Aquarium Virgin

[DaddyOf2plus2]

Let me start off by saying that I would consider myself an aquarium virgin. My wife and I were fortunate to get a 55g tank, stand, 2 filtration units, a power head and a hood that has UV, Lunar, and fluorescent lighting in it for free. We had it set up for about 6 months in a freshwater application because we knew that we were moving soon. Now, for the questions... We want to set up a saltwater system (reef), now that we’re somewhere permanent. I have heard a million different opinions on what type of filtration systems to use, whether I need 1 or 2 power heads, if I need a protein skimmer or not, ect... Basically, I need help. The last thing that I want to do is set it up poorly and waste a whole lot of time, effort and money, not to mention killing fish. Any recommendations or advice would be GREATLY appreciated.

[nacra99]

Hi, welcome to the fishbox.

Like you mention, there are many schools of thought when it comes to SW aquariums. I can only offer advice from my experience.
In my experience, the smaller and less sophisticated your aquarium is, the more manual work you will have to put in on a day to day basis.
The main difficulty in tropical SW tanks is keeping nutrient level under control. If nutrients are out of whack, you'll know real quick when your tank turns either red, blue, purple or green from cyanobacteria or pest algae. Or they get taken over by a particular organism such as flatworms.

Fortunately nutrient levels may be controlled by
1) Equipment such as skimmers
2) Macroalgae "plants" such as Chaetomorpha or Caulerpa
3) Waterchanges.

I would tend to recommended all three simultaneously, but it's really up to the individual and circumstance. Tiny nano tanks have no space for skimmers and such and so they tend to make it up with nicely planted macroalgae and very frequent waterchanges. Or perhaps if you have a cheap and easily accessible source of saltwater, then you might want to forgo the first two and just do daily waterchanges. It all depends on circumstance and capability.

IMHO, 55gal is an ok size to start out. Its harder to control nutrients, salinity and temperature in smaller tanks. Since you are just starting out with SW, the absolute bare minimum i would start with is a "Fish With Only Live Rock" (FWOLR) with capacity to grow into a reef tank in the future plus a minimum of a good skimmer and weekly (maybe fortnightly) partial water changes.
But i would recommended an under tank sump with a macroalgae refugium as it is highly probable that you will add one later after you REALLY catch the SW bug and decide to add stuff like coral and stuff. If it were me, in retrospect, i would have added a sump in right from the start rather than trying to fiddle with equipment behind and under a working tank while trying to install it later.

For lighting, personally, i would spend the extra money in the beginning and get some good lighting for what i eventually want to achieve. I.e if the goal is to eventually progress into a full blown reef tank eventually, then i would get lighting for the reef tank, as opposed to getting basic FWOLR lighting and then trying to continually upgrade as you upgrade your tank. (you have no idea how many lighting systems i have collecting dust in the garage simply because i upgraded the tank). If you want to go with reef lighting, unfortunately for a 55, your choices are quite limited because of the 13" width. You can go with a 4 bulb T5HO or a 2x150 (minimum) MH. But if you don't want to spend the money on the onset and want to go basic for FWOLR then 4x55W (or even 2x55W) CF lighting will suffice.

Powerheads help to move the water around to keep it oxygenated and to move detritus so that it dissolves (to be removed by skimmer) or actually gets physically removed my mechanical filtration (if you have any). Some fish and coral love moving oxygenated water so it's definitely something to consider. Koralia makes a decent "powerhead".

My general advice...
1) GO SLOW!!! You never ever want to overload your tank with livestock while it is still maturing. Never add more than 2 or 3 pieces of livestock (whether fish, inverts or coral) at any one time. Wait a week or 2 to see if they are still alive, then you may choose to add more.

2) READ!! There are lots of forums and good websites to learn about livestock, water quality and equipment. Before you decide to buy something, read read read up on it! Make sure that you are able to handle the care of a particular livestock or perhaps read reviews on a particular piece of equipment.
Good luck.

[Darbex]

Start by telling us what type of set up you want to keep. Ie. FOWLR, softy coral, SPS, mixed, or so on. I would honestly recommend getting used to a FW tank for a while before jumping to SW.

[DaddyOf2plus2]

I was thinking a softy coral. Now that I am looking more into it, I think I'm going to set it up as a FW Cichlid tank. Once I know what my work/school routine is going to be, I'll see if I have the time/money to put towards a SW set up. Thank's everybody for the help. You saved me alot of money and headache in the end.

[blureef]

Soft coral tanks are fairly easy to take care of. I would start off with a good skimmer. I would personally get one over sized since you will more than likely move to a bigger tank in the future. This will also help with waste removal and over feeding that is common with beginners. Then I would get some good lighting. This can be done fairly cheap by buying used lighting here or on other forum groups. You will need a few circulation pumps. Make sure you get good cross current flow. There are lots of different pumps that you can buy that put out high flow rates. All this followed with water changes and compatible live stock and your in business. Of course this is just the basics needed. Join a local aquarium club and you will see lots of different setups and learn a lot. Hope this helps.