New to Saltwater

[MichaelR]

Hi everyone,

I'm brand new to saltwater and have several questions that I would like to straighten out.

1. I've begun a cycle for a freshwater aquarium, but have since considered switching to saltwater. Do I need to first add the marine salt to the aquarium and then begin measuring the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates after adding pure ammonia?

2. I'm considering a fish only setup for now, as I've read they are simplest to switch to from freshwater. Apart from regular freshwater equipment, what additional things do I need purchase?

3. I'm confused; Do I add live rock to a fish only system, or not? Some people claim it is useful, but, from what I understand, with the addition of live rock you are sort of stepping into invertebrates, right? I believe that FOWLR and FO systems are different. FO systems are simplest, but do they become more complicated with the addition of live rock?

4. Water. What kind of water? Again, I believe FO systems are simplest, so I want to go with those. Is tap water fine? Should I be using DI/RO? I've heard of people buying distilled. Any information would help.

5. How often do you change water, and how, exactly? Do you siphon the crushed coral, and then add some pre-mixed saltwater with dechlorinator into the aquarium?

These are just a few of my starter questions, but as more pop up I'll be sure to post them.

Thanks very much,

Mike

[Bifferwine]

Hello and welcome!

I wouldn't add pure ammonia to kick start a cycle. Instead I'd use a raw piece of shrimp from the grocery store. You'll want to add salt and let your tank sit for a couple days to get your temperature, pH and salinity at the correct levels. Then once you add the piece of shrimp you can start testing. If you use live rock (which is a good idea in my opinion, even in a fish only tank), then the live rock will usually trigger a cycle also. Live rock is invaluable for filtration and also makes the tank look natural. It's not going to complicate things.

As for equipment, in a fish only tank you don't need any special or expensive lights. If you want to eventually add corals, then you'll need to upgrade lighting, but not for fish only and live rock. You will need a heater, and some sort of filtration equipment. In saltwater, protein skimmers are probably your best bet, just avoid spending a lot of money on bad brands, such as the Sea Clone. A protein skimmer is good, but not absolutely necessary, you can get by just fine using a power, canister, wet-dry, or trickle filter too, you just have to be careful about not overloading your system with too many fish. You will also need a couple powerheads to get good water circulation throughout the tank.

It's usually not a good idea to use tap water, it can contain chlorine, chloramine, copper, other heavy metals, phosphates, nitrates, all of which you don't really want in your tank. I'd recomment always using RODI water.

I do a 10% water change weekly. I don't siphon the sand at the bottom, although some people do. I just suck out the water using a vacuum, then replace it with new saltwater. If you mix your own saltwater, it's important that you mix it up a couple days ahead of time and then get the new water up to the correct pH, temperature and salinity before adding it to the tank.

[MichaelR]

Thank you, that was a very informative post!

Why do you not recommend pure Ammonia? I know it is very widely used in freshwater cycling, but I guess things in saltwater are different. A single prawn you say will be enough to cycle a 90 gallon aquarium?

Now, regarding the live rock:

I like to see the numerous microorganisms that grow on it, because as you say, it makes the tank look very natural.

Do these creatures on the live rock require any special lighting to live? I believe polpys are a type of organism growing on the live rock, and do they need strong lighting or anything?

Does Coralife make good protein skimmers?

Is there anywhere you can buy pre-mixed saltwater or something of the like?

Thanks,

Mike

[NewbReefer]

well put Biff, i have never gone from freshwater to saltwater but i imagine it cant be to bad. FOWRL (fish only with live rock) is in my opinion the only way to go, for one, it provides more surface area in your tank for benificial bacteria to grow on and in, second if you ever want to upgrade to a reef tank you will regret not putting in live rock from the start, many people eventually go from fish only tanks to reef tanks because of the endless possibilties of reef. adding live rock to an astablished tank that has none, should be done carefully as it can cause another cycle and harm some of your livestock. some might recommend that it should be added piece by piece over time instead of all at once, so you get smaller mini cycles that arent as harmful.

[MichaelR]

So I understand that the differences between FOWLR and FO are very small.

In fact, what are differences between the two, especially in terms of upkeep and equipment?

[NewbReefer]

FOWLR and FO is just about the same as far as equipment goes, you will not need any special or expensive lighting, unless you decide to go to reef but thats a whole other subject. you will still want to get a simple protein skimmer and dont forget your weekly water changes and a little srubbing of the algea off the glass, other than that your tank will pretty much take care of itself once it's established and healthy.

[NewbReefer]

you will get some invertabrates from introducing live rock but most of them take care of themselves and are benificial to your tank. oh one last thing, you would also want to add a cleaner crew to either you FO or FOWLR to help stir and help keep any algea on glass rocks and subsrate down, they are usually a combination of shrimp, crabs and snails and take care of themselves.

[MichaelR]

Which companies make the best protein skimmers?

And what sort of creatures can I expect with the addition of live rock?

Finally, adding a shrimp and live rock until ammonia and nitries levels are zero will be enough until I add my first fish?

[yote]

Originally Posted by MichaelR

So I understand that the differences between FOWLR and FO are very small.

In fact, what are differences between the two, especially in terms of upkeep and equipment?

None. There is no difference what so ever in the up of a FOWLR and a FO.
Like Biff and Newb said,The rock makes an awesome natural filter.Any food that happens to be left over will be taken care of by the pods and stuff the live within the rock.
Coralife does make a great skimmer.Im currently running a coralife super skimmer 65 on my gallon reef.I know most will tell you that a seaclone is no good,but actully the seaclone 100 will work surprisingly well.BUT for the same price you can get the SS65 which works 100 times better.

[NewbReefer]

Originally Posted by MichaelR

Which companies make the best protein skimmers?

And what sort of creatures can I expect with the addition of live rock?

Finally, adding a shrimp and live rock until ammonia and nitries levels are zero will be enough until I add my first fish?

as far as the skimmers i'd follow Yotes advice on that one. with the LR you might get some copepods, you can find a picture and some links in these forums about em if you'll search "copepods". they are very benificial to your tank and offer a good natural food for any fish that you have that will eat them. you may also get these little things that look just like a little featherduster but are really small, not sure what there called. sometimes people get things like starfish and crabs and shrimp that cling to the live rock and hide in the holes.
you will want to wait tell after your ammonia, nitrates and nitrites have dropped to 0 before introducing anything into your tank other than the live rock. alot of LFS try to sell a hardy fish to get your cycle to start but i wouldn't recommend it. Damsels are very hardy and will survive the cycle but are aggressive and terrotorial. I have experianced them first hand and will never take that route again.