i have a few questions

[glenn37]

I have a friend whose son is considering getting into saltwater aquarium hobby. the son is about 13 or 14 years old. I have a few questions:
1. what are the pros and cons of canister filter vs. hob skimmer she cant afford a drilled tank yet.
2. what are some books that i can give him while they buy and gather the materials for his first tank? i will be buying the 40 gallon breeder and maybe a canister filter for them.
3.any live stock that i should guide them towards for beginner's coral like LPS corals and some fish?

thank you in advance for looking at my post and answering these questions.

 

[BummersReef]

Hi and welcome! so nice of you to do this for friend's son! It's a wonderful hobby and will give him a great opportunity to learn about science and even chemistry
1. I'm too new and don't know
2. According to a wise person on here (Humblefish) ...
- The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Bob Fenner
- Natural Reef Aquariums by John H. Tullock
3. "soft" corals are usually best bet for beginners but there are some hardy/easy LPS that he can try. Best starter fish ... clownfish! (2 if you want them to fall in love) Mushroom corals are great starter coral as are Xenia (but they can grow out of control so some say stay away from them! lol)

welcome to R2R!

 

[Tahoe61]

I have a friend whose son is considering getting into saltwater aquarium hobby. the son is about 13 or 14 years old. I have a few questions:
1. what are the pros and cons of canister filter vs. hob skimmer she cant afford a drilled tank yet.
Cons of a canister is that it takes more manual and routine maintaince. On a 20-40 gallon tank I would go with the HOB. Filter media is less expensive and more easily maintained.
2. what are some books that i can give him while they buy and gather the materials for his first tank? i will be buying the 40 gallon breeder and maybe a canister filter for them.
The Conscientious Marine Aquarist would be perfect. The Reef Aquarium volumes I,II. and III address the science as well as husbandry.
3.any live stock that i should guide them towards for beginner's coral like LPS corals and some fish?
Almost everyone loves clowns and they are hardy for the most part. Yellow Watchman Goby and Tiger Shrimp is a fascinating addition. For corals, Duncans, Favia, Candy Cane.
thank you in advance for looking at my post and answering these questions.

.........

 

[Jahalu]

I second the idea of using HOB over canister. I ran my first tank, a 25g, with a 'skilter.' It was basically a regular HOB filter, but also had a skimmer feature that skimmed the water using an air stone. It definitely didn't work like a real skimmer, but I remember cleaning a fair amount of muck from it. I'm not sure if they still sell those, but you could look into it.
As for beginner fish- I love a small group of pajama cardinals.
Good luck with the setup!