Aqueon 36 gallon Bow Tank - Saltwater?

CAPSLOCK

CAPSLOCK

Elite Fish
#2
Jul 19, 2004
3,682
33
48
39
Cape Cod
#2
That would work fine with saltwater as well. You could do a really nice setup in there with the included lights for a FOWLR (fish only with live rock) setup - and shrimp would be fine as well. The light will not be powerful enough for corals. I'm not sure why it says ideally freshwater - probably the light. I would recommend swapping the included "full spectrum" bulb for a 10,000K or 50/50 bulb that is designed for marine environments, but it is not a necessity.

What you will want equipment-wise:
- Live rock - this will be your "filter" in a SW tank - you can buy mostly dry rock and seed it with a little live to save $$
- Heater
- Powerhead for water movement
- A good hang-on-back protein skimmer would be a good addition - otherwise it would just be more partial water changes.
- Refractometer or hydrometer, thermometer, test kits
- Bucket or some such and a powerhead to mix new saltwater, and likely a second heater to warm it
- Good marine book

In a smaller tank like that, look at the more peaceful clownfish - ocellaris or percula, or any of the "designer" colors of those two. The more aggressive clowns will probably kill anything else you put with them in those close quarters. If you get a pair of clowns, you would probably be looking at 1-2 other small fish. Also no anemone - not enough light, plus they are sensitive and difficult, especially in a new tank.

Blue tang (any tang) would get significantly too large / active for the tank. They are extremely fast growers to boot.

Check out liveaquaria.com and their nano suggestions for a 36g tank: Nano Fish
I'd also recommend browsing through some of the other fish categories, but keep an eye on the recommended tank size and steer away from anything listed as over 30g.
 

S

snus29

Medium Fish
#3
Dec 10, 2012
50
0
0
#3
CAPSLOCK said:
That would work fine with saltwater as well. You could do a really nice setup in there with the included lights for a FOWLR (fish only with live rock) setup - and shrimp would be fine as well. The light will not be powerful enough for corals. I'm not sure why it says ideally freshwater - probably the light. I would recommend swapping the included "full spectrum" bulb for a 10,000K or 50/50 bulb that is designed for marine environments, but it is not a necessity.

What you will want equipment-wise:
- Live rock - this will be your "filter" in a SW tank - you can buy mostly dry rock and seed it with a little live to save $$
- Heater
- Powerhead for water movement
- A good hang-on-back protein skimmer would be a good addition - otherwise it would just be more partial water changes.
- Refractometer or hydrometer, thermometer, test kits
- Bucket or some such and a powerhead to mix new saltwater, and likely a second heater to warm it
- Good marine book

In a smaller tank like that, look at the more peaceful clownfish - ocellaris or percula, or any of the "designer" colors of those two. The more aggressive clowns will probably kill anything else you put with them in those close quarters. If you get a pair of clowns, you would probably be looking at 1-2 other small fish. Also no anemone - not enough light, plus they are sensitive and difficult, especially in a new tank.

Blue tang (any tang) would get significantly too large / active for the tank. They are extremely fast growers to boot.

Check out liveaquaria.com and their nano suggestions for a 36g tank: Nano Fish
I'd also recommend browsing through some of the other fish categories, but keep an eye on the recommended tank size and steer away from anything listed as over 30g.
Click to expand...
Ok thanks. So how much would the bulb cost? And how do you go about putting in watery that has evaporated.
 

CAPSLOCK

CAPSLOCK

Elite Fish
#4
Jul 19, 2004
3,682
33
48
39
Cape Cod
#4
Yo could either add water directly to the aquarium (dechlorinated or RODI fresh water) or get an auto topoff setup to do it automatically when the water level drops.

New bulb should be in the $15 range I would guess. You could look it up on amazon or petsmart.
 

S

snus29

Medium Fish
#5
Dec 10, 2012
50
0
0
#5
CAPSLOCK said:
Yo could either add water directly to the aquarium (dechlorinated or RODI fresh water) or get an auto topoff setup to do it automatically when the water level drops.

New bulb should be in the $15 range I would guess. You could look it up on amazon or petsmart.
Click to expand...
Thanks. How do I make water RODI water?
 

