Dtackett
Valuable Member
so ill start by saying this is a long read. This is an article, not just a short post with a little bit of advice.
Things to consider when starting your first saltwater tank.
A basic guide to the different sizes and styles of tanks with a focus on micro tanks.
There is a lot of advice out there for starting a new tank, most will give you a list of equipment and talk about costs and quality, others will tell you to buy the best you can afford, start with the biggest tank you can afford etc. bigger is better right? Wrong.
What is right is what you want. You might be able to afford a 75 gallon reef tank, but if that’s not what you want then that’s not what’s right for you. What I suggest is for you to research the types of coral, the types of fish, and the style of tank you want to keep and go from there. Different styles of tanks require different equipment. Each style has its own pros and cons. I will go over a few of these setups with you and maybe you will find your perfect setup.
So the first thing I suggest you look at is the types of coral and fish you wish to keep. These are the things I suggest you take into consideration:
Micro tanks, up to 3 gallons.
These tiny tanks are beginning to catch some traction. If you notice, as the tanks get smaller stability drops and maintenance goes up. Well, not anymore. These tanks are a completely different animal and follows a different set of rules. That is why I am going to discuss these separately from the others.
Micro tanks require very little in the lines of equipment, normally it’s as simple as a light, a small power head or an air pump, and a heater. In some cases, like my reef bowl, you may not even need a heater.
When it comes to maintenance, these tanks require very little. A weekly 100% water change is all you would need to do on a regular basis. It is very important to match salinity and temp when changing your water. Don’t worry, your coral and inverts will be fine out of water for a few minutes while you do this. It is recommended that once or twice a year, you do a flush. You can do this one of 2 ways. Depending on how your micro tank is setup you can forcefully flush 10-20x the water volume through the system and just let it flood over the edges while your tank is in your sink. Doing this will flush all the nutrient buildup out, remove most of the detritus from the rocks and sand, and can remove any bad bacteria buildup, such as cyno or dino, from your system with ease. This prevents old tank syndrome, prevents pockets of nutrients from resting in your sand, and ensures your tank is always in great health. Brandon Mason has been doing this for the last 9 years on his 1 gallon reef vase, currently the oldest micro still running. The other way to flush takes a bit more effort. If you do not use sand you can simple pull the rocks out of the tank, dump all the water down the drain and rinse and clean your micro tank with fresh clean water. Then you would rinse and shake the rocks out in a bucket of clean saltwater and scrub off any algae or spots of bad bacteria with a toothbrush. This can cause your system to go into a bit of a shock and make your corals a little mad, but so long as you match your temp and salinity when you put water back in your coral will be fine.
Another thing that is different about micro tanks vs. the larger tanks is we tend to use lids that seal the tank. What this does is prevent evap. Tyler Johnson did a demo with this and showed he could go 2 weeks between top offs due to his lid design. Even the X-Large tanks can’t go that long without a top off, then you figure the low bioload you would have in these tanks (these tanks are not appropriate for fish) You can achieve better stability in a 1-3 gallon tank than you can in a 200 gallon tank.
Now, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. You do have to be proactive with these micro tanks. At the first sign of algae or bacteria, you need to take steps to remove it. A favorite method for dealing with algae in these small tanks is to burn it out with a shot of 35% H2O2. Pull the rock out of the tank that has the algae, soak the algae with the undiluted 35% H2O2 and let it sit out for about 5 minutes, brush it off with a toothbrush then place the rock back in the tank. If you are not proactive in preventing an algae outbreak, it can take over these tiny tanks very quickly. If you have a cyno or dino issue, you will want to remove it with one of the flush methods listed above. Once again, left unchecked, bacteria can quickly take over the tank.
Another downside many people see is that you can’t really keep fish in these tiny tanks. Some people will keep fish such as clown gobies or blue and gold blennies in these tiny tanks. These fish stay small and don’t really need much room to swim as they prefer to perch. However, I do not feel it is appropriate to put any fish in a tank this small. The bioload quickly becomes too much for the rock you can reasonably fit, and adds to your maintenance.
