# Sticky  Saltwater on a budget



## 00nothing

Let me start this post buy saying that what i am about to tell u is basically looked down on by many reefkeepers and saltwater enthusiasts in general but it has worked for me in the past and with more than one tank in a variety of sizes also but these are my methods that work for me so there is no guarantee they will work for you

I have noticed an increase in the amount of people interested in starting a saltwater tank on this site so felt perhaps a how to do it on a budget post was necessary as i have done many saltwater tanks on a very slim budget. I am going to break it down into 3 size categoriessmall medium and large in an effort to help specify what is needed u will notice a lot repeated from one tank category to the next

*IF ANYONE DISAGREES WITH MY METHODS FEEL FREE TO SAY SO BUT THESE METHODS HAVE WORKED FOR ME AND ON MANY TANKS SOME OF WHICH HAVE BEEN RUNNING FOR MANY YRS NOW*

5-30 GALLON
while perhaps the most intriguing size for most newcomers they can also be the most unforgiving my theory has always been that if u can keep a small saltwater tank then large ones will be a breeze the reason for this is it is harder to maintain quality water in a snall tank and when bad things happen they happen much faster

equipment & supplies:
tank obviously

*Powerfilters* - regardless of the size of the tank even a 5 gallon can benefit from using the largest powerfilter u can get my favorite has always been the ac500 or now known as the ac110 but u can use anything really all the way down to an ac mini on the smallest of tanks. one of the great parts with the larger aquaclears is they are easily converted into refugiums which adds great filtration for these smaller tanks especially int he absence of a protein skimmer. flow is very important in saltwater tanks of any size so powerheads are also something to be considered how much flow is hard number to give it honestly all depends on your specific setup but i will tell u this much its a lot more flow then u would ever think of adding to most fresh tanks

*Heater* - one of the pieces u never want to cheap out on especially in a small tank due to the fact even the smallest of malfuntions can wipe out your entire tank

*Sand* - there area lot of debates about which sand to use well see that expensive pre bagged sand at the LFS forget it run away go to rona or homedepot and grab ureself a bag of the finest grain playsand u can find silica or calcium based it doesnt matter a full bag will cost u like $7, the other option is to shop on aquarium board classifieds find someone taking down there tank and buy there sand u can usually pick a bucket full for as little as $10 if they were jsut goign to toss it anyways and it will be actuall live sand

*Live rock* - First of what exactly is live rock i think there is a lot of misinformation as to what liverock really is here is a link that provides lots of info on what liverock really is http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/filtersel.../a/aa111901.htm so now with that out of the way is it needed YES but there is no need to gout and spend $10 per lb to get it. Many companies sell what is considered base rock or dead rock and it is exactly how it sounds it is dead reef rock that has been dug up from long dead reefs that existed millions of yrs ago depending on the size of the tank u have my rule of thumb is 1-1.5 lbs per gallon of total rock and i usually try and maintain a 20% ratio of genuine liverock and 80% baserock so in a typical 10 gallon tank i would go for 15 lbs of rock minimum with at least 3 lbs of that being genuine high quality lr just teaming with life and hopefully lots of coralline algae to help kick start growth on your baserock. Another option is as always try and find someone shutting down there tank if u can score good liverock for as little as 2.50 per lb in some cases then that will always be the way to go

*Lighting* - Lighting is a very important aspect to a tank especially a reef tank but it is my belief it is also a very overpriced section of the hobby and that there are many ways to save money in this section small tanks 5-10 gallons can be lit with simple screw in powercompact bulbs many aquarium stores sell specific bubls for this purpose but there output is the same as the ones we get from homedepot just a diffrent kelvin rating ( kelvin refers to the lights visual output is it a little blue is it yellow) i have used many times philips daylight bulbs from homedepot over small tanks they are 6500k and give a fairly nice bit of blue tint whihc can then be comlimented by running a small blue flourescent of some type now as i say this is strictly fro the smallest of tanks 5 - 10 gallons and only for low light corals i would never attempt to keep any light loving species under this lighting jsut shrooms and some lps. Without getting into to much detail as this little thread of mine is getting larger than i expected it to be the other lighting methods i recommend for these size tanks is Powercompact lots of these for sale used on aquarium boards or T5. The last method of lighting that i like to use is ODNO or over driven normal output flourescent there is much debate about the quality of this lighting method but it has worked for me but i usually prefer to reserve it for larger tanks as it is easier to setup on them and the pirce of used smaller fixtures menat for aquarium use is usually within reach financially

*Protein SKimmer*- Last but not least the protein skimmer is it needed for small tanks absolutly not its nice to have but it is not a necessity regular water changes and a good refugium or even macro algaes growing in the tank will take care of the job of the protein skimmer my current 30 gallon reef has been running for 6 months with no skimmer and my water is pristine all my corals and fish are doing amazing. BUT does not mean not to get one if a protein skimmer in in your budget them by all means purchase ones but buyer beware there are a great deal of over priced protein skimmers out there that honestly are pointless for tanks of this size my favorite skimmers for this size of tank would be the coralife superskimmer 65 ora excalibur skimmer, many others like the remora and the cpr bakpak

