved dramatically since they did what I suggested and LSBed their coral tank and increased the current. I really, really recommend that you do as much research as possible before jumping in. You will keep more of your hitchhikers alive, and they are half the fun. If I had to recommend only ONE book, I would recommend Natural Reef Aquariums by John Tullock. If I had to recommend a site, it would be this one. Dave ESPI aside, you will get fairly good answers to even the most inane 'we just talked about that!' questions. Look at the answers you got on a topic that has already been done a great many times here...Many helpful in spite of that fact. I think it's because (Dave aside) reefkeeping does require patience. I really suggest that you make use of the SEARCH button in the upper right of the forum page and look up each of the topics you mentioned, because while you have gotten many good replies here, this will give you access to a greater diversity of methods and ideas. Likewise I really suggest you look at members' tanks that look like what you'd like to put together. Link to comment
Dave ESPI Posted March 18, 2003 Share Posted March 18, 2003 WOW all this catering and still no....... WASSABBBIEEE !!!!! WASSABI ! EDIT, See lounge chat log Link to comment
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