Feeding on these tiny tanks is easy as well. Because most often you will only have coral and maybe a couple shrimp or a crab or 2 in this tank, you don’t have to feed often. Most common method of feeding is once a week, about an hour before you do your water change. The good thing about how these tanks work is you can over feed to ensure all coral gets its fill, then with the water change, you pull out the excess food. Any food that gets left behind will be eaten throughout the week by your inverts and copepods.
The next thing you should think about is what style of tank you want. Do you want a mixed reef? A lagoon style tank with coral and macro? A display fuge with macro and soft coral? Do you want a coral tank that’s dominated by a certain kind of coral such as softies or a SPS dominate tank? These are all important things to think about as each style has its own needs. There are many many different styles of tanks so I won’t go into much detail on those. But here are a couple examples.
I won’t go into much detail on this, but this is a short list of the basic equipment you will want regardless of which style or setup you want to do.
These should be your first purchases.
Things to consider when starting your first saltwater tank.
A basic guide to the different sizes and styles of tanks with a focus on micro tanks.
There is a lot of advice out there for starting a new tank, most will give you a list of equipment and talk about costs and quality, others will tell you to buy the best you can afford, start with the biggest tank you can afford etc. bigger is better right? Wrong.
What is right is what you want. You might be able to afford a 75 gallon reef tank, but if that’s not what you want then that’s not what’s right for you. What I suggest is for you to research the types of coral, the types of fish, and the style of tank you want to keep and go from there. Different styles of tanks require different equipment. Each style has its own pros and cons. I will go over a few of these setups with you and maybe you will find your perfect setup.
So the first thing I suggest you look at is the types of coral and fish you wish to keep. These are the things I suggest you take into consideration:
- Size.
- You will want to look at the maximum adult size for the fish that you want in order to help you decide which fish you want to keep. Remember, that little 3 inch grouper at your LFS can grow into a 680 pound monster. So research is key in deciding what fish you want to keep.
- Coral is a different story. In most cases, you don’t have to take the max size of the coral into account because there really isn’t one and you can trim the coral to keep it the size you want. However, you do need to take into account how aggressive the coral is, how long the sweepers can get, if they use chemical attacks or not, and what the requirements are. All of these things are important to know for coral.
- For inverts you want to know maximum size as well. You can’t really trim inverts like you can coral. So it is important to understand how big they can get. The cute little 2 inch horseshoe crab can grow as big as a toddler.
- As I’ve shown with the mention of the grouper and the horseshoe crab, not everything they sell at a LFS is appropriate to go in any tank and if you’re looking to do a small tank, its especially not ok. In every aspect of this hobby research is key.
- You will want to look at the maximum adult size for the fish that you want in order to help you decide which fish you want to keep. Remember, that little 3 inch grouper at your LFS can grow into a 680 pound monster. So research is key in deciding what fish you want to keep.
- Feeding habits and needs for proper care. At this point you’re no longer looking at just the fish and the coral. At this point you’re also looking at the maintenance, the tank setup and the equipment
- Some corals need more food than others, some fish need more food than others, and depending on these factors you may need a bigger tank or a smaller tank. For instance, if you’re doing a tank that has a lot of NPS corals you are going to be feeding more than the average person. You will either want a larger tank, or you will want equipment that can keep up and keep your nutrients down. In cases like this where you must broadcast feed the tank, smaller tanks with better equipment can be a better choice. Then you don’t have to feed as much and more of the food goes to feed your livestock. Whereas if you’re doing a tank that is dominated by soft corals and filter feeders you may feed more than the average person, but have no need for extra equipment because the coral is filtering the organic matter out of the water.
- You should also be taking into account the lighting needs of the coral and inverts. While most coral can adjust to whatever lights you put over them, some are not tolerant of changes at all. You may not want to do a SPS dominated nano and keep NPS in the same tank. The light will likely kill some of the NPS corals and sponges.
