Total noob here. Need some help

[wtusa17@gmail.com]

I love freshwater and am thinking of getting into salt. If I got a bio cube 32, what else would I need? I’m talking everything. I have no clue about saltwater other than it’s expensive. I would also like to do some easy easy corals. I need a boat load of help and suggestions here. Thanks in advance

[empresto]

Welcome to nano-reef!

 

I made the switch from fresh water about 5 yrs ago. First thing first, make sure you have good source water (just get a good RODI unit from Bulk Reef Supply or similar).  Tap water, though possibly sufficient or even preferable for fw will not cut it for sw and coral.

 

Then, search for build threads of people who have your tank. You'll see what kind of modifications (lights, etc) they made to the tank and what other equipment they were using and how it worked out.

 

And ask lots of questions on here! People are always happy to help 😊

[wtusa17@gmail.com]

11 minutes ago, empresto said:

Welcome to nano-reef!

 

I made the switch from fresh water about 5 yrs ago. First thing first, make sure you have good source water (just get a good RODI unit from Bulk Reef Supply or similar).  Tap water, though possibly sufficient or even preferable for fw will not cut it for sw and coral.

 

Then, search for build threads of people who have your tank. You'll see what kind of modifications (lights, etc) they made to the tank and what other equipment they were using and how it worked out.

 

And ask lots of questions on here! People are always happy to help 😊

My lfs sells saltwater. I don’t have money for ro right now. Not sure how they could be set up either

[Matteo]

You need to research a ton first... 

 

 

[Clown79]

51 minutes ago, Matteo said:

You need to research a ton first... 

 

 

This^

 

There is no quick and easy way to do a reef. There is no simple instructions. It takes a lot of invested time researching

Cycling, biological filter, mechanical filtration, chemical filtration, coral needs, lighting, water chemistry, husbandry.

 

 

[Clown79]

There are lots of sticky threads for beginners that are great resources. Member journals, TOTM's, beginner threads and ask specific questions for clarification

[wtusa17@gmail.com]

1 hour ago, Matteo said:

You need to research a ton first... 

 

 

Hence why I asked here before I even attempted to get started in any way

[Matteo]

23 minutes ago, wtusa17@gmail.com said:

Hence why I asked here before I even attempted to get started in any way

Nope. Not what the forum is for and not what someone new should be doing. 

 

You're asking for quick answers instead of doing the real work and reading and watching videos/forums. 

 

You can Google every question imaginable for this hobby because it's been asked before. 

 

Cheers, 

 

 

[Tamberav]

3 hours ago, wtusa17@gmail.com said:

I love freshwater and am thinking of getting into salt. If I got a bio cube 32, what else would I need? I’m talking everything. I have no clue about saltwater other than it’s expensive. I would also like to do some easy easy corals. I need a boat load of help and suggestions here. Thanks in advance

This is good quick advise: 

 

 

Be patient, go slow, don't cut corners. You rush and you might as well just light your wallet on fire. 

 

You can buy gallons of distilled water at Walmart instead of buying a RODI (don't get the distilled with added minerals). Just realize you need to do weekly water changes + top off so you will be hauling a decent amount of water. The biocube having a lid will help with the evaporation.

 

To cover the basics: To set up a new tank with zero equipment I would buy: heater, pinpoint heater controller, powerhead, refractometer, live or dry rock, test kits for ammonia and nitrate (to start out), filter floss, carbon, salt, mixing bucket, distilled water, aragonite sand (2-3mm), mixing buckets, gravel vaccume, biospira, prime, turkey baster, peroxide, and coral rx dip. Later I would add test kits for Ca, Mg, Alk, Po4 (NOT API ones). 

 

FYI a lot of stuff is wild from the ocean which means pests and fish disease is fairly common. You will want to find the disease and pest thread on these forums to familiarize yourself. 

[wtusa17@gmail.com]

2 hours ago, Matteo said:

Nope. Not what the forum is for and not what someone new should be doing. 

 

You're asking for quick answers instead of doing the real work and reading and watching videos/forums. 

 

You can Google every question imaginable for this hobby because it's been asked before. 

 

Cheers, 

 

 

Thanks for the warm welcome. I literally have no clue what I need for saltwater so I came here to just see exactly what I would need and then I would do research. It’s hard to do research on equipment when I don’t even know what I need 

[Clown79]

42 minutes ago, wtusa17@gmail.com said:

Thanks for the warm welcome. I literally have no clue what I need for saltwater so I came here to just see exactly what I would need and then I would do research. It’s hard to do research on equipment when I don’t even know what I need 

Each system is different. Each hobbyst runs different equipment

Basics: heater, powerhead, lights, floss, carbon, good water, salt, refractometer, test kits, buckets, gravel vac, sand, rocks. 

Then you have systems that run ato's, skimmers, refugiums, controllers, reactors, dosers.

 

[Tamberav]

1 hour ago, wtusa17@gmail.com said:

Thanks for the warm welcome. I literally have no clue what I need for saltwater so I came here to just see exactly what I would need and then I would do research. It’s hard to do research on equipment when I don’t even know what I need 

Start with the basics, you don't need a skimmer/reactor and so on for a 12g. Sometimes it's actually harmful as you don't want the water TOO clean. Stuff like that can always be added later.

 

I would suggest also looking at TOTM builds as equipment is listed as well as maintenance:

 

https://www.nano-reef.com/featured/

[mitten_reef]

^ I second the comment above. 
look at the tanks on tank of the month (totm), if you feel the need for more details, you can go into their build journals (some Totm journals may lack history and details, but that’s a diff story altogether). 
 

The one nice thing about nano, is that there are more than one way to have a successful system.  BUT you need to understand the fundamentals of how the system works.  I’d say there are three main stages that hobbyists progress thru in the hobby:  

• start from understanding cycling the tank (startup) 
• then the role of nitrate and phosphate as excess/free nutrients, aka waste in the system (algae management),
• and dosing (elemental replenishments). 

And before you buy certain equipment, KNOW how/why that equipment will contribute to YOUR success, not just because others have used it successfully. When your budget allows, it doesn’t hurt to experiment. But buying hundreds or even thousands of dollars in equipment from the get-go will not guarantee you the success.

If you’re on a desktop/laptop browser, some people also have their journal links as their signatures, which you can quickly look up their tanks to see what they keep, and how they keep their stuff.  

[Matteo]

11 hours ago, wtusa17@gmail.com said:

Thanks for the warm welcome. I literally have no clue what I need for saltwater so I came here to just see exactly what I would need and then I would do research. It’s hard to do research on equipment when I don’t even know what I need 

Just a lot of noobs come on the forum looking for shortcuts and quick answers without a lick of research or time spent looking at builds and articles. 

 

All I'm saying is you can easily Google and search what you don't know first. 

 

I.e. "what's needed for a saltwater nano tank" 

"what equipment is needed for saltwater nano" 

"how do I cycle a SW tank" 

 

You come from FW so you already should have a general idea of what's needed and how to start. 

 

I'm just saying before asking basics, search first, read TOTM, journals, etc. Like what people mentioned above. 

 

You can literally Google biocube reef build and you'll find a million examples and what people are doing for their success.

 

It also allllll depends on what YOU want in there. 

 

Your question is simply too vauge and general and didn't really seem like you spent anytime researching as those could have been answered with the quickest Google search. 

 

Beginner discussion should be for yes beginner questions but you gotta put a little work in first is all I'm saying. 

 

Looking forward to seeing what you decide on.