What equip do you need for a BW/SW Tank?

[Tapiana]

Hello There -

Sorry if there is a thread out there - I swear I searched, I guess I am impatient. As I am looking into another tank for my GSP (30g) what exactly do I need? I found this list through another thread - is it complete? Any suggestions as to brands or better yet - what not to buy at the LFS?

1. Appropraitly sized tank with a secure lid...Fish Jump!
2. Appropriate sized and type of filter. A nice hang-on back or canister filter is probably ideal.
3. Submersible heater and thermometer
4. Water conditioner...Brackish fish don't like chlorine either!
5. Freshwater/Saltwater Master test kit...Choose one appropriate for fresh or salt water! You need tests for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, and PH. Tests for GH and KH are optional but reccomended.
6.Never-Seen-Soap bucket for Water changes
7.Never-Seen-Soap Bucket for mixing up brackish water
8.Appropriatly sized Gravel Vacuum
10. Marine salt mix...NOT aquarium, epsom, or table salt!!
11. Hydrometer or Refactometer...whichever you prefer (Hydrometer is cheaper)
12. appropriate substrate and decore (Varies by brackish fish being kept)
13. Salty Bio-Spira, pure ammonia for fishless cycling, or a hardy brackish fish (such as mollies) for "natural" cycling.
14. 5-20 gallon quarentine tank for when you want to add to your established brackish tank...reccomended quarentine period 4-8 weeks. (Many brackish fish are wild caught and may carry parasites)
15. Food appropriate to the type of fish being kept (varies by species)

Some are kinda obvious - some I have labeled in red I have questions on. I have also notice discussions on sump pumps? protein skimmers? If possible - I would love a grocery list (or honey-do list)

Thank you for holding my hand

[cobra1713]

well its a good start, my first thoughts...

1. dont buy your tank at a LFS, buy it used will save you alot of money
2. dont use a HOB or canister filter on a marine tank (they just hold tons of nitrate thats about it)
3. substrate your going to want a nice sand, not crushed coral for marine, something like aragonite sand. (puffers like tons of decor)
4.dont cycle with a "hardy" fish, just fishless cycle or with bio-spira.
5. a protein simmer is definitly a plus! it will help with overall health of aquarium and save money on salt, from less frequent water changes.
6. having a sump is nice but on a 30g non reef tank IMO is overkill, but if you want to set one up is definitly not a bad thing.

so overall your on the right start, personally i wouldnt buy much from the LFS, just place a large order online, and avoid buying the HEAVY item from online cus then they will stick you with a extra shipping fee, so pick those up from your LFS, but everything else just grab it from a store like DRfosterandsmith, there is also a 6% rebate through ebates.com and you can put me in for a referance if you want a 10$ gift card or 5$ cash

(recklessrattler@gmail.com)

[Pufferpunk]

I tnink this is all good info for a BW tank but SW is totally different on filtration. Should include water changes in there too.

[Tapiana]

I agree with the advice on not buying much from the LFS (I have not won the lottery yet)

Since GSPs go from BW to SW I would want to get a filtration that can go both ways - (PP can you recommend one ).

I was kind of hoping to have a reef in my tank with the water plants and such - can I do that?
Which brings another que I was saving - what would be good decor for my Tank and GSP?
And if so do I need a sump? Can I have the colorful calms (I would call them Giant Clams) in my tank with a GSP - or are they gonna eat them?

[Pufferpunk]

Although you are welcome to use the same filtration on a FO marine tank as a FW/BW tank (I did on my GSPs for about a year), you will find it quite $$$ doing 50% weekly WC on that tank. Removing the HOB/canister filters, adding live rock, live sand & a protein skimmer will alleviate the amount & frequency of these WC.

Clams are food for GSPs.

Here is my FO GSP SW tank:

[Tapiana]

What is the opinion of an all in one tank such as the Eclipse/Nano/Aquapod will I see the same results?

Love that set up - are those live or dead coral and fans?

[Pufferpunk]

All fake/plastic/silk.

[cobra1713]

as far as the cube tanks go, i have seen some AMAZING set ups in those 24g cubes, like the red sea max and stuff, i know they have alot of room for modification, my only concern is i think the largest i have ever seen is a 24g so might be a little small for a GSP.

PP, do you have anything against drip acclimating larger GSP's straight into marine?

if not then you could set up a marine tank and hunt down a non-juvie GSP and acclimate him straight into a cycled marine tank and not have to worry about switching the tank over from brakish to marine, all my info was for setting up a marine tank, brakish tank are different cus you cant have the natural filtration of live rock or a skimmer.

[Pufferpunk]

Depends on what SG they are starting at. FW-SW is a huge jump for a fish.

[Tapiana]

Ok -

I have been doing research - I think my head is about to explode.

30g FO tank - should I add LR (can I go with a small reef - just some easy to care for invertebrates or will the GSP eat these). Livesand seems to be highly recommended - should I go with that then.

If I have a 30g FO tank - then I do not need a sump (which is better as I really do not have room for that)

So filtration - which is better Biological or Wet/Dry? W/ Bio is LR better? Any reccomendations on size and brand?

Skimmer - seems I need one that can handle 2x the capacity of the tank for best effect - so one that can handle 60 gal. Any reccomendations on brand?

So far I have on my shopping list:

30 gal tank
Live Sand
Skimmer - 60 gal
Filter
Heater
Fake Decor
???

Thanks

[Pufferpunk]

FO - Fish Only
FOWLR -Fish Only With Live Rock

[cobra1713]

first off definitly have live rock, avoid wet/dry filtarion and if you want corals your are going to have to look into T5 lighting or better which can get rather expensive so make sure you really want to do corals with a puffer before jumping into the lighting because there is a chance your puffer might eat the corals.

some puffers will eat the inverts, mine has left them alone but they are very large hermit crabs if i were to put a shrimp or small hermit i know they would be dead by the next morning.

as far as skimmer i would look into the reef octopus HOB models, cpr bakpak2 or aquac remora, all are good skimmers.

and as far as live sand goes, if you have live rock the sand will eventualy become "live sand" but if you want to get mostly regular sand and then a few lbs of Live sand and seed it that works too.

[Pufferpunk]

Fot good prices on well-established LR, used equipment, etc. look for a local reef club here: http://www.reefcentral.com.

[Tapiana]

Many many thanks for your patience and help - I appreciate it - don't give up on me!

Since the GSP has started to "nibble" on the "reef" - no coral for me. I understand the filtration benefits of LR - and the cycling - can I do LS only, or would a combo be better.

Thank you millions for the skimmer sugg. I found this on marinedepot - what do you think for a filter - it seems to have all 3 components Bio/Mech/Chem?

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_AquariumP ... ation.html

I was thinking of the 2210 for the 30 gal.

[Pufferpunk]

You don't want a filter for SW, just a skimmer. Look at Reef Central before you buy anything retail. Folks always selling stuff there.