newbie

[gargonzo]

1stly -- let me say - thanks to [JWS]wasabi. He hooked me up with a decent 30 gal with a stand, heater and powerhead this weekend. thanks again! Your the man!!

Next: I need some help advice..some of you pro's can offer me.

1) I'm trying to keep this as low buget as possible.. ( you chime in -- good luck dummy ) yes I am aware salt water tanks require alot of time/effort/money. But hey -- i've got to stick within a bidget.

2) I'd like to keep a very easy to maintain tank with hearty fish and possible some other inhabitants. Can you suggest some good starter fish/lr/etc? Somethign colorful.. my kid likes color.


3) there is no hood - I'm sure i could build one. If found tons of topics on many differnt types of hoods. This also depends on lighting, which depends on the types of fish/inhabitants.
Think inexpensive and that fits with the species inside the tank. Flourescent?


4) a section of the tank (bottom) had black silicone, 1/4 of it is a rusty brown color now. I assume this need to be cleaned and removed and re=siliconed. I've read about DAP/and GEI being the best choice. Do you suggest removing only the rusty part/color or the whole bottom seal? also. I think the tank might hold water.. can i apply a new layer to the old and cover the rusty section? I dont want a salt water fountain in the house LOL

5) filtration - What is a good backpak type filter that is easy to clean and less expensive?
I think i'd like to use sand on the bottom. Does this make a difference. I've also heard about 3m quartz stuff ( comes in various colors - pool builders use it ) It's very cheap-- like 5 bucks a 50 lbs bag.
http://cms.3m.com/cms/US/en/2-125/cFiuRFN/view.jhtml


Finally - Im in staten Island in grasmere. IF anyone has anything old laying around they want to get rid of that might help me in keeping my costs down and helps solve some of my questions plus it will help you get rid of stuff collecting dust

PM me.

any tips advice hints help tricks.. post em. I'll gladly appreciate your input.

ciao
garz

 

[thunor]

i'll try to help out;Do you want a reef tank?This limits the type of fish that are acceptable.I'd suggest starting with a yellow tailed blue damsel,after a month add Neon gobi( a cleaner fish)Cleans paracites off other fish-Yet is attractive,purple or stawberry psudochromis.any other gobi's that strike your fancy.There all reef safe.Green or blue chromis.Shy away from clown fish if your going to keep corals or anemones-they nuzzel them to death.Remember salt water fish live a long timeThere much harder to catch then freshwater fish-so if you add the wrong fish your go to sweat catching it,or wait years for it to die.Mine is a poor mans reef,so i can suggest cheap ways of setting it up.First always buy on line for fish i'd suggest reeftopia.com,saltwaterfish.com,jeffs exotic fish.com........lighting is the most expensive part of setting up a reef.generally hard corals need brilliant lighting soft corals and purple gorgoniang less stonys the least....If possiable locate tank near a window( about three feet)So it gets sunlight, then daylight through one side panel....an east faceing window is best,west is ok south only if a deciduous tree is outside,north bad.Sunlight is free and natural.I have a poor mans reef,so i can suggest cheap yet functioal steps.I brought a top for my tank then put 2-twin 40 watt fixtures from hardware store.They rest directly on the top...i forgot to add saltwater holds less oxygen when hot in summer then when cold, so watch the fish stocking.You,ll need more then one powerhead.for a reef..but not top start(8xthe water vol. per hour)heat is more a problem in sw so do put a fan in your hood.I keep a balanced reef so i don.t filter or skim.The inhabitance do most of the filtering.The waste of one animale is food for the next.There are no books on it...so use filters etc.Go to several branches of the library read about saltwater tanks to gain insight for free.My fingers getting sore so i'll stop.What does lol mean?

 

[House of Laughter]

Garganzo -

First, welcome to MR.com -

Here's my $.02 -

I had a 30 gallon - same tank as you have, overstocked it, went too far and spent a ton of money trying to make it work.

First piece of advise, don't stock until fully cycled! And what you stock can be colorful and exciting without major costs and maintenance. I wouold say no more than 5 small fish - definately NO PSEUDOCHROMIS unledd you have a good lid.

Second, Invest in what's important, Rock, Skimmer, lights - other filtration not really necessary - I have a 7 gallon nano at work, skimmerless, filterless and it's doing awesome.

LID
I think it's best to build your own lid for the tank (will cost you nothing compared to buying).

LIGHTS
I would use no less than dual 55 power compacts - you can get those used for under $100 on RC or here sometimes. This is, only if you plan to keep some sort of coral. I kept some really hard sps's in my 30 with dual 96 power compacts. If you go fish with live rock, normal Flor's will do.

FILTRATION
If you are doing a reef and fish set up, all you really need is deep sand bed, good live rock and a good skimmer. Nature will do the rest (in time)of the work. I have 3 50lb bags of Southdown sand that is pure carribean arragonate that you can seed with some free (or $1 per pound) sand here off MR.com - heck, I'd throw you some, but all I have are some worms and good bacteria - not critters just yet. You wouldn't need more than 50 lbs I don't think if seeded with good sand. free bag if your interested and since I am a native Staten Islander (and former Grasmere resident) I could trhow you a bag.

Filtration ct'd
SKIMMER
You can get a cheap hang on the back skimmer - I would shy away from Sea Clones and Skilters (while good for some - didn't work for me). You can probably get a hang on the back CPR back pack, again, for $100 or less here or on RC

As for the fish, I would be very careful with what you buy -

While Yellow tailed damsels are nice, they can get aggressive and stir up your sand - often making little burrows and causing havc - still have one and creats a dust storm every ocne in ahile.

Once the tank is completely ready I would get a six line wrasse and some form of boby, but not a neon as they tend to jump as well - I was talking more like a watchman goby or a catalina or spotted rainbow.

TANGS are out of the question unless you get a really small yellow tang - even then you'll have to watch it carefully and eventually get rid of it as the minimum tank requirements for them is 75-90 gallons.

Hope this is a good start - you should also join www.reefcentral.com - while this local site is doing well with 425+ members strong, there is much more variety and people selling stuff with 13,000 members. Most people here are RC members as well, so you'll see thier names appear there as well.

Good luck, read alot and ask alot of questions.

Jim

 

[[JWS]wasabi]

thanks for giving the tank a good home! im much happier now that its going to be put to good use instead of collecting dust over here.

as far as the tank itself, I never had any sort of problem or leaks with it and dont expect you to either. Its been used for almost 5 years so take what caution you must as far as the silicone.

----
The Setup
----

House just listed all the basics you need to know so I wont waste your time with a repeat. This is how I had that tank setup...
I had constructed my own hood and lid and had a 250W metal halide bulb with fan setup. Thats probably overkill for what you want to do. powercompact flourecent would do you great.


I had a deep sand bed, about 4-5" thick.
I had a CPR BakPak.
I had a good deal of macro algae in the tank, which I would harvest about twice a month.

That was all the filtration.. all I had to do was empty the collection cup from the bakpak once a week and everything was extremely happy.

Aside from the snails, hermits and other janitorial crew... I had a maroon clown, large pinktip anemone, a mandarin and blue tang.. (the tang is much happier in the larger tank now.. I wouldnt recomend a tang for that tank)

I would definetly get another powerhead, its hard to have too much water flow.

so that was the setup, it was a happy tank for a long time, hopefully it will be once again for you.