[Inaudible].
Well, here's the reality. When you go to buy your gear,
the one piece that you absolutely need is either out of stock or for some reason
it's been permanently discontinued.
So how do you find a suitable replacement that will work well with all the other
gear you've already purchased? Stick around. Let's talk about it.
[Inaudible].
Hey everybody,
Matthew here from my first fish tank in collaboration with Marine Depot and
welcome to week nine in the beginner, how to guide for saltwater,
aquariums and reef tank. Last week,
we gave you two of our recommended build lists for a 20 gallon and a 45
gallon. This video is really a continuation of that. So if you missed it,
we will go ahead and put a link right up here and in the description below.
But if you watch last week's video, I totally forgot one important thing.
If you're going to make saltwater at home with your own RDI water,
how can you test the salinity if you don't buy a refractometer? So thank you,
Julie. Kernaghan for pointing that out,
I will put a link to the refractometer I use in the description below links to
our blog that has both build lists as well as the Marine Depot landing page for
the 20 gallon and the 45 gallon build that contains all of the gear you need for
each specific build will be immediately below in the description.
That's all I got. Let's get to it.
We're going to go piece by piece by all the gear,
but let's talk about a few points before we do that.
The most important thing to remember and to ask yourself if something's out of
stock or you have to replace it with something different, is,
is it a suitable replacement?
Because every piece of equipment is different size and different shapes and
we'll work with different kinds of tanks.
So you need to think through the process which we're going to help you do to
think of is this a suitable replacement? And if I replace it with this,
do I have to change other things? So your gear is out of stock at Marine Depot.
Oftentimes you can find another brand. That's a great replacement,
but sometimes let's say you're going to buy a new tank and you really want to
get started right now. And they just don't have the one you want. Well,
you could always check your local fish store.
You'd be surprised how many local fish stores stock a wide variety of tanks
from different brands and something that might actually work really well for
you. There are also other online retailers you could check,
you could also call or email Marine Depot.
They have a fantastic customer service department,
or shoot us an email@contactatmyfirstfishtank.com.
And we're always happy to help. First off, we're going to start with tanks.
Like we mentioned, last video at the time of publication,
there have been a lot of issues with the port.
So a lot of tanks are out of stock all over the place,
but if you're able to find a tank,
how would you find a good replacement and what do you need to consider? Well,
the first primary thing you need to consider is does it have a similar
filtration style, both the tanks,
the 20 and the 45 gallon that we recommended in our build lists have a rear
filtration chamber that are all in one system.
So the easiest way to make sure that you're getting a suitable replacement is to
purchase another one of the same size.
Also with a rear filtration chamber.
Also both the builds we recommended come with a return pump.
So if you buy a new build,
be sure it's about the same amount of gallons and that it also comes with a
return pump. If you're able to buy a tank that doesn't have a return pump,
that's not a big deal.
You'll just have to buy a return pump and plummet yourself.
And you can always ask us if you have any questions about how to do that.
Another big question is, are you going to need a different stand?
If you weren't going to go with the stand anyways with the 20 gallon,
then if you get something that's similar size and shape,
you can still put it on a desk or on a countertop.
But if you're going to go with the 45 gallon, you definitely need a stand.
Most the stands that are made that go along with tanks are custom sized
exactly for that shape. So if you do purchase a stand,
that is not from that exact tank or from a different brand,
measure it twice to make sure it's at least a little bit bigger because you
certainly don't want to stand.
That's a little bit smaller than the footprint of your tank.
Another question to ask is, is it the same shape? For example,
let's say you have a cube and one light would work really well.
Kind of like our 20 gallon build list.
One light works fine because it's a small enough tank.
But if you were to get something of a wildly different shape,
a much more narrow and longer,
that one light might not be enough to cover the entire length.
So as long as you get something of a similar shape,
both of these builds being rectangles,
the lights we recommend should still work. The easiest way to do it.
Tank stand is to buy a tank stand combo,
JPJ red sea water box, innovative Marine,
all major brands sell a stand that accompanies these tanks.
So the easiest thing to do is to make sure you buy the stand that goes with the
tank, but let's just say for some reason, they're out of the stand.
Let's say the innovative Marine tank doesn't have the size of APS stand.
