New to a reef tank

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Whatskillz

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So iv had a 75gal planted freshwater tank for some time. But I want to start a nano reef.
I built a custom 33gal rimless tank. I'm building a 100watt "reef led light" (with royal blue, violet, 10k white LEDs I got a few cyan aswell). Also built a canister filter.
I'm not sure how to start the tank.
Was thinking live rock and live sand. How and do I even have to cycle a reef tank?
I'm not sure if I want fish. Might add one or 2.
What do I need to do to start and make it successful
 
You basically cycle a reef tank the same way that you cycle a freshwater tank. Im new to the hobby as well. I finished my tank cycle about 2 months ago. The first livestock that I chose was a goby and pistol shrimp combo. It is awesome to see them live together. My first corals I got were Pulsing Xenias and some Zoas. They seem to be doing great and growing. Ive picked up a few more Zoas, an anemone, two clowns and I finaly got a SPS (Bird's Nest) and LPS (Hammerhead) from some fellow members. I havent had one bad experience from this community. Everyone is so helpful and nice. Ive had all of my questions and concerns answered. I can say that i have already started making friendships because of this hobby. We welcome you here.
 
You are welcome. Feel free to ask anything that you have a question about it. I know I might not be the one to answer but Im certain someone will have an answer for you.
 
Just a couple of suggestions. When making the transition from fresh to salt water I think it’s helpful to understand some of the differences. The biggest are: that salt water has a lot less dissolved oxygen than does fresh. Also, the organisms have a harder job of existing due to the need to flush out salt and remain isotonic (a fancy word for chemically balanced). They generally have higher metabolisms because of this, so produce greater amounts of waste. We have a responsibility for providing them with the environment to allow for dealing with all of this. So, the filtration is more complex and correspondingly more expensive. A protein skimmer is a must, IMO. If for no other reason than it provides a huge amount of gas exchange, but can also help export those waste products efficiently, as well. So, you may find that the number of fish in a given tank is best kept much lower than in fresh water. An old rule of thumb used to be 1 inch of fish per gallon in fresh water, and 1 inch of fish per 5 gallons in salt. There are exceptions to this, but that’s what they are, exceptions. When starting out, have a LOT of patience. This is the most important ingredient in a Marine tank, by far, imho.

I would also suggest that you read, ...a lot! Go slowly, ask lots of questions. Don’t worry about ‘stupid’ questions, there aren’t any if you don’t know and need to learn. You are bound to make mistakes. We ALL have! Share your experiences freely. That’s how we learn, help one another and become more successful. It’s why this club exists ;)
Lastly- Welcome to the ARC!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I run a canister and a protein skimmer in my 40 gallon long. I have over 100 frags tho, and ten fish. I don’t use filter socks, so the canister does me well. Once I have room for a bigger sump I’ll most likely use socks and remove the canister. I like the canister because I can also use phosguard/carbon without the need for reactors.
 
Please note that @ZapataInc finished his cycle 2 months ago. The key to starting a successful saltwater system is patience. I can take a while to "cycle" a tank and only then can you start adding much to it. His tank is still "young" but it was a few months old before he really added much at all and even then they were more traditional start pieces. I've always argued that saltwater setups are that much harder than freshwater setups with one huge caveat - they are much less forgiving. The maintenance I did on my freshwater tanks wasn't any more than what I currently do but I can't take a month off with the saltwater tank like I used to with freshwater.

Welcome to ARC btw! Please feel free to post any questions you might have and we'll help any way we can as you take your first steps towards saltwater. It sounds like you're pretty handy and I look forward to seeing what you're putting together.
 
Is the protein skimmer inline with the canister?
I'm going for a seamless look so I dont have a place in the tank to put one
aestheticlibra said:
I run a canister and a protein skimmer in my 40 gallon long. I have over 100 frags tho, and ten fish. I don’t use filter socks, so the canister does me well. Once I have room for a bigger sump I’ll most likely use socks and remove the canister. I like the canister because I can also use phosguard/carbon without the need for reactors.
Click to expand...
 
The protein skimmer's I'm aware of are either stand alone -or- attached to a hang-on-back filter. I've never seen any sort of skimmer incorporated into any other kind of filter. Typically folks will use a sump to contain all of the extra stuff from the tank like skimmers, heaters, pumps in order to keep the clean look. It's almost like a larger, open canister filter. I know the look you're going for and I think it's really had to achieve without a sump.
 
Great advice here so far! I’ll reiterate some major points.

1) Patience, patience, patience. Letting your tank cycle for a couple months is a great start! But continue this patience afterwards. Try to limit yourself to ~2 additions at a time in the beginning, with at least 1-2 weeks between new purchases... And use the time in between to research, learn, and plan upcoming purchases. This will save your money and heartache from corals/fish deaths. And you’ll learn so much in this time.

2) Learn to test your water. This includes getting a backup thermometer, and a Refractometer (Hydrometers are prone to lots of errors and often cheaply made). Refracts are often about $18-25; no need to spend $50-70 that some places charge for them.

