Saving money

[Pufferfish88]

Hey I have read on this forum that going full marine actually saves on money. How is this so? Less water changes? Also what would I all need for a FOWLR setup with just a gsp in a 29 gallon? HoB skimmer, live rock, anything else (I Know there are better options skimmer wise)? Also I have a AQ70 in my tank. Would I need to remove that or just take out some of the filter media? Any insight would be awesome!

[SammyDee]

Your live rock becomes the biological filtration better than a filter. The HOB becomes mostly mechanical. Although some biological bacteria will live there most will be in the live rock. Alot of ppl recommend a octopus HOB skimmer if HOB is right for your setup. 1lb of live rock per gallon. Ac70 I'd just leAve running as is. Unless you don'twant a sump for a 29g I'd try a below the tank canister filter. The reason wc are a lil less is bc live rock makes it like a enclosed ecosystem with the most natural filtration. I'd think an AC70 with an Octopus HOB skimmer would do just fine for a 29g. With Bw I had to 50% weekly wc now I do 25% with it being full marine. Stays alot clearer to than when I had BW. Others with more XP can also help you.

[Hilly]

I dont keep marine but if I remember correctly, yes to less water changes and therefore less use of marine salt, more initial expense setting it up right but over time you recoup those costs.

marine keepers will answer better for you.

[Pufferfish88]

Yeah both posts are great. I agree brackish gets expensive :\

[Mek0ng]

The idea of switching from BW to SW to save money is very misleading. If you have such a bioload that you need to do %50 water changes weekly and you switch to full marine, the nitrate problem will still exist. Salt is relatively cheap compared to the price of live rock and skimmer, not to mention the SW obsession that will follow, convincing you to turn the guest room into a fish room and spending you summer vacation budget on stuff for the tank lol

[SammyDee]

+1 for sure an obsession.

[Pufferfish88]

Hahahah that's funny stuff.

[J-P]

*KOFF KOFF*

my mother asked my why I have an empty wall in one room. My answer was "umm, cleaning?" While secretly getting ready for a tank to put a porcupine puffer there

[SammyDee]

I'm jealous. U kno we wanna see it. Even the process would be cool. How you support it...

[CarmenH]

+1 again on MekOng's comment... LOL, I've always been very attentive to all my tanks but now that I have saltwater, I actually miss them when I'm at work I wouldn't have thought that was normal, except that a coworker started the journey at the same time and he's the same way...

[Pufferfish88]

So maybe this whole saltwater saving money is a myth. I would need to buy 30 pounds of live rock and hob octopus skimrmer and still do 25% water changes weekly to out weight 50 percent water changes at a SG of 1.0015. That would take a long time to outweight haha. But the joy saltwater brings is probably worth it from the sounds of it

[Mek0ng]

Thats a 90g reef under the tarp...

Installing cabinets to day, so it will be a good while before I have the flooring done so I can re-set up the tank. Its getting moved to another wall, the sump will be plumbed into the next room, a spare bed room. I am then putting in a 20g top off rubbermaid kalkwasser container, and a 32g rubbermaid water change tub. Still trying to plan out if I am going to use a fuge or ATS.

Saving money? I dont think so lol

[Nick]

How good your skimming is working will be a significant part of if your water changes are reduced enough to save you money in the first couple years of the changeover. With very good skimmer removing the dissolves wastes _and_ a good way of dealing with nitrates(deep sand bed, vitamin C dosing, denitrators, purigen, other...) you can actually get water changes down to 25% every other week even in a messy puffer tank.

[Pufferfish88]

Oh wow that would be great to not have to change so much water at a time.

[Rusty]

Just dont forget nobody gets into fish to save money