You need, you could just buy a water box stand.
You could just buy a red sea stand.
You could just go to your local fish store and buy a stand.
Just make sure you measure the footprint. You're usually going to be okay.
If the footprint of the stand is a little bit larger than the footprint of the
tank,
it just can't be the other way around because you don't want any part of that
tank to be hanging over the edge of the stand,
finding a suitable replacement for a tank and a stand is actually pretty easy.
When compared to finding a replacement for your lights,
there are just so many factors that go into choosing the right light for your
tank.
The first consideration is how much does the light put out both the AI primes
and the AI Hydro's that we recommend are not the highest amount of par out
there, but they put out a good enough of par to grow almost any kind of coral.
And when I say enough part,
usually we're talking about something for softies and LPs coral from 50 to
150 par and for SBS corals 200 to
350 pounds. So it'll just be really important to read the reviews,
to know whether or not the replacement lights are going to put out enough par
for the kind of corals you want to add. Next,
we need to consider how does the light Mount,
because you can light a Mount with some sort of flex arm that just connects to
one point on the tank, like the Hydro's, the primes we recommend.
You can have a Mount that is kind of long and rectangular the mounts to both
sides of the tank. You can also have a light that is mounted from the ceiling.
And if you have a really specific way, you want to Mount it,
the hydras and the primes are really cool because you can Mount them with a flex
arm or they come with a ceiling Mount. But if you want to replace those lights,
they may not have those mounting options,
or you're going to have to do some sort of DIY to make it fit.
So you just need to think through are the lights that I am going to buy.
Will they fit the tank? And did I get the right size light for my tank?
Then you got to consider spread different lights, spread out differently.
Some of them spread out like in really, really wide. Some have a very,
very narrow. So depends on how high you Mount your light.
Some of them have like a single puck. Like if you look back here,
the AI primes have just kind of one circle where all the light comes down
and kind of this. Or if you look over here at my reef, breeders light,
it's kind of a long fixture with LEDs throughout.
So it goes kind of all over the place.
And you just need to consider is the replacement going to not only one
cover your entire tank.
And number two is actually going to have too much spread where it's going to
spill light all over your room. Then you want to consider spectrum.
Not all lights are meant for reef tanks or are freshwater lights that are
saltwater lights. And when we're talking light spectrum,
we're talking about your blues, your greens,
your reds and coral growth likes certain spectrums,
especially on the more blue heavy side.
So if you were to get some sort of grow light or a freshwater light,
it may look very, very bright,
but there might not be a lot of photosynthetic active radiation or par contained
in the actual light spectrum.
So whatever light you find to replace the light that's out of stock,
make sure it's of the appropriate spectrum to grow corals.
And the last consideration for lights is wifi controllability,
both the AI prime and the AI Hydra have built in wifi
controllability. You don't need a separate controller,
you just connect it to your app. And it works.
There are a lot of other lights out there that either don't even have wifi
controllability,
but they have a controller built into the light and that works totally fine.
Or there are other lights out there that have wifi controllability like my
razor. But unless you buy the controller that accompanies this light,
you can't utilize the wifi controllability.
So just make sure your replacement has wifi controllability,
if that's important to you. And if it doesn't have wifi controllability,
just make sure you're okay with that.
And the unlikely event that they're out of the reframes you want.
There are a lot of other options, but just a couple of things to note first up,
make sure you replace it with a rephra.
You can't just pick up a rock from around your yard and you can't use rock
that's meant for a freshwater aquarium. We'll go into all that in a later video,
but just go to Marine Depot, go to the rock section,
and there are all sorts of different brands I'm looking at right now.
You can get carob C you can get Aquamacs Marco rocks, too little fishies,
anything that's meant to be a reef rock will work just fine.
The second consideration is shape the kind of carob sea life rock that we
recommended comes and just kind of standard shapes and just make sure you get
something similar. Yeah, you can buy arches. You can buy life, rock shapes.
You can buy branching things, but as a base,
you just kinda need your standard life rock.
And then you can add other things in as well to really Aqua skate,
something really cool. Last video,
there were a couple really important comments.