3) Clownfish are nearly indestructible, and make great first fish. 95% of the time, if a clownfish dies, then something is seriously wrong. I recommend any variation of Ocellaris or Perculas (these include Picassso, Davinci, Wyoming Whites, and most of the cool designer names). I would avoid Maroons (Lightning Maroons and Gold Nuggets) or Clarkii clowns. These get big and aggressive.

4) Green Star Polyps are a great beginner coral. Find one with a vibrant green color. While these corals can grow out of control, they can be managed by putting them on a rock island that is not connected to the rest of the rock structure. These corals also serve as a great ‘canary’ coral... meaning if something bad happens to your water quality down the road, you’ll notice immediately as these guys will not be fully extended as normal. Alerting you to test your water and see what’s going on before anything bad happens.

5) Sumps are great! I highly recommend them for making your life easier. Not only do they increase your water volume and keep unsightly skimmers and heaters out of your display tank, but they also allow you to use higher quality skimmers as many HOB and mini’s don’t work as well and/or increase your risk of leaks.
-
6) How to cycle a reef tank? (It is Similar to freshwater)

a) Fill your tank with saltwater, rockwork, and sand... and turn on your pumps.
-For Saltwater, a specific gravity of 1.025 +/- 0.001 is a good starting point for reefs. However, you can get away with as low as 1.015 for fish-only before you add coral. This will save you a few bucks. If mixing your own water from the tap (not recommended but doable), use a dechloronator.

b) if using a sump; you don’t want your tank to overflow if all pumps fail due to a power outage. So turn everything off and watch your tank/sump (whichever is lower to the ground) for a few minutes. If it starts to get close to overflowing, use a bucket to remove a bit of water until it is not an issue. Turn pumps back on when done.

c) Add your Bacteria. This may have been done previously if using already wet live-rock, and/or wet live-sand. If they’re completely dry, they’re not live.

d) Add some food for the bacteria. A very very tiny amount of something to decompose. Depending on the size of the tank; maybe a couple fish food pellets could be more than enough. Note: this will increase unsightly algae growth, but will also help the bacteria along. Don’t add too much food.

e) wait... lol. You need time for the food to decompose, bacteria to nitrify Ammonia to Nitrite and then to Nitrate (2+ different populations of bacteria). These populations need to grow, have babies, those babies to have babies, and those ones to have babies, and so on. As such, there’s no quick-cycle 24 hour magic out there. Feeding human children healthy foods and vegetables can help them grow stronger, taller, and slightly faster; but at the end of the day, you’ll always need to wait ~20 years for them to become adults. No human will mature fully in 1 year, lol. There’s no hard-and-fast rule for how long to wait for aquariums, but longer is better. It can be hard to wait sometimes; I think 1-2 months is more than reasonable. Then, is a good time to do a large (25-40%) water change before you add any livestock if your nitrates are high.
-
7) Add first fish!
You’ll want your Ammonia and Nitrites to be completely zero at this point. Nitrates can be higher; but not those first two. If Nitrates are Zero, something is weird. Consult us, as your tank may not have cycled.

Good luck! And feel free to ask questions and post photos on here. We’re here to help.
 
Last edited:
ActiveAngel said:
Great advice here so far! I’ll reiterate some major points.

1) Patience, patience, patience. Letting your tank cycle for a couple months is a great start! But continue this patience afterwards. Try to limit yourself to ~2 additions at a time in the beginning, with at least 1-2 weeks between new purchases... And use the time in between to research, learn, and plan upcoming purchases. This will save your money and heartache from corals/fish deaths. And you’ll learn so much in this time.

2) Learn to test your water. This includes getting a backup thermometer, and a Refractometer (Hydrometers are prone to lots of errors and often cheaply made). Refracts are often about $18-25; no need to spend $50-70 that some places charge for them.

3) Clownfish are nearly indestructible, and make great first fish. 95% of the time, if a clownfish dies, then something is seriously wrong. I recommend any variation of Ocellaris or Perculas (these include Picassso, Davinci, Wyoming Whites, and most of the cool designer names). I would avoid Maroons (Lightning Maroons and Gold Nuggets) or Clarkii clowns. These get big and aggressive.

4) Green Star Polyps are a great beginner coral. Find one with a vibrant green color. While these corals can grow out of control, they can be managed by putting them on a rock island that is not connected to the rest of the rock structure. These corals also serve as a great ‘canary’ coral... meaning if something bad happens to your water quality down the road, you’ll notice immediately as these guys will not be fully extended as normal. Alerting you to test your water and see what’s going on before anything bad happens.

