Help Starting A Saltwater Tank.

My dad recently said he wanted to try salt water. I have a 15 gallon downstairs that I could use if I needed to use it for saltwater, but is that to small or is that a good starter size. What could I stock in a 15 if I did use it or if I went up what could I put in maybe a 20 or 25 gallon tank? Would I need a skimmer for the tank or would it be fine without it? I just need help with saltwater because i've never done it.

 

What are you planning on keeping in that aquarium? Not many fish can fit in 15 gallons.

 

As with any aquarium, bigger is better especially for saltwater. If you are new to things I'd start with at least a 40.

Saltwater parameters can seemingly go bad twice as fast as fresh and the fish seem to be more susceptible to those changes. 15 gallons is workable but needs to be monitored very closely. At best, a few clownfish, some shrimp for cleanup crew is about all you'll be able to stock; damsels are pretty hardy as well.

Use liverock for cycling and ongoing filtering as well as a filter of some sort. For a 15 gallon you can use a hang on filter vice the canister if need be. A skimmer isn't 100% necessary; that one is more a play it by circumstance; it can't hurt though. I never had one in the smaller setups as it never pulled anything; there wasn't enough to pull.

Liverock is the same as freshwater gravel, about 1-2 pounds per gallon. With fish however, use a 1/2" per gallon as the measurement to stay safe. It isn't exact, just a starting point.

Two books a long time reef enthusiast friend of mine had me get were "The New Marine Aquarium" and "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist."

 

My dad recently said he wanted to try salt water. I have a 15 gallon downstairs that I could use if I needed to use it for saltwater, but is that to small or is that a good starter size. What could I stock in a 15 if I did use it or if I went up what could I put in maybe a 20 or 25 gallon tank? Would I need a skimmer for the tank or would it be fine without it? I just need help with saltwater because i've never done it.

Before you do anything, I strongly suggest spending time on they will give you an idea of minimum tank size required for fish, how easy they are to care for, whether or not they are reef safe (whether or not they will eat corals or inverts). This will give you a better idea of what size tank you should go with. My personal recommendation for newbies is a minimum of a 20 Gallon Long tank as it maximizes horizontal swimming length for the fish without giving you a tank that is loaded with equipment, etc. For smaller tanks, you don't need a sump or skimmer. Just make sure not to overfeed, stay on top of filter and water changes (small weekly changes are best).

 

24Bryce HI - if you're an absolute beginner, I highly encourage you to read through my most recent how-to guide for beginners.
After you get through the material, let me know if you still have any specific questions.
Nart's Budget Nano Saltwater Guide For Beginners

 

As with any aquarium, bigger is better especially for saltwater. If you are new to things I'd start with at least a 40.

Saltwater parameters can seemingly go bad twice as fast as fresh and the fish seem to be more susceptible to those changes. 15 gallons is workable but needs to be monitored very closely. At best, a few clownfish, some shrimp for cleanup crew is about all you'll be able to stock; damsels are pretty hardy as well.

Use liverock for cycling and ongoing filtering as well as a filter of some sort. For a 15 gallon you can use a hang on filter vice the canister if need be. A skimmer isn't 100% necessary; that one is more a play it by circumstance; it can't hurt though. I never had one in the smaller setups as it never pulled anything; there wasn't enough to pull.

Liverock is the same as freshwater gravel, about 1-2 pounds per gallon. With fish however, use a 1/2" per gallon as the measurement to stay safe. It isn't exact, just a starting point.

Two books a long time reef enthusiast friend of mine had me get were "The New Marine Aquarium" and "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist."

I can upgrade to maybe a 20-25 gallon if that will make it easier

 

A 20 gallon long is a perfect first saltwater tank. As said, it provides more horizontal swimming and territory room. You'll find that a lot of saltwater fish are either more active, more territorial, or both.

I too recommend looking at LiveAquaria so you can get an idea on what you can stock in a smaller saltwater tank. Damsels are hardy, but they're also jerks. Clowns are also damsels, with the small percula and occelaris varieties being a bit less jerky, but putting a clown with a damsel, (or much of anything with a damsel), is generally a bad idea.

One other thing I'd like to point out is that you do not need live rock at all, and have the option of starting with a far cheaper, pest-free option, dry rock. I did and was still able to cycle the new tank in 30 days. Live rock will likely cycle a tank faster, and bring diversity... I just think there are safer ways of bringing diversity to the tank, that would not also risk bringing pests. Just my opinion.

I also recommend looking at Nart's beginner's guide and coming back with more questions. We'd love to help you get started.

 

Tell me about it. My Melanurus Wrasse has a lightly stocked 90 gallon to play with but still had to give my Leopard Wrasse what for when I added it yesterday. Thankfully it seems that they are finally starting to get used to each other. Saltwater fish need quite a bit more elbowroom in general than freshwater fish do. I also agree that the closest I would get to real live rock would be Life Rock (dry rock with a man made bacteria coating). For cost, stick to dry rock though.

 

Ok, I decided to go big, I took out my fish in my 45 gallon tank and I am turning it all saltwater, I cleaned the filter and tank with water and drained the filter and threw what I need to away from it. Can I still put the same thing in the filter like the freshwater fish or do I have to put something else in it, the filter is also a fluval 206

 

I'd suggest you see what SecretiveFish suggests to put in a canister filter.

I'm guilty of spouting off about how canisters are no good... that they only become nitrate factories. However, I've seen the accomplished aquarist above disagrees with the usual advice on that matter.

Here's the thing, canister filters can hold onto detritus for longer periods of time than sumps or HOB's, simply because mechanical filtration inside is more of a pain to access, or perhaps the aquarist isn't the best on maintenance, or whatever. Most will say the exact same thing about canister filters becoming a nitrate factory, but I think the truth is that most of us haven't tried it.

Generally speaking, we don't need a whole lot of biomedia running in a salty tank, because we have plenty of rock inside the tank, and beneficial bacteria which maintain the cycle, colonize there. Personally, I like to keep a bag of Matrix in my HOB filter anyhow, just for backup, or to steal some for a quick cycle in another tank.

So, you'll see aquarists all over the net advising against canister filtration, but I can't say they're right after finding out SecretiveFish uses them. The decision is yours. All I can say is, keep it clean.

 

I generally recommend not going with canister filters for newbies. The reasons are mentioned above by Stella is that they are the most labor intensive means of mechanical filtration out there and the least forgiving. Seen plenty of folks fix their out of control nitrate problems by switching from Canister to HOB, but I have yet to see it happen the other way around. Once again, it's not saying that you can't do it, it's just that there are cheaper and easier alternatives out there.