Aquarium set up help silver Spring MD

[Longs20910]

Hello,
I am seeking aquarium set up expertise in my silver Spring home. Today I bought a 30 gallon tank and I would like to set it up this week in order to buy fish Saturday.

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

What do you currently have for the tank? Filter? LIghts? Substrate? What type of fish do you plan to buy? Your best bet for a near instant cycle is to find someone that you can obtain seeded filter material to put in your filter, but they'd need to know what type of filter you have, or you can squeeze a dirty sponge in the tank and the bacteria will colonize your new filter.

 

[Longs20910]

I bought a light, filter and other materials with the fish tank but I’m willing to buy it over again if it’s not right. There’s a fish store within a mile. I would love to hire someone to come by and give some advice and help me set it up. Although I would enjoy a saltwater tank I wouldn’t want to harm the fish with my inexperience so I’m fine with freshwater. With guidance I’d really like to let my 3 year old pick which fish she liked because that something my dad used to do with me and he’s passed on now. I have both the time and the resources to do this right but I am without the expertise.

 

[Becca]

Check out www.batfishaquatics.com. He is local to you and does aquarium design and maintenance for a living. He's also a club member. Super knowledgeable and also an authorized dealer for Cobalt Aquatics. Their EXT filter would probably be perfect for that tank and would serve you better than a typical hang-off-the-back filter.

 

[Longs20910]

Check out www.batfishaquatics.com. He is local to you and does aquarium design and maintenance for a living. He's also a club member. Super knowledgeable and also an authorized dealer for Cobalt Aquatics. Their EXT filter would probably be perfect for that tank and would serve you better than a typical hang-off-the-back filter.

Hey thanks. I have reached out but have not yet heard back. Are there any other recommendations? If I go the salt water route I will need to get live rocks and get a chemical balance long before I add any fish correct?

 

[Becca]

Hey thanks. I have reached out but have not yet heard back. Are there any other recommendations? If I go the salt water route I will need to get live rocks and get a chemical balance long before I add any fish correct?

I really don't know much about SW, but I know you would probably want to start with a bigger tank just because it's more stable and I also know that you approach it differently if you want to keep coral vs. if you want fish only.

If you have the means for a maintenance contract, definitely look into one, particularly if you want to just enjoy your fish but let someone else worry about water changes, mixing salt, etc.

Truthfully, any tank (fresh or salt) should be up and running for a bit before you add fish, but you can speed the process up a bit with fresh water. I don't know if you can with salt, I really don't dabble in salt.

 

[lock jaw]

A saltwater tank is very technical. You should do the research before jumping into it. As Becca says a bigger tank would be better for SW, but I have seen people do nano tanks. I just don't have the experience with them.

If this is your first tank, you can start with a fresh water tank. Your daughter will get to pick from lots of colorful and cool fish like glow fish, guppies, mollies goldfish etc... It would be easier to maintain and the fish are not that expensive. But that's just my opinion.

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

Freshwater tanks are definitely easier, but if someone else is doing the maintenance, you can go either way. SW tanks are tougher, but you can buy pre-mixed salt water for changes, its not cheap, but might not be more expensive than paying a maintenance contract. Have you taken your kid to the store to see what they like? Generally the SW fish will be more colorful, but the lines of glofish as mentioned above can be very appealing to kids as well.