Help setting up a basic saltwater tank

[kayla123]

Hi I need to set up a reef tank for my 3rd grade students, something simple. Can I just get a 20 gallon tank, filter, and a chiller? What's an affordable but good chiller, and what type of filter should I use? We're not keeping corals or anything fancy, just some crabs and a starfish. TY so much

 

[Cstar_BC]

From what I have seen - starfish are notoriously hard to keep alive in new systems and they slowly starve and start to melt .

I would look at buying Live Rock (hopefully pest Free) and maybe getting some inverts .
Or hopefully you are close to someone on here that can help you set it up !

 

[DanConnor]

Are you talking about crabs and starfish that are locally collected, or tropical and from a store? If the latter, you may not need a chiller.

 

[Chefwheredyougo]

Aquaclear hang on back filters are next level and perfect for a cheap and easy tank. 20 gallon long would be a fun tank also. I recommend getting some rock as well, to help with filtration. I think live rock could bring in some fun hitchhikers, but also some very bad ones as well. So I'd go with base rock. Gives the hermits and snails something to climb around on and scavenge as an added bonus. I'm not too knowledgeable about starfish, so I'll let someone else chime in on that

 

[Chefwheredyougo]

Also, welcome to R2R!

 

[MERKEY]

Hello,

This is a great idea and an opportunity for them to learn science! The first stage of a saltwater tank is cycling. This is a great opportunity to teach about ammonia and its cycle into nitrites and then into nitrates. And how benificial bacteria plays its roll. All while documenting with them the numbers you test with them. This would have them use a simple test kit like one from API or red sea. These are easy to follow and my son who is 9 uses them

Also depending on your classroom you may need a heater not a chiller. Like said above a hang on back filter will work perfect and you can place some media in the back of most. There you can talk to them about chemical and biological filtration and what each does for the eco system of the tank.

Like others said starting with live dry rock would be benificial but not needed. Also some sand would be benificial as well. It is all part of the eco system of an ocean

Grabs and snails are really good for a class room and the beginning of a tanks cycle. These creatures will eat the algea produced during the process (ugly phase).

It takes 6-8 weeks without using the addition of bottle benificial bacteria so it will be a really good project for the class!

After you set the filter up

Put the sand in (rinse the sand really good until it runs clean, this will help with the cycling process) there are threads brandon429 wrote about it here somewhere lol

Then put your rocks in or put them in and then the sand. But most place the rock on the glass so it wont cave later.

Then make your water.

Another great spot to teach them about reverse osmosis and the metals in tap water.

Once water is made then add it.

Turn on filter and let the cycling begin.

You could also get a power head to move the water. One small one will work for a 20g.

There are many other things you can add and I'm sure the kids parents will eventually start to help and one of them will probably be a reefer

Ok I've gone on too long and I'm sure I left a lot out. But thankfully more here will help!!

Welcome to R2R

 

[Zbrady72]

Aquaclear hang on back filters are next level and perfect for a cheap and easy tank. 20 gallon long would be a fun tank also. I recommend getting some rock as well, to help with filtration. I think live rock could bring in some fun hitchhikers, but also some very bad ones as well. So I'd go with base rock. Gives the hermits and snails something to climb around on and scavenge as an added bonus. I'm not too knowledgeable about starfish, so I'll let someone else chime in on that

Aquaclears have always worked great for me, they run a lot quieter than most HOB. You can usually find a good deal on them on amazon too.

 

[Mpln64]

Hi I need to set up a reef tank for my 3rd grade students, something simple. Can I just get a 20 gallon tank, filter, and a chiller? What's an affordable but good chiller, and what type of filter should I use? We're not keeping corals or anything fancy, just some crabs and a starfish. TY so much

I would think more snails/fish/shrimp/crabs as well from what I’ve read. “Bulk reef supply” has some good YouTube videos as does “coralfish12g”.

I went tiny on mine 5 gallon Marineland but the caveat is I have a huge refugium. With saltwater tanks it’s more about keeping water parameters the same so like salinity, ph, etc. So the less work the better especially since you can’t be there to add water or stuff on the weekends. I would tend towards a 20/30 gal to keep the little guys alive.

Where yah spend money should be on heaters. Run one on a higher temp and the other on a lower. I would look at the type with built in thermometer/ auto-shutoff possibly one that you can hookup to WiFi. Total cost for that is like 100. Otherwise you risk “nuking” the tank.

Ro/di water can be bought at local store or you can make your own. Sand is cool. Live sand is the way to go. Caribsea Agra-Alive is mostly agreed to be amongst the better to choose. Get some live rock. Dry is cheaper. Let it sit in ro/di water salted for 1 day at 80 degrees if yah use LiveAquarias dry purple Fiji one. Cheapest and fastest way to“cure” live rock.

Throw it in the tank with proper salinity add some good bacteria to get your tank cycling 4 weeks. Start adding fish approximately around then. Think about a hang on refugium and skimmer so another couple hundred. Look at open box stuff on BRS. These will help in the amount of cleaning you will have to do and keep better water parameters. Take a look at algeabarn for refugium stuff. That’s where I got my stuff. A filter would be a good idea as well something with carbon you can switch out. Tester kits and salt then you should be good to go! Am I missing anything people?

 

[kayla123]

It's local starfish from a cold climate so I need a chiller. Is a chiller complicated to set up? Or is it just putting the 2 pumps that pump water in/out?

Could you recommend a specific filter that would work? TY so much

 

[SPR1968]

Hi there and welcome to R2R

As already mentioned, starfish may starve in a new system do to lack of food and the crabs will also need a food source although their probably easier to feed

You might find this useful if you haven’t seen it already and anything else just ask

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium Introduction The marine environment is one of the most complex systems on the planet. The aquarium you are about to set up is only a tiny sliver of the vast ocean, but it is nowhere near simple. This task is going to take patience, a...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[kayla123]

Yeah they eat mussel and squid. I read that thread but I'm not sure what kind of filter/chiller to buy, all the chillers I see are 300+ dollars?

 

[Chefwheredyougo]

Chillers are pretty expensive. You can search the marketplace here on R2R for a good used one that will be way cheaper. For filters, it's usually a good idea to get one rated for higher gallons. Heres a link for one https://www.google.com/shopping/pro...ds=epd:17502524642537688059,cdl:1,prmr:3,cs:1

With it being as cool as it is at this time of year, (not sure where you're from), you may be able to get by by not having a heater to keep the tank cool enough. That could give you some time to save up a bit for a new one. You can place a bottle of water in the classroom and monitor the temps a few times per day, and gauge if you will need one or not.