150 gallon

[Ritzie]

I've been keeping freshwater aquariums most of my life, and have stumbled across one heck of a deal on a 150, and wanted to make a reef/mixed reef for my living room. I went to my lfs today and was talking with the owner, he said it is possible to start the tank off of tap water and use RODI water after that for top offs/water changes. Does this sound right? He said I'll have an initial algae bloom but nothing out of the ordinary down the road with the tank.

Is it possible to have a setup like this with only HOB Filters and skimmers? thinking 2x of the 400 biowheels.

Would I be able to buy mostly dry rock and then add in a few pieces of live rock to start the rest of the rock/sand?

What are some stocking suggestions for something of this size and setup? really enjoyed the mandarin blenny from the lfs, coral wise I like hammer, frogspawn, bubble coral, mushrooms, stars, just about anything with some neat colors, that beautiful green is always a plus!

How big of a clean up crew would I want for this setup? I've read you want to split it 50/50 with hermits and snails, just not sure if i'd need more or less for something going off of HOB.

Thanks in advance!

 

[jsker]

Yes you can fill the tank with tap water and use prime to rid the chlorine in the water. But after that, water changes and top have to be done with RO/DI. Are you going to just do fish only or going reef?

 

[Ritzie]

I'd like a reef/mixed reef tank, something to really catch your eye in the living room.

 

[haanstang]

If you can have the patients to wait and learn as much as you can before you spend any more money then that's what I would do. It helps that you have the background in freshwater tanks. But there is endless amounts of knowledge on this forum alone not to mention the rest of the web.
Trust me and absorb as much info as you can before spending money on anything. I know it's hard but it will be worth it in the end. It's easier to set it up and avoid a problem than it is to deal with problems once it's wet.
In the email that you should have got from rev should be links for all sorts of things. You should make a post on the new to the forum ( or what ever it is called) you will be welcomed with open arms.
Welcome to R2R