Cheap Fish Tank Equipment

30 Gallon Saltwater Aquarium?

I am expecting to be getting a new 30 gallon aquarium I want to do something different besides just tropical fish with it. I have been looking at setting up a cichlid aquarium, or maybe even a saltwater aquarium. But I have some questions

1) What would I need for a saltwater aquarium that is different from a freshwater aquarium equipment wise

2) Could I or Would I want to do a reef set up in this size aquarium what would be the pros and cons?

3) How much would I be looking at spending? (You don’t have to include tank, heater, or filter cost (if I can use HOBS) because I am getting these things used for cheap.

4) Can you give me some stocking suggestions for a 30 gallon aquarium?

Congrats on the new tank!

1) A salt water tank is different from a fresh water tank (imo) because a salt water tank is more delicate to temperature, chemical, and other changes and often times are not as forgiving… That said, the equipment I would recommend if you are lookin to start a saltwater tank (or a Reef Tank) is a hydrometer (to measure the salinity in your tank), a reef test kit (to test your water quality and things like nitrate, calcium, pH, etc), protein skimmer (to help with the bio load filtration and improve water quality), and I would recommend powerheads to give you waterflow/current in your tank, and lastly..if you are thinking about corals, you should look into some good lighting equipment.

2) My first Reef Tank was in a 35gallon, and I have to say that it was easier setting up because it was less expensive than a larger tank (less cost in sand, live rock, etc etc)… However…. a smaller tank will be harder to keep because the smaller the amount of water the larger the effect will have if there is a change in chemistry (whereas a larger amount of water won’t be affected as harshly). You could set up a Reef Tank, but I will promise you that you will eventually want a bigger tank. A bigger tank means you will have the opportunity to have more livestock and many different types of livestock that require a larger tank to survive in (many require 55 gallons or more). As a general rule of thumb, you should not own more than 1 inch of fish/livestock per 2 gallons of water (some people say its 1 inch of fish per 3, but you get the general idea).

3) Depending on where you are located will have an effect on the cost of setup and maint. of your tank. I recently just set up a 55-gallon Reef Tank, and I would say the set up with the LR (live rock), live sand, protein skimmer, sump, tank and stand, lighting…. ran me about 4,000. However, I live in Alaska and things like that are over-priced here (by a lot). You can probably get by with spending about $300-600 dollars if you’ve already got the tank, stand, heater, and filter. Your main cost would be live sand, live rock, protein skimmer, and the lighting.

4) In a reef set up, what I would do is find a fish that you absolutely HAVE TO HAVE in your tank, and build around it. There are many websites out there that can give you more information about the fish that you absolutely must have, and you can tell what other fish are compatible with it, and which ones would be better left for another tank. You also might be interested in looking at “nano” fish, because they tend to do better in smaller fish tanks, and would not have a problem in a 30-gallon tank.

STAY AWAY FROM DAMSELS. The thing about Damsel fish is that they are EXTREMELY hardy fish and will survive almost anything so they are recommended to newbies! However, they will turn aggressive to new additions to your tank, I don’t care if any other sites say they are “semi-aggressive,” they almost always will harass new tank members if they are used to cycle the tank, so save yourself some trouble and don’t get one.

Here are some general ideas:
*6-line Wrasse
*Neon Goby
*Mandarin Goby (for an established tank with copepods)
*Ocellaris Clownfish (you want one big one and one small one, that way one is the designated female, and the other will be male and they will most likely not fight if put in like that)
*Purple/Red Firefish
*Turbo Snail
*Scarlet Hermit Crab

And then you can add your corals.

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