# Going for my first Saltwater Tank



## eddyhead (Nov 6, 2007)

Ok so i'm sure this has been brought up a million times so if either you could help me answer my question or direct me to a fourm with the answer.

I have a 30 gal that i want to try to start my first salfwater tank...I have the tank, a cover, and a light (i'm sure i will need to change the bulb). Do i need a special type of filter?
basically what all do i need?
i dont want to go to the pet store to ask cause they will try to sell me everything including their weekly hamster sale


----------



## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

http://www.piranha-fury.com/pfury/index.php?showtopic=165252

try that thread or the other thread that is near the top of this same forum

http://www.piranha-fury.com/pfury/index.php?showtopic=165292


----------



## eddyhead (Nov 6, 2007)

Thank you nismo

had another question i saw on the first one someone posted about that powerhead and live rock would be enough for filtration...so with saltwater and live rocks you dont need a filter?


----------



## eddyhead (Nov 6, 2007)

Could someone do a lil explaining on Live Rock for me...Cabd Live Rock Grow? Reproduce?


----------



## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

eddyhead said:


> Could someone do a lil explaining on Live Rock for me...Cabd Live Rock Grow? Reproduce?


live rock is "live" becuase it is covered with bateria and micro organisims that do in effect filter the water because they live off of the fish waste and other elements in the water.

power heads are suggested because you dont want to have and areas of stanant water or "dead spots" one of the most common effects of dead spots is cyano bacteria, an unattractive red slimey film that cover ths sand and undesireable. but the other reason for power heads is that lots of random water movement is very good for pretty much all coral in many ways.

you did miss one thing though, you should run a skimmer, skimmers create bubble in a chamber and those bubles string together the excess prtiens in the water and eventually lift out ofthe skimmer into the collection cup. a skimmer is the most effective way to filter out these excess protiens that can foul up the water in a salt tank. witha smaller tank you can get away with out a skimmer by simply doing water changes to export nutrients i dilute the water int eh tank enough to keep nitrates down till the next water change. this is pretty much what a skimmer does on a constant basis.

now if you want to get more advanced and complicated and costly you can run a phospahate reactor to chemically reduce phosphate.

you can run activated carbon to polish the water and reduce nitrates and remove other toxins from teh water,

you can run a uv sterilizer to kill off things floating in the water but UV is also going to kill good tihngs like th bacteria that is processing nitrates and various phptplankton that your corals feed on.. uv is seldom run 24/7 for the reason i just stated lplus the short life of the bulbs and cost to replace them.

there are other natural forms of filtration that are more advanced like setting up a refugium, a place for micro organismins to reproduce with out being easily consumed by fish, man times these are set up with sand beds of varying depth and with fast growing macro algae. this achieves multiple things. the macro algae uses the nutrients in the water to grow, this reduces teh available nutrients for pest algae to use to grow.

deep sand beds or pleniums also contribute to the filtration process but this is a touchy topic with some people and typically become a potentially disasterous problem after many years of use. basically it creats an area of anerobic bacteria that breaks things down but if these form pockets and the gasses and watse in those pockets get released into the dispya it can wipe out a tank..


----------



## eddyhead (Nov 6, 2007)

all i'm going to say is WOW!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! very helpful and i will let you know how it turns out


----------

