# saltwater tank questions



## jesus52 (May 27, 2012)

so i bought a used 150 saltwater tank.its jus a glass tank with an emperor 400 power filter, lights, and castle decprations.i want to reuse all the stuff. so can i run the tank on two emperor 400 power filters? i will be adding a protien skimmer that is used on my 180 when i upgrade it. do i need power heads? how many? then can i use the castles as decorations they have holes drilled in them so can they eventually be a cheap version of live rock? will this be enough filtration in the tank?:-?


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## Reefing Madness (Jun 26, 2011)

#1-Dry Rock, there are a few hitchhikers on Live Rock that people want to stay away from, so they opt for using Dry Rock, or Dead Rock. Macro Rock is a good place to start looking for that. Either way you go you will need a minimum of 1lb per gallon.
#2-Replacement filter media like filter floss and activated carbon (if you get a filter) Which is really not necessary.
#3-Multiple Power heads (2 or 3) 10x your water volume for just a Fish Only With Live Rock, and at least 20x your water volume for a Reef Tank. So lets say your going reef, and you have a 100g tank, you would need flow in that tank at minimum of 2000gph, or 2 1000gph power heads.
#4-Protein Skimmer, rated at 2 times your water volume
#5-Saltwater Test Kits. Reef Test Kit. Test for Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, PH, Phosphates, Calcium, ALK and Magnesium.
#6-Saltwater fish food. Mysis Shrimp, Squid, Cyclopease, Algae Sheets, Romaine . Flake food is not really a good food to feed your marine fish.
#7-Aquarium vacuum. This one is iffy. Most don't use one, if you have enough flow in the tank you won’t need one
#8-Rubber kitchen gloves
#9-Fish net
#10-Two, clean, never used before, 5-gallon buckets
#11-Aquarium thermometer, digital being the best.
#12-Brush with plastic bristles (old tooth brush) - needed for cleaning the live rock if you don't get Fully Cured Live Rock
.#13-Power Strip, possibly GFCI outlets by the tank.
#14-Optional but definitely recommend getting a Reverse Osmosis or RO/Deionization filter for the make-up water, and a barrel for storing the water.
#15-Possibly a Quarantine Tank for your new fish. They sit in here for a few weeks to kill off parasites and bacteria, to keep it from getting in your main tank
#16-Heater rated for your size tank.
#17-Saltwater Mix. Marine Salt. Instant Ocean is the cheap Salt that beginners and Advanced use alike.
#18-Saltwater Hydrometer or even better a Refractometer, which is more accurate. There is also a Digital Meter that is way advanced if you have the cash.
#19-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, or GFO and such)
#20-Aquarium substrate such as live sand or crushed coral. Some go bare Bottom, others choose the 2-3" bottom, others, more advanced will try the Deep Sand Bed, which is over 6" deep.


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## jesus52 (May 27, 2012)

i saw this comment on another thread. but it kinda doesnt answer the questions i have


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## Reefing Madness (Jun 26, 2011)

It doesn't? All teh questions I read had an answer for them in that post somewhere. What specifically do you need answered?
Emperor filter are not counted as flow in a salt water tank. You don't need mechanical filtration in a salt water tank, Live Rock does it for you. You can use your FW decorations in your SW tank if you want, they wo'nt harm anything. You still need a minimum of 10x your water volume for a FOWLR, or minimum of 20x that for a Reef, or tank with corals. You only need 2 powerheads for that tank. The decorations will not take the place of Live Rock biological filtration, unless you plan on having 200lbs of it.


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## jesus52 (May 27, 2012)

Reefing Madness said:


> It doesn't? All teh questions I read had an answer for them in that post somewhere. What specifically do you need answered?
> Emperor filter are not counted as flow in a salt water tank. You don't need mechanical filtration in a salt water tank, Live Rock does it for you. You can use your FW decorations in your SW tank if you want, they wo'nt harm anything. You still need a minimum of 10x your water volume for a FOWLR, or minimum of 20x that for a Reef, or tank with corals. You only need 2 powerheads for that tank. The decorations will not take the place of Live Rock biological filtration, unless you plan on having 200lbs of it.


thank you thats what i needed to know. your first comment helped some i jus wanted more info. thank you i think i might put live rock chunks in the filter wit the cartiges that come with it. good to hear i can use the fw decor i was given 2 boxes of them. i will def get powerheads to circulate the tank.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## JimBinSC (Jun 11, 2011)

Reefing Madness said:


> The decorations will not take the place of Live Rock biological filtration, unless you plan on having 200lbs of it.


haha, that's funny! Thanks for making me smile!:yourock:


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## jesus52 (May 27, 2012)

i have another question.since the powe filter doesnt add flow and doesnt need to be used as mechanical filtration can i fill them with live rock rubble or cheato something to help filter it? i will be using the fw decor and live rock in the tank.


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## Reefing Madness (Jun 26, 2011)

jesus52 said:


> i have another question.since the powe filter doesnt add flow and doesnt need to be used as mechanical filtration can i fill them with live rock rubble or cheato something to help filter it? i will be using the fw decor and live rock in the tank.


 Cheato in the filter would be an excellent idea, as the LR rubble will collect debre and become a Nitrate trap anyways.


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## jesus52 (May 27, 2012)

Reefing Madness said:


> Cheato in the filter would be an excellent idea, as the LR rubble will collect debre and become a Nitrate trap anyways.


 would i have to have a light for the cheato


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## Reefing Madness (Jun 26, 2011)

Yes. That would definately help.


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## Pasfur (Mar 29, 2008)

jesus52 said:


> i think i might put live rock chunks in the filter wit the cartiges that come with it.


Using the Emperor's for biological filtration will make your task extremely difficult. They are excellent at converting Ammonia into Nitrite, then Nitrite into Nitrate, but in saltwater tanks we do not want an end product of Nitrate. Nitrate build up is something to be avoided. Additionally, this biological filtration process depletes carbonates, resulting in pH swings and alkalinity depletion.

You want to use live rock as your biological filter. Remove the biowheels from the Emperors and run them as mechanical filtration only. Carbon filtration might also benefit until such time as you add a good protein skimmer, which should be very soon.

Hope this helps.


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