new here! new to salt... help?

T

touchdowntodd

Reefing newb
goin to salt after YEARS of freshwater setups

either gonna do like a 55gallon, or one of the 24g nano setups..

FOWLR for now, and then upgrade lighting etc to have some corrals etc in the future.. but i wanna get a year or so under my belt before i make mistakes

i also have to budget my initial buy in which is part of the FOWLR plan... and ive been looking on craigslist.. altho i know i cuold be buying someone elses problems, the cost difference is too great for me to ignore.. im looking at 2 setups:

55 gallon up and running now, ehiem filter setup, lighting with moons, about 30lbs live rock, powerheads, a LOT of accesories, books, extra parts, etc.... $200 ... bad is it needs a stand .. but its been up for 3-4 years, and only has like a clown, a damsel, and a couple other small fish..

24g JBJ ... couple years old, up and runnin with parts that come with it... about 15lbs live rock, 20lbs live sand, cuc but no fish.. with the stand .. $200

my wife is all about the 24g since we dont want anything crazy fish wise .. i want to have a couple clowns, maybe a firefish or 6 line... so we can fit that in either tank.. and she also wants it to take up less space..

cost wise it seems like buyin anything i need will cost about the same or atleast be negligible in cost difference..

what would you do?

remember, SIMPLE for now... and even in the long run i doubt ill want enough fish for the 55, or be able to afford all of the corrals it would take to make it look amazing. LOL..
 
Welcome to the site and the salt side of the hobby! If it were me, I'd go with the 55g, in SW the larger your tank is the more stable the water will be. Also, unlike FW you can't keep as many fish in the tanks, with the 55 you'll be limited to 5 maybe 6 fish. As far as the stand, it'd be too easy to make a stand out of 2x4s for it.
I know you don't think you'll be able to afford corals but, the great thing about SW is you buy cheap coral frags and you grow them into colonies to fill your tank. You'd be surprised how fast you'll fill up the 24g and want to upgrade it.

Which ever way you decide to go, good luck and make sure to start a thread in the tank showcase so we can watch your progress.
 
I don't know...if it were me, I'd go with the 24. You probably won't have to buy new lights for the 24 to keep corals, and it's a good sized tank to start with. If you go with the 55, odds are that you will have to buy new lights and a protein skimmer.
 
i see... both sides make sense to me..

the 24 seems like the natural choice for me.. but i wanted to see others opinions

is $200 a good deal for an up and running 24g JBJ with live sand/rock, stand, etc.. it has a cuc already in it with fire shrimp, snails, crabs... and the owner is throwin in some salt, testing supplies, and will even deliver it from what they are saying... i know they are like $250 new, but the other stuff adds up LOL...

sucks, i dont need the stand at all for the 24, i would keep it on a bookcase probably...
 
ps - if i got the 24 would the lighting on that support the corrals clowns like? pardon the newbie question.. my wife REALLY wants that ... and if i make her happy i get my tank lol
 
You would want to keep the stand for the 24. 1 gallon of saltwater weighs approximately 10 lbs -- add to that the weight of the rock and sand and the tank itself, and your 24 gallon setup could weigh close to 300 lbs. I wouldn't trust a bookcase to hold 300 lbs of water and glass.

The price on both systems is good.

The light that the 24 comes with will be good enough to support corals, but not good enough to support anemones, and anemones need to be in tanks that have been set up for quite a while. They are tough animals to keep in this hobby.

Instead of getting an anemone for the clowns, they will host several easy corals that you can keep.
 
cool... im not particular about it being an anemone ... anything for them to host is cool...

the bookcase is from the 50s, and i trust it more than i trust a new stand... but heck, maybe ill use the stand if i get it

i think my fear is my dog knocking it over.. shes a mini dauchshund but she is a BEAST... lol.. 10 lbs of fury.. im also somewhat clumsy LOL

ive also seen people usin the filter in the 24 by taking the biostuff outta the last compartment and using rock frags, or other things like chaeto and a clamp on light.. i see you sell chaeto bifferwine...
 
Yeah, a lot of people get rid of the bioballs or filter floss in the back compartments. Unless you clean them frequently, they can cause nitrates to build up, which is bad for your animals. I do sell chaeto. I'd be happy to send you some when you get stuff set up.
 
Welcome to the forum touchdowntodd. I think the stand will be stable enough unless you tackle it. :lol: Your Dauchshund shouldn't be able to knock it over.

And yes Biff is the Chaeto Queen.
 
chaeto will work nicely in place of the bioballs from what i read... and i can get a low wattage clip on light at home depot or something i guess...

you guys REALLY have me wantin to get the 24.. and do it up NICELY
 
Hello and welcome to the site...glad to have you. The 55gal will be a lil' more stable, but the 24gal will look more attractive, and is easier to manage. So I would go for the 24gal, especially seeing that you and your wife already have your hearts set on it. :)
 
You just need to mix the water 24-48 hours before you do the change. Make sure you put a powerhead and heater in the bucket. When you're ready to do the change, make sure the temp and salinity match up to your tank water.
 
so just get water ready .... then take out the correct amount and replace it with new? sorry, im dumb with this stuff LOL

and this is 1 time a week.. the couple that has the tank now says they are doing water changes once a month, but that didnt seem to be enough to me
 
Yep, that's all you do.

Water change frequency is personal preference. Some people can get away with changing their water less often. But, until you learn your system and feel more comfortable I would do 10-15% changes every week.
Make sure that you get a refractometer for testing your salinity and a good water test kit too.
 

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