New to SW

I have decided to do a SW tank. I just picked up a 70 gal hexagon with 20g sump. I understand theirs a few things im gonna need different than freshwater. Any advice would be apreciated. Plus I believe I need a skimmer so if you got one to part with im buying. Thanks in advance. :O)

I would like to do SW someday too....get a RO unit is another thing you got to get to control algea. I have a 75 acrylic hex tank too...I am not ready to take the plunge on this yet, since I still rent.

Where do you plan to get your saltwater fishes from?

Definitely don't go cheap on the skimmer, I learn that the hard way lol
and yes you will need and RO/DI unit for your water.

are you gonna set up a fowlr or a reef tank??

reef I think. Im not sure about fish either. Im in the acquiring parts stage. lol.
Need lights too. the hood is good but needs to be rebuilt.

The hex has a center style over flow, so my thought is to attach rock all the way around that, im hoping it will work out great.

With my fowlr tank, I really like the Seattle Aquarium saltwater sales. They charge 5 cents a gallon, plus a one dollar surcharge for every purchase. I have a 55 gallon, each week, I drain 12 gallons-ish, have 3 gallons of evaporation, I add 15 gallons of NSW (it normally tests out to around 1.018) and my water normally stays right in the healthy 1.023-1.026. Also I've heard it isn't so great with reef tanks.

I know some people have had problems with that water, but for me it has been great.

Also reefcleaners.org was great for ordering my snails. John was very friendly and followed up on the order.

Ive always wanted to try my hand at a saltwater tank but I'm just too chicken. I need to up some more about it first!

Post pictures of your project for us! Looking forward to your experiences.

I am gonna set up the protein skimmer in the sump / refugium. anyone have a set up they can post? taking crash courses on SW filtration is exciting. lol..

censeoflife wrote:taking crash courses on SW filtration is exciting. lol..

Thats what I'm afraid of... resulting in the death of everything in the tank.

Scrapped the HEX for SW. Went with my 100G I had with the mixed Malawi in it. The Malawi went in to the HEX. Found out I just wasn't gonna have the room for a reef in it.

So the 100 is plumbed and tested. Here are some shots.

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New spray head


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plumbing for New head and existing spray bar.

Line to existing spray bar.
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Iwaki Return Pump, 1100 GPH
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Iwaki pump to Reef devil skimmer. Rated for 180 G. Pump turns 700 GPH
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Return line and skimmer
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from the front
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Tested all the plumbing and flow today and everything is turning over beautifully.

Well something is amiss with the picture poster. lol sorry for the doubles.

i always liked that tank. you really did good work on that stand. all i know about salt water is you need to make sure fish are healthy before introducing to your reef... aka quarantine tank. other then that overfeeding is gonna be a big issue. and stable temperature. slight temperature changes can wreak havoc on your corals. and being so close to winter id make sure you really had a nice heater and possibly a generator cuz a loss of power can really wipe out a tank quick. GL to ya but all of these above situations have prevented me from taking the plunge. that plus 90% of stock is wild caught.. and most of the rock is found on active coral reefs.. which i dont really agree with.

I wont have any corals till next year. I will be running with just a couple of clowns to cycle, and recording tank readings till I am comfortable with what I am dealing with.

I just started to stratch the surface on SW the last few days and spoke with an old friend who does salt. One of the first step is to get a RO system (get new on ebay for around 140-150), invest in a good protien skimmer, good sump pump (mag 12-18). He said to use live rocks in your sump instead of bioballs. Good lighting is a plus too, and I have seem some really cool LED lights at the Pet expo.

I have been debating over FOWR vs reef safe tank, appears I am leaning for reef safe tank since I'd like to add some frags, corals and anomenes. One of the fishes i would definetly get is a mandarin.

There's a guy somewhere in everett that sells live rocks for 3 buck a pound, seen on craiglist, anyone had any experience with him?

Yeah Larry in Everett, he is alright. I'm gonna see what he has for live rock too. I bought the stand I converted for this tank last, from him.

This system has 2 perfect places for the live rock. The sump has a fuge in the center, and I also changed the internal sump into another fuge.

I am going LED, looking at buying 3 block style, since I will build he reef slowly, I am only gonna buy 1 at a time.

You should get all three before you put any corals in. I have bought from Larry before, He says he has better fish and corals than the LFS but I thought his tangs looked narly and that the SPS needed more Calcium. Just my oppinion but I will never get fish from him again but live rock DEFINATLY.

I too would like to do a nano 15 gal salt to start any info on salt any of you can share? Water chemistry ect.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]lso are all the pieces here for my protien skimmer if not what's missing and how do you sey these up lol

O and I do have a pump ill get pvc fittings for to hook to it just not sure how to set these up