lyndatu

Hello, there


I'm currently a freshwater"er", but I'm planning to go for the saltwater world when I have enough money and experience, maybe a couple of years? Hehe

I was just wondering what the right size or the minimum size for a saltwater beginner, for example, the right or minimum size for a freshwater beginner is 20 gallons.

Thanks in advance!

cj82989

hey im in the start of gettin my first tank(saltwater) and they say bigger is better lol.

it is easyer to control and the levels of things will be more ballenced easyer. i am goin to be starting off with a 55G when i start mine. also of course the bigger the tank more fish you can have. i have noticed most "common" fish need atleast 30G.

sgould

To a degree, it depends on what you want to do with your tank. You can get away with fairly small tanks for inverts and/or soft corals only, for instance (no fish). Having said that, bigger is generally better for a couple of reasons. As has already been pointed out, it is easier to keep your water quality under control in larger volume tanks. Also, saltwater tanks generally need to be more sparsely populated that their freshwater counterparts (IE...1" of fish per gallon does not work for a SW tank). Consequently, larger tanks give you more flexibility in the kinds/numbers of fish you can keep.

A lot of folks will say that you need a 50 gallon minimum, but in my opinion that is dated advice. Advances in protein skimming and filtering have made it possible to keep smaller tanks stable. My tank is a 29 gallon and my parameters have been very stable and the only casualties I have had in 5 months are a couple of hermit crabs. Lots of people are keeping salt water nanos of just a few gallons. Personally, I would not want to go any smaller than the 29, but that has more to do with stocking level restrictions than any concern about my ability to keep the water stable.

reef freak

When I started out, I had a lil 12ga, which wasn't my wisest of choices... Nitrates built up on me and constantly stayed at 40ppm. That lil tank was some good luck though, cause nothing died in it (None of my 3 fish, 2 corals and 1 blood shrimp), unlike my 90ga that I recently got. Been having so many problems with it...

Money wise, I would go with a smaller tank, 12-29ga. For just a regular starting tank, 30-65ga. If you've got extra cash, go 75ga+

The bigger the better, because the chemicals(amm, Trite, triate) will spread slower, giving you time (Unlike small tanks), and you get a wider variety of fish. The only thing with big tanks is that they are expensive, I've allready spent about $1,000+ on mine.(90ga)

If you get a small tank, I just have to say; skimmer,skimmer,skimmer. Will save you from ammonia build up.

If you get a bigger tank, go with a natural filtration. You could buy or make a sump, put sand on the bottom, build up one portion of it with A LOT of rock rubble, as much as you can, and in another portion, put chaeto with a PC or T5 light over it. This is GREAT filtration for when ammonia starts buildng up. A skimmer cannot be your only filtration, wont take out all fish poo, so there will be ammonia.

I never had experince with the natural filtration, but I'm switching to it soon. Right now I personally have a skimmer, some filter pads, and bioballs.

I hope this is usefull!

rwood

Well I'm also a saltwater noobie; haven't ever had one before. However in the next year or 2 I'm going to be turning my 200 gallon tank into a salt water - I figure that it just means more room to have nice looking coral and more fish

MStrutt

I have just changed from Fresh to Salt and my tank is a Jewel 180 litre tank. I had to do some modifications but its working brilliantly.

newbie

I am 2 months into my first SW tank. We got a 55gal and it seems small now.

≈ D ≈

As sgould pointed out, in this day and age there is no definite 'minimum' size recommended. That being said, a good starting size is 55 gallons. That way you can have some nice specimens and live rock. If you can get a bigger tank - all the better.

Regards,
D