Howdy!

H2S04 · Jul 13, 2017

Hey, y'all!
I'm a total noob-a-roo to aquariums aside from a goldfish in a bowl 30 years ago.
I've got myself a 15 gallon column tank that I would like to make a saltwater aquarium.
I've read up a bit and seem to think I have a decent understanding of requirements regarding water (RO) parameters, salinity, temp, stocking rules and regs, etc.
I would like to have a fish only tank with 2 Clowns and some rocks for decorations (Dry rock?).
My main question is...
Do I need or require or want a protein skimmer in a tank this size if I'm doing 33% water changes every week or so?
Any and all thoughts, concerns, advice would be greatly appreciated.

reefer4816 · Jul 13, 2017

H2S04 said:
Hey, y'all!
I'm a total noob-a-roo to aquariums aside from a goldfish in a bowl 30 years ago.
I've got myself a 15 gallon column tank that I would like to make a saltwater aquarium.
I've read up a bit and seem to think I have a decent understanding of requirements regarding water (RO) parameters, salinity, temp, stocking rules and regs, etc.
I would like to have a fish only tank with 2 Clowns and some rocks for decorations (Dry rock?).
My main question is...
Do I need or require or want a protein skimmer in a tank this size if I'm doing 33% water changes every week or so?
Any and all thoughts, concerns, advice would be greatly appreciated.

Yes just get yourself a 30 dollar nano skimmer. That will be more than enough. Also if your running fake rock. You will need some sort of real rock somewhere for the microbacteria to live and help with the nitrogen cycle. Good luck!

needbiggertanks · Jul 13, 2017

Hey, welcome. With a fish only with live rock (or FOWLR), doin tv 33% water changes every week i would say no need for a protien skimmer. Especially with only 2 clowns. As long as you feed the recommended amount of food you should be more than fine.

H2S04 · Jul 13, 2017

,

reefer4816 said:
Yes just get yourself a 30 dollar nano skimmer. That will be more than enough. Also if your running fake rock. You will need some sort of real rock somewhere for the microbacteria to live and help with the nitrogen cycle. Good luck!

"Tanks" for the reply.
When you say "fake rock" is that the same as dry rock?

reefer4816 · Jul 13, 2017

No fake rock would be like a fake coral insert. Or fake ship they sell at fish stores. Dry rock is the same as live rock. Just u gotta wait about 2 months for it to get "live" again.

If I were you I would just buy a little bit of live rock from your Local Fish Store. LFS

H2S04 · Jul 13, 2017

I

needbiggertanks said:
Hey, welcome. With a fish only with live rock (or FOWLR), doin tv 33% water changes every week i would say no need for a protien skimmer. Especially with only 2 clowns. As long as you feed the recommended amount of food you should be more than fine.

I see. If I may ask another question...
Can I use a HOB filter that comes with the tank or are there special filters needed?

H2S04 · Jul 13, 2017

Wo

reefer4816 said:
No fake rock would be like a fake coral insert. Or fake ship they sell at fish stores. Dry rock is the same as live rock. Just u gotta wait about 2 months for it to get "live" again.

If I were you I would just buy a little bit of live rock from your Local Fish Store. LFS

Wow! Quick responses here. AWESOME! THANKS GUYS!
If I go the live rock route, how much do I need? Also could I get a small amount of live rock to "supplement" the dry rock?

needbiggertanks · Jul 13, 2017

I like to use 1 lb per gallon of water. And yes, you can use a bit of live rock to help"supplement" or "seed" the dry rock. HOWEVER, you will need to cure the dry rock for a few weeks otherwise all of the dried organics on it will decompose in ur tank. Also, if you used the dry rock you would have to wait for your bacteria populations to increase before adding fish is safe. A lot of nuances and schools of thought on this tho

