Submersible Digital
i am planning on getting a 29 gallon salt water tank, what do i need???
i am planning on getting a tank that is 29 gallons and includes instant Ocean Sea Salt, a hydrometer, Visi-Therm submersible aquarium heater, plus add-ons a digital thermometer, and BIO-coat marine water conditioner, and a complete, 3-stage BIO-wheel filtration and high-quality fluorescent lighting is tucked up inside the hood. i am not sure what else i need, i am still deciding on whether i want live rock and sand in it, and what other decor's. i want 2 clown fish in the tank, a cleaner shrimp, hermit crabs, and snails, i am not sure what else will be compatable with those, also, how would i go about starting out my aquarium, and how would i change the water in the tank.
I would strongly recommend that before you go too far in planning, that you do some research into the different types of tanks (fish-only, which is the easiest and cheapest; fish-only with live rock, which give you added biological filtration; and reef, which is the full-blown marine set-up with corals, anemones, shrimp, etc., which can be the most difficult and IS definitely the most expessive type). That's not to say you can't start with a fish-only, then add other items to the same tank as you get some experience and want to try more organisms.
A 29 is an okay size for a tank, but you may find it somewhat limiting on your livestock choices. I started with a 29, and added a 55 in 6 months. The larger of a tank you can use, the better - saltwater fish tend to be larger and more territorial/aggressive than traditional freshwater "community" fishes and more like cichlids in their behavior, so some planning is necessary on just what you can keep together.
If you need to get a stand for the tank, try to get solid wood. The particleboard stands won't hold up if they get wet and the glue separates, and the iron/metal stands will corrode if any salt gets on them (or, you could get a metal stand, just use a flannel-backed tablecloth under the tank to protect the stand from splashed water).
The following is a sort of checklist I've produced from previous answers to similar question:
FILTER: You'll want to get one that's properly sized (filters at least 5x-10x the tank volume per hour - check the gallons per hour rating). There are lots of choices, and what you'll need will really depend on budget, what you're trying to keep, and personal preference. I'd consider the best type to be a refugium or wet/dry trickle filter. Next best would be a canister, followed by a biowheel, or a standard hang-on-tank with large media (such as an AquaClear with the foam block). Unless you're using a fine sand or oolite substrate, you can also use an undergravel filter to supplement filtration, but I'd suggest powering it with a reversible powerhead to blow the water up through the substrate (prevents stuff from building up under the filter and clogging it).
POWERHEAD(S): To provide more water circulation in hard to get to places. This also helps circulate dissolved oxygen to the bottom of the tank. Have at least one for a 29, two or more for a larger tank.
HEATERS: For a saltwater tank 30 gallons or larger, I'd suggest getting 2 and putting one on each end. This will provide more even heating, and your tank has a back-up if one heater gives out. Figure the correct size as 5 watts per gallon (for a single heater) divided by 2 (if using 2 heaters). If you need to heat the water more than 10 degrees above the room temperature, go one wattage size higher. With your 29, you could go with getting either 1 or 2 heaters.
LIGHTING: If you never want anything but fish, you can use the standard lighting and hood made for your tank. You might want to upgrade the lamps to a 10,000K tube or a 50/50 actinic to produce a more "marine" look. If you're going to try corals, anemones, etc., go with a compact fluorescent, metal halide, T-5, or combo system - these will provide more intense light that these organisms need for photosynthesis.
SUBSTRATE - you want something made of aragonite to help keep the pH from changing, I like the smaller shell material that Carib-Sea puts out - it doesn't have to be live sand, either. Some folks like crushed coral, but the particle size is bigger than I like, and it tends to have a lot of dust that never rinses completely out. Another very fine grained material is oolitic aragonite (looks like small white balls) and aragonite sand. Here's an idea of the materials available: http://www.caribsea.com/pages/products/dry_aragonite.html While it's possible to keep a marine tank with regular aquarium gravel or no substrate, the aragonite will keep the pH from falling below 7.8 (it should be 8.2-8.4) and this can make the difference in the survival of your fish/organisms.
SALT MIX: If you're only keeping fish, you can go with one of the less expensive brands of synthetic sea salt. If you get any invertebrates (shrimp, snails, crabs, corals, anemones, etc.), switch to a better quality mix before you add them. These cost a little more, but you won't need to be using additives for the trace elements they need either.
