Should I buy water

[ninjamini]

Went to the store to pick up some starter stuff for my new 6 galon eclipse. Its my first tank. The guy showed me two solutions for preparing water.

1. Buy salt and conditioner followed by bacteria.

2. Buy pre boxed water.

The cost is about the same either way $25-30. Any preferences about either? He told me with the boxed water I gan get the fish too and it does not need to cycle.

 

[RYANRODRIGUEZ]

I have never heard of such a think as boxed water. i think you should get RO water from your local grocrie store. and let it cycle untill the preamaters are ok. you can add some frozen brine shrimp cube (1) in the sand and that will help speed things up. good luck!

 

[itchy armpits]

If this is your first tank, don't go saltwater. It won't work out for you. A freshwater betta will do great in that tank.

Don't listen to that guy at the store anymore.

 

[ninjamini]

The water comes in a 2.2 galon bottle and a 4.4 galon bottle in a box. The box says that it is for starting a tank. Anyone know about this? uesd it?

 

[wayne]

I think it's rotten advice. You can either make your own from a standard mix or find a shop up that mixes up then sells that water instead. I've seen boxed water and I'm not very convinced.
And it's got nothing to do with cycling. Filter bacteria lives on solid surfaces, not floating around.
You are asking very, very basic questions, yet you still want to start a 6 gallon nano, which is, to say the least, going to be costy and unstable? You have a very hard learning curve in front, and my best advice is to research, research and research some more before you spend any more money, let alone buy anything alive as right now I would say your chances of success are less than 5% with keeping things alive.
And your lfs is giving you really poor advice.

 

[S.Reef]

I would probably just mix your own...I also would be leery of this "boxed water because it could of been in the box for quite some time.

 

[1979camaro]

i would listen to wayne and read a lot before you start killing things and throwing money down the drain...start off with some books and go from there

 

[dbacksrat]

and when you've done your research (which should take awhile) you'll be interested in a bigger tank that can be kept more stable

 

[S.Reef]

Starting a tank you want real bacteria. A few peieces of live rock are good for jump starting your system.

 

[ninjamini]

OK so I went to another fish store today and they told me that they use ocean water. Yes water right from the ocean. They sell it for 50 cents a gallon. Which is far more resonable than the $18 for 4.4 galons.

I am starting to think that I should not beleive the guys in a fish store. Thats a sad statment for the hobby.

I picked the 6 galon eclipse tank cuz it fits so nicely on the shelf in the den. My wife want to see success with a small tank before she grants me space for a larger more expensive tank.

 

[RYANRODRIGUEZ]

a small tanks is twice if not 10 times harder to care for then a large tank and in a small tanks if something goes wrong, bad things happen fast but in a large tank you have time to react...but good luck i once had a small tank and i made it work. but it was A LOT of work. lots and lots of water changes.

 

[wayne]

Water from the ocean is risky, but if you buy it from them and it kills everything you have some comeback.

I can assure you a 20 long is going to be a damn sight easier for a newbie to keep, plus your stocking options are infinitely more. If you don't want sessile inverts (corals), then you can keep not too much in the eclipse, maybe one or two very small fish. Plus the cost for a 20 long will be very little higher than the 6.

 

[S.Reef]

Yes..smaller tanks harder then bigger...still possible however with an eye on water quality and the urge to over stock...cant keep many corals under that lighting though.