First time

[Carman34L]

I have been researching buying and getting started for about 2 weeks now, I have always been impressed with reef tanks, and I feel now that I need one. At this point, I am 24, married and dont have alot of $$$ to through around. I have read 4 books on how to start, maintain, etc... etc..
I dont know anyone who takes care of their own tank,(all my friends or friends' parents pay to have it done) which I dont care for. I would like to get info on finding the best way to "start out" and avoid making the "big mistake". I would like to start with about 50 gallons, and always have it nice and clear, I have been on the Dr. foster site and every other one on the internet with no avail. I just want to start off right and learn how to do this in the right way. Any help would be great.

Scott :?: :thanks:

 

[rbaby]

Hey Scott,

Welcome to the hobby. Well, for starters...I would say that if you want to start out cheap, buy dead sand...and grab a cupful or two of live sand from your friends' tank and seed it. I would say go for the same philosophy of seeding with a little bit of live rock to seed some base/dead rock. Just keep in mind that cycling will take MUCH MUCH longer this way...and cycling in general in larger tanks will generally take longer to begin with.

For easier maintenance, I would look into an auto-top off...to ensure that it's always clean, I would invest in an RO/DI unit...water that just isn't filtered via RO/DI will just cause algae blooms.

Many fish stores sell the saltwater already pre-mixed, but sometimes it isn't RO/DI filtered freshwater...so your best bet is to mix your own salt. Clean tanks, no matter how you look at it = lots of time to maintain clean. That is how you know how dedicated the person is to the upkeep of the person's tank.

My best recommendation is that you go ahead and invest in a MH pendant light right off the bat. I would normally say that you should see first what you would like to keep in your tank...but many people who have large tanks usually will want corals...and I guarantee you that you will HATE being restricted with what you can purchase because of your lighting. It will cost you less if you do it now, than to buy a PC unit that you will eventually toss later on...besides, most PC units are so expensive anyway you're better off with MH.

The only advice that I can give you is research and homework...message boards such as these are a great resource. Do you have any questions in particular? Saying that you want to "start off right" is rather vague, but I'll try to give you as much info as my knowledge can provide.

It's a good decision to start out with a very large tank...the room for error is so much larger.

 

[Carman34L]

reply

well, as far as being handy, I have the capabilities of making my own tank, base, lighting, etc.. I know enough to build the tank, light the tank, plump the tank, filter the tank, what i want to know is how to take care of it. I want to know to know what to buy and not make a mistake, start off right, I wont make my first tank, i can make my first lighting, looner and all, pumps, as they go I have a industrial "hook up" in which I can get for cost, (my dad sells high pressure pumps, i have accsess to low pressure 90+gph pumps as well) plumbling is not an issue, I.E. above.
I guess, what I want to know is what to buy to make a novice start of easy, as far as LR, and animal life

Scott

 

[YMCA]

My advice would be to read, read and then read some more. then ask your self what u want to keep FOWLR (fish only with live rock) or a reef tank. If u decide to keep a reef tank find out what type of corals u want to keep, SPS (small polyped stony) which would require MH or LPS (large polyped stony) or softys.

HTH

Josh

 

[rbaby]

Fishes are generally easy to care for...so your fish livestock possibilities are pretty much whatever you fancy. As far as corals...SPS require constant calcium levels...which means 1: you have to test it often to make sure that you are maintaining the levels...2: you have to dose calcium...kalk...or 3: you have to buy a kalk reactor.

So if you want to keep it easy and simple, I would stick with LPS and easy-keep corals. Coral livestock that you can keep without dosing calcium are much broader than you might think:

- Brains
- Zoanthids
- Candy Canes
- Bubble Corals
- Hammer Corals
- Torch Corals
- Frogspawns
- Anemones (bubble tip are probably the easiest out of all anemones)
- Acanthastrea Species (lord, hillae, echinata, subechinata, favia etc)
- Mushrooms (yuma, ricordea, hairy, pimple etc...)
- Sun Coral (is NOT photosynthetic, will need to be spot-fed food...)
- Leather Corals (Devil's Finger, Kenya tree etc.)

These corals are what I can think of off the top of my head. But like I said, the best way it just do your own research to the care of the corals.