HYDROMETER: This measures the amount of salt that's dissolved in water. There are two kinds you can get, one made of glass that floats on the surface (more accurate, but easy to break) and a plastic container that has a needle that rises and falls as the amount of salt changes (less accurate, bubbles attaching to the needle gives false readings). For fish only, you want the specific gravity to read 1.020 - 1.026. If you're keeping inverts, you want it to be 1.024 - 1.026.
WATER TESTING KIT: minimum of pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate.
CLEANING SUPPLIES: elbow length gloves, gravel vacuum, 5 gallon bucket, large plastic container and powerhead for mixing the salt (to be done well ahead of water changes, I use a plastic garbage can kept just for this), algae scraper, razor blades (for coraline algae and diatoms that like to attach to the glass).
WATER CONDITIONER: for removing chlorine or chloramine from your tap water (unless you plan to use a reverse osmosis filter or buy RO water, which is preferred for a reef tank).
The following are optional, but strongly suggested:
PROTEIN SKIMMER: This removes dissloved and small organic materials that would normally contribute to the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate in your tank. Not 100% necessary for fish-only tanks, but will be handy if you have inverts to keep up good water quality by removing organic materials that become nutrients for algae.
GLASS COVER: This reduces evaporation and keeps the fish inside the tank (some are jumpers), although with a metal halide lighting system, it can overheat your tank.
LIVE ROCK: This gives the tank a more natural appearance, provides hiding places for the fish and inverts, and increases the biological filtration. Not to mention, you get all kinds of cool critters that hitchhike into your tank (shrimp, snails, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, sea stars, etc.).
CHILLER: If you use metal halide lighting, or the water temperature regularly gets above 85o (for corals or anemones, fish can take a little more heat), you may need to invest in a chiller to keep the tank cool. The water temperature should run 76-80oF.
There may be additional items that you could need, such as kalkwasser to raise your pH if you can't get it to 8.2, but you won't know these until you get the tank set up and running, and test your water.
You may decide that you want to use a UV sterilizer, but in my opinion, these are unnecessary. They don't necessarily kill all the parasites and disease-causing organisms, and they only affect free-floating algae, not any that's attached to your glass, rock, or substrate. The bulbs also need to be replaced yearly. Rather than pay the high price for one of these, you'd do better to buy an inexpensive 10 gallon setup kit and a heater and use these as a quarantine tank.
Before going out and buying all this, I would suggest some reading to see what you're getting into by keeping saltwater. I did research for almost 2 years before I set up my first tank, and I had about 20 years of freshwater aquarium experience already. Rushing into a saltwater setup usually doesn't give you good results, and the equipment and fish are a little too expensive to be finding out in a few weeks you got something that's not appropriate for what you want for your tank. I'd also recommend a good reference book for some research. Either of these would be a good one to start with: The New Marine Aquarium by Michael S. Paletta. Microcosm Ltd. ISBN 1-890087-52-1 or The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert M. Fenner. Microcosm Ltd. ISBN 1-890087-02-5
Some web sites you can check out for more info on keeping saltwater are the following:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marsetupez.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marineSetUp.htm
http://www.peteducation.com/index.cfm?cls=16
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/
As far as the fish, what species are good for starters will depend largely on your interests. Even though they are hardy, I recommend against damels, mostly because of their aggressivness - add one of these, and they'll terrorize any fish you try to introduce later. The exception I'd make here is the green reef chromis (peaceful).
Also, keep in mind if you plan to add corals, anemones, snails, shrimp, crabs, hermits, stars, or others in the future, you may want to stick with reef-safe fish from the start.
You'll want to add the smallest and most peaceful species first, and this will reduce some of the aggression in the tank. It's a general guideline that you shouldn't mix fish of the same color or body shape, or different species from the same families to prevent any of the fish from seeing another as a potential rival. There are a few species that can be kept in schools or in mated pairs, but this is the exception rather than the rule. I prefer the smaller semi-aggressive and peaceful species myself, but your preferences might be different. Some of the ones I would recommend as starters are the chromis, a pair of ocellaris clown (the "Nemo" fish - any two juveniles will work because the dominant one will become a female, the other a male), cardinalfish (if you have a good saltwater person at your fish store, they should be able to pick out a male and female for you), longnose hawkfish, canary blenny, jawfish, clown goby, scissortail gobies, and firefish. That's far more than you should keep in a 29 as adults, so you'll need to so
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