interested in geting a salt water tank

[jkcole]

so im geting a 50 gal hexagon tank for free and was thinking of maybe doing salt water im wondering what i will need and about how much im looking at? the type i want is coral shrimp i guess a coral community type tank with all the bells and what not ty

[lostanime]

What are the physical dimensions of the hexagon tank? (height? diameter?)

Do you know what type of corals you are interested in? The water quality, lighting, and flow necessary to keep corals varies depending on the type your interested in (softies, lps, sps...) but they all typically require much higher flow, lighting, and much better water quality then typical "fish only" setups. If your tank is over 24" tall, or if your looking at SPS, clams, or anemones, very high intensity lighting such as metal halides, LEDs, or a fair # of HOT5s (not just a couple) will be necessary for everything to thrive. If your just looking at basic soft corals, the lighting requirements will be much lower.

If you are pursuing the soft coral route, you should have enough pumps and powerheads in the tank to maintain at least 10x water turnover (in this case, over 500gph of powerheads)... if your planning on running LPS or SPS, I would at minimum try to maintain 20x water turnover (1000gph in this case)... and if your primarily interested in turning your tank into a thicket of SPS, 40x or more water turnover may be needed within the next year.

Since you are interested specifically in keeping corals and not a fish-only setup, I would veer away from undergravel and hang-on filters and consider either canister filtration, or a wet/dry "sump", or if you want to go all out do fluidized bed chambers in combination with chemical reactors. No matter what you do for your primary mechanical, chemical, and biological filtration though, you can and should use a quality protein skimmer. Protein skimmers only work with saltwater tanks, but they have revolutionized the marine side of the hobby over the last decade or so because they literally remove organics (fish waste, food, some algae, etc) from the water before they even have a chance to start decomposing and polluting the water. I would even go out on a limb to say that if you can only choose one piece of equipment to go "high quality" with in a marine tank, the protein skimmer should be it.

Beyond flow, lighting, and filtration, the only other thing that immediately pops to mind is heating to maintain stable temperature.

Regardless of whether you go fresh or salt, make sure you use GFCIs for everything you plug in. Water + Electricity can make a very dangerous combination.

I would also strongly recommend checking out refractometers. They are more expensive then hydrometers, but significantly more accurate. Even an extremely tiny bubble getting stuck on the swing-arm of a hydrometer can make a huge difference in the readings. Make sure you have testing equipment for your salinity (such as a refractometer), PH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Alkalinity, and if your going down the coral route also at minimum test calcium and magnesium.

[jkcole]

WOW!!!!!! i do have 4 freshwater tanks a 180 2 40s and a 55 all maintain perfect water quality and temperature for the fish and turtles in them. i have the water checked often always no nitrites very very little nitrates and no chlorine 3 have canister filters and the 55 has 2 40-70 gal hanging filters on the back. i believe in good filtration no such thing as to much at least for my setups. but man i always knew there was alot to saltys but geeees that just seems like so much and if i did it i would like to go corals and all that cool stuff but wow kinda havin 2nd thoughts now.

[samarijack2]

Best advice I can reccomend is take your time if you need to. Nothing says you need to have everything right now especially if money is an issue. You can certainly start with a few fish and live rock and then once you are comforatble with that and can keep a stable environment there, add more - slowly. I have a 55Gal (small compared to many peoples reef tanks). I started with just a few pieces of live rock, a cheapo heater and hang off the back power filter and regular flourecent lights. It has taken me almost 2 years to graduate to a nice set of lights, a wet/dry sump, more power heads, a large amount of live rock, and more live stock including some really nice looking corals. The slowness helped with the budget as well as it has given me plenty of time to learn all about what I need to do. It does sound overwhelming at first but if you give yourself time it won't be. I have found it to be very rewarding. Watching my salt tank is better than TV any day

Just my .02

[Judge]

I agree with Lostanime. Only things I would add is take it very slow. You can always use Ebay or Craig's list and buy pieces for reasonable prices. I heard no mention of RO/DI water or live rock?? The most important thing of all is to remember, the new tank just like any other has to cycle, preferably without fish. So plan ahead and research everything. A lot of people decide they want tanks, go buy one and throw fish in it...then can't figure out why things do not work out. I am NOT saying that is what you have done or intend. What I am saying is that you can prevent a bunch of problems by doing loads of research. Patience is a virtue, especially with saltwater tanks. Good luck and keep us posted of your progress...we're here to help however we can.

[Scav]

This may be a done deal, but I thought I'd put my two cents in.

I've only been seriously studying the arcana of saltwater tanks for the last three days, and while I agree there's a lot of information the newbie will need to know (and know how to apply), I have to say that I've found the whole learning process delightfully (and quite irritatingly at times) challenging.

If you're still interested in doing a coral setup, I can say there's plenty of corals out there advertised to be hardy and user-friendly, and are useful even for the veteran tank-owner for color variety and beauty. That'd be what I'd populate my next tank if I were to go that route, but it's too early for me to decide anything forward like that just now.

Again, just my two cents.