New here

[dinky]

I have a 75G gallon, with a sump pump. No live rock etc. I also have a maintenance guy who comes once a month to service my tank. I want to learn myself some basics! So, I have a 30 g tank. It IS sound. My sister in law has been using it for a while, but has gotten tired of it. I want to set up a nano tank, so I can learn more about my fish myself I am disabled so I can't drive to the shop where the maintence guy is set up, but there is a shop down the road. I am allowed to drive short distances. (epileptic) So, A quarantine tank, thaat may serve as a learning experiencee would be great. I have no idea what to do )
It is not a sump, so don't even know what type of fitratrtrion to get....lol
Lighting. I would like like some live rock, I think the natural look looks so much better. I need to know what to do basicaally from start to finish.
I can set up a fresh 125 gallon, and have fish live for years, but salt is foreign to me....lol
PS...the maintence guy send me what he thinks I want, I want to go pick out fish myself sometime! grrrrrrr Well, he does give me a big discount
Help me PLEASE. I feel it important to know the basics in caase I have problems. I don't eveen eveen have any test equipment or anything, they told me I don't need it, they will come eveen in the middle of the night if my tank crashes......yeah right! LOL
Any ideas guys?
dinky

 

[brandon4291]

Glad to have you on board Dinky! Glad to have you on our site. Before we start with a setup, tell me how you will get the saltwater...will you be making it or having it delivered, and if you are making it what do you have to store it in> whatever it is, it needs to be equivalent to the amount of water you are keeping in the tank. If you are making your own water for changes, consider buying a $10 ten gallon tank from the pet store instead of the 30. You can use the 30, but making up and maintaining that much change water for yourself is a sure hassle. If they'll deliver it to you, the 30 would make a nicer tank.

 

[dinky]

I did not know you could buy it So, I could buy it, then make my own water for changes? But, I could still buy the water change water too?
For a 30g ref what is the optimum water change frequency.
I also have to pick my tank up from sisiter in law to check what kind of lighting I could use. KNow for filtration. My maintenca guy has made darn sure I did not learn ANYTHING....lol
But my 75 has sump anyway, so will have to figure out best sourse of filtration and water movent.
Basically I need to learn it all. I bought some books, most have pics...the other it would take Einstien to figure out..lol
ok...so30g tank here is what I need answered...told ya I was a newbie..lol
filtratrion
water movement,
sand bottom or gravel
live rock
lighting for corals (so many makes my head swim)
Any thing else??? :?
dinky (stace)

 

[Anonymous]

Yep you can buy or mix the water yourself. Each method has pros and cons:

Make your water:
• Essentially requires an RO water filter. An RO water filter is expensive to buy. Expensive to maintain (filter membranes: $25-75, rated for X many gallons). Expensive to run (check the in/out ratio and pressure required) because volumes of water are required to produce a little bit of filtered water. And if your city water is extra crappy, it just ruins RO Filters.
• You mix the salt in yourself. You have greater control of salinity and other chemistry factors, but you can also screw it up and blow a week's worth of water.
• Requires a host of extra (and expensive) testing equipment for things like sg (specific gravity aka salinity)
• Well suited to home owners who have space set aside in a basement or garage for a filter & large water collection barrel.
• Is kinda fun to monkey around with


Buy your water:
• Is very cheap. My LFS is like 80 cents per gallon. I think.
• Bulky to transport. This is the biggest down side. If you have zillions of aquariums, buying water is probably going to get annoying fast.
• Suitable for a nano nerd, apartment dweller, people who can't or won't deal with RO filter hassle.
• Comes with stable, middle of the road sG (salinity). This is suitable for most fish, critters and corals you will get in your aquarium.
• Still requires a basic amount of testing to verify water conditions.
• LFS will usually rent/sell/take deposit for jugs. Not that expensive.
• Potential for tainted water exists, even if small.

Ok that's my generalization of water stuff. If you want detailed numbers there are plenty of ppl here who love to get to the nitty gritty.

Good luck!