steveangela1

I have been pricing turning my 36 into a salt tank (also included into that is moving some favorite cichlids which would include getting rid of some of my husbands favorite fish, which wouldn't be fair to him and our fish are pets not just fish so its a hard decision)

Anyways, adding the cost I have seen that doing the 36 into a saltwater its just as much as buying a 24-29g nano tank w/ stand. Thats buying the proteing skimmer, lights, etc.

I also need to know if when you get the tank which is best, live sand or crushed coral? I want to do a nano reef.

au01st

I would keep the cichlids and get a 29 nano. There isn't too much you can put in a 36 that you can't put in a 29, so the effort wouldn't be worth it, IMO. I think one of the nanos on DFS even comes with a stand because it's on sale right now.

I'm doing live sand in my tank, with a few snails, crabs, and maybe a fighting conch to keep the sand stirred up. It's actually going to be a mix of Home Depot sand, and I'm getting 50lbs of live sand and will mix it together.

steveangela1

That was what I was thinking livestock wise looking at profiles.
What would be good fish for that tank? W/o overstocking it? Right now we are looking at clownfish (since our son is overly obsessed w/ nemo) I like the gobys, and pygmy angelfishes.

fishrule101

Don't get sand from the home depot. Its not pretty, could contain bad stuff for your tank and takes months or years to become "live". If your making it a reef you might want to think twice about the pygmy as angelfish are not very reef friendly. Stick with the 36 because you will want to put more fish than a 29 haves to offer and the bigger the better. Get live sand. Personly I don't think CC does and good other than rise your pH. You might want to upgrade your lighting if planning on keeping corals. You CAN keep low light needing ones like mushrooms and corals that need food more than light. Good Luck!

sgould

I would do live sand over crushed coral. Clowns and gobys are fine...like fishrule pointed out, dwarf angels have a reputation for nibbling on corals, so if you want to do a reef setup you need to keep that in mind.

Slug

Go with sand. Crushed coral can trap and hold wastes easily. Sand looks better as well IMO.

As far as fish, the dwarf angels are hit or miss. Some nip livestock (coral mainly) some don't. You never know if yours does until you try. Most gobies should be fine. Clownfish are always great and would work fine. Stuff like firefish, sixline/fourline wrasse, royal gramma, etc. Most of your typical LFS stock are decently hardy and stay small enough. That list won't go all together obviously but a few from that list. Just giving you some ideas.

steveangela1

Okay, sticking w/ the live sand I know it will be a while for the fish, but how many fish could I stock? With the 2 clownfish and maybe 2 gobies? possibly a royal gramma?

Do I have this right, you put your live sand in, live rock, fish, then coral. Letting the tank mature between each?

steveangela1

Well, I guess I need to add that I found a heck of a deal on a 12 gallon nano setup on craigslist so I will prob go with that. Especially it being my first saltwater tank, then I can grow into a larger tank later.

sgould

Just an opinion, but I'd stick with the larger one. More stocking options, and easier to keep the water quality stable.

au01st

Depending on how good of a deal you got, get the 12 too as a quarantine tank or coral propagation tank.

JakeTeque

Question - (Sorry this isn't my post) I've noticed that the sand in my LFS and PetCo and other places doesn't say the word "live sand" on it. It's more like coral sand, or marine sand. How do I know what is the correct type of live sand?

Paleofish

Live sand is the sand your petstore as. But it has good bacteria growing on it and Live sand also could mean Arag-Alive which the Co. that makes it says their is still good bacteria on it.

steveangela1

I def cannot afford that or have the space for the tanks. I have 9 tanks already where I have so many lake malawi mbuna tanks, I have ended up having to take 2 of them over w/ 1 guppy tank (w/ moscow guppies) and one w/ albino bristlenose pleco fry. So I only have the space for one saltwater tank at the time, just like I told my husband last night maybe in a couple years I might scale down and turn one of my 55 or 58g tanks into a salty tank, but I do love my cichilds.

au01st

Well if you're not getting it, how much was it, if you don't mind my asking? I could probably spring for a QT tank if the deal was good enough.

steveangela1

It was 200 for the stand and all (it was the cabinet stand not the s stand) it was a good deal because of no tax and no shipping not to mention they hadn't even put any fish in it. My husband is pushing for us to get the 24-29g size tank, and even poss going for the red sea max setup they look really nice. He has a strong point just as you all do about the smaller the tank the harder it is to keep stable, I hate managing my smaller tanks, my larger tanks are so easy to care for in comparison. Even my 20g is easier than my 5-10g tanks. Of coarse he isn't the waterchanger, vaccum person, and fish feeder in the house. (not to mention the person who stresses out when the fish fight, get sick, etc)

nemo addict

put rock in first then sand as your sand will move the rocks and might cause a collapse and a nice brocken tank

Slug

I hate when people say no to nanos. I started SW completely with a pico reef. Its really not that much harder. If you want a 12gal and got a good deal on it, go for the 12gal. The only reason i'd recommend a larger tank is the stocking options you would open up and the room you would have for more coral. I personally find/found my old 2.5gal reef and current 10gal reef to be more self sufficient then some of my FW tanks.

steveangela1

Well we bought a 14g nano w/ stand... WOW! the premium cured live rock cost $170.00 for it! Thats what bit us in the behind.
Needless to say I got it set up, tested the salinity over and over, etc... I will take my first salty pick of just my rocks tomm and post them, I swear even for just rocks I saw mushrooms on them and small corals... I guess thats what you get for the $170.00 bunch?