CAPSLOCK

CAPSLOCK

Elite Fish
#6
Jul 19, 2004
3,682
33
48
39
Cape Cod
#6
RODI is Reverse Osmosis / Deionized - all the impurities and minerals and everything removed. Makes tap water pristine. You can purchase RODI water from many LFS, or you can get a filter that makes it - you can get one that attaches to the sink even. The equipment isn't too expensive, especially for small amounts - under $100. It is relatively cheap to run but does create a lot of waste water.

A lot of reef enthusiasts swear by them. To be fair, in an SPS reef setup they are trying to keep nitrates and phosphates at 0, and almost all tap water has both in it. But if you don't need pristine conditions like that, and your tap water has low nitrates and no toxic crap, you can use dechlorinated tap water. It will be more prone to growing algae as algae feeds on excess nutrients (nitrates & phosphates). A good protein skimmer will lower the nitrates for you. Having less than reef-intense lighting will also limit the algae growing. As well as having the 10,000k or 50/50 bulb rather than the daylight bulbs that are in the ideal spectrum for algae.

I use dechlorinated tap in my SW tank. I was worried about it after reading from many, many people who said that RODI was a necessity and it would just be total algae in the tank. But I don't have the ability in my little place to hook up an RODI filter. So I figured I would give it a try and clean more algae as necessary, and not have corals if the water quality wasn't up for it (I'm more into the fish anyways). I had algae growing rapidly for about 3-4 weeks and it tapered off after that. Snails helped, as will the blenny who will be going in after a few more weeks in QT. But more so, I think the good protein skimmer is keeping everything in check for me. I have a few small soft coral frags which seem to be doing well, and another which died - but that was the one I manhandled badly getting it situated. Plus the tank is very new to have corals at all - the LR was all totally cycled in a previous tank is the only reason I got away with it - I don't recommend getting any type of corals so quickly after setting up a tank. I'm quite happy with using my tap water and dechlorinator. Especially if you aren't planning to have corals, you will probably be fine without RODI water.
 

S

snus29

Medium Fish
#7
Dec 10, 2012
50
0
0
#7
CAPSLOCK said:
RODI is Reverse Osmosis / Deionized - all the impurities and minerals and everything removed. Makes tap water pristine. You can purchase RODI water from many LFS, or you can get a filter that makes it - you can get one that attaches to the sink even. The equipment isn't too expensive, especially for small amounts - under $100. It is relatively cheap to run but does create a lot of waste water.

A lot of reef enthusiasts swear by them. To be fair, in an SPS reef setup they are trying to keep nitrates and phosphates at 0, and almost all tap water has both in it. But if you don't need pristine conditions like that, and your tap water has low nitrates and no toxic crap, you can use dechlorinated tap water. It will be more prone to growing algae as algae feeds on excess nutrients (nitrates & phosphates). A good protein skimmer will lower the nitrates for you. Having less than reef-intense lighting will also limit the algae growing. As well as having the 10,000k or 50/50 bulb rather than the daylight bulbs that are in the ideal spectrum for algae.

I use dechlorinated tap in my SW tank. I was worried about it after reading from many, many people who said that RODI was a necessity and it would just be total algae in the tank. But I don't have the ability in my little place to hook up an RODI filter. So I figured I would give it a try and clean more algae as necessary, and not have corals if the water quality wasn't up for it (I'm more into the fish anyways). I had algae growing rapidly for about 3-4 weeks and it tapered off after that. Snails helped, as will the blenny who will be going in after a few more weeks in QT. But more so, I think the good protein skimmer is keeping everything in check for me. I have a few small soft coral frags which seem to be doing well, and another which died - but that was the one I manhandled badly getting it situated. Plus the tank is very new to have corals at all - the LR was all totally cycled in a previous tank is the only reason I got away with it - I don't recommend getting any type of corals so quickly after setting up a tank. I'm quite happy with using my tap water and dechlorinator. Especially if you aren't planning to have corals, you will probably be fine without RODI water.
Click to expand...
Ok thanks. Because I was going to get a few boxes of the already made saltwater and put that in there, and since salt doesn't evaporate, I was gonna add pure water from water bottles in it. That would be fine right?
 

T

Thyra

Superstar Fish
#8
Jun 2, 2010
1,891
0
0
Yelm, WA
#8
I have no experience with SW, but I just want to mention that if it hasn't been said, you will definitely need some way to measure the salinity of the water.
 

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