Tropical Fish Forums

alohamonte · Regulars Joined: 19 Jun 2006 Location: Phoenix, AZ

Hello,

I have always done min/nano freshwater setups. Recently, I was given a 55 gallon tank from a friend (it's a drained salt water tank) with a hood & lights and UGF.

This will be my FIRST marine tank. I want to keep it very LOW-Tech.

1) Do I need to chemically feed live rock/sand?
2) Will a crush lava, crush coral substrate cause any problems? (with some live sand sprinkled on top).
3) Do I need to add CO2 like in a planted FWT tank for algae growth?

FloridaBoy · Moderators Joined: 04 Jul 2004

Well, form follows function... before we proceed,
I'll have to answer your questions with a question;
What types of marine life do you want to keep?
_________________
Keepin' marines happy for 25 years

Pete Harcoff · Advisors Joined: 18 Jun 2005 Location: Canada

1) No.

2) I'd suggest argonite for substrate, but crushed coral should be fine. Not sure about crushed lava.

3) No.

alohamonte · Regulars Joined: 19 Jun 2006 Location: Phoenix, AZ

no coral, least for a few months. I was hoping for a nice algae variety and several inverts. for fish, I wanted to with a group of schooling fish. havent decided on which kind though. advice is always welcomed.

thanks for the input thus far.

also, I saw a thread on cycling the tank using shrimp cocktail... is it correct to leave the shrimp in until it completely dissolves or take it out after a few days?

FloridaBoy · Moderators Joined: 04 Jul 2004

Okay you say, "no coral, least for a few months"... If you want to keep live corals in the future you need to plan the system for that purpose, and it will NOT be a low tech system.

As to the chemical feeding question; IMO live rock does need supplemental dosing to keep alk, calcium at the proper levels for good coralline growth. Without this live rock will usually decline and need to be replaced or rotated from time to time into a refugium.

If you want to keep a few hardy fish species and crustaceans with a little live rock, you can proceed with the undergravel and crushed coral, that would be a low tech solution as you desire... and it will work fine as long as you understand the limitations and stay within them.

If you desire corals down the road, you need to set the system up as a more demanding reef system; your research will lead to success...
_________________
Keepin' marines happy for 25 years

Pete Harcoff · Advisors Joined: 18 Jun 2005 Location: Canada

To echo what FloridaBoy said, if you are planning for corals then you had better thoroughly research what types of corals you want and the lighting requirements. Just to warn you, corals typically require specialized (read: expensive) lighting.

alohamonte · Regulars Joined: 19 Jun 2006 Location: Phoenix, AZ

few months was vague, sorry, more like many months. I just don't want to say never, because its so easy to get that itch to do more and become more comlpex. but at least... 10+ months before even considering moving into reef territory.

with any luck I'll construct the tank this weekend - will post pics.

any advice on some small schooling fish?