- Temperature should also be taken into consideration. Not every coral is a tropical water coral. Some prefer colder water.
- Some corals need more food than others, some fish need more food than others, and depending on these factors you may need a bigger tank or a smaller tank. For instance, if you’re doing a tank that has a lot of NPS corals you are going to be feeding more than the average person. You will either want a larger tank, or you will want equipment that can keep up and keep your nutrients down. In cases like this where you must broadcast feed the tank, smaller tanks with better equipment can be a better choice. Then you don’t have to feed as much and more of the food goes to feed your livestock. Whereas if you’re doing a tank that is dominated by soft corals and filter feeders you may feed more than the average person, but have no need for extra equipment because the coral is filtering the organic matter out of the water.
- Time. How much time do you want to spend doing maintenance? What kind of maintenance do you want to do? How much equipment do you want to rely on to prevent maintenance? In this section I will briefly discuss each tank size in a very general manor.
- X-Large tanks 180+.
- These tanks are known to be the most stable purely due to the amount of water volume. Where if a fish dies in a 29 gallon it can spike the ammonia past 2PPM which is deadly, if the same fish dies in a 180, you might not even notice it as you test your parameters. This is why they say larger tanks are easier.
- These tanks tend to have more equipment than others because it quickly becomes cheaper to dose your nutrients rather than replace them with large water changes.
- Cleaning these tanks takes longer just do to overall size. It is also more difficult due to the depth.
- These tanks are known to be the most stable purely due to the amount of water volume. Where if a fish dies in a 29 gallon it can spike the ammonia past 2PPM which is deadly, if the same fish dies in a 180, you might not even notice it as you test your parameters. This is why they say larger tanks are easier.
- Large tanks 75-180
- These tanks, much like the X-Large tanks are known to be stable due to the water volume.
- These tanks can vary in equipment but tend to share many of the same pieces of equipment and ideas as the X-Large tanks.
- Cleaning these tanks can be easier than cleaning the X-Large tanks based on what the height of the tank is.
- These tanks, much like the X-Large tanks are known to be stable due to the water volume.
- Regular tanks 40-75 gallons
- These seem to be the most common. While these do not tend to be as stable as the 75+ gallon tanks, they are still stable tanks. These tanks are easier to maintain and cheaper to setup than most of the larger tanks.
- These tanks can have as much equipment as an X-Large tank, or be as simple as a couple HOB filters. If you are interested in these sizes you should research your equipment until you know exactly what you want to do.
- Cleaning these tanks tend to be very easy. A quick wipe down on the front and sides, vacuum the sand and you’re done. Due to the height of these tanks, these are generally very easy to clean.
- These seem to be the most common. While these do not tend to be as stable as the 75+ gallon tanks, they are still stable tanks. These tanks are easier to maintain and cheaper to setup than most of the larger tanks.
- Nano tanks 10-40 gallons
- This is where people claim maintenance begins to go up, and stability begins to go down. The less water you have, the quicker your parameters can get out of wack and cause a lot of destruction in your tank. However, with proper research these are fun, easy, cheap tanks that anyone can enjoy.
- These tanks, while uncommon, can have all the same equipment as the large or X-Large. However, in general these tend to be very basic tanks when you talk about equipment. Many of these tanks use HOB filters or small basic sumps. They don’t tend to have dosing pumps or reactors.
- Cleaning is a breeze.
- This is where people claim maintenance begins to go up, and stability begins to go down. The less water you have, the quicker your parameters can get out of wack and cause a lot of destruction in your tank. However, with proper research these are fun, easy, cheap tanks that anyone can enjoy.
- Pico tanks, 3-10 gallons
- These tanks are something else. Stability is nonexistent and maintenance tends to be high. While some have found the perfect setup to allow for better stability and less maintenance, the general pico requires daily or every other day top off or water changes, requires small bioload and preferably 1 or less fish.
- These tanks tend to use very basic equipment. Nothing more than a hob filter and in some cases something as simple as an air driven sponge filter.
