# Getting the Salt Itch



## coldmantis

lately I noticed that the salt community here has been very active. I have a boring fluval spec 2g that I wanted to convert to a very basic salt tank. I know it's small and I'll be starting the hard way but whatever. I'm pro at planted tanks but salt I know salt water has salt lol I'm going to try to ebay everything if possible. I recently got a really good deal on a 28g bow front, 2x coral life 24" T5HO double bulb fixtures with coral lights, eheim 2213 and a huge bucket of salt. I already cleaned the "new" equipment but i'm going to leave it empty and try a test tank to see how much work is involved before I decide to Upgrade if it comes to that to a this 28g. I already have 11 planted tanks running so doing weekly .5g-1g water changes on a 2g spec is doable for me.

This is what I have so far

fluval 2g spec
stock sponge foam(no carbon, or bio-rings, I can add these two if needed for a salt tank, or change it completely and add different media)
clip on 6500k CFL light(won't be using this on a salt tank)
50w heater that's preset to 78f
enough used sand maybe argonite? to fill the spec nicely

What I bought and waiting for it to be ship here

hydrometer with thermometer build in
link

What I need to buy and need advice

1st choice 9w LED bulb 2x white 1 x blue
2nd choice 15w LED bulb 3x white 2x blue
3rd choice 27w LED par38 6x white 3x blue

I hope since the spec is so small that any of the above lights should be good enough to grow the easy corals

Live rock

How many pounds should I get for a spec 1/2lb?

Livestock

No idea small stuff crab, snails, shrimp, maybe a small starfish?

Thanks for your inputs

Jim


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## Car2n

You would likely be far more successful if your "test tank" was the 28.


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## TankCla

Congratulations for getting into saltwater! I also started small and now I am at 75g, dreaming bigger.

1. I recommend a refractometer not a hydrometer. Salinity cal sol you can find anywhere for 5-7$.

2. The bulbs you have there won't do much. Maybe someone here can help you with a better choice for those money.

3. Thumb rule in SW is to have as many lb of LR as many gallons of water your tank can hold. In your case 2lb, maybe 4lb for more filtration.

4. In 2g aquarium I would keep some small snails, to clean the sand, and only a few soft small corals. Way too small to keep a crab and a shrimp. You can have Asterinas starfish, not the big ones, since they are very delicate creatures. The very change of temperature can kill them.

To be honest, you might be more happy with at least 10g or more.


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## coldmantis

Hmm I'm getting scared of salt tank now, yesterday when I cleaned out the used tank and filter I got, it had lots of worms in it, bristle worms I believe and today I'm working from home because I broke out in hives..... I though it was the pizza, wings, onion rings and fries my gf ordered from pizza pizza last night and maybe a cat fell in the oil or the oven lol but I'm thinking it's these damn worms. The same thing but less severe happens to me with blood worms if I don't wash my hands immediately after handling them.


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## coldmantis

Anyone of any opinions of the ebay LED lights, I was just at big als scarb and they had this CFL light coralife The person I spoke to said it will be overkill for my spec, I don't even think it will fit in my ai clip on light fixture. I would of bought it anyways but so expensive for a cfl bulb and it look really old and maybe used(they only had one left). I'm going to try to track down this 10w version coralife 10w if someone here tells me to run away and not buy any of those ebay LEDs.


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## sig

sorry, but it even does not make sense to comment on the light for 2g tank.

I am not even sure who has experience with these. My first SW was 1G with 3 harlequin shrimps and it last just 3 days, before I shut it and went with 29g

the smaller the tank - the less it is stable by chemically.
SW is not like FW were you can be OK with just mechanical filtration. In SW rocks and sand create closed biological loop and work as a filtration at the same time. The bigger the loop the more stable the chemistry in the tank

I run now 25G and comparing to 150G it requires much more attention and I have constant headache to keep it up to standards

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## coldmantis

sig said:


> sorry, but it even does not make sense to comment on the light for 2g tank.
> 
> I am not even sure who has experience with these. My first SW was 1G with 3 harlequin shrimps and it last just 3 days, before I shut it and went with 29g
> 
> the smaller the tank - the less it is stable by chemically.
> SW is not like FW were you can be OK with just mechanical filtration. In SW rocks and sand create closed biological loop and work as a filtration at the same time. The bigger the loop the more stable the chemistry in the tank


Hey Sig,

Thanks for commenting, I know about the difficulty with salt and small tanks but I want to try anyways. Hey who knows maybe I will shut down in 3 days and start a bigger one like you too.

