New to Saltwater Aquariums... Advice needed

[dbeaty78]

Hello everyone,
I am wondering about tanks and setting up and everything really. I want to end up with a reef tank but I am thinking of starting with a fish and live rock tank first. My first few questions..... Is is better to have a tall short tank or a long not as deep tank. I am looking at a 120 gallon with predrilled that is 48x30x24 or a 180 gallon that is 72x24x24 I think and is also predrilled. Which would be better? Also since I can't afford to buy all the live rock and everything at start up what would I need with the tank to start as a fish and live rock and end up with a reef tank when I eventually get enough live rock. Next question is should I go with a sump or a refugium to keep from having to buy different equipment later to go to a reef tank? I also want to have my skimmer and all outside of my tank any advice would be greatly aprreciated. What will I need to start up with a basic fish and live rock set up for now?

 

[mallorieGgator]

So, first off, welcome!
*If a reef is what you want, then a reef is what you need to start with. Some fish that are ok in fish only tanks are not ok in reef tanks so that'll save you the hassel of catching fish and also the hassel of upgrading equipment down the road.
*A tank with more water to air surface area is going to be the best to allow gases to escape from the tank
*Since budget seems to be important I would honestly go with a 90 gallon or a 75 gallon. I had a 120 and it was VERY expensive to maintain (salt, light bulbs, equipment repairs, new equipment, etc). I ended up taking it down because the cost was just too much to maintain.
*I would get a tank that you can afford to buy rock for all at one time. I would keep away from live rock and buy dry rock instead. It's cheaper and pest free. You can use a product like microbacter to seed your tank. It works well. I've done it before.
*I would buy a drilled tank with an overflow and plumb it into a sump. You can have a refugium in your sump if you wish but I personally like biopellets and a good protein skimmer instead.
* For a skimmer, I've never dealt with one that goes outside of the tank, although many people have.
* There's a lot you'll need to start up your first tank. My suggestion is to read through the forums and come up with your own list of what you think you'll need and then post it for help and advice.

Hope this helps!!!!!

 

[Planedoc]

There is so much to cover I don't know where to start. I have 120 that is 30" deep like you said and when you add a canopy it's 34" and I can not reach the bottom. I will never buy a tank deeper than 24" because maintenance is hard when you can not reach the bottom. My 240 gallon cost around $80 a month to maintain, my 75 gallon about $30. The perfect size tank to start with if you are serious and have 4k to spend is a 75. If you are experienced and have 10k than go with a 120 up to 240.
A 75 Do it your self will cost around $2500 to get up and running with stand sump lights plumbing pumps live rock and sand and will quickly reach 4k with live stock.
A 75 is with a sump is great tank to start with as it gives you a good size volume of water that won't get out of balance easily. The 4 foot length gives you a large assortment of light fixtures and other equipment to choose from. A 55 has same 4 foot length but it's 12 inch width is a big problem when adding live rock.
I hope this helps and put dollars into prospective.

Tapatalk on Galaxy S3

 

[dbeaty78]

I have a 110 gallon that is not drilled is there any safe or good way to use it without drilling it because I don't know it is tempered or not. What is the big difference in refugium and a sump with bio balls. Is one better than the other for reef tanks? I really want something I can incorporate some good size fish in. If I ought the 180 gallon I would start out with cheap reef safe fish and a few live rocks. I want to build it up kind of slowly and put some time into it really. This is my new hobby and I am trying to learn about it and have done quite a bit a reeding. I have a 55 gallon freshwater now but you can get a lot more brighter colorful fish with saltwater and also the coral is great looking. If I can just get the tank and basic set up to start fish and live rock I can build to a reef is what I want to do but I want to make sure what I buy at first will support a reef tank later so I don't have to buy newer stiff later.

 

[dbeaty78]

I found a 180 gallon tank with drilled tank stand and canopy for 900 is that a good price. What else would I need with that to get started with just reef safe fish and live rock to be able to still go to a reef tank later?

 

[Reefing Madness]

Thats alittle pricey for a 180g tank.