So we actually pinned a comment to the top saying that we 100% recommend a
sand bed for beginners. If you don't put in a sand bed in your tank,
not only is it going to take a lot longer to cycle,
but so much beneficial bacteria lives in the sand bed,
that your tank's going to be more prone to swings of different ammonia levels
and nitrite and nitrate levels.
So you're gonna have a hard time getting stability. So yes,
if you're a beginner, save money somewhere else,
but let's say they're out of the type of sand that you want.
The Fiji pink that we recommended.
There are other types of arugula lie brands out there,
but here's a couple of things to consider. You can get a wet sand or a dry sand,
but make sure that whatever type of sand you buy is specifically made for a
reef tank. You can't just go and get fresh water sand,
or it's also not usually a good idea to pick up sand from your local beach one.
There may be a local law against it. And two,
you don't know what sort of contaminants are in that. If you go with a wet sand,
it already comes with Nitra finding bacteria.
You can also get that exact same sand that's drive.
If you get that drivers and just know,
it may take a little bit longer for that sand to cycle.
And if you get the driver version, you may have to rinse it.
If they don't have the Fiji pink,
the closest equivalent I would say is the special grade.
I also really liked the look of the Hawaiian black,
but I've used it several times now.
And some of the pieces are magnetic and will attach to your magnetic algae
scraper. So I have had huge scratches on my tanks from using that, Oh,
I forgot to mention, I think the Fiji pinks,
a 0.25 to one millimeter or a 0.5 to 1.5 millimeters.
We'll talk all about sandbars later, but if you get a really, really fine sugar,
fine sand, it may blow around the tank. If you put a lot of flow in,
but if you get a really coarse sand, it will also trap a lot more to try this.
So something in the middle that's similar to the Fiji,
pink is going to be your best bet.
We've recommended titanium heaters for these bills.
And the reason we recommended titanium heaters is because they have a smaller
footprint and the ones we recommended come with an analog controller.
Let's say they're out of that. You can pick up another titanium heater,
just make sure number one, it's rated for the exact size tank.
You don't want to get something bigger.
Thinking bigger is better because if there's a problem with the heater and it
stays on it will fry your inhabitants.
So get something that's rated for the same gallons as your tank,
and make sure that the replacement titanium heater comes with a controller most,
if not all, titanium heaters require a controller, unlike a glass heater,
which has an internal controller.
So you'll might have to buy another controller or you can switch to a glass
eater.
But the thing to note about glass heaters is they are usually a lot longer for
the same heating power titanium heaters really pack a punch in a small
area and are perfect for smaller tanks, especially in a rear filtration chamber.
If you go with like an EIM Yeager glass heater,
which I use in almost all my tanks, they're fantastic,
but they are significantly longer and you may need a different wattage size.
Whereas a 50 watt titanium heater may heat up a 20 gallon tank.
You may need a hundred watt heater in a glass heater. So just read the reviews,
read the specifications,
make sure it will fit and make sure it's the right size for how many gallons you
have in your tank. Our ODI filters all share at least the same four things.
They have a sediment filter, a carbon filter, a reverse osmosis membrane,
and D I resin, okay. That's, that's the basics of an [inaudible] filter.
But if the one we recommended is out, there are so many different options.
Spectrum, pure Marine Depot, clean water and pure tech.
There are different sizes and different options. The one we recommended,
if you remember it came with a booster pump, inline TDS meter,
which is fantastic, but you don't need those things.
So if they're out of the one you want just check out another brand I've used the
spectrum pier I've used the clean water I've used the pure tech from AutoMax.
They all work really, really well. And just find something similar.
If you were going to go with a four stage filter with a booster pump,
you could probably find another brand that has a four stage filter with a
booster pump. If you can't find a four-stage RDI filter with a booster pump,
then you can just get a basic four stage filter and you can buy a booster pump
separately and install that yourself.
A refractometer is a refractometer as a refractometer. They all work the same,
but depending on which ones you buy, they're made for different purposes.
A lot of people who make beer and make wine use refractometers.
So if you go to Amazon,
you're going to look through and you're going to see something. That's not 1.02,
five. That's not in parts per million or specific gravity.
If they're out of the one you want just go to Marine Depot,
pick up another brand, or go to Amazon and just type in refractometer saltwater,
aquarium, and buy, whatever comes up.
It'll probably work just fine for your initial round of test kits.
