Greetings from the UK!

S

slinger

Reefing newb
Hi my name is David and I am just starting out in marine fish keeping.
My wife is buying me the full kit for our wedding anniversary and I have come here to pick up any advice I can.

My grandfather and father kept tropical fish so I have a general knowledge in that area but saltwater is a new one for me.

I'd like to say that after viewing some of the pictures of your tanks you have some really great and beautiful setups! :D
 
Welcome to the site, glad you have found us. You will find a lot of information in the helpful articles, but, feel free to post any questions in any of the general reef or fish forums. There a lot more people will view your questions and the responses have been very good. Hope you time here is informative and fun. good luck with your project/system.
 
Thanks for the warm welcome! :D

Im not completely sure on the kind of system Im getting yet, we're going to the local aquarium shop to get it all tomorrow. I want to get a small to medium sized marine / saltwater setup, probably aiming to keep about 5-6 fish in it. I definately want a Clown fish, Blue Damsel, Angels, that type of thing, the brighter the better! Basically Im a beginner with this so Im going to listen to all the advice Im given and go off that. My wife has already been to the shop and spoken with the guys there about whats best within our budget etc and she said that they have got plenty of ideas and I have to listen to what they say lol so Im pretty much in their hands with it all to be honest.
 
Best advice for a beginner - buy a few books! That's a great way to start learning about keeping saltwater fish/tanks - plus they are neat to keep on the coffee table as they have pretty pictures that guests can flip through!
 
I would recommend avoiding most damsels... Chromis and clownfish are really the only decent ones, especially stay away from the blue, domino and striped damsels, they are extremely aggressive and will not hesitate to kill any other fish, and even corals that they think are invading their territory.
 
A damsel can be your worst nightmare in a tank because they get soo aggressive like biff said. You will need a large tank if your going to keep angels because they get soo big, however, you could keep 1 or 2 dwarf angels depending on the size of your tank. I would put your trust in a LFS unless you know the person, because alot of them are out to get your money. If they tell you that you need something go home and research it or ask here for advise. I would say you should add a skimmer, but dont get the seaclone they are one of the most sold to newb's and are one of the worst skimmers you can get. What is you budget? You will be able to cut cost in many ways like buying used stuff, DIY, and on your live rock dont add all live use half base and half live to dramticly cut the price. Pick out a size and we can help to figure the rest of what you need. I also would'nt but live sand because when your cycle is over it will be live any way and the stuff from your rock will migrate to your sand bed anyway. There are alot of things you can do to cut the cost down and alot of things people will try to sell you that are worthless or you dont need. Research everything you buy before you buy it so you dont waste money.
 
Also I would go with sand and not crushed coral because coral is bigger and traps more ditrius than sand which will lead to exsess nitrates.
 
The best advise I can give,is GO SLOW.You cant rush salt water.
I would stay away from those little blue demons to.The are to aggressive.Not to mention,when a 6 dollar fish kills a 50 dollar fish,then you'll start thinking demonic things about the damsels.
 
yote said:
I would stay away from those little blue demons to.The are to aggressive.Not to mention,when a 6 dollar fish kills a 50 dollar fish,then you'll start thinking demonic things about the damsels.
Click to expand...

Yep. And believe me, those $6 demon fish are the most difficult ones to catch. Once a damsel's in your tank, it's not coming out unless you employ Yote's methods of catching rogue tankmates (i.e. dynamite).
 
The only thing I have too add is you dont need much too start a salt water tank. All you need is a tank, sand, water, a little live rock and a power head. You dont need lights, skimmers, filters, or fish to start cycling a tank. Rember your tank will take 3-6 weeks to completly cycle. Although I do recommend adding liquid ammonia for a kick start when you first start put your tank togather. You have atleast 3 weeks to choose the right lights, skimmers, sump/refugiums, and filters. BTW damsels are the crap of the ocean.
 
one thing to consider on your'e setup is, do you want fish only with live rock? or are you going all out reef? this will make a considerable diffence on equipement. a lot of people including myself were only going to do fish. and not a month into it i decided that i HAD to have a reef. i will be much cheaper to buy the equipment once. isntead of upgrading it a few months down the road. also the bigger the tank the more stable the water parameters will be. you won't have near the salinity swings as the water evaporates, and you will be able to keep more animals without amonia/nitrate problems.
 

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