Okay well thats the first section i really cant type anymore right now







i shall try and post the second section later on 40 - 75 gallons
Here are some pictures of smaller tanks in the range that i ahve jsut talked about that i have done in the past as well as some specs on them to show how easily they were accomplished

5 gallon mini reef one of my first tanks corals wernt looking the greatest but the tank was fairly new at this point and the corals had jsut been added after being stuck ina cooler for 2 days
aquaclear mini, maxijet powerhead cant remember what size small one though, screw in 50/50 powercompacts purchased from big als think they were like 15 watts each or something 









hex tank cant remember the size like 5 gallons or something very simple tank running the included mini powerfilter and one large screw in power compact ge daylight housed my daughters seahorse









7 gallon minibow this tank i love i set it up for a friend of mine
aquaclear 500, 50 watt heater, 2 ge daylights and one blue cold cathode from a computer store purchased dirt cheap for some extra blue

















30 gallon lagoon reef
this is my current setup while i work on my new tank project
ac500, 110 watts ebay t5 lighting purchased very reasonable price, 50 watt heater stuck inside the aquaclear, zoomed powersweep, possibly an excalibur skimmer coming soon but i dont feel it really needs it the macros more than take care of my water quality, these pictures are a little older i should get some new ones as everything has done quite well and grown my clonws even laid a batch of eggs i was unfortunatly unable to care for the young as i was in the middle of moving i plan on eventually having this tank jsut crammed full of algeas and mushrooms and using it as a breeding tank for bangaii cardinals

















Sorry for the long ass post but i think conveying some of my personal information is necessary to show that these cheap ass methods can work


----------



## CichlidAddict

Great post. I know jack about SW, but someday I'll take the plunge...


----------



## Mettle

Fantastic post. Gives me some great ideas for my project that I'm accumulating pieces for.

I used to have links on how to convert an AC500/AC110 into a refugium, but have lost them. If anyone has a link to a DIY project of this nature I'd love to get it off of them.


----------



## 00nothing

Mettle said:


> Fantastic post. Gives me some great ideas for my project that I'm accumulating pieces for.
> 
> I used to have links on how to convert an AC500/AC110 into a refugium, but have lost them. If anyone has a link to a DIY project of this nature I'd love to get it off of them.


heres one example i found for u
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...t=how+to+DIY+an


----------



## illnino

saltwater can be very cheap... all you need is a tank, light, a little live rock and something to make flow. you can spend anywhere from $50-$50,000 on a personal reef setup.


----------



## Raptor

Nice read! Thanks for sharing!~


----------



## luciferzone

nice !! !


----------



## 00nothing

sorry about the delay in adding sections 2 & 3 for the larger tanks but my other hobby paintball has been sucking up my time in anticipation of lots pf play this weekend


----------



## Fresh2salt

great stuff to read about


----------



## rchan11

Great info...should be pinned.


----------



## mikfleye

awsome info, my Gf has been looking into buying a 12 gallon nanocube, but i have 3 spare 10 gallons , would it be cheaper? i have the tank, the heaters, the filters, all i would need would be the sand, you say play sand would work, so thats cheap, and the powerhead would be pretty cheap, now all i would need is lighting and LR? she woud do fake corals anyway so does lighting even matter? or can i just use a standard flouresent? how much do u think it would cost to set up a 10 gallon?


----------



## 00nothing

mikfleye said:


> awsome info, my Gf has been looking into buying a 12 gallon nanocube, but i have 3 spare 10 gallons , would it be cheaper? i have the tank, the heaters, the filters, all i would need would be the sand, you say play sand would work, so thats cheap, and the powerhead would be pretty cheap, now all i would need is lighting and LR? she woud do fake corals anyway so does lighting even matter? or can i just use a standard flouresent? how much do u think it would cost to set up a 10 gallon?


IF all your doing is fake corals then ligitng isnt really needed but for asthetic reasons i would use a flourescent meant for marine tanks such as a 50/50 or a 10k jsut to get he nice blue look


----------



## shiver905

mikfleye said:


> awsome info, my Gf has been looking into buying a 12 gallon nanocube, but i have 3 spare 10 gallons , would it be cheaper? i have the tank, the heaters, the filters, all i would need would be the sand, you say play sand would work, so thats cheap, and the powerhead would be pretty cheap, now all i would need is lighting and LR? she woud do fake corals anyway so does lighting even matter? or can i just use a standard flouresent? how much do u think it would cost to set up a 10 gallon?


You could use the 10 gallons, Iv always thought thos nano/bio cubes are over priced.

If its only for a fish, You can get away with anything.

Dont forget.
RO/DI water
Salt
Hydrometer


----------