- Cleaning these tanks can become difficult because of the tight areas.
- These tanks are something else. Stability is nonexistent and maintenance tends to be high. While some have found the perfect setup to allow for better stability and less maintenance, the general pico requires daily or every other day top off or water changes, requires small bioload and preferably 1 or less fish.
- X-Large tanks 180+.
Micro tanks, up to 3 gallons.
These tiny tanks are beginning to catch some traction. If you notice, as the tanks get smaller stability drops and maintenance goes up. Well, not anymore. These tanks are a completely different animal and follows a different set of rules. That is why I am going to discuss these separately from the others.
Micro tanks require very little in the lines of equipment, normally it’s as simple as a light, a small power head or an air pump, and a heater. In some cases, like my reef bowl, you may not even need a heater.
When it comes to maintenance, these tanks require very little. A weekly 100% water change is all you would need to do on a regular basis. It is very important to match salinity and temp when changing your water. Don’t worry, your coral and inverts will be fine out of water for a few minutes while you do this. It is recommended that once or twice a year, you do a flush. You can do this one of 2 ways. Depending on how your micro tank is setup you can forcefully flush 10-20x the water volume through the system and just let it flood over the edges while your tank is in your sink. Doing this will flush all the nutrient buildup out, remove most of the detritus from the rocks and sand, and can remove any bad bacteria buildup, such as cyno or dino, from your system with ease. This prevents old tank syndrome, prevents pockets of nutrients from resting in your sand, and ensures your tank is always in great health. Brandon Mason has been doing this for the last 9 years on his 1 gallon reef vase, currently the oldest micro still running. The other way to flush takes a bit more effort. If you do not use sand you can simple pull the rocks out of the tank, dump all the water down the drain and rinse and clean your micro tank with fresh clean water. Then you would rinse and shake the rocks out in a bucket of clean saltwater and scrub off any algae or spots of bad bacteria with a toothbrush. This can cause your system to go into a bit of a shock and make your corals a little mad, but so long as you match your temp and salinity when you put water back in your coral will be fine.
Another thing that is different about micro tanks vs. the larger tanks is we tend to use lids that seal the tank. What this does is prevent evap. Tyler Johnson did a demo with this and showed he could go 2 weeks between top offs due to his lid design. Even the X-Large tanks can’t go that long without a top off, then you figure the low bioload you would have in these tanks (these tanks are not appropriate for fish) You can achieve better stability in a 1-3 gallon tank than you can in a 200 gallon tank.
Now, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. You do have to be proactive with these micro tanks. At the first sign of algae or bacteria, you need to take steps to remove it. A favorite method for dealing with algae in these small tanks is to burn it out with a shot of 35% H2O2. Pull the rock out of the tank that has the algae, soak the algae with the undiluted 35% H2O2 and let it sit out for about 5 minutes, brush it off with a toothbrush then place the rock back in the tank. If you are not proactive in preventing an algae outbreak, it can take over these tiny tanks very quickly. If you have a cyno or dino issue, you will want to remove it with one of the flush methods listed above. Once again, left unchecked, bacteria can quickly take over the tank.
Another downside many people see is that you can’t really keep fish in these tiny tanks. Some people will keep fish such as clown gobies or blue and gold blennies in these tiny tanks. These fish stay small and don’t really need much room to swim as they prefer to perch. However, I do not feel it is appropriate to put any fish in a tank this small. The bioload quickly becomes too much for the rock you can reasonably fit, and adds to your maintenance.
Feeding on these tiny tanks is easy as well. Because most often you will only have coral and maybe a couple shrimp or a crab or 2 in this tank, you don’t have to feed often. Most common method of feeding is once a week, about an hour before you do your water change. The good thing about how these tanks work is you can over feed to ensure all coral gets its fill, then with the water change, you pull out the excess food. Any food that gets left behind will be eaten throughout the week by your inverts and copepods.
