new to salt need help
- Thread starter steve535
- Start date
How much light are you going to have? 3 watts per gallon for "fish with live rock only" should be just enough.
I would also go with at least 20LBs of it in there. Are you going with a deep sand bed or a crushed coral substrate?
Since you already plan to put live rock in the tank I would start out with a Six-line wrasse. They stay small, are hardy, active, and very pretty. They cost anywhere from $14-$20.
I would aslo start off with a clean up crew (hermits, snails, shrimp, etc...).
Below is a great resource for SW.
WetWebMedia
I would also go with at least 20LBs of it in there. Are you going with a deep sand bed or a crushed coral substrate?
Since you already plan to put live rock in the tank I would start out with a Six-line wrasse. They stay small, are hardy, active, and very pretty. They cost anywhere from $14-$20.
I would aslo start off with a clean up crew (hermits, snails, shrimp, etc...).
Below is a great resource for SW.
WetWebMedia
Live rock is always better and provides the tank with biological filtration. You need to know the wattage of your lights. 10,000K refers to the spectrum.
You will have to check the compatibilty and requirments for each fish you want to put in your tank as there are several species of Basslets.
SW requires a bit more research than FW. If I were you I would start reading up a bit. Knowledge is the key to success. You can through alot of $$$ down the toilet pretty easily.
You will have to check the compatibilty and requirments for each fish you want to put in your tank as there are several species of Basslets.
SW requires a bit more research than FW. If I were you I would start reading up a bit. Knowledge is the key to success. You can through alot of $$$ down the toilet pretty easily.
You will need to at least double that to be successful with a live rock set-up. SW requires much more light than FW. I have 130 watts on my 20G. The light was $150 including shipping.
Below is the best site on the net for lights.
HelloLights.com
Below is the best site on the net for lights.
HelloLights.com
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You don't need any more light for live rock. That's enough, depending on whats attached -if you have green algae, or have lucked out and have some polyps or corals you'd need more for them to grow, but if ti's worms , sponges or nuisance anemonaes (not necassarily a nuisance all the time), that's enough
Hey wayne, do you really think 1 watt per gallon would be enough to get some adequate growth (coralline, macro algae, plants, etc...) from the LR? I always thought 2 watts per gallon was the low end.
Lauren, polyps will colonize if you provide the right conditions. I was lucky enough to get some on my LR. They have doubled in numbers the last 2 months.
Lauren, polyps will colonize if you provide the right conditions. I was lucky enough to get some on my LR. They have doubled in numbers the last 2 months.
1 watt per gallon in really shallow water would work, but for macro algae and most polyps more (much more) would be better. But for the coralline, some other polyps that would be enough - the live rock needs none to function at it's most basic level - it's just a medium for bacteria. Sponges typically don't do well in high light settngs as they get covered in algae.
I might add a skimmer to this set up, or I might make 1 gallon twice a week water changes a habit and be careful about stocking. I wouldn't use a steriliser - getting the nitrogen cycle is the most important thing, and a striliser won't do that. The uv just adds complexity
I might add a skimmer to this set up, or I might make 1 gallon twice a week water changes a habit and be careful about stocking. I wouldn't use a steriliser - getting the nitrogen cycle is the most important thing, and a striliser won't do that. The uv just adds complexity