Is this a good way to get a start in saltwater

http://bham.craigslist.org/for/2825476909.html
I am considering purchasing this as a compromise with my mom, I want a 55 gallon saltwater set up, but she thinks it's be to expensive, so it's out of the picture....... anyways, i dont know how hard it is to care for one like this, or how much it cost.... if anyone knows please let me know. I also would like to know anything else you hve to say about a setup like this (like is this a decent price) please reply asap, thank you.

it looks like a decent set up and that price is good... you will spend 4-10 dollars per a pound for live rock at LFS(local fish stores). it's got the live sand, it has the live rock. I would ask if it has a skimmer, and heater. if not you could buy the bio cube skimmer for around 35-50 at petsmart/petco, or just keep up on the water changes.
it got a test kit. it would be a good start, only think is stuff can happen, and get out of hand a lot faster in a smaller aquarium then a bigger one. but a nano saltwater/ reef tank isn't to hard.




Nano Reef Aquarium



Here are some common thoughts:
“Reef aquariums are too difficult”
“You can’t do saltwater aquariums in less than a 30 gallon tank”

Reef aquariums are not that difficult.
Nano reef aquariums require a basic understanding of the animals you decide to keep. They also require minimal maintenance with a water change every 7-10 days.







Water Chemistry

We need to replicate seawater as closely as possible to have a successful nano reef. The following water parameters represent the acceptable ranges for reef aquariums:

Temp
76-78° F
Specific Gravity
1.023
pH
8.2 to 8.3
Alkalinity
8 to 12 dKH
Calcium
400 to 420 mg/L
Ammonia
0
Nitrite
0
Nitrate
0

you would only be changing a gallon or two each 10 days.. so water changes would only be 5-7 gallons a month....

it's a good set up for the price, i would see what cindy(cwhip) says as she is a long time salty.

the Current USA 12G aqua pod has been recalled/made in China the recall has to do with potential electric shock due to faulty lamps and saltwater is highly conducive.
I would move on, however on the flip side the live rock and sand would run you 100 + so you could always purchase this and use it solely to keep the rock and sand /fish alive and then look for a different brand nano tank like a JBJ cube you can find them dry on CL for a good price as for up keep if you plan to keep it a FOWLR then up keep is not hard and once its going wont cost much to run.

well, I kinda told the guy i would get it before i read your post cw..... but I'm a man/teen of my word, and I will get it.. the guy said it does have a heater and protein skimmer so i guess that's good. supposed to pick it up this evening, wish me luck!

also, will i ever be able to do coral in this tank without any major upgrades? Eventually i'd like it to be a nano reef set up, just lemme know what i could do in it, if anything.

unless its been modified it should have CF you could keep softies,leathers zoa's up on the rock work. ask how old the bulbs are. I'm thinking since it's been recalled and the company is offering an exchange it makes me wonder how hard it will be to get replacement parts. Kudo's to you for keeping your word I'm the same way:) you sound like a great guy. you know you can always do some modifications to the system yourself if there needed. take pics when you get it home so we can see and have fun!!

the guy said he bought it a year ago, and I can't remember for sure but i think he said it hasnt had any modifications done to it since he got it.
Xenia is a softie isnt it, bc i heard it was relatively ez to grow

hello2196 wrote:

the guy said he bought it a year ago, and I can't remember for sure but i think he said it hasnt had any modifications done to it since he got it.
Xenia is a softie isnt it, bc i heard it was relatively ez to grow

yep xenia is easy it will grow in a mud puddle lol, you might want to change the bulbs if he hasn't recently before you start adding coral all old bulbs are good for is growing nuisance algae.

I can tell you just by looking at it, that there's plenty of Calcium in that tank! Lots of purple coraline rock!

he said something about trying to get that algea, so i assume it must be good to some extent. considering the last comment and what he said on the phone.
How much approx do the bulbs cost and will it be absolutely needed for coral? I'll have to post pics of it when i get it. Can't wait to get it supposed to be meeting the guy in about 5 hrs so :D finally taking the dive into saltwater

thats very true GP, there's nothing to consume the calcium. he will always be scaping it off the glass. in my 180 there's lots of SPS so the coralline gets consumed by them in the Seahorse tank it's all softies,zoa's and gorgs and none of them comsume the cal like SPS do, I kid you not if I went two weeks without scraping the glass you wouldn't be able to see in the tank it grows that fast.
it drives me nuts!:)

you should change bulbs every 6 months and yes you need new bulbs to keep even softies
like I said earlier old warn out bulbs will grow nuisance algae and thats not what you want.
coralline algae is what you want. wooo hoo excited for you so you better post us some pics.......
oh and welcome to the other side there's no going back!

I'll have to post some pics of my 150 later on here I have coraline like crazy as well. Almost every single one of my rocks is covered in the thickest coraline possible. It's crazy but I personally like it. Gives the rock extra character. If I dug into SPS more of the calcium would be consumed as you said but SPS just doesn't do it for me at this point in time, I'm still sticking with the LPS, Softies, Polyps and Zoas they seem to have more character IMO.

ok, i'll make sure to ask about the bulbs to see if for some reason they've been replaced any time lately.... may have to wait to get replacements for a while, as I need to make sure i can cover any other expenses before i do anything that's not necessary. so anxious right now it aint funny, been wanting to go SW since i started FW about 1-2 years ago, finally gonna do it.

youre right I like LPS, zoa's and soties better too I like the movement you get in the tank. I've been keeping a mixed 180 mostly SPS the last 3 years and just two weeks ago decided I needed a change so I completely rescaped sold off a good bit of SPS and traded some for torches,zoa's etc.. see we have lots in common:) BTW Hello I don't think the CF bulbs you need will cost much at all, make sure you take as much of this guy's water as possible. are you going to transport the tank with the sand still in it?

