# First Timer: New Tank Setup



## SnailPuffer (Jun 19, 2010)

Hey All,

I'm thinking of starting a mini reef tank... did some research on my own... but i'm not too sure of how to prep for the salt water... it talks about adding salt and purified water with R0/deionization filter... found it from the link below... I was trying to look for the price and a place where I can buy the deionization filter but dunno where to find... another option is using RO/DI water... but I heard that this method is expensive... it will cost about $100 for 1G of water... i'm looking for ways to prep the water at a lower cost...

Thx all for your help in advance.

How to setup a marine tank:
How to Set up a Marine Reef Aquarium - wikiHow


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## OKreefer (May 3, 2011)

im sure u can buy a reverse osmosis system at home depot or a water place even for a couple hundred bucks. or just buy distilled water from the grocery store. how bigs ur tank? i use distilled water in my 70 gallon, cost a little bit to set up but really not that bad for top offs. just a real PITA. imo buy urself a RO system with an auto top off.


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## DR1V3N (Apr 22, 2010)

I have a FOWLR just newly set up right now which I plan to convert over to a reef soon. Will be very interested to see your progress! Can you say a little more about your setup i.e. what corals / tank size / sump? / skimmmer


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

i use tap water in all my tanks ( i dont have my ro setup yet, it still in the box) you can pick up an ro machine from pretty much anywhere(home depot, crappy tire i think, etc) if you plan to grow corals you're best off using ro water, ive heard bad things about distilled water for reef tanks but i never had a problem with it, as far as starting of with a nano tank, the smaller the tank the harder it is to keep going, bigger is more stable. And the most important bit of advice i can give you is dont rush anything, let nature do its thing and your system will work out for you alot better. 

if you have any questions just ask and ill do my best to give you an answer

a good source for info is canreef.com

ps: dont mix yoru water and salt in your tank, mix it in a bucket till you get the right salinity and then add it to your tank

i run my reef tanks at 78 degrees and 1.025 for salinity


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## SnailPuffer (Jun 19, 2010)

Hello All,

Members in BCA are just awesome... so nice and so helpful!  I did a bit of research that the bigger the tank... the more stable it is... but I've found this pico tank... and I think it would look so nice with a mini reef setup in it... I also heard that pico tanks are not for reef beginners...  I currently have a 10g tank for pea puffers, cories and otos... and a 72g with glo fishes, golden tetra, tiger and blue pearl shrimps and some snails... I was thinking of starting the pico tank slowly... adding things one by one... live sand and live rocks first... let it run for a few weeks... 3-4 weeks or more if necessary... then one hermit... then eventually some beginners coral frags...

Here's what I'm planning to do:

Aquarium: 
Desktop & Small Aquarium Starter Kits: Picotope 3 Gallon Aquarium Kit
(not sure if the filter that comes with the system is good enough thou...)

R/O System: 
Aquarium Water Quality: Pure-Flo II RO Units

Salt:
Saltwater Aquarium Salt: Aquarium Systems Instant Ocean & Reef Crystals Synthetic Sea Salt
(I have a few water pumps and a powerhead pump to aerate and mix the water in a bucket)

Protein Skimmer on Timer:
Aquarium Water Quality: JBJ Lighting Protein Skimmer Kit for 28 gallon Nano Cube

Heater:
Aquarium Heaters & Water Temperature: Mini Aquarium Heaters

Fuji Pink Live Sand:
Marine Reef Aquarium Substrates: Arag-Alive
(adding at beginning of setup for cycling)

Live Rock:
Saltwater Aquarium Live Rock for Marine Reef Aquariums: Refugium Rubble
(adding at beginning of setup for cycling)

Marine Plant:
Kelp on Rock, Smooth Leaf
(but the purchase size is 6" to 8"... it's going to be way too big for my pico... will prob add this after 3 - 4 weeks after the pico is cycled...)

Invertebrate:
Saltwater Aquarium Crabs for Marine Reef Aquariums: Electric Blue Hermit Crab
(adding 1 after 3 - 4 weeks after pico is cycled...)

Corals:
Saltwater Aquarium Corals for Marine Reef Aquariums: Neon Pineapple Tree Coral - Aquacultured
Saltwater Aquarium Corals for Marine Reef Aquariums: Candy Cane Coral
(not sure how big these comes in... as my tank is only a pico... I dunno if I'll have enough space for it... prob need to plan more when I get my tank ... probably start adding after a few months of the tank setup... or until I see some purple thingy start growing on the live rocks... read something about purple thingy start growing on rocks for the right time to add corals...)

 not sure if my plan would work... heh....  Would i need to get some water conditioners for water changes?


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

both of those corals are not really beginner corals, candy canes are hard to keep alive and sps you need a good set of lights aswell and stable perimeters 


by purple thingy im guessing you mean coralline algae which could take quite some time to grow

also with corals you're going to have to dose your tank with all sorts of chemicals


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## SnailPuffer (Jun 19, 2010)

Hum... in that case... guess I'll stay away from corals for a while... and just go with some marine plants and live rock and hermit... 

