New tank

[fishys!]

I am moving to a new house soon and ill have enough space to set up a saltwater aquarium! I currently have 3 ten gallon freshwater aquariums and I'm really excited to get a saltwater tank! in terms of size I want a 46-gallon bowfront tank and I would like to keep some corals and a pair of black ocellaris clownfish and possibly a clean up crew. I would like to know what equipment I would need. I would like any opinion on best brands of filters. do I need a protein skimmer? best clean up crew? lighting? RODI unit? basically, I would like a crash course in what I need so I know where to start/continue my research anything would be greatly appreciated thank you

 

[Flippers4pups]

Welcome to reef2reef! Glad you joined us!

Here's a good read:

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium

This article was sponsored by @MarineDepot at www.marinedepot.com. Introduction The marine environment is one of the most complex systems on the planet. The aquarium you are about to set up is only a tiny sliver of the vast ocean, but it is no...

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[BadFish619]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[ahiggins]

Welcome! In my opinion, the clean up crew is the single most important part (apart from filtration) that you will need to nail if you want to be successful. All tanks are different and once you start getting algae you’ll see what you need

 

[fishys!]

In my opinion, the clean up crew is the single most important part (apart from filtration) that you will need to nail if you want to be successful.

what would you recommend for a cleanup crew?

 

[ahiggins]

it all depends on your tank. Personally, the tried and true are astraea snails (not the turbos unless you have really bad hair algae-like covered rocks or outbreaks) and nassarius (vibex or tonga variety). Ive had many many things in the past that have all served a purpose (money cowries, slugs, urchins, crabs, shrimp) but the best right off the bat are gonna be astraea and nassarius. note that if you run with no sand, do not get nassarius. theyre sand digging guys.
That being said, if i were to do a big tank, I would get a sump for it. I run a 40 without a sump and its not hard but lots of water changes. With the 40, i have a reef octopus hob skimmer with a filter sock on the outbound with chemipure elite in it. I also have a gyre wavemaker and two other offbrand pumps for flow. It is my grow out so lots of nutrients going into that tank and lots of fish poo too lol

If youre only going to have a pair of clowns and some easy corals, my advice would be the following:
1. no need for a skimmer. there will be such a small bioload of 2 clowns in 46 gallons that you dont need that heavy nutrient export.
2. get plenty of flow in there. Im partial to the hydor coralia circulation pumps. This serves as flow for corals as well as getting food and poo up off the sand/ground so it can be picked up by filtration.
3. Filtration. I would get 2 hob filters (like the marineland big ones). Buy a big pack of white and blue filter floss on amazon, the ones you can cut to size. That will be your main gunk getter outer. I would also run the correct amount of chemipure BLUE for the tank size. the blue has activated carbon, gfo (a great work around for a skimmer for sumpless tanks), and beads for clarity.
4. basics like rock, sand, thermometer, heater, etc. I love the cobalt line of heaters. you can set it to what you want and forget about it for the most part.
5. lighting. EVERYone has different opinions on this but i really like the AI prime HDs. I have 2 over my grow out 40 gal breeder and theyre wonderful. super user friendly and easily pulled up to edit on your phone. I cant for the life of me grow sps in my tanks though so i cant speak for AI prime growing ability for those.

this would be how I would do it because I dont have hundreds to spend on sumps/skimmers/fancy lights. If you do, there are SO many options out there. Biggest piece of advice is do your own research and tons of it. If you know what you want, keep researching. BRS TV has great mini series that detail pumps, tanks, fish, cleaners, you name it.

 

[fishys!]

it all depends on your tank. Personally, the tried and true are astraea snails (not the turbos unless you have really bad hair algae-like covered rocks or outbreaks) and nassarius (vibex or tonga variety). Ive had many many things in the past that have all served a purpose (money cowries, slugs, urchins, crabs, shrimp) but the best right off the bat are gonna be astraea and nassarius. note that if you run with no sand, do not get nassarius. theyre sand digging guys.
That being said, if i were to do a big tank, I would get a sump for it. I run a 40 without a sump and its not hard but lots of water changes. With the 40, i have a reef octopus hob skimmer with a filter sock on the outbound with chemipure elite in it. I also have a gyre wavemaker and two other offbrand pumps for flow. It is my grow out so lots of nutrients going into that tank and lots of fish poo too lol

If youre only going to have a pair of clowns and some easy corals, my advice would be the following:
1. no need for a skimmer. there will be such a small bioload of 2 clowns in 46 gallons that you dont need that heavy nutrient export.
2. get plenty of flow in there. Im partial to the hydor coralia circulation pumps. This serves as flow for corals as well as getting food and poo up off the sand/ground so it can be picked up by filtration.
3. Filtration. I would get 2 hob filters (like the marineland big ones). Buy a big pack of white and blue filter floss on amazon, the ones you can cut to size. That will be your main gunk getter outer. I would also run the correct amount of chemipure BLUE for the tank size. the blue has activated carbon, gfo (a great work around for a skimmer for sumpless tanks), and beads for clarity.
4. basics like rock, sand, thermometer, heater, etc. I love the cobalt line of heaters. you can set it to what you want and forget about it for the most part.
5. lighting. EVERYone has different opinions on this but i really like the AI prime HDs. I have 2 over my grow out 40 gal breeder and theyre wonderful. super user friendly and easily pulled up to edit on your phone. I cant for the life of me grow sps in my tanks though so i cant speak for AI prime growing ability for those.

this would be how I would do it because I dont have hundreds to spend on sumps/skimmers/fancy lights. If you do, there are SO many options out there. Biggest piece of advice is do your own research and tons of it. If you know what you want, keep researching. BRS TV has great mini series that detail pumps, tanks, fish, cleaners, you name it.

Thank you so much for the advice in kinda having a mental breakdown for many reasons and having someone tell me more than "just do research" was something that was much needed

 

[ahiggins]

Designing is the fun part! Don’t get worked up over anything. Better to go slow now and read everything you can and get it right rather than get it wrong and have constant problems that WILL cause you to stress
My bff through saltwater has been my trusty RObuddy with the DI resin. Cheap and hardy. If you need any help or someone to talk you off the ledge-send me a msg

 

[Calpoly2103]

Just start off slow and dont rush. Buy some rock and start curing it, this will help kill off any bad stuff you dont want. While that's happening you can design your aquascape and do more research on the coral you want to keep. Also you can figure your your water change schedule/rodi unit if you plan to go that route, and design your filtration. Once rock is cured you can start cyling your tank which will take about a month. In the meantime you can buy some lighting (no need to have a light during cycle, itll just promote algae growth) Once your cycle ends after about a month you can flip on lights a few days before putting in cleanup crew (nassarius/trochus/turbos/cerith). I like variety. You dont need to do everything at once, and taking your time is the best approach. Later on if needed you can add a skimmer, refugium or other