The next thing you should think about is what style of tank you want. Do you want a mixed reef? A lagoon style tank with coral and macro? A display fuge with macro and soft coral? Do you want a coral tank that’s dominated by a certain kind of coral such as softies or a SPS dominate tank? These are all important things to think about as each style has its own needs. There are many many different styles of tanks so I won’t go into much detail on those. But here are a couple examples.
- Mixed reef.
- In a mixed reef you are trying to give the best of all worlds. In general you are trying to keep SPS, LPS, and soft corals. Doing this can be challenging as each can have very different needs in terms of flow and light. However, these can create some of the most beautiful tanks.
- In a mixed reef you are trying to give the best of all worlds. In general you are trying to keep SPS, LPS, and soft corals. Doing this can be challenging as each can have very different needs in terms of flow and light. However, these can create some of the most beautiful tanks.
- SPS dominated
- These tanks tend to house only SPS or SPS with just a couple other corals. They tend to have more equipment than others such as calcium reactors and dosers. They tend to have stronger lights and stronger power heads.
- These tanks tend to house only SPS or SPS with just a couple other corals. They tend to have more equipment than others such as calcium reactors and dosers. They tend to have stronger lights and stronger power heads.
- LPS dominated
- These tanks tend to house only LPS or mostly LPS corals. These tanks may or may not have dosers, can have a range of lighting from high light to low light and create the big and fluffy and the wavy tanks.
- These tanks tend to house only LPS or mostly LPS corals. These tanks may or may not have dosers, can have a range of lighting from high light to low light and create the big and fluffy and the wavy tanks.
- Softie dominated
- These are some of the easier tanks to run. They tend to house mostly soft corals or all soft coral. Again, lights can range from high light to low light. They don’t tend to have much in extra equipment, and tend to run dirtier in terms of nutrient parameters. These tanks, while easy, can be very beautiful.
- These are some of the easier tanks to run. They tend to house mostly soft corals or all soft coral. Again, lights can range from high light to low light. They don’t tend to have much in extra equipment, and tend to run dirtier in terms of nutrient parameters. These tanks, while easy, can be very beautiful.
- Lagoon.
- These are interesting tanks. While in general they tend to house mostly Macro and soft corals this is not a rule for these tanks. They can emulate a mixed reef with macro added to the mix. They tend to be done is shallow tanks but can be done in any tank. These are by far my favorite.
- These are interesting tanks. While in general they tend to house mostly Macro and soft corals this is not a rule for these tanks. They can emulate a mixed reef with macro added to the mix. They tend to be done is shallow tanks but can be done in any tank. These are by far my favorite.
- NPS.
- Now these tanks are a beast of their own. Lights should be low and flow should be determined based on the species you wish to keep. Feeding is done heavily as the only source of food for these coral is through food in the water column. Filtration is key.
- Now these tanks are a beast of their own. Lights should be low and flow should be determined based on the species you wish to keep. Feeding is done heavily as the only source of food for these coral is through food in the water column. Filtration is key.
- Fowlr
- A Fish Only With Live Rock tanks is just that. It tends to be a simple tank that houses fish that are not reef safe. These tanks sound easy but can come with their own challenges. Many fish in these tanks create high bioloads and are messy eaters, so while lights aren’t as important, filtration needs to be set up to handle the high bioload.
- A Fish Only With Live Rock tanks is just that. It tends to be a simple tank that houses fish that are not reef safe. These tanks sound easy but can come with their own challenges. Many fish in these tanks create high bioloads and are messy eaters, so while lights aren’t as important, filtration needs to be set up to handle the high bioload.
I won’t go into much detail on this, but this is a short list of the basic equipment you will want regardless of which style or setup you want to do.
These should be your first purchases.
- RODI unit.
- Refractometer with calibration fluid. Duel scale is preferred
- A quality test kit such as red sea, salifert, or Hanna
- Protein skimmers
- Auto top off
- Power heads/wave makers
- Media reactors
- Sump/HOB filtration systems
- Fuge lights
