# Saltwater Tanks!



## scrapedogg (Apr 28, 2003)

I'm looking to get into saltwater, and I've been in contact with a guy who, believe it or not, only lives 4 hours from where I live (Fargo, ND) He's talking about maybe selling me a 58 gallon oceanic tank with 
-coral light (attanic I believe)
-Protein Skimmer
-60 pounds of live rock
-coral substrate
-emperor pro 60 or something like a 400 I believe
-extra salt
-heater
basically anything else that I'd need with the tank. test kits etc.

He wants 450 bucks for the setup, do you guys think this is a good deal? Also, has anyone ever tried to transport live saltwater fish? it'd be a full day on the road basically. I might be able to throw in a pair of clown fish a yellow tang, an orange shoulder tang, and a pseudo with the deal.

P.S. Does anyone have a lionfish? I really want to get one but don't know much about the compatibility with those other fish. (Captain Picard has one, and they kickass)


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## scrapedogg (Apr 28, 2003)

p.p.s. How big of tanks do lionfish require? Picard's tank on the show isn't real big, but like on deuce bigalow, that's a huge tank, and on the naked gun, it's a pretty big tank too. Would it survive in a 58 gallon tank?


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## Croz (Jan 29, 2003)

i think so , one of my LFS has 2 of them in a 66G bowfront so i thing you should be fine there are lots of saltfish boards around you can ask on. go to predfish and use the saltwater section and ask the same question. i would like to have a saltwater tank other than the cost and all that there is a badass trigger at my LFS i would love to have as an addition to preditory fish collection.


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## bgshortys (Apr 7, 2003)

I don't own any saltwater tanks or lionfish, but I heard that since lions fins are so flambouyant, they don't need much room in a tank because they dont swim around all day.


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## thePACK (Jan 3, 2003)

i have own all different kinds of lionfish from fu-manchus to the volitans,dwarfs regular to fuzzy and atennata...there are very awesome fish that are very hardy..but some do need there space(100 g and bigger)..they grow rapidly and have the appetties to match it..they will eat anything they can fit in there mouth.and thats a great setup for that price..for transporting them ..buy some heat pads and a battery operated air pump to move around..


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## thePACK (Jan 3, 2003)




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## scrapedogg (Apr 28, 2003)

Sweet, I can live without the lionfish, I'm just prone to trying to be like captain picard. I have a voltage inverter in my car, so I can hook up that stuff for the drive, and keep the tank temp and air going strong. Are there any other precautions to take, like do I need to let the tank run with the new setup for a day or something and keep the fish in buckets till it's up and running again, or will the levels be ok because I'd be leaving the rock and all that in the tank, so it'd stay cycled, just like an 80-85%water change.


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## thePACK (Jan 3, 2003)

it should all be okay..the only things you have to becareful with is ..do not let the rock and and sand dry up or all bactaria will die ..keep them wet..the rock you can keep moist with wet newspaper wrapped around the rock.after you get the tank let it run for an hour or so before introducing the fish...all should work out fine..plus your getting some really nice fish


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## scrapedogg (Apr 28, 2003)

Thanks for the advice. The clown is trying to sell two tanks like this, along with a 72 gallon bowfront, all of these tanks set up and all great and everything, but he's in minneapolis, and has a reserve on ebay set at 1800 bucks. Right now it's at 455 bucks.....hasn't moved in a day and a half, so he'll probably end up just selling one of them to me. Once they dont' sell on ebay, that's when I get to slowly twist the knife. Man I'm a bastard!!


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## thePACK (Jan 3, 2003)

scrapedogg said:


> Thanks for the advice. The clown is trying to sell two tanks like this, along with a 72 gallon bowfront, all of these tanks set up and all great and everything, but he's in minneapolis, and has a reserve on ebay set at 1800 bucks. Right now it's at 455 bucks.....hasn't moved in a day and a half, so he'll probably end up just selling one of them to me. Once they dont' sell on ebay, that's when I get to slowly twist the knife. Man I'm a bastard!!


 hahaha..what ever works man...thats the name of the game...