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## sig

coldmantis said:


> Hey who knows maybe I will shut down in 3 days and start a bigger one like you too.
> k 4


It is not "maybe ", the question is when  There s never enough place for corals and size of the tank does not matter. I had thisi problem in 29G and in 150G

I keep fishes probably for 20 years in total. Since the moment I had my fisrt SW running, I do not see that I will ever have FW tank again

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## Bayinaung

I still got my fresh water tank. I was going to set up a display with CO2 but no longer. My grow out tank is my fresh water, it's got lots of nano fish. You can achieve scale in a small FW that you can't in SW.

Besides it's so low maintenance. I don't do anything to it other than feed the fish and top up with tap water LOL.


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## Bayinaung

You can get a par 38 screw in light bulb for your nano. I would NOT recommend fish for that size tank, except maybe a tiny neon cleaner goby. I think it's best if you keep a cleaner or blood red shrimp along with some corals. With a nice full spectrum or actinic par38 you should get that SW flourescent colours going. GL with it.


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## Flameangel

sig said:


> It is not "maybe ", the question is when  There s never enough place for corals and size of the tank does not matter. I had thisi problem in 29G and in 150G
> 
> I keep fishes probably for 20 years in total. Since the moment I had my fisrt SW running, I do not see that I will ever have FW tank again


That's true that once you started s.w.you'll never go back to freshwater.The reason being,coloration.


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## des

Flameangel said:


> That's true that once you started s.w.you'll never go back to freshwater.The reason being,coloration.


It's not completely true! I started fresh, went to salt for a year, went back to fresh and now doing both.

Freshwater can be colourful as well. 

Proof:


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## Flameangel

des said:


> It's not completely true! I started fresh, went to salt for a year, went back to fresh and now doing both.
> 
> Freshwater can be colourful as well.
> 
> Proof:


I've had Oscars and Angel when I started my hobby but I find that marine fish colors are more vibrant than fresh water.....there's no question about it.


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## des

Flameangel said:


> I've had Oscars and Angel when I started my hobby but I find that marine fish colors are more vibrant than fresh water.....there's no question about it.


More vibrant, I can't disagree with you there.


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## coldmantis

Got one if these bulbs from pet smart 10w 10k/actinic










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## altcharacter

Nothing will grow with that bulb except possibly a bit of algae. I had a 13w cfl on my 8g tank and had a hard time keeping mushrooms and gsp.


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## coldmantis

Before










After










Is this a random stone or a very small piece of love rock?










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## aln

If you want a piece of Live rock to help with the seeding of your tank, feel free to come over to my place and take a piece of mine. 

I also got it for free when i just started my tank and i feel i should do the same. let me know 

btw...yah...gotta say as a freshy myself before...im loving the dark side alot better


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## coldmantis

aln said:


> If you want a piece of Live rock to help with the seeding of your tank, feel free to come over to my place and take a piece of mine.
> 
> I also got it for free when i just started my tank and i feel i should do the same. let me know
> 
> btw...yah...gotta say as a freshy myself before...im loving the dark side alot better


Hey thanks I will take you up on that offer, I noticed that your starting planted tank let me know if you want anything

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## altcharacter

Looks good! I love the small tanks, just make sure to keep up on the water levels.

Yep, if you need any sand or rock to start seeding give me a shout. My door is always open. I also have a few frags if needed


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## coldmantis

I'm not used this generosity, is this how salt hobbyist are?

If anyone has a spare hydrometer and/or a limestone/wooden air stone(the ones that create micro bubbles) they don't want I will take it. I'm waiting on the one I ordered to come. I fleabayed it.... It will take some time to get here.

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## altcharacter

Airstone is a bad idea. And I just gave away my hydrometer to another member that was starting out. Although I'm sure you can find one for cheap 

What are you using the airstone for in a saltwater tank?


