mjaquarium02
Community Member
Hello Reef2Reef Community!
As I was cleaning my tank yesterday, I realized that in two months it will be 1 year in this hobby! I was thinking about how much I have learned throughout this experience and how many errors I have made along the way because I was not properly educated. Some of my mistakes were definitely trial and error, but luckily I have finally found my rhythm and hope this post can help other beginners. Dear beginner, please learn from my mistakes and reach out to any community to help with your situation.
Let's talk about tank size:
Please please please consider a big tank. I'm not talking 100 gallons or more (unless you're into that...) but a good 30-50 gallons should be just fine. Let me give you the reason why as a beginner, you should consider a big tank. It's all about water stability. I unfortunately started with a 10-gallon tank.... as a beginner. It was horrifying! Ammonia was high.. my cycle kept crashing.... nitrates were weird... everything was just too difficult to keep up. Definitely consider a bigger tank to start off because if there is more water, there is a bit more room for errors.
Cycling:
We all heard "cycle your tank before adding fish"... but lets be real... sometimes we buy fish impulsively (that's what I did... another big mistake) Ideally you would want to research how to set up a tank and how long it will take to cycle. The Nitrogen Cycle should be implemented in ALL tanks not just saltwater. Beneficial bacteria is KEY and this cycle is crucial for starting the bacteria, optimizing fish life, and getting your values in order. There are plenty of posts in Reef 2 Reef about how to cycle a tank but I personally like this article: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/nitrogen-cycle . Long story short, when you add your sand, water, rocks, and have everything settled down, you can start cycling. When you have your fish, and they go to the bathroom that will produce some ammonia. With the right amount of beneficial bacteria, it will break the ammonia down to nitrITES, then nitrATES. We want niTRATES and no ammonia! There is a big debate that some ammonia does not harm.. but its better to be safe and not have any ammonia. When you establish no ammonia and nitrites, but you do have niTRATES then youre all set! You officially cycled your tank!
If you were like me and you were too excited to start your tank so you didnt cycle your tank beforehand.... the thing that I considered GOLD was Fritz Turbo Start! I freakin love this thing. This saved my life and my fishes life for sure. Go to your local fish store, buy the appropriate amount of Fritz Turbo Start and put it in your tank. Be aware it does smell but it is still okay to use. In order to use this, you will need something that will create ammonia. In my case it was my fish. Also... DO NOT DO WATER CHANGES YET when you are cycling your tank (unless the ammonia levels are SUPER high and you cant get them down... but this shouldn't happen if you start slow in adding your fishes ) As soon as you have no ammonia/nitrites but some nitrates youre good to start your water changes.
Beneficial Bacteria:
When you first start off, everything is new. Nothing "beneficial" is in your tank yet. You might be asking yourself, how do I get beneficial bacteria? Well this bacteria is in the Fritz Turbo Start (or like products) and the more bacteria your tank has the better. Invest in a product like Fluval Biomax Filter Media. These are small rock-like filters that have holes and you put a packet inside of your filter system. As water runs through the media, beneficial bacteria is being created and placed. Also live rocks, already have beneficial bacteria and can help with cycling your tank.
Fish:
Choose a hardy fish! They are very resilient and they are most likely to survive due to common beginners mistakes. Also, I know, I know, I know.... you really want that very colorful fish or that one fish that is always swimming around... unless they are not hardy.. please do not get them yet. You really want an established tank before you start adding expensive fish. The more you wait and start off slow, the more you will save money in the long run. My first fish was a clownfish and I still have them thriving in their big tank! Also, do your homework before buying any fish! Learn if the fish you want is not aggressive or if they are compatible with sharing a space with another fish that you desire. There are a handful of fishes (such as some damsels) who get aggressive over time and start attacking your other tank mates! Do your homework before getting any fish. Oh and consider the appropriate tank size for each fish! You do not want a fish that needs a 50-gallon tank in a 30-gallon because this will cause the fish to stress and it can eventually die. So think appropriately.
Corals:
Try to restrain yourself from getting corals until after your tank is completely cycled and have stability in your tank. After the tank is cycled, consider getting soft corals as this is ideal for beginners as they dont require much.
Values:
Unless you have LPS corals you really just need to monitor your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels. It is ideal to test every other day when cycling but when the tank is already established every week can be just fine.