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## CoolD (Apr 16, 2003)

anyone have any useful links on info to help me set up a salt water tank?
Equipment required, the "how to's", and so on?


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## scrapedogg (Apr 28, 2003)

I did a search on ask jeeves.com and it came up with several good sources. 
Basicly, what you need depends on what you want. The main difference is if you want fish only, then you just need salt, a protein skimmer, a calcium based substrate, and to monitor your ph regularly. If you want coral, then you need lots more live rock, all of the same stuff as the other tanks, and a superpowered grow light. Those lights are hugely expensive. Most threads say start out with only fish, and easy ones at that like damsels. Then to move into more difficult stuff once you have the ph and salinity under control for a while. It's pretty spendy either way. I'm currently trying to work out a deal with a guy for a 58 gallon tank all fully set up for about 460 bucks. I think that's a pretty decent deal, that's what this thread was all about is the ridiculous cost of a saltwater tank setup. it's basicly as cheap as you want it to be.


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## nitrofish (Jan 14, 2003)

CoolD said:


> anyone have any useful links on info to help me set up a salt water tank?
> Equipment required, the "how to's", and so on?


 theres a new measage board that fetures a saltwater section. I have learned a lot and have my first salt water tank cycleing right now.I will be adding live rock shortly after the ammonia drops down .

aqua-addiction.com


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## jabster (Jan 18, 2003)

Well, with the live rock, you will have die off in the move and go through at least a mini cycle. If he uses filter media in the power filter, keep it and it will help with the mini cycle.

Chuck the crushed coral and go with sand. Save some of the crushed coral and make little panty hose bags to seed the sand. There will be lots of worms and stuff in the substrate if the tank has been up for a few months......save as many as you can. They are mostly good stuff to have. Do not re-use the whole CC substrate, though, even if you are dead set on CC.

Also, 60 pounds of live rock will be enough to filter waste out of that tank (as long as it IS live rock), so you will actually have lower nitrates if you dump the media in the power filter....after the mini cycle. And if you go with a sand bed and establish it properly, you will see 0 nitrAtes once it establishes. All you'll need to add are some good crabs, snails, shrimp, starfish, etc to take care of tank clean up.

Also, make sure you have other methods of circulation besides the power filter, as they tend to freeze up in salt water applications, so they need to be checked regularly.

Do not in any circumstance put a damsel in your tank  They are little pr!cks that are impossible to get out once you've realized they suck.

A good site for LOTS of info.... www.reefcentral.com


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## nitrofish (Jan 14, 2003)

jabster said:


> Well, with the live rock, you will have die off in the move and go through at least a mini cycle. If he uses filter media in the power filter, keep it and it will help with the mini cycle.
> 
> Chuck the crushed coral and go with sand. Save some of the crushed coral and make little panty hose bags to seed the sand. There will be lots of worms and stuff in the substrate if the tank has been up for a few months......save as many as you can. They are mostly good stuff to have. Do not re-use the whole CC substrate, though, even if you are dead set on CC.
> 
> ...


 haha, its true


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## CoolD (Apr 16, 2003)

thanks for the link to thatout, but i think i need more basic info first


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## thePACK (Jan 3, 2003)

nice tank nitro..but i do recommand you get a power head for the middle of the tank..i also have a 35 hex..and at first i was having alot of problems with the tank because no filtration on the bottom of the tank.having oxygen problems..just a heads up...


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## scrapedogg (Apr 28, 2003)

Well the auction on ebay just ended, and the tank didn't sell, so I'm still game on for getting this badboy. I just went to an aquarium club auction the other day, that was pretty sweet, they sell coral frags for so cheap. You can't even think about getting into coral unless you have hundreds of dollars if you buy it at the lfs. What a find, I'll be able to populate my whole tank with lots of corals and such for really cheap.


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## Andrew (Mar 3, 2003)

CoolD said:


> thanks for the link to thatout, but i think i need more basic info first


Read Saltwater 101

Hope this helps.


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