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## coldmantis

altcharacter said:


> Airstone is a bad idea. And I just gave away my hydrometer to another member that was starting out. Although I'm sure you can find one for cheap
> 
> What are you using the airstone for in a saltwater tank?


If you look at the second pic in the back left side. That mustard/ketchup/mayonnaise container is my protein skimmer..... I went to bigals for the red sea limestone/wooden airstone but they didn't carry it.

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## altcharacter

The amount you will be skimming from what you are making wouldn't even be close to what you could do with a simple water change 2 times a week. Since it's only 2 gallons you could literally take a plastic cup twice a week and take out some water and replace it with new water. This would do much better than a skimmer for that tank.

By having a skimmer in the tank you will be adding micro bubbles which will disturb any coral that you might want to keep. Also, you will be skimming off much needed water volume. By skimming off water you will be raising your salinity.

My skimmer cup can hold 500ml and I have 250 liters of water. So over 4 days I am skimming off less than 0.002% of total water volume. With your tank only being 8 liters and if you skimmed off 300ml in 4 days you would be looking at around 4% of total water loss. Not including regular evaporation, this would be quite drastic of a change for any livestock or coral in that tank.

Just a suggestion but I would tank the small skimmer, instead go with regular small water changes of around 250ml or a cup about 2-3 times a week and this will work out better for you.


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## coldmantis

Thanks alt
I will follow your advice, since I don't have anything in the tank right now, I'm assuming leaving the lights on is a waste? I'm picking up some live rock for aln tomorrow. Live rock doesn't need light does it? Unless the live rock has stuff on it

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## altcharacter

when you get the rock from Al, just leave the light on for a couple of hours a day to ensure that any beneficial algae that might be on the rock will survive. I find this part of a tank always the most dramatic since you don't know what's next.

Good Luck and keep the pics and info coming


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## coldmantis

Took the ghetto Protein skimmer out, also removed the custom sponge I cut up. Replaced with Stock Large sponge that came with the tank and 2 bags of carbon/zeolite mix. You know I had this big jar of carbon/zeolite mix for probably over 4 years now, I bought it when I was completely new to aquariums in general but when I started getting interested in planted tanks I stopped using it. There is a few dead bristle worms left floating around in the tank, should I removed them or just let them be so the tank can cycle faster. I'm using ro/di not tap btw.


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## coldmantis

thank you Allan for the Live Rock and the Chaeto, Thank you Dave for the Live Rock and Critters

Added a AC 20 as a fuge for the Chaeto and used a 13w 6500k cfl on it, there is nothing in the AC20 except for the Chaeto










What are these two critters looks like a weird starfish but only four points


















Live Rock placement for now since I'm not ready for any frags might change in the future.










FTS


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## altcharacter

Them critters be asterina's and they probably came from the rock I gave you. They're pretty good cleaners and most people like them, although some consider them a pest.


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## coldmantis

You know what I did Dave..... Don't laugh I been topping up with salt water instead of straight r/o...... Then at work I was bored and decided to read up a little on nano reefs ops.... I went to pj's and bought a hydrometer well it was over quite a bit. I took your advise and scooped out exactly one cup of water and poured in pure r/o after I popped in a heater and air stone until the r/o matched the tank temp. Back to 1.025, do I need to feed the starfish? I literally have pounds of freshwater food only.

Veggie flakes
Brine shrimp flakes
Color enhancing flakes
Spirulina flakes

Spirulina pellets
Veggie pellets with calcium
Shrimp pellets
Algae wafers


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## altcharacter

Those starfish usually eat just algae but generally eat coralline algae so he'll basically just keep moving until he finds food. If he dies no worries, there will always be others.


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## coldmantis

So I got 6 corals today from Joe. 2 big ones gsp and Kenya tree?, 4 small frag Kenya tree. AND ITS FULL!!........ no more room for nothing, not even room for me to test the sanity with my hydrometer 

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## aln

Those are huge frags!! Lol but the tank is coming along nicely  go slow with it and always check for critters in the tank just incase there are some pest that you dont want. Then you can get them out or treat the tank asap


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## altcharacter

I predict a larger tank coming real soon!


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## tom g

*tank*

I second that .............


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## cica

aln said:


> Those are huge frags!! ...................... always check for critters in the tank just incase there are some pest that you dont want.