H2S04 · Jul 13, 2017

needbiggertanks said:
I like to use 1 lb per gallon of water. And yes, you can use a bit of live rock to help"supplement" or "seed" the dry rock. HOWEVER, you will need to cure the dry rock for a few weeks otherwise all of the dried organics on it will decompose in ur tank. Also, if you used the dry rock you would have to wait for your bacteria populations to increase before adding fish is safe. A lot of nuances and schools of thought on this tho

OK. I've got no problems with waiting. Can the rock be in the tank while its cycling? Also...
Dry rock that is sold at stores still needs to be cured?

reefer4816 · Jul 13, 2017

Yes just make sure it's the right rock. Not like river rock for freshwater tanks

H2S04 · Jul 13, 2017

reefer4816 said:
Yes just make sure it's the right rock. Not like river rock for freshwater tanks

Gotcha. Now....
Does the tank HAVE to have a sand substrate? I seen something called crushed coral that looked like little shells. Could that be used?
How about the little rocks that are in the tanks at stores?
Thanks for all your help!

NickNiz · Jul 13, 2017

If you're in need of good-looking dry rock, check out reefcleaners.org . I think they have a 15lb bundle that comes with free shipping, and they clean it themselves. All you'd have to do is rinse it to remove any shipping dust. I would go with 15lb dry rock and 2-3lb live rock. If you want to go with sand, I would recommend getting live sand to speed up the tank cycle. You would want 1-1.5lb of that for every gallon, depending on tank dimensions.

To kickstart the cycle, you can add some bottled bacteria or even a cube of frozen shrimp to the aquarium. As for a HOB filter, it really depends on how nice the one that came with the tank is... I'm personally partial to AquaClear. I just took out the filter cartridge, and threw in a bag of carbon. Otherwise 3-4 gallon water changes weekly will suffice for 2 fish and a CUC.

NickNiz · Jul 13, 2017

H2S04 said:
Gotcha. Now....
Does the tank HAVE to have a sand substrate? I seen something called crushed coral that looked like little shells. Could that be used?
How about the little rocks that are in the tanks at stores?
Thanks for all your help!

Crushed coral will work.

H2S04 · Jul 13, 2017

NickNiz said:
If you're in need of good-looking dry rock, check out reefcleaners.org . I think they have a 15lb bundle that comes with free shipping, and they clean it themselves. All you'd have to do is rinse it to remove any shipping dust. I would go with 15lb dry rock and 2-3lb live rock. If you want to go with sand, I would recommend getting live sand to speed up the tank cycle. You would want 1-1.5lb of that for every gallon, depending on tank dimensions.

To kickstart the cycle, you can add some bottled bacteria or even a cube of frozen shrimp to the aquarium. As for a HOB filter, it really depends on how nice the one that came with the tank is... I'm personally partial to AquaClear. I just took out the filter cartridge, and threw in a bag of carbon. Otherwise 3-4 gallon water changes weekly will suffice for 2 fish and a CUC.

NickNiz said:
Crushed coral will work.

Thanks for the reply!
Could simple playground sand be used for substrate? Pool filter sand (which I have easy access to in abundance)?
Also...
CUC?

NickNiz · Jul 13, 2017

I wouldn't go with playground sand. I've never tried it, but I would stick with aquarium sand if possible. You could always go with dry sand which doesn't have beneficial bacteria.

CUC stands for clean-up crew. This consists of all of the snails/crabs/starfish you might have to eat algae or leftover food.

reefer4816 · Jul 13, 2017

Use live sand from LFS. You'll be way happier 6 months from now

H2S04 · Jul 13, 2017

Dry

NickNiz said:
I wouldn't go with playground sand. I've never tried it, but I would stick with aquarium sand if possible. You could always go with dry sand which doesn't have beneficial bacteria.

CUC stands for clean-up crew. This consists of all of the snails/crabs/starfish you might have to eat algae or leftover food.

Dry sand?
How deep?
My tank is 21" high X 13" X13"
Is the CUC a necessity?