Need ideas and help!! Lighting and tank information...

[Michael W.]

I am completely new to saltwater. I have been doing some research about what I am looking for in a tank recently and have come to understand just how much this hobby is going to cost me. I need help in two areas...

1.) I need to know how well the tank I am looking at will work for me. It is the NUVO 50 gallon Lagoon aquarium from Innovative Marine. It is a nice-looking tank, but does it function well?

2.) What are some cheap-ish aquarium lights that I will be able to grow some corals with? The tank itself is blowing my budget so there is no way I can think of getting something like the Kissel AP700.

Thank you so much for your help!

 

[kennedpa]

Are you getting it used? You can get plenty of things used cheap. Especially tanks.

 

[kennedpa]

Budget, types of coral you're looking to keep, etc will help us help you.

 

[Michael W.]

Budget, types of coral you're looking to keep, etc will help us help you.

Lights: Nothing over $500
Corals: Mainly LPS corals, possibly an anemone, maybe SPS corals down the road if tank stays healthy and running.

 

[kennedpa]

You can get a nice tank and used T5s or a MH for cheaper than 500. Even if you need to make a small sump vs an all in one tank (personally not a fan). Some people don't even run sumps. You can also use black box LEDs for something simple. They're really not bad. I've grown everything under them. It's all about water quality. The black box LEDs just do better higher off the water to spread the beams out.

Craigslist, Facebook market place, and here are great places to look. Also love reefing forums/groups. Many local reefing groups have a Facebook page also.

 

[Michael W.]

You can get a nice tank and used T5s or a MH for cheaper than 500. Even if you need to make a small sump vs an all in one tank (personally not a fan). Some people don't even run sumps. You can also use black box LEDs for something simple. They're really not bad. I've grown everything under them. It's all about water quality. The black box LEDs just do better higher off the water to spread the beams out.

Craigslist, Facebook market place, and here are great places to look. Also love reefing forums/groups. Many local reefing groups have a Facebook page also.

Sounds good! For a person with limited space though, would the AIO tank serve me better in those conditions over a sump? It seems as though built-in filtration would be great for small space.

 

[kennedpa]

It's still going to be on a stand right?

 

[Michael W.]

It's still going to be on a stand right?

Yes.

 

[kennedpa]

The sump can go underneath. I personally prefer it because it gives you two things. First, more volume and the ability to have an easier time with stability, and second, the ability to expand. It's an addicting hobby and we always want to improve. Should you succeed, you'll want more fish (more bioload) and you'll need a reliable skimmer. You'll need to supplement elements, this gives you a place to organize a dosing area or place a reactor. It also affords you the ability to use other methods should you choose like a carbon reactor or an area to place a bag of carbon, as well as potentially having a refugium if you want to incorporate algae as an export method. You can also put your auto-top-off there. All while hiding the equipment. AIO can be nice, I'm. It saying they can't be successful, but I think they are limited in what they can efficiently handle and will require more frequent upkeep as you progress and likely will be overwhelmed.

Many many cheap options exist. Getting tanks and acrylic and siliconing baffles in to make a DIY sump is easy. And you can plan for the future to create what you might need.

 

[kennedpa]

Even broken tanks can be patched with acrylic on the inside for use. I was looking for a pic but I can't find one. I have a 40B grow out area and one of them is patched.

 

[Cyricdark]

If you're technically inclined you can make your own LED lights as well. Go to your local recycling place and look for aluminum heatsinks, most of them will sell those to you per lb which is far cheaper than ordering them new. You can get the LEDs super cheap on eBay. I've built LEDs lights for my 6' 120 gallon that grow anything sps included for less than 150$ and I'm currently building a light setup for my 300 gallon that will be a monster 600 Watts setup that will be fully controllable, sunrise, sunset, geolocation, etc via a bluefish controller for less than 300$ and 100$ of that was the controller, could be built for 200 dollars with timers and simple dimmers.

 

[kennedpa]

Even broken tanks can be patched with acrylic on the inside for use. I was looking for a pic but I can't find one. I have a 40B grow out area and one of them is patched.

I don't know why that photo was there...