new saltwater tank????

I'm about to have an extra tank and i was thinking about using it for a fish tank in my son's room. My question is...how hard is it to do saltwater? Does anyone know any good sites (or tips) for preparing and maintenance for saltwater tanks??

Thanks

Welcome to the board Angela!

Saltwater tanks are not all that difficult. It just takes a bit more work in the beginning until it is fully established. It will also cost more to inititally setup and SW fish cost more than FW fish.

I can help with the setup but first would need to know the size of the tank and what you are looking to do with it. Are you looking to make a reef tank, a fish only tank with fake decorations, or a fish only with live rock tank.

Depending upon the setup you want, there are slight differences in what equipment is needed and the size of the tank will dictate what fish you can keep.

Wow, i don't know...the tank is defiantly going to be a 22gal., but as far a what type of setup i have no clue. I have 2 toddlers and 2 businesses so which ever is the lowest maintenance. I do know i what clownfish and those bright yellow fish. Thanks for all your help !!!

Originally Posted by SPJ

the size of the tank will dictate what fish you can keep.

If the 22gal. is too small for those kinds of fish, i have 2 55gal. i can use, i'd just have to move some leo's around.

Clownfish would be fine in that size tank but the yellow fish (I am assuming you mean yellow tangs) are not a good choice. A 55 gallon would be a minimum for 1 tang. Also, tangs cannot be kept in pairs. They will fight and kill each other. Either 1 or several to avoid problems per tank.
A lot of SW fish are not compatible.

For the size you mentioned, I would go with a fish only with live rock, a live deep sand bed, and a pair of clownfish (no anemone - they are not required and need specialized lighting). You could add some inverts such as hermit crabs, snails, cleaner shrimp, maybe even a few mushrooms if they are position high enough to the light.

OK, so with the small tank i could only have 2 clowns and NO yellow tangs....could i but any other colorful fish in with the clowns?

The only reason i didn't want to use the 55gal is because i was thinking of building a 3-4 tank horizontal stand for my Leos, but since the fish setup is going to be costly i guess the geckos can wait

Do the fish die easily, or is it pretty easy to keep once the initial setup is done? I'm a little scared because about 4 months ago my husband surprised me with a baby vieled chameleon and when i researched it they said they were hard to keep and Cammi just died the other day so i don't want to see that happen to anything else.

So what do you recommend....should i use the 55, or the 22?
and what will i need to get it started?

Thank you soooo much for all your help!

The problem with SW is that they are not forgiving of mistakes. Any drastic temp changes, specific gravity changes, or build up of ammonia, nitrate, etc have a severe effect on their health faster than if problems were occuring in a FW tank.
To go with the 20 gallon would be a good idea. You could set up a nice tank relatively cheap.
You will need a hydrometer to measure the specific gravity of the tank (salinity). You will need some instant ocean salt mix. You will also need a filter. I prefer the Aquaclear ones because they are easy to customize the media you use. A protein skimmer would be a good idea but since you are not keeping corals and doing only fish, it is not required. You will also need a cover and a normal strip light (nothing fancy since you will not be keeping live corals so you do not need the expensive lighting). Last piece of equipment would be a heater and thermometer. For the tank, used sand. Don't use crushed coral or shell bits. Fine grain sand (about 4 inches thick on the bottom of the tank would be best). Get about 10 pounds of cured live rock.
I prefer to mix up the water seperate form the tank. I also do this with water changes to get the SG correct and the temps right before adding it to the main tank.
Get a rubbermaid tub (32 gallon is what I use) and fill it a bit more than halfway with freshwater and add the salt mix. Usually about one and a half cups of salt mix per gallon of water will give you the right SG. I prefer to be at 1.023 SG in my tanks.
Mix it thouroughly so there is no white cloudiness or solid bits of salt left.
Add a heater anfd bring the temps to about 78 degrees. Wait 24 hours and check the SG.
Once the temps and SG are where you want, pour it into the tank. Add the sand and the pieces of LR. Add more water if needed to fill the rest of the tank. Make sure the bottom pieces of rock are secure in the sand (bury them for stability - don't just rest them on top of the sand).
Let is sit for a few days all set up and keep monitoring the ammo. The live rock will start the cycling and also seed the sand with the hitchiker copepods and worms so you will have a live sand bed overtime. When the ammo climbs, do a 25% water change (do not ever vaccum the sand or you will kill the critters being established).
When the tank stabilizes add a pair of tank raised clownfish. They do not need an anemone so don't let the petstore try and sell you one. Clownfish can change sex so if you get 2 of the same kind that are young (small) you will be guarenteed to end up with a male and female.
Do not ad more than the 2 fish at once.
Stay away from damsels. They are colorful, cheap, and VICIOUS. They are very territorial and will attack tankmates.
Also stay away from mandarin gobys. Petstores carry them but they will starve to death. They feed on copepods and unless you have a reproducing colony in your tanks, they will die from refusing to eat prepared foods.
If you want a bright yellow fish that would go in the tank and not fight, try a yellow coris wrasse. Peaceful, hardy, and the color of a tang.
Other choices would be firefish, basslets, hawkfish, dottybacks, dartfish, and a pygmy angel.
I would say no more than 4 fish in the tank.
You could also only get one clown fish if you prefer to have 4 different types.
It is your choice.
Personally, if I were doing it, I would get these.
1 clownfish (the ocellaris or a true percula)
1 dottyback (the purple pseudochromis)
1 firefish
1 pygmy angel
Good luck with the tank and post any other questions you might have.

Thanks!!!!
I'm going to study this reply till i understand everything, if i just don't get it I'll defiantly ask. Once I'm ready to hit the store I'll give you a quick run down to make sure I've got it. I can't thank you enough for all your help, you've been great.... thanks!!

OK, your post looked soooo scary last night , but after rereading it and taking notes it really wasn't so bad . I only have a few more questions...1.what is SG? 2.Is the ammonia measured by those paper strips you dip in the water? 3.Do you have to scrape the sides of the tank like with a freshwater, and do you ever need to clean or replace the sand?
So far i think i got everything else, I'm going to go ahead and get the combo of fish you recommended. OH...is 4 (fish)the max for a 20 gal. and do i need any fake or live plants?

You have been wonderful thank you sooooo much!

OOps, one more...when i change the water do i leave the fish in or take them out and do i feed them regular fish food?

Thanks for your pationce!!!

1.what is SG?

Simple explanation is SG is the specific gravity or the amount of salt. Freshwater = 0 and it goes up from there.

Is the ammonia measured by those paper strips you dip in the water?

Those would work. Just make sure they are for saltwater tanks.

and do i need any fake or live plants?

There are no live plants for SW. There are corals and basically algae and kelps. Caluerpa is good but until the tank is established, it will die on you and you will also need specialized lighting to keep it alive.
If you want fake plants, make sure they are SW tank safe.
Make sure it says saltwater tank safe on the tag of ANY decorations sold in a petstore. Don't listen to the employess. Unless it specifically says from the manufacturer that it is saltwater safe, you will run into problems.

when i change the water do i leave the fish in or take them out and do i feed them regular fish food?

Mix the new SW seprately to make sure it stabilizes and matches the tank before before adding it. Take out the old water and add the new. You can leave the fish in there.
Any of the frozen fish foods or dried fish foods made specifically for SW fish will work. Check what fish the food is made for. Don't buy Spirulina heavy food with the species I mentioned.