MTS!!! New tank idea...

[TexChuck]

Hallo !!!

AC is fantastic! I started a thread after Christmas for my daughter's first tank, and you folks helped me TREMENDOUSLY, despite my daughter's predeliction for glofish. You didn't judge and now we have a properly cycled 29gal tank with a bunch of happy fish.

Here's the thread:

Beginning 29gal Glofish Tank

MTS is creeping in. My older daughter has a birthday coming up, and she wants a tank as well. (with some arm twisting, perhaps)

Now, she has very unique requests. She wants a sea urchin and a shrimp. I'm thinking a small 10gal cube type setup might work, and will be scouting things out at the LFS. Can I use media from my freshwater tank to speed up the cycle on the salt, or should I start from scratch with ammonia?

I found this article which seems quite interesting -- we could create a tank that showcases the nitrogen cycle in addition to the shirmp-urchin cycle? :)

https://www.uab.edu/news/innovation/...droppings-diet

Can't wait to get started, and thanks in advance for answering the questions I don't even know I'll have yet.

[AmazonJoe]

You would need to start with fresh media since its a different type of bacteria that inhabits saltwater.

I'll try to help as much as I can with saltwater im not as well versed as I like lol

[TexChuck]

Ha Joe I couldn't have done the other tank without you !!!! Everything I know about fresh I learned from you guys, and everything I know about salt is ummmmmmm from snorkelling. :)

[AABatteries]

Your primary filter in a marine tank is live rock. The bacteria lives on the rock in the tank rather than in a filter on the media like you would find in a freshwater setup. Though, you can a marine tank with a traditional filter, live rock is the natural way to go about it and requires less maintenance. The rock work is also where the urchins and shrimp will spend most of their time.

If she wants an urchin that looks like the stereotypical urchin, you're gonna need something bigger than a nano cube. Some of the more common species can get the size of a basketball in diameter or close to it. A short spined urchin is among the smallest common ones gets baseball to softball sized and could be put in a 30 long or a 40 breeder, you maybe could get away with a 20 long. The larger ones need a minimum of a 55 or 75.

[AmazonJoe]

Nice advice ^^



I was scratching my head about how one would filter a nano 10g but that makes since the live rock would take care of the bio filtration and you would just need a small power head and skimmer of some sort?

[AABatteries]

Yes, you would need a powerhead. I ran a HOB skimmer on my 10 gallon for a few months, and it made more noise and fuss than it was worth to me. I hardly had any skimmate being produced. But, a protein skimmer is typically never a bad idea to use.

[AmazonJoe]

I can't wait to setup a saltwater tank :(

[TexChuck]

AABatteries and Joe thank you for the advice. I had seen some smaller urchins, and hadn't done enough research into how large they can be. I've seen the larger ones come to think of it in the wild, and just assumed there were tiny varieties.

This is a 'face her fears' tank -- she stepped on an urchin last summer and after the pain subsided, has been fascinated with them since.

Time to learn about live rock, scratch the nano tank idea, and figure out how a protein skimmer works. You've pointed me in some great directions and I will be back with more questions, I'm sure.

[AABatteries]

Happy to help! A larger tank will definitely be more beginner friendly than a smaller one. I currently have a 10 gallon FOWLR (fish only with live rock) that has two clowns and a peppermint shrimp in it that has been going for about 2 years now. The tank is stable as could be for the inhabitants, but it's been a never ending battle with hair algae and I'm using RO/DI water with a TDS of 0. I'm upgrading to a 30 long tank with a sump and everything in hopefully a week or two. There's a thread under the SW Journals if you'd like to follow that.

[TexChuck]

Congrats on the plans to upgrade. I'll follow your journal. Thank you !