im a nembie and well need help...

nickatnite90

Well I just took my old fish tank out of our garage since my girlfriend would like some animals in the house. Im 21 years old, no experience. Im pretty sure my tank is a 37 gallon, its 12'' wide and 30'' long and i think 22'' tall. Looking at fish yesterday we decided on going with salt water.. just way better looking fish plus all the cool coral and stuff. My tanks isnt very old and has the cover with a light and filter included but it hasnt been used in years.I turned it on and the light works but im not sure about the filter... I just need to know basically what are the big steps i need to take to get started. i know i need to buy smashed coral or whatever instead of normal gravel, and half cup of sea salt per gallon of water.. what else?

bearwithfish

Welcome to TFK!! i would start here Water Quality Reference

READ read and then read some more LOL... research a lot before you actually start up there are a lot of ways that work and a lot of good information out there but the basic articles in that link are a great place to start then come back and ask more questions to get clarification on anything you may need.. :)

ladayen

Honestly.. I wouldn't do salt. There is so much more to salt then freshwater, which has a ton of stuff to learn on it's own. Also a 37g is small for a saltwater tank, doable yes but without experience it's much easier to kill your fish.

You will probably have to replace the light if you want corals anyhow and the filter will need to be upgraded as well most likelly. You will have to spend some decent coin to get it all going. $1000 is not unreasonable by any means. Not meaning to sound negative, but I would hate to see you get your fish and have them die on you or start buying stuff and realize you cant afford to finish the tank. The ongoing cost of salt alone adds up.

Reefing Madness

WOW REALLY!! Not nearly as hard as you would think. And it all depends on where you get your equipment for the cost of things.......

Reefing Madness

[quote=Reefing Madness;895242[/quote]
My bad.....Unable to Delete Link. Anyone care to lend a hand to above link I should not have posted?

What do I need to start a saltwater aquarium?

• Aquarium substrate such as live sand or crushed coral
• Live Rock at least 1lb per gallon of water.
• Saltwater Mix
• Saltwater refractometer
• Aquarium filter (not absolutely necessary if running with adequate amounts of live rock, but nice to have if you need to use a mechanical filter or activated carbon, etc.)
• Replacement activated carbon (if you get a filter)
• Multiple Powerheads (2 or 3) for at least 10x water turn over.
• Heater - be sure to get one large enough for the size tank you're getting -
• Salt Water Test Kit to test water parameters and monitor the infamous aquarium nitrogen cycle
• Saltwater fish food
• Aquarium vacuum
• Fish net
• Rubber kitchen gloves
• Aquarium Glass Scrubber or DIY scraper
• Two, clean, never used before, 5-gallon buckets
• Aquarium thermometer
• Brush with plastic bristles (old tooth brush) - needed for cleaning the live rock
• Quarantine Tank for acclimating new arrivals and monitoring for signs of fish disease
• Power Strip
• Optional but definitely recommend getting a Reverse Osmosis or RO/Deionization filter for the make-up water.
• Skimmer