hi guys,im new to this site and so far looks very coo and helpfull..have few question to ask...i have had freshwater fishes all my live and i like them alot,still trying to let go my fishes i have now cuz im thinking on going to the next step and get into the salt water tank n fish...i dont have anything yet cuz i wanna ask first to people that already have and know about this kind of stuff..i was thinking on getting maybe 55G. maybe something bigger...one of the question i always wanted to ask,how u clean the tank or they self clean with all the equiment..on my freshwater tank when i see its time ill take them out and clean rocks and everything in it and put new water...hows with the salt water aquariums?

hi,there.

the topic is too wide to cover in a post.here's the gist of it

1)ensure u have a tank thick enuf to sustain the increase in water density.

2)decide what u want to keep...reef or fish only as this has a big bearing in equipments.

3)when u mean clean,what are u refering too? the water or the glass panel?

that's all for a start,do some read up on the internet and when u have decided what u want to keep,come back with yr posers.

im thinking on reef tank maybe like a 55g or maybe more if i can find a good deal on a tank,and about cleaning water like how u do it,what i do with my freshwater tank i just take out all the water and put new clean water in and clean rocks and everything...

"Cleaning" the water is a little more complicated than that ... good news is that, if you get it just right, you may NEVER need to EVER change water!!!

But before we go into that, "cleaning" your water consist on MECHANICAL, BIOLOGICAL, and CHEMICAL filtration.

MECHANICAL = removing the "visible" waste, usually by use of a filter material, e.g. sponge.

BIOLOGICAL = removing the disolved waste, usually by use of bacteria in your tank, e.g. live rocks, deep sand beds, macro algea

CHEMICAL = removing disolved waste that is not biological in nature. i.e. cannot be broken down by bacteria. Usually by using activated carbon.

Now, there are many different ways to achieve the above. The most popular methods are by protein skimmer + live rocks + deep sand bed + macro algea + good water flow.

Hope this gives you a place to start more researching!!

ohh i see...i dont mind change water when i need to,but was just wondering if its the same way like how i do it with my freshwater tank...

what ever set up u have,u do need to change water.

water changes is similar to FW,where u siphon out the old and replace with fresh SW.
just premix yr fresh SW beforehand...so as to ensure the salt has properly dissolved.oso ensure the pH,KH,salinity plus temperature matches yr tank's water.

water changes are the fundamentals of maintainig good nutrients export....may not be crucial in a fish only tank but for a reef tank,besides nutrients export,it also replenishes trace elements.

You do need to change water regularly to export nutrients and to replenish trace elements which a good salt mix contains.

buy the biggest tank u can get. a 55g is small get a 75g or 90g
also get a R/O unit to make pure water