5) Sumps are great! I highly recommend them for making your life easier. Not only do they increase your water volume and keep unsightly skimmers and heaters out of your display tank, but they also allow you to use higher quality skimmers as many HOB and mini’s don’t work as well and/or increase your risk of leaks.
-
6) How to cycle a reef tank? (It is Similar to freshwater)

a) Fill your tank with saltwater, rockwork, and sand... and turn on your pumps.
-For Saltwater, a specific gravity of 1.025 +/- 0.001 is a good starting point for reefs. However, you can get away with as low as 1.015 for fish-only before you add coral. This will save you a few bucks. If mixing your own water from the tap (not recommended but doable), use a dechloronator.

b) if using a sump; you don’t want your tank to overflow if all pumps fail due to a power outage. So turn everything off and watch your tank/sump (whichever is lower to the ground) for a few minutes. If it starts to get close to overflowing, use a bucket to remove a bit of water until it is not an issue. Turn pumps back on when done.

c) Add your Bacteria. This may have been done previously if using already wet live-rock, and/or wet live-sand. If they’re completely dry, they’re not live.

d) Add some food for the bacteria. A very very tiny amount of something to decompose. Depending on the size of the tank; maybe a couple fish food pellets could be more than enough. Note: this will increase unsightly algae growth, but will also help the bacteria along. Don’t add too much food.

e) wait... lol. You need time for the food to decompose, bacteria to nitrify Ammonia to Nitrite and then to Nitrate (2+ different populations of bacteria). These populations need to grow, have babies, those babies to have babies, and those ones to have babies, and so on. As such, there’s no quick-cycle 24 hour magic out there. Feeding human children healthy foods and vegetables can help them grow stronger, taller, and slightly faster; but at the end of the day, you’ll always need to wait ~20 years for them to become adults. No human will mature fully in 1 year, lol. There’s no hard-and-fast rule for how long to wait for aquariums, but longer is better. It can be hard to wait sometimes; I think 1-2 months is more than reasonable. Then, is a good time to do a large (25-40%) water change before you add any livestock if your nitrates are high.
-
7) Add first fish!
You’ll want your Ammonia and Nitrites to be completely zero at this point. Nitrates can be higher; but not those first two. If Nitrates are Zero, something is weird. Consult us, as your tank may not have cycled.

Good luck! And feel free to ask questions and post photos on here. We’re here to help.
Click to expand...

Damn! Thank you!!! That's what I wanted to know!
Will coral need a cycled tank? How will they make ammonia for the bacteria to grow? Does coral produce it?
 
You’re very welcome! I’ve been helping people for a while.

I’ll answer out of order.
Good questions!
1) Corals will need a cycled tank more so than fish will. Everything about aquariums revolves around stability of water parameters. The ocean is extremely stable (for a natural ecosystem). An un-cycled tank will have parameters that have not yet stabilized. And while fish can swim around between areas of water with slight differences, Corals are generally stuck in one spot and not exposed to as much variation as fish are.

3) Technically, yes, Corals will produce ammonia. Albeit a relatively small amount when compared with fish. Even hermit crabs, snails, and your clean up crew will produce ammonia... generally the amount is negligible though. If you hear people mentioning the term “bio-load”, it generally is referring to the amount of ammonia being produced, and these creatures have practically/relatively zero bio-load. Fish produce so much more.

2) Ammonia is produced when organic waste is decomposing in the tank. This ammonia is needed by the bacteria to jump-start the cycle. This waste can be in the form of uneaten fish food, fish/animal poop, or dead fish/animals/plants. So Just drop a couple pellets of fish food in the tank in the beginning. These will decompose and slowly release Ammonia. This will be utilized to feed and grow new bacteria and start your cycle.

And in the not too distant future; throw in a clownfish or something similar. This clowns waste will then become the food source to help make the tank more stable.

Additional interesting notes: while bacteria will live in the water column (floating around like plankton), they exist predominantly on surfaces. This means a small empty glass aquarium will have a few square feet of surface area (sides and bottom glass). If you add sand, each individual grain of sand will eventually be coated with bacteria, increasing your total surface area to hundreds of square feet. And if you’re adding porous rocks, their surface area will include their internal areas too; potentially increasing your total surface area to thousands upon thousands of square feet... meaning a much more stable tank.
 
Yes Coral will need a cycled tank. Wait for your tank to fully cycle. Here is a link to watch on how to cycle your tank.


Then I started slow. I added an orange spotted goby and a pistol shrimp. I continued to check my Ammonia, nitrites, and Nitrate everyday. I felt good as long as the Ammonia and Nitrites stayed 0. The nitrates will rise, that has a little leeway. My frist water change was at about a week and a half because I knew that I was going to get a pair of clowns and an anemone and some clean up crew. The consensus out there is that you shouldn't get an anemone as soon as I did but "Neo" is doing great so far. I was a little scared though. I continued to check my parameters every other day, just to make sure. Then I saw a post about someone giving out some pulsing xenia. That was one coral that I did want because of how they looked and the movement that they give. I met @FutureInterest and he gave me some as well as a small colony of Zoas. I talked with him for about 30mins. He has a wealth of knowledge. Then from there I met up with a couple more people from ARC and picked up some more coral from them. They also had a wealth of knowledge. And this is why I Love this community. They really do care about everyone here and are willing to help and answer questions.

Corals are living animals. So they will produce waste from the foods that you have to provide them. That food that you give will also begin to produce ammonia for the bacteria. Im far from an expert but someone else can probably verify this.
 
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