Starting Up

[Zensational]

Hey everyone! Super new to the saltwater world, and I've only started doing some serious inquiries as of this last week. Today I went to the three reef stores in my area to pick some brains and get a good idea of what is the absolute bare minimum to starting a reef tank. I come from the planted tank world, so I'd like to keep things as natural as possible like I do in my freshwater set ups. I'd be looking at a tank somewhere between 20 and 45 gallons most likely. I got a couple of mixed reviews on some of the most basic of equipment. Which leaves a couple of big questions unanswered.

1.) I'm trying to do my best to be cost efficient, as I'm still a college student, without the most stable of incomes. What are the downfalls a 32BioCube kit may have for a beginner's reef tank? From one store I'm hearing that its a good beginning step, with sufficient lighting and mediocre, but easily and affordably replaceable filtration pump. From another store, I'm hearing that the lighting and the filtration are both insufficient for a reef tank. The second store is much more specialty, and I'm wondering if they're concerned with my growth as an aquarist, or if the most simple, beginner of corals and saltwater aquaria truly need more than the BioCube offers.

2.) On top of the main 7 things I test for in a freshwater aquariums, what other parameters are there tests for that should be done regularly?
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
Hardness
Alkalinity
Chlorine
pH

3.) In my experience with freshwater aquariums, chemical is a bandage, and not a solution to your problems, am I able to approach reef tanks the same way? For example, when I need to lower my pH in a freshwater aquarium, rather than using chemical, I add clay substrate, or soft driftwood. If I need to raise it, I add crushed coral. Can similar approaches be taken with saltwater aquariums? Adding different natural substances to change water parameters, or are chemical additives much more necessary? I see so many more chemicals out there for saltwater aquariums.

4.) Along the same lines of cost, is a protein skimmer absolutely necessary to the health of a saltwater aquarium, or does it simply make life easier? What kind of extra workload am I looking at as far as weekly maintenance is concerned for a reef tank with and without a protein skimmer.

 

[Peach02]

1) downfalls are that you can't pick your own equipment and kits are often made to look good but certain components are often skimped out on. EG for computer kits cpu is often good but the motherboard is often bad. As for the tank size itself you will have many fish limitations and the tank will be more unstable.

2) what I test for in saltwater is
Temperature
pH
Ammonia
Nitrate
Nitrite
Alkalinity (aka kh or dkh or hardness I think but I'm no chemist)
Calcium
Magnesium

3) when you say chemicals are a bandage do you mean that chemical solutions are not preferred over natural solutions if so you are correct.

4) Protein skimmers make your life a lot easier as for weekly matinance water changes become A LOT more important when you don't have a protein skimmer since they are your primary method of nutrient export. However I have a similar size tank and my skimmer is hopeless however I can get away with doing water changes once every two or three weeks.

 

[BeejReef]

Lots of great questions!

You'll also want to test for phosphorous/phosphate.
There are, indeed, a number of "natural" ways to adjust your basic parameters. Some chemicals are just part of the game though. The corals consume them and our tanks aren't an ocean.

Be sure to do some real reading whenever trying to adapt a freshwater technique. The chemistry is different. Don't know about clay or driftwood, but some media that doesn't react with freshwater will corrode or dissolve (or whatever the chemical term.. lol) in saltwater. I think clay has some aluminum.

I don't run a skimmer, but haven't done so long enough to say it's great or not.
Without socks or a skimmer, you'll have more detritus. There are some benefits too. Snails breed more easily, possibly copepods. On a week to week basis, I've found the workload to be lighter. No skimmer cup, no filter socks.

But, eventually, I'll see my Nitrate and Phosphate starting to creep up. I can push back with a longer photoperiod for the refugium, but within 3-4 months I have to take all the rock out of the sump into a bucket, remove the macro-algae, and shop vac all the crud out of the sump.

 

[reef lover]

#WelcometoR2R !

 

[Billldg]

Welcome to R2R!!!

1. LFS's are going to try and sell you what they can to make a profit, you can't blame them, but you have to understand that. A 32Biocube kit should be great for a first kit. The only drawback is you will want to go bigger, can't help you with that, LOL!!!

2. To start, I would buy the Red Sea Marine Care kit. It will give you the ability to test Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, PH, and Alk. Then down the road after the tank is cycled and you start to add fish you can use this as back up in case something happens. Once your tank is cycled and moving along you really don;t test for nitrites and ammonia. I test for Ph, Alk, Cal, Mag, Po4, and Temp now. I only test nitrates a few times a month, and that is because of having SPS in my tank.

3. Depending of where you currently live, you will likely be trying to raise your Ph, not lower it. Ph is mainly driven by the amount of C02 in your house or apartment. During the winter times the C02 naturally rises because of the windows being closed. We try to keep it between 7.8 to 8.3. I keep mine between 8 and 8.2. I have to use a C02 scrubber attached to my skimmer to keep it there. The media can become costly over time as some people have to change it out every week. Just depend on where you want to keep it. Fish, to a point, don't really care about Ph. We try to keep it above 7.8, which is the Ph of natural seawater, because we get faster growth out of the corals.

4. A skimmer is really only necessary if you are trying to keep nutrients down in a moderate to heavy loaded tank and have nutrient sensitive corals, aka SPS. Softies and Lps like a little dirtier tank, nitates around 10 to 20 and Phos's around .07 to .1 and above.

 

[jlts21]