Remember we recommended the API because you can test your ammonia,
nitrites and nitrates,
which is the basic test kits you're going to need in order to know when the
cycle is done. But if for some reason that test kit is out,
you can go ahead and buy separately. They sell the API ammonia, API, nitrate,
and API nitrate test kits. You can buy a different brand.
I've used this red C1 for a long time. It's the Marine care.
And it comes with the ammonia, the nitrite, the nitrate pH,
and a few other things really just check Marine Depot's website.
There's a lot of different brands out there,
but you want to make sure you get your ammonia,
nitrite and nitrate test kits at a minimum.
It's no secret that I love the flipper magnetic algae scraper because you can
turn it over in the water.
So you can have the soft mesh side or the stainless steel blades.
So you can get the BofI, the film algae, and the harder, more encrusting algae.
If they don't have it, for some reason,
don't just get a different size because you need to buy the right size flipper
for your tank. You could go with a different brand,
but just be careful with different brands.
There's a lot of different brands out there and they all work slightly
differently. And none of them is like the flipper that can go back and forth.
I'd recommend just looking at a different retailer,
going to your local fish store or checking Amazon. They often sell the flipper,
but you could just go to Marine Depot type in magnetic algae scraper.
And there are other options there. Just know the flippers.
Definitely my favorite for a handheld scraper.
It doesn't really matter which one you buy. Yeah. I recommended the flipper,
but Kent Marine make some good ones. There's some other off-brands really,
when you get a handheld algae scraper,
make sure it's going to be the correct length.
So you don't have to put your hand in the water every time you use it and make
sure it comes with both an acrylic blade and a stainless steel blade,
because sometimes that acrylic blade is just better for plastic areas or areas
that are around your seams. So you don't cause any damage.
I know I recommended the red sea coral pro some people don't like that. That is,
I believe the bestseller at Marine Depot, but honestly,
if they're out of that salt,
you can just choose any salt you want at Marine Depot.
They're all going to work fine.
Especially when starting out as you progress in the hobby,
you may want to get a certain salt for different reasons.
Some salts have have higher alkalinity and magnesium.
Some salts have lower specifically to match closer to actual sea salt,
but they don't have the red sea coral pro just go with the red sea blue box.
I forget which one that's called or just go with any of the salts at the Marine
Depot website. They're all going to be fine for starting out.
And if you want to change later,
that's easy enough to do the Python is definitely my favorite gravel vacuum
because the flexible to make feel so much more like Silicon and doesn't crimp as
easily as the others. But if they don't have it,
just go ahead and pick up an Aquion. I mean, let's be honest here.
It's just a very cheap plastic tube with some flexible tubing.
You could probably even make some yourself,
a net is a net is a net by three different nets,
get different sizes. If they're out of one specific brand,
they're pretty much all the same. Yes. Some nets have, have, have larger meshes.
Some have a tighter mesh. Some have longer handles. Some are shorter handles.
Some are, are two inches. Some are five inches, some are eight inches.
So just by a few different options and then you'll always have the right one.
And honestly, if you've ever had to try to catch a fish,
it's really good to have two or three.
It's easier to corral your fish to catch them.
If you need to treat them or move them to another tank. And lastly,
if they're out of my smart surge protector that I really like just go to
Amazon type in smart search protector.
There's a lot of options out there and you may just need to wait a few days for
it to come back and stock.
You could also buy like the single smart outlets or I know other brands make
similar while they might not have five smart outlets.
Maybe you could pick up one that has four,
which is probably still going to be enough for most applications. Okay? Okay.
Now you know what to do. Remember you can always call or email Marine Depot.
They have fantastic customer service.
You can always email us at my first fish tank contact at my first fish tank.
We're here to help as well, but next week, all the gear is going to arrive.
So we're going to talk about what to do when your gear arrives,
where to place your tank, what to consider when placing your tank,
how to do leak testing on your tank and how to level your tank.
So by the end of next week, you will be able to have your tank set up,
nothing in it yet,
but at least you'll have it set up and be able to start getting excited.
Thank you guys for watching. If this was helpful, give it a thumbs up.
Subscribe to Marine Depot and to my first fish tank and as always happy reefing
be well, we'll see you next week. Take care everybody.