What you need to get started:

http://znnea.rmuvx.servertrust.com/default.asp

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Nitrogen_Cycle.html

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=power+heads&_sacat=0&_odkw=salt+water+refractometer&_osacat=0

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-0-10-Salinity-Refractometer-Salt-Water-Aquarium-/251140605905?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a792587d1

http://www.marcorocks.com/

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/bulk-dry-live-rock.html

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/fish-supplies/aquarium-substrate/ps/c/3578/9805

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Lighting.html

http://live-plants.com/

http://successfulreefkeeping.com/learn/what-your-coral-needs/

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=t-5+lighting&_sacat=0

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=cree+led+aquarium&_sacat=0&_odkw=t-5+lighting&_osacat=0

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/fish-supplies/saltwater-aquarium-salt-water-mix/ps/c/3578/4685

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=15473

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4749

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4145

[TD="class: xl24, width: 1761"]#1-Dry Rock, there are a few hitchhikers on Live Rock that people want to stay away from, so they opt for using Dry Rock, or Dead Rock. Macro Rock is a good place to start looking for that. Either way you go you will need a minimum of 1lb per gallon. You can use Fully Cured Live Rock, and have the tank cycled in just a few days also. Other way is to use just a couple of pounds of Live Rock and the rest Macro or Dry Rock.[/TD]

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[TD="class: xl26"]#2-Replacement filter media like filter floss and activated carbon (if you get a filter) Which is really not necessary.[/TD]

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[TD="class: xl26"]#3-Multiple Power heads (2 or 3) 10x your water volume for just a Fish Only With Live Rock, and at least 20x your water volume for a Reef Tank. So lets say your going reef, and you have a 100g tank, you would need flow in that tank at minimum of 2000gph, or 2 1000gph power heads.[/TD]

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[TD="class: xl26"]#4-Protein Skimmer, rated at 2 times your water volume. Unless your tank is under 30g, in which case you can do 10% water changes a week to rid the system of detrius. But, you'll have to watch the water parameters close, if things go haywire, you'll have to do more water changes.[/TD]

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[TD="class: xl26"]#5-Saltwater Test Kits. Reef Test Kit. Test for Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, PH, Phosphates, Calcium, ALK and Magnesium.[/TD]

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[TD="class: xl26"]#6-Saltwater fish food. Mysis Shrimp, Squid, Cyclopease, Algae Sheets, Romaine . Flake food is not really a good food to feed your marine fish.[/TD]

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[TD="class: xl26"]#7-Aquarium vacuum. This one is iffy. Most don't use one, if you have enough flow in the tank you won’t need one[/TD]

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[TD="class: xl26"]#8-Rubber kitchen gloves[/TD]

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[TD="class: xl26"]#9-Fish net[/TD]

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[TD="class: xl26"]#10-Two, clean, never used before, 5-gallon buckets[/TD]

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[TD="class: xl26"]#11-Aquarium thermometer, digital being the best.[/TD]

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[TD="class: xl26"]#12-Brush with plastic bristles (old tooth brush) - needed for cleaning the live rock if you don't get Fully Cured Live Rock.[/TD]

[TD="class: xl26"]#13-Power Strip, possibly GFCI outlets by the tank.[/TD]

[TD="class: xl26"]#14-Optional but definitely recommend getting a Reverse Osmosis or RO/Deionization filter for the make-up water, and a barrel for storing the water.[/TD]

[TD="class: xl25"]#15-Possibly a Quarantine Tank for your new fish. They sit in here for a few weeks to kill off parasites and bacteria, to keep it from getting in your main tank[/TD]

[TD="class: xl24"]#16-Heater rated for your size tank.[/TD]

[TD="class: xl26"]#17-Saltwater Mix. Marine Salt. Instant Ocean is the cheap Salt that beginners and Advanced use alike.[/TD]

[TD="class: xl26"]#18-Saltwater Hydrometer or even better a Refractometer, which is more accurate. There is also a Digital Meter that is way advanced if you have the cash.[/TD]

[TD="class: xl26"]#19-Aquarium filter (not absolutely necessary if running with adequate amounts of live rock, but nice to have if you need to use a mechanical filter or activated carbon, or GFO and such)[/TD]

[TD="class: xl26"]#20-Aquarium substrate such as live sand or crushed coral. Some go bare Bottom, others choose the 2-3" bottom, others, more advanced will try the Deep Sand Bed, which is over 6" deep.[/TD]

[TD="class: xl27"]http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=aquarium+heater&_sacat=20754&_odkw=power+heads&_osacat=0[/TD]

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[TD="class: xl28"] Live Rock and Live Sand: Live Saltwater Aquarium Rock and Sand [/TD]

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[mattvisocky2003]

I would go as big as you can and disagree with total tank costs. I can set up a 200-300 gallon tank for around 4k pretty easily. You just need to buy a lot of equipment used. And in your measurements I believe the middle number is depth front to back not height. I saw someone say height I believe. I prefer deeper front to back tanks and recommend 30-36" "deep" tanks all the time.