Interested in salt water

wick246

Reefing newb
Hi all,

I love the site and am having a great time learning.

I would like to start a salt water reef tank with a few fish in the next few months and have some questions:

Is there a tank size beginners should limit themselves to? I want a bigger tank (55 gal to 120 gal) but not sure if bigger tanks need more experience to be successful. How much maintenance a week is needed once it is properly up and running?

I would like to buy a used glass tank, besides obvious signs of damage and weak seams is buying used a bad thing? What about people selling whole setups with fish and corals included. How do you even move a living tank home?

I really want a clean, healthy tank with very good lighting and good looking stand / top worthy of sitting out in our living room. Not a big fan of visible pipes and wires. Want to spend a few months learning before I buy anything. I don't really understand the different types of filters, power heads and sump systems and which work best for different types of set ups and why.

Any thoughts are appreciated and thanks for the excellent site!
 
Welcome!

Bigger is better because it makes for a more stable system with more leeway for mistakes. BUT... this is a very expensive hobby. So you need to figure out what your budget is and then I would try to go as big as you can within that budget. Within reason of course.

You can find good deals on used equipment, but if it was me I would set it all up from scratch rather than trying to move an entire system, intact from the sellers house to yours. So in other words used equipment would be ok but forget about the livestock for now. The key to longterm success in this hobby is patience. Get your tank and other equipment, set it up, fill it with water and sand and rock, let it cycle, then slowly start to add livestock. This process can take months, but it's worth it in the end.

Good on your for doing your research before jumping in.

Good luck!
 
I'm getting back into the hobby and found a great deal on a 55 gal tank. I would look for a pre-drilled tank, and do research on Sumps/refugiums to fit underneath your tank to limit cords, hoses ect. I know I found great deals on live rock, fish and equipment of people getting out of the hobby. There's a ton of DIY posts to save money. Hope this helps.
 
Hey wick and welcome to the site, I'm no expert, and alot of people will definatly be able to help you out here! the bigger the tank the easier it is to maintain over time because when water evaporates your salinity levels etc will not vary as much as in a smaller tank. But with bigger tanks comes a higher premium, lights, sumps, rock, sand, coral etc. from what i've read 55-75 seem to be the starter, but many people start bigger and smaller, totally up to you; every tank is going to require weekly top offs and bi weekly water changes of ~10% or so, and weekly or bi weekly chemical testing + caring for the coral ( spot feeding etc ). it can be alot of work depending on what you stock your tank with, i spend about 1-2 hrs a week on my 30g. Buying a fully operational tank is a huge hassle with moving, being that moving a tank with water in it can be dangerous so you have to move the water in increments of what ever size buckets you have it also will cause alot of stress on the living creatures in the tank. Buying a used tank can be hit or miss, you can really luck out if you get a tank that had some good life in it!
be sure to do tons of research and spend alot of time reading alot of these fourms in here, lots of SUPER great information!
Follow some peoples build logs in the tank showcase section, i recommend checking out parrots build ( i think he's doing a 120g ) he's def going about it in a 100% pro way. really knows what he is doing.

Have fun and good luck!
 
Hello and Welcome!

+1 everyone

Here are few articles with lots of important info as well
https://www.livingreefs.com/basic-equipment-list-t19611.html
https://www.livingreefs.com/ideal-books-reef-keepers-t19535.html
https://www.livingreefs.com/why-using-tap-water-bad-idea-t19865.html
https://www.livingreefs.com/water-chemistry-t31270.html
https://www.livingreefs.com/cycling-tank-adding-fish-and-corals-t26452.html

Research before you purchase!!! I cant being to tell you how often we someone who buys a fish, corals, invert on impulse and it is totally unsuitable for their tank for one reason or another. Also talking to people at the lfs are not a good source of info, they make money selling things to you so if a fish dies and you go back to get another one this is a win for them. Also just because they work there doesnt mean they actually have tank, or they have a successful tank. We will gain nothing from you buying something and there is such a wealth of information and experiences on this site, so our opinions and advice is usually pretty strait on
 
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