i don't kow, im bringing a 5 G bucket to put water in, and he's got one, that should get most of it, Idk about the sand, what is the best way to do it? also, how about transporting the fish/snails, it's about a 45 min drive back from where im getting the tank, will there be an issue with air or anything, I was thinking maybe putting each in their own gallon ziploc bag or idk.... i know i must be annoying with all of the questions so just bear with me please...

hello2196 wrote:

i don't kow, im bringing a 5 G bucket to put water in, and he's got one, that should get most of it, Idk about the sand, what is the best way to do it? also, how about transporting the fish/snails, it's about a 45 min drive back from where im getting the tank, will there be an issue with air or anything, I was thinking maybe putting each in their own gallon ziploc bag or idk.... i know i must be annoying with all of the questions so just bear with me please...

since the tank is only a 12G I would keep as much of his water as possible and double bag the live stock and transport them in a cooler,leave a little air in the bag they will be fine,
I would leave all the sand in the tank covered in an inch or two of water try not to disturb the sand if at all possible because you will need to be able to add the livestock when you get home, you dont want it to start a big cycle and kill the fish. you will have a small cycle just from the die off in transport but the fish can cope with that. if I were you I would use all his water in clean buckets to cover the live rock. so if you dont take all of his water what do you plan to top off the tank with when its set back up? do you have salt and atleast distilled water to mix some? if not you need that water.

ok, thanks for the advice, and I'mgoing to get every drop from him so i dont have to top it off...hopefully. I'm getting salt and distilled probably before i get it, just in case lol. I'm bringing enough containers for 8 gallons of water, plus he's got a 5G bucket for more water, and there's going to be water with the fish of course so it should be good. When i get it home, if the water has cooled down much, should i let it warm up before adding the fish back, i would think so. anyways, about 2 hrs till i meet the guy :D

hello2196 wrote:

ok, thanks for the advice, and I'mgoing to get every drop from him so i dont have to top it off...hopefully. I'm getting salt and distilled probably before i get it, just in case lol. I'm bringing enough containers for 8 gallons of water, plus he's got a 5G bucket for more water, and there's going to be water with the fish of course so it should be good. When i get it home, if the water has cooled down much, should i let it warm up before adding the fish back, i would think so. anyways, about 2 hrs till i meet the guy :D

I wouldn't worry about letting the tank water warm up because the fish in the bags of water will have cooled slowly as well, what I would do is get the tank up and running then set the bags of fish in the water and let them temp acclimate then adjust your heater up to optimum temp SLOWLY.. I keep most all my tanks @ 77degree's, remember you will have dispacement of the water in the buckets because of the live rock so make sure you bring plenty of containers. also if by chance you do have to mix water to top off the tank I would also drip acclimate the fish. "this is just in case.." all you do is place the bags of fish,snails whatever in the tank then take a clean turkey baster or what ever is handy and add a little water from the tank to the bag after about 20 minutes you can set them free. I'm not sure what all types of live stock we are talking about here but its always better safe then sorry.
ha ha youre a salty now a turkey baster is a reefers best friend:)
Good Luck Darlin and let us know how it go's!
p.s. if you do have to make water match it to the original water salinity.. 1.024-25 is good.

i havnt added ny water other than what he had, and the specific gravity is 1.021, is that to low, i mean the fish were living in it before..... the salinity is 28 now

http://www.marineandreef.com/Coralife_24W_50_50_Straight_Pin_Compact_Lamp_p/res54331.htm

not bad at all same price of what a t5 h.o. bulb would cost.

ok so the fish are a clown fish and a spotted cardinal fish...... didnt have time to get supplies to top tank off, it needs about 2 gallons of water so I gotta get the stuff tomorrow. other than that everything is good, will get some pics as soon as the water clears, right now it's kind of cloudy from stirring up the sand.


the guy gave me some stuff that instantly cycles the tank, should i put a partial dose of it in just to be safe?

instantly cycles the tank. umm do you know the name some of that stuff I say is a gimic, do you have a wally world/wall mart close by you can go to the sporting goods section and get the 7 gallon water jugs. they are cheaper then the ones at LFS.

sounds good, one thing i was wondering is can i have any other fish/ inverts in it, there's a clown fish like this:LINK TO PIC and a spotted cardinal fish, which i assume you know what it is.....
there are also 2 snails about the size of golf balls, he called them dinosaur snails, but i'd really like some sort of shrimp, would that be possible?

1st why is the salinity 28? thats high and 21 is a bit low try to slowly adjust it to 1.024-25, I wouldn't add anything to the tank unless you know what it is,
I use Bio Spira or Stability when I want to boost the good bacteria these two products are not a gimmic I've used them for 3-4 yrs with great results.
you can have a couple cleaner shrimp or a fire shrimp along with an emerald crab or two but if you plan to add coral later on I would make sure you check to see if what you want is reef safe 1st.
the ones I mentioned above are great in a reef. you could use a bit more cuc as well.
lol dinosaur snail? its probably a turbo grazer.

I've had mix views on the jump start bacteria, but seachem stability has helped me. you might be able to get away with some peppermint shrimp.

here's a pic of the hydrometer, sorry for the low quality, maybe im reading it wrong, idk, but from what i've read, the clown and cardinal can live in as low as 1.020, so for the moment im good, but like you said, i am going to work on raising it.

https://s1082.photobucket.com/albums/j369/hello2495/?action=view&current=0201121031.jpg