Thinking of setting up a marine tank...

Greg

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Sep 30, 2001, 10:04:29 PM9/30/01

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I just moved into a new apartment. It looked a little empty because I
don't have a whole lotta extra furniture, so I went over to my folks
house and picked up my old 37 gallon tank & stand. It's been sitting
empty for several years now - used to house some freshwater species.

Anyway, I have been thinking of doing a saltwater setup. Before this
I've only had freshwater. Is a 37 big enough to fit a few
not-too-large creatures in? Any advice is appreciated!

John Hudson

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Sep 30, 2001, 10:16:12 PM9/30/01

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30 gallon with a 10 gallon sump was my first venture......... I migrated all
of it's contents into an 80 gallon which I'm still having good success
with....

"Greg" <king....@home.com> wrote in message
news:kijfrtkuophitennu...@4ax.com...

Robert Compton

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Oct 1, 2001, 2:03:57 AM10/1/01

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30 is probably fine. I'm sure you've heard the addage that more water means a more
forgiving margin for error though...

Couple of things come to mind:

1. Did your freshwater tank ever get medicated with copper? If you're planning on
keeping inverts (basically anything that's not strictly a fish) residue from copper
treatments will mean a quick death for any inverts that you add.

2. Filtration. There's probably not much you'll want to salvage from your FW setup.
UG filters really have no place in SW (some diehards out there will say that they're
fine but most agree that they're just unecessary dirt-traps)

--
悟

Greg

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Oct 1, 2001, 8:53:04 AM10/1/01

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Now that I think back, I did have to medicate the tank a couple times.
Should not be a problem though - I discovered the tank has a couple
cracks in it, so I am going to replace it.

As for filtration, I will need some advice on that. What sort of setup
should I be looking at for a 37 gallon?

Jim Anderson

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Oct 1, 2001, 12:59:59 PM10/1/01

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In article <vmpgrtc3u1rsdhhn2...@4ax.com>, king....@home.com
says...

> As for filtration, I will need some advice on that. What sort of setup
> should I be looking at for a 37 gallon?
>
>

Hi Greg-
The *ideal* setup would be;

1 pounds of Live Rock per gallon of water (~40 lbs).

3-4 inches of live sand (sold by weight, (length inches x width inches of
aquarium x 3-4 inches depth of sand) divided by 20 equals pounds of live
sand needed) (I.e. 20 cubic inches of wet live sand weighs about 1 pound).

2-3 powerheads (divide length of aquarium by 4 and put 1 powerhead at this
dimension from each end near the top. Add a third powerhead real low on one
side to blow across the back of the aquarium, but not so low that it can
suck up he sand). The total circulation from these should pump a minimum 6-8
time the total gallons of the aquarium. Aquarium Systems Maxi-Jet powerheads
are small, powerful and reliable.

A Remora hang on the back Protein Skimmer in the middle back of the
aquarium. A good Protein Skimmer is the *only* mechanical filter you should
need. It pulls the gunk out of the water *before* it breaks down in the
nitrogen cycle.

And lastly but also VERY important the Salt mix. Instant Ocean salt is *very
highly* rated. Some salt mixes have gotten bad reviews. Using my RO water I
add .4 cups per gallon to get 1.023 on my hydrometer.

I have no association to the products recommended here, but have seen *many*
favorable posts for these products.
--
Hope this helped.
Jim Anderson
fro...@frontiernet.my_finger.net
To e-mail me, just pull my_finger.