Saltwater Discussion

[Bruno Ganz]

I have a 29 gallon tank and have only raised fresh water fish. I've heard that the small environment this tank provides is too dynamic for stability required by salt water fish. Can someone give me some advice on if this is true, and if not, give me some help on how to go about setting up the tank and some hearty salt water fish to purchase?

[arcab4]

Hi there!

welcome! everyone's opinion varies but the size people always like to recommend is a 60gallon. it's worth it in the long run. but you can definately have a great saltwater tank with a 29gallon.

you know how it is with fishkeeping. you think you have a big enough tank but as you get sucked in, you want a bigger one. i know..6gallon ->10gallon -> 29gallon.

some hardy fish would definately be clownfish, some damsels and blennies. i have had no problems with them in my 10gallon saltwater tank  

there are people here that are more knowledgable than me so hopefully they can help you out.

johnny

[dattack]

welcome bruno,

I have been researching the saltwater realm for the past few months with a lot of help from my LFS and also some salt water experts.  
You have to decide if you are going to have a fish only tank or have some corals/anemones.

For reef:  
1.  Aragonite sand:  You can get this at home depot in certain states (mostly in the East) for $4 for a 50 lb bag.  Otherwise they usually cost 1$/lb here in the west.  You need to have a 6 inch layer of sand for it to be effective.  Being effective means for bacteria to grow.  If you have this much sand in your tank, you possibly won't need a filter at all unless you put a lot of fish.  I don't have a filter and my nitrates are 0 with the sand.  But you need to seed with live sand:  they sell this in a bag at the LFS or you can get some live sand from someone who owns a saltwater tank because the sand becomes live after awhile.  Live as in full of good beneficial bacteria.
2.  Get a skimmer.  The best one you can afford.  
3.  Get salt water.
4.  Get some live rock:  about 1lb per gallon.

You can cycle a tank without fish if you have enough rock.

For a fish only tank:
1.  Get sand (should be aragonite).  Crush coral and other sands may contain silica and can cause algae blooms.
2.  Skimmer
3.  Possibly a some live rock
4.  Saltwater.
5.  Filtration (canister or wet/dry).

You can cycle with some damsels or dead shrimp or do a fishless cycle if you have enough rocks.

The most hardy fish is by far the damsels.  They only cost a couple of bucks and they are equivalent to the goldfish of freshwater.  They are very common.