Other than the corals... does anyone see any problem with the setup? thx all


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## Barrie (Apr 22, 2010)

There are many 'easy' corals, and easier to find than marine plants. We found the best place to get corals from (and advice!) are fellow BC Aquaria members. We got quite a few great frags (small sections of corals taken from 'parent' colonies) that have done fantastically and gotten great advice on what would work and what wouldn't. I am always amazed at how fast corals grow! You'd also be amazed at the 'things' you find growing on your live rock, even months after you put it in the tank. We've also gotten live rock from different members as well as J&L Aquatics, Oceanic Corals and Ocean Aquatics. For a small tank, you won't need much live rock, so you'll want to be able to pick and choose shape and size. Also, the electric blue hermit crabs get big. In such a small tank, you're better off with smaller ones (scarlet and blue legged, as well as left-handed hermits have done the best for us). You'll want a couple of snails as well - stick to smaller species. We don't have an RO system yet but it's high on our list of 'gotta get one soon' things. We buy our water from the grocery store (that sounds really weird!). We tried tap water, and the cyano algae from it is SO not worth the hassle!! Right now we have a 20g nano reef tank and a 55 gallon bowfront corner tank. The very best advice has already been given to you - nothing good happens quickly in a saltwater tank!!! It's true!! So read LOTS, and expect a lot of trial and error - while it all sounds good and simple on paper (or online in this case!), all kinds of odd things can go wrong. But a well maintained nano or pico tank look fantastic!! Good luck!!


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## noisetherapy (Jul 25, 2011)

Hey snailpuffer! I'm in the same boat as you. Just starting. One thing I've learned, wish I could go back... Research everything... Including how to add sand. I spent 4 days looking at very cloudy water. Not very impressive to the wife after spending so much money!


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

I use tap water and prime in all my tanks and my fish and the corals are doing fine.


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## Chewie (Jul 21, 2010)

Considering that the tank you want is 3g (from what I see) I would personally skip purchasing a ro unit right now until you upgrade to a bigger tank, and trust me you will...reef tanks are like crack...you can never get enough.. I would just buy from a water store. Its about $4 for 5g. If getting from grocery store make sure it is reverse osmosis /deionized and not spring water as spring water may have a higher tds (total disolved solids) reading as your city water, full of minerals and such (iron, copper etc.)


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## SnailPuffer (Jun 19, 2010)

Hey Chewie... this fishy hobby I have is very addicting... I know... lol~ I started with a blue crayfish... then eventually my tanks started to multiply... pea puffer tank... crayfish tank... snail tank... betta tank... man... so many tanks... and it's just been a year or so for me... now i'm just restricting myself to a puffer tank and a 72G planted tank with shrimps and stuff in it... but I guess once I get into this marine thing... I can see that I'm going to get super addicted... it was just so fun to plan out the pico already... can't imagine if I have more space and I can put more adventurous species in there... lol... anyway... I know the hardest part of keeping a pico is probably controlling my parameters... I'll probably do more testings at the beginning and do more small water changes...


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## gearsofwarfan (Jun 4, 2011)

i just use a D/I filter and just add tap water conditioner and prime,my corals are fine.i paid $58 bucks for the filter and change the resin every 3 months.


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## SnailPuffer (Jun 19, 2010)

Hum... now I wonder if I can convert my freshwater 10g eclipse into a reef tank... wonder if the BIO wheel filtration system is suitable...


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## juicebox (Jun 14, 2010)

Stock lighting system in an Eclipse would limit you to lowest light corals and even then I'd question it. Plus the filter is designed for freshwater and also wouldn't be very useful in a reef (additional water movement at best). I'm not saying it couldn't be done, but after all the modifications you would need to get it running successfully, it will probably be cheaper and easier to start from scratch with a different tank.


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

you could always retrofit sunblasters into the system buy you would need some circulation pumps, i would suggest a couple korilia nanos , you could always use crushed coral in the eclipse or stick a hotb filter on it, also a biocube skimmer would fit perfectly in there


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

also, if you guys want to go with 30g tanks and smaller the best suggestion i can give you is spend the money, buy a used 29 or 14g biocube, they go for under 250 on craigslist with stands and are pretty much a ready to run system (minus the fact that they could use more circulation which can be solved with korilia nanos)


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## SnailPuffer (Jun 19, 2010)

Awesome idea spit.fire!  I've found a couple listings on craglists for 14g with pretty much everything! I'm so tempted... does it cost a lot to up keep with a 14g? Cus I have a 72g and a 10g now... and just bought a new apartment...  was thinking of waiting until my puffers in my 10g to pass away and start a small salt aquarium... not planning to put a lot in the 14g... prob just a couple dwarf hermits and a couple snails... and maybe one goby... the ones that can live in a 10g...

Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Cave Transparent Goby


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## SnailPuffer (Jun 19, 2010)

Just got a used 14g BioCube on Craglist... Awesome deal! the tank is clean and it looks new... for $140 only! Mind ya the fan is a little noisy... could be quieter... but anyway... pico is going to be too hard.... going to work with the 14g first...


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## fresh (Jul 28, 2010)

sent you a pm.


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