The frags are the ones on top of the LR. They are only 2-3" high.

@Jim. Hope you checked the rocks for brittle worms like I told you, so you wouldn't get alergic reaction.
The bigger kenya tree might take a day or two to open up but when it does you might not be able to see your LR (live rock) from it. I'm surprised the gsp already opened up so much.

Joe


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## coldmantis

cica said:


> The frags are the ones on top of the LR. They are only 2-3" high.
> 
> @Jim. Hope you checked the rocks for brittle worms like I told you, so you wouldn't get alergic reaction.
> The bigger kenya tree might take a day or two to open up but when it does you might not be able to see your LR (live rock) from it. I'm surprised the gsp already opened up so much.
> 
> Joe


Oh believe me I checked, don't want to get hives for 3 days like last time. I'm actually surprise that the corals are doing so well. I didn't acclimate properly before I put it in my tank, must be high quality stuff from you 










I finished my 10g sump yesterday. I was 50/50 on either doing your style or Dave's. I picked yours lol, the last pane where the return pump will go I used thicker glass just in case.

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## cica

coldmantis said:


> .......
> I finished my 10g sump yesterday. I was 50/50 on either doing your style or Dave's. I picked yours lol, the last pane where the return pump will go I used thicker glass just in case.


The skimer part (on the very left side) looks to me a little bit too small. Or you're not planning to use a skimer? But if no skimer, than why do you have the 4 buflers? Maybe it's not that small, just on the picture.


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## coldmantis

cica said:


> The skimer part (on the very left side) looks to me a little bit too small. Or you're not planning to use a skimer? But if no skimer, than why do you have the 4 buflers? Maybe it's not that small, just on the picture.


I think its 3.5 inches. I measured it base on the skimmer which is a nano skimmer so it should fit. I think the nano skimmers cup size is only 8-9cm

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## sig

with so high baffles (attached to the bottom) you will need to maintain very high level of the water in order to have any flow in the sump. Make sure that you will have enough volume in the sump to accept water from the tank, when the return pump will stop

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## 50seven

Looks very similar to the sump I had when I first started; was used on a 35G. I think you'll be fine. But just like Sig suggested, test it a few times by shutting the power out to make sure you don't get a flood in a power outage.


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## coldmantis

What's this white fuzz on my Kenya tree? Should I remove it. Its been like this since yesterday.

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## aln

hmmm looks like slime to me. is it coming from the stalk??


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## matti2uude

Didn't you just start this tank like 9 days ago?


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## 50seven

I've had Kenya tree for years and I've never seen that. If the coral is stressed, it will shrivel up tightly, so I wouldn't be too worried. In the photos it really looks like something else...


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## coldmantis

matti2uude said:


> Didn't you just start this tank like 9 days ago?


Ya lol something like that

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## coldmantis

aln said:


> hmmm looks like slime to me. is it coming from the stalk??


Its on the "branches"

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## coldmantis

50seven said:


> I've had Kenya tree for years and I've never seen that. If the coral is stressed, it will shrivel up tightly, so I wouldn't be too worried. In the photos it really looks like something else...


I think your right I looked at the tank and some of its branches is caught in the ac refugium. I moved the ac as far away as I can. Screw this new tank, too small 

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## sig

coldmantis said:


> Screw this new tank, too small


really  

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## coldmantis

I have a bad feeling this tank is about to crash... The gf asked me what I wanted for valentines and I told her Marco rock. She thought I was joking. She's leaves work early to go to bigals and surprises me at hone with a long tentacle anemone..... Not a cheap one either huge bigger then softball size one. I know it won't survive in my tank, too small, too new and not enough light. I asked Dave for advise and he said it will sting and kill everything. &#%@ I hope my gsp and Kenya tree is still alive tomorrow. Anyone know what's bigals return policy? Is it the same ad fish 7 days. I don't mind store credit

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## 50seven

Aw what a sweetheart! Well-meaning but not well-informed... Give her a big hug anyways!

You now officially need a bigger tank!


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## coldmantis

50seven said:


> Aw what a sweetheart! Well-meaning but not well-informed... Give her a big hug anyways!
> 
> You now officially need a bigger tank!


