Hi All,
So this will be my first saltwater tank ever. It all started when I was going to get a small desktop tank for my desk at work, as one of my coworkers has a beautiful fluval edge with freshwater fish in it. However, when I started reading I stumbled across some saltwater information and got hooked, and now I can't stop reading, watching videos and loitering in fish stores. I really wanted my first tank to be bigger than the 20 gallon one I'm starting with, but alas I live in a condo and I may move in a few months to a house (maybe go big when I have a house), meaning this tank is not for my desk at work. Anyways here's what I got so far, along with some advice requests:
Setup so far:
20L gallon glass tank (30'' x 12'' x 13'')
A 30" fixture with a 24" 17 watt 8,000K Full Spectrum fluorescent lamp
Aquaclear 50 hang on back filter (has a sponge, carbon filter bag, and wet/dry biomedia)
Fluval 100 watt heater (the stick style with suction cups)
About 1cm of a white sand/crushed coral medium on the bottom of the tank (from "The Fish Store")
About 15 gallons of saltwater at 1.025 specific gravity at 75.5 degrees fahrenheit (to leave room for live rock)
A tiny little powerhead that's kind of ugly and makes more noise than I would like (from "The Fish Store"). Thinking I'll get something better and use the noisy one for mixing saltwater solution.
Wonderful little digital thermometer by Marina (from "The Fish Store")
2 young cats who are convinced they want to go swimming, and probably fishing at some point.
Questions:
I was told by a gentlemen at "The Fish Store" that I don't need an RODI unit as Seattle water is fairly clean. Instead he sold me a bag of saltwater mixture that had "The Little Bottle that Makes all the difference". Do I need an RODI unit or some sort of water treatment formula?
Should I test for chlorine every time I do a mix?
I was also told at the same place that on a tank this size to just "Fill it" with live rock (1-2 pounds per gallon), and that will be your biological filter handling all the nitrates. Is this a good approach? Are there better approaches? Just want to make sure they weren't just trying to sell me $200-300 dollars of live rock.
Where's a good place to buy live rock, maybe at a better price than 7-10 dollars a pound? I don't want to sacrifice on quality of course.
I was told my lighting would be adequate enough for anenomes (like bubble tips), live rock, and maybe some soft corals (like mushroom), is this true? I know what I have is simple and cheap; I just got it to keep the cats out.
Notes:
While I'm trying to not spend a fortune, money really isn't an issue. I plan on going all out when I get my big tank later this year, which is why I didn't want to dump a whole bunch of money into this little setup.
I think nudibranchs are the coolest thing ever, I'd like to have one or three of those someday.
I still have some serious gaps in my education and obviously I've just starting getting my hands wet. Any answers, advice, criticism (be gentle I'm doing my best), and/or critiques are most welcome.
So this will be my first saltwater tank ever. It all started when I was going to get a small desktop tank for my desk at work, as one of my coworkers has a beautiful fluval edge with freshwater fish in it. However, when I started reading I stumbled across some saltwater information and got hooked, and now I can't stop reading, watching videos and loitering in fish stores. I really wanted my first tank to be bigger than the 20 gallon one I'm starting with, but alas I live in a condo and I may move in a few months to a house (maybe go big when I have a house), meaning this tank is not for my desk at work. Anyways here's what I got so far, along with some advice requests:
Setup so far:
20L gallon glass tank (30'' x 12'' x 13'')
A 30" fixture with a 24" 17 watt 8,000K Full Spectrum fluorescent lamp
Aquaclear 50 hang on back filter (has a sponge, carbon filter bag, and wet/dry biomedia)
Fluval 100 watt heater (the stick style with suction cups)
About 1cm of a white sand/crushed coral medium on the bottom of the tank (from "The Fish Store")
About 15 gallons of saltwater at 1.025 specific gravity at 75.5 degrees fahrenheit (to leave room for live rock)
A tiny little powerhead that's kind of ugly and makes more noise than I would like (from "The Fish Store"). Thinking I'll get something better and use the noisy one for mixing saltwater solution.
Wonderful little digital thermometer by Marina (from "The Fish Store")
2 young cats who are convinced they want to go swimming, and probably fishing at some point.
Questions:
I was told by a gentlemen at "The Fish Store" that I don't need an RODI unit as Seattle water is fairly clean. Instead he sold me a bag of saltwater mixture that had "The Little Bottle that Makes all the difference". Do I need an RODI unit or some sort of water treatment formula?
Should I test for chlorine every time I do a mix?
I was also told at the same place that on a tank this size to just "Fill it" with live rock (1-2 pounds per gallon), and that will be your biological filter handling all the nitrates. Is this a good approach? Are there better approaches? Just want to make sure they weren't just trying to sell me $200-300 dollars of live rock.
Where's a good place to buy live rock, maybe at a better price than 7-10 dollars a pound? I don't want to sacrifice on quality of course.
I was told my lighting would be adequate enough for anenomes (like bubble tips), live rock, and maybe some soft corals (like mushroom), is this true? I know what I have is simple and cheap; I just got it to keep the cats out.
Notes:
While I'm trying to not spend a fortune, money really isn't an issue. I plan on going all out when I get my big tank later this year, which is why I didn't want to dump a whole bunch of money into this little setup.
I think nudibranchs are the coolest thing ever, I'd like to have one or three of those someday.
I still have some serious gaps in my education and obviously I've just starting getting my hands wet. Any answers, advice, criticism (be gentle I'm doing my best), and/or critiques are most welcome.