Water:
I highly recommend getting a RO or RODI filter system to create your own filtered water. Unless you don't mind spending $1.30 - ish every week to refill your RODI water jug from your local fish store, I recommend getting your own system. I also dont have a big tank so I bought a system from Amazon:
AquaticLife Aquatic Life RO Buddie Plus DI Four Stage Reverse Osmosis Deionization Unit 50 GPD
Im sure there are others that might be better or cheaper, but this does the job, and Im very satisfied. I heard some communities have water that is basically RO water from tap! (super lucky and i'm jealous) Butttt the main reason to switch from regular tap water to RO or RODI water is the chlorine! You can buy something to detect if there's chlorine in your water system but to play it safe you can get one of the RO units and get it properly filtered. If youre investing in a bigger tank, you will obviously need a bigger RO system. Once your tank is cycled, you can change your water at least once a week.
Salinity and Temperature:
I dont know how many times Im going to say this, but do your homework on the type of fish you want. Knowing the amount of salt to add and how warm/cool the water must be is also key to a better quality of life for your fish! I use a salinity refractometer to check the salinity and a regular aquarium thermometer for that.
Equipment:
You can save a few bucks and get your stuff used, but just make sure they are properly washed and dried before applying it to your tank. As a broke college student, who didn't know how expensive this hobby is, I absolutely do not have any state-of-the-art fancy equipment in my tank. I have things that are just right for now and it does the job! I have a Fluval HOB (hang on back) filter. If you are not sure if you might want to pursue this hobby a year from now, think about your wallet and save money on necessary vs unnecessary things. If you have a bigger tank, you might need a sump to filter your water. Also, if you only have fish, there is no need to buy an aquarium light. Once you have corals, you can get the aquarium light of your choice.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER AND A LOT OF US STRUGGLE WITH... IS TO BE PATIENT!!!! When things are rushed, there will be a lot of mistakes and money will be wasted. Be careful.
In conclusion, I hope I didn't overwhelm you guys too much. It does take a lot of motivation to see this process through. I hope you learn from my mistakes just like I did.
Please reach out to this community if you need any guidance. Although it's going to be 1 year for me in two months, I still consider myself a beginner as I am still learning other things about how to advance my tank. We were all once in the beginner's shoes in not knowing what to do or where to start. Hopefully, this post guides you a little.
Thank you!
P.S here is my tank with my fish, shrimp, and some corals.
As I was cleaning my tank yesterday, I realized that in two months it will be 1 year in this hobby! I was thinking about how much I have learned throughout this experience and how many errors I have made along the way because I was not properly educated. Some of my mistakes were definitely trial and error, but luckily I have finally found my rhythm and hope this post can help other beginners. Dear beginner, please learn from my mistakes and reach out to any community to help with your situation.
Let's talk about tank size:
Please please please consider a big tank. I'm not talking 100 gallons or more (unless you're into that...) but a good 30-50 gallons should be just fine. Let me give you the reason why as a beginner, you should consider a big tank. It's all about water stability. I unfortunately started with a 10-gallon tank.... as a beginner. It was horrifying! Ammonia was high.. my cycle kept crashing.... nitrates were weird... everything was just too difficult to keep up. Definitely consider a bigger tank to start off because if there is more water, there is a bit more room for errors.
Cycling:
We all heard "cycle your tank before adding fish"... but lets be real... sometimes we buy fish impulsively (that's what I did... another big mistake) Ideally you would want to research how to set up a tank and how long it will take to cycle. The Nitrogen Cycle should be implemented in ALL tanks not just saltwater. Beneficial bacteria is KEY and this cycle is crucial for starting the bacteria, optimizing fish life, and getting your values in order. There are plenty of posts in Reef 2 Reef about how to cycle a tank but I personally like this article: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/nitrogen-cycle . Long story short, when you add your sand, water, rocks, and have everything settled down, you can start cycling. When you have your fish, and they go to the bathroom that will produce some ammonia. With the right amount of beneficial bacteria, it will break the ammonia down to nitrITES, then nitrATES. We want niTRATES and no ammonia! There is a big debate that some ammonia does not harm.. but its better to be safe and not have any ammonia. When you establish no ammonia and nitrites, but you do have niTRATES then youre all set! You officially cycled your tank!