In the process I have a journal up in the marine photography section

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## coldmantis

Is it dead already? before I left it was full and sticking on glass now it's retreated to the corner. I checked big al's return policy apparently no guarantees on marine livestock not sure if that includes corals.


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## tom g

*oh ohhhhhh*

I can so see the next person who is selling a 75-90 gallon reef ready tank ,sold to u .next u will be asking for help on how to get it in your apt ...u are so there man ,its a MADNESS or INSANITY not sure in what order ...
good luck with this tank .....I am sure it will look as good as your planted tanks or even better .
cheers 
tom


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## coldmantis

NEED HELP, I bought a zoa from aquatic kingdom and when I put it in a container to acclimate it something crawled out pic below, actual body is around 1-2mm and has five white legs. is this a pest that I don't want or just leave it alone?


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## J_T

Serpent star


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## Greg_o

Brittle Star, great cleaners. I love em.

Never seen one that light though.

(full disclosure, some have voiced in the past they can reproduce like crazy and overrun your tank, but I believe that is incredibly rare)


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## tom g

*hey*

bristle star fish .... many have them in there tanks , some don't want any pests in there tanks ,ihave hundreds in mine ,,, I consider them to be part of my clean up crew. google it and see what u think I believe if u use the search button some one just recently asked the same question ..with a few diff peoples opinions .
cheers 
tom


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## coldmantis

thanks everyone, bristle star is in the tank somewhere now, I hope they are not like bristle worms since I'm extremely allergic to them, I think my tank is fully cycled? that was fast.

Ammonia Test

Left Aquatic Kingdom's water

Middle Canada Coral's water

Right Mine water










Left Nirite 0 Right either 0 or 0.2 can't really tell seachem test kit is harder to read then API's










Now can someone confirmed that since I'm using API's freshwater test kit instead of the saltwater version I'm not getting incorrect readings? Ammonia is Ammonia, nirite is nirite, nirate is nirate shouldn't matter if the water is fresh or salt right?


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## sig

you do not need to acclimate corals, but I suggest you better dip them to avoid getting really bad pests.

this one is good

http://www.coralrx.com/

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## sig

coldmantis said:


> Now can someone confirmed that since I'm using API's freshwater test kit instead of the saltwater version I'm not getting incorrect readings? Ammonia is Ammonia, nirite is nirite, nirate is nirate should matter if the water is fresh or salt right?


Probably there is a reason that they sell separate test kits for SW and FW

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## aln

I would also get a sw testing kit just incase. For me I would try and match the temperatures and the sg of the coral before putting it into the tank. I dunno if its needed but I do it as a common practice so I dont get lazy with it. I also dip all corals or at least the plugs if they are soft coral or sensitive coral in coral rx. But for sure I dip all sps and zoas.


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## coldmantis

So I googled the hell out of this and the consensus is the api's master test kit is the same but the color cards are slightly different. So if anyone is ever in my position they can use either and compare the colors in this site.

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Downloads.html

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## coldmantis

So the long weekend is almost over and I decided to retire the 2g fluval spec, I'm just out of space and water overflows too much when I do maintenance on it. I replaced it with a spare 7.5g ai Starphire cube, I didn't feel like running an aquaclear this time so I just modded a spare Marina 1g HOB Breeder box as a refugium.










Don't laugh at my temp ketchup container protein skimmer, it's actually working better then I though it would be.










I got this over the weekend at Aquatic Kingdom, I asked the sales person what it is and he said Zoa Coral, I asked him the name he said "Zoa".... can someone ID this?










Got this Gem at Canada Coral, holy #[email protected]% that place is the Aqua Inspirations of Salt water lol, my GF said this place is so clean it must be run by Women lol, The Sales lady told me the name but I forgot  need an ID on this too










got this from NAFB today and John said it's a Torche, anyone know what kind. There was two kinds there, a white tenticle one and this pinkish one. I wanted the white but the GF said get the pinkish one(she drove me there so I didn't argue, I should of bought both...)










I picked this up from a member today, I believe it's a Clarkii Clownfish? I thought Clownfish are easy to take care of and not picky eaters, I feed it a Crystal Red Shrimp <- yes you read right, it just died an hour ago so not live. I also tried some brine shrimp flakes from john(sugarglidder) no go on both. What do you recommend for a clownfish as staple food?


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