If you were like me and you were too excited to start your tank so you didnt cycle your tank beforehand.... the thing that I considered GOLD was Fritz Turbo Start! I freakin love this thing. This saved my life and my fishes life for sure. Go to your local fish store, buy the appropriate amount of Fritz Turbo Start and put it in your tank. Be aware it does smell but it is still okay to use. In order to use this, you will need something that will create ammonia. In my case it was my fish. Also... DO NOT DO WATER CHANGES YET when you are cycling your tank (unless the ammonia levels are SUPER high and you cant get them down... but this shouldn't happen if you start slow in adding your fishes ) As soon as you have no ammonia/nitrites but some nitrates youre good to start your water changes.
Beneficial Bacteria:
When you first start off, everything is new. Nothing "beneficial" is in your tank yet. You might be asking yourself, how do I get beneficial bacteria? Well this bacteria is in the Fritz Turbo Start (or like products) and the more bacteria your tank has the better. Invest in a product like Fluval Biomax Filter Media. These are small rock-like filters that have holes and you put a packet inside of your filter system. As water runs through the media, beneficial bacteria is being created and placed. Also live rocks, already have beneficial bacteria and can help with cycling your tank.
Fish:
Choose a hardy fish! They are very resilient and they are most likely to survive due to common beginners mistakes. Also, I know, I know, I know.... you really want that very colorful fish or that one fish that is always swimming around... unless they are not hardy.. please do not get them yet. You really want an established tank before you start adding expensive fish. The more you wait and start off slow, the more you will save money in the long run. My first fish was a clownfish and I still have them thriving in their big tank! Also, do your homework before buying any fish! Learn if the fish you want is not aggressive or if they are compatible with sharing a space with another fish that you desire. There are a handful of fishes (such as some damsels) who get aggressive over time and start attacking your other tank mates! Do your homework before getting any fish. Oh and consider the appropriate tank size for each fish! You do not want a fish that needs a 50-gallon tank in a 30-gallon because this will cause the fish to stress and it can eventually die. So think appropriately.
Corals:
Try to restrain yourself from getting corals until after your tank is completely cycled and have stability in your tank. After the tank is cycled, consider getting soft corals as this is ideal for beginners as they dont require much.
Values:
Unless you have LPS corals you really just need to monitor your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels. It is ideal to test every other day when cycling but when the tank is already established every week can be just fine.
Water:
I highly recommend getting a RO or RODI filter system to create your own filtered water. Unless you don't mind spending $1.30 - ish every week to refill your RODI water jug from your local fish store, I recommend getting your own system. I also dont have a big tank so I bought a system from Amazon:
AquaticLife Aquatic Life RO Buddie Plus DI Four Stage Reverse Osmosis Deionization Unit 50 GPD
Im sure there are others that might be better or cheaper, but this does the job, and Im very satisfied. I heard some communities have water that is basically RO water from tap! (super lucky and i'm jealous) Butttt the main reason to switch from regular tap water to RO or RODI water is the chlorine! You can buy something to detect if there's chlorine in your water system but to play it safe you can get one of the RO units and get it properly filtered. If youre investing in a bigger tank, you will obviously need a bigger RO system. Once your tank is cycled, you can change your water at least once a week.
Salinity and Temperature:
I dont know how many times Im going to say this, but do your homework on the type of fish you want. Knowing the amount of salt to add and how warm/cool the water must be is also key to a better quality of life for your fish! I use a salinity refractometer to check the salinity and a regular aquarium thermometer for that.
Equipment:
You can save a few bucks and get your stuff used, but just make sure they are properly washed and dried before applying it to your tank. As a broke college student, who didn't know how expensive this hobby is, I absolutely do not have any state-of-the-art fancy equipment in my tank. I have things that are just right for now and it does the job! I have a Fluval HOB (hang on back) filter. If you are not sure if you might want to pursue this hobby a year from now, think about your wallet and save money on necessary vs unnecessary things. If you have a bigger tank, you might need a sump to filter your water. Also, if you only have fish, there is no need to buy an aquarium light. Once you have corals, you can get the aquarium light of your choice.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER AND A LOT OF US STRUGGLE WITH... IS TO BE PATIENT!!!! When things are rushed, there will be a lot of mistakes and money will be wasted. Be careful.
In conclusion, I hope I didn't overwhelm you guys too much. It does take a lot of motivation to see this process through. I hope you learn from my mistakes just like I did.
Please reach out to this community if you need any guidance. Although it's going to be 1 year for me in two months, I still consider myself a beginner as I am still learning other things about how to advance my tank. We were all once in the beginner's shoes in not knowing what to do or where to start. Hopefully, this post guides you a little.
Thank you!
P.S here is my tank with my fish, shrimp, and some corals.
