New to SW

W

woodchuck765

Reefing newb
LIke the title says I'm new to SW tanks and havent gone crazy buying anything yet, just bought a few books, The Conscientious Marine Aquarist and have read it at least a couple time the past few weeks

I still take care of my old 55 gallon tank thats at my parents house been running for over 9 years now

Decided to get back into aquariums a lil while ago after my wife and 2 year old daughter went to the LFS and brought me back there, well I missed it alot, and decided to just get back into it

What I'm thinking of doing is a nice fish and invert tank, no fancy corals or things like that but maybe a few anemonies and some feather duster worms, and crabs and what not, but would like to be able to get corals and other things if and when I get accustomed to the tank so I want to the tank to be ready with everything before I go out and just buy some corals.

but I have no idea what to buy, I have read the Sticky in this section about the buying guide but it doesnt really give specifics about what to get

am looking for filtration?? model numbers and what not would be great
prob want to go with a refugarium??

lighting, and pretty much everything else??

lol model numbers would be great again, this will prob be a 46gallon bowfront, or maybe a tank that i can find on craigslist for cheaper


all help is appreciated

thanks
 
First off,Welcome to the reef.
Just how much money are you willing to put into filtration?Theres several different ways you can go there.Ive seen great tanks with just a hang on back filter,And ive seen great tanks with filtration systems that would put rivil sea worlds.The best filter you can get since your planning on a reef is to go with about 2 pounds of live rock per gallon of water and a good skimmer.
https://www.livingreefs.com/forums/...-equipment/3335-ordered-my-skimmer-today.html
These are great skimmers for the price.But again,you can put as much money as you want into a skimmer.
 
Thanks for the welcome,

not really planning on a reef, but i would like to have everything all set up if i wanted to start a reef after i get a nice FOWLR set-up going, i would rather spend more money up front, then have to buy stuff later on and spend more in the long run

yeah i was planning on going with LR, a skimmer, and then a sump underneath and maybe a refugium too

the only problem is im horrible with the plumbing part of it. I have been looking online and what not and i dont know if its the blonde hair or what but i dont understand how some of the things work

so for the sump and refug, what all would i need to have one for a 46 gallon tank?? like the pumps and what not, i would like to have the tank drilled

also i want to not have to worry about the sump or the tank over flowing as my house has nice birds eye maple floors

again thanks for all the advice


**Edit**

also dont want to have very many pieces of equipment in the tank

**
 
most lfs that i have talked to says they can order the tank predrilled with standpipes and the hole nine yards for an extra 50 bucks. if you buy a used one and then get all that done it may be more expensive. i personally haven't had good luck finding a used tank at a decent price. most people think they are like ocean front property and hold there origanal value. i have actually found some crusty old used tanks with half rotted stands on e-bay for the same price as new! with that being said, there is allways the option for an overflow box vs. drilling the tank. it may be cheaper that way if you do get lucky and find a good deal on a used tank. once the overflow decision is settled, then all you will need is a good return pump that will match or slightly exceed the flow rate from the overflow.

if you start out with a good filter and plenty of live rock like you are planning, then the biggest upgrade that i can think of to "go reef" later on is lighting.
 
woodchuck765 said:
Thanks for the welcome,

not really planning on a reef, but i would like to have everything all set up if i wanted to start a reef after i get a nice FOWLR set-up going, i would rather spend more money up front, then have to buy stuff later on and spend more in the long runDecide now on what corals and anemones you want before you purchase lights.I hate for you to buy plain strip lights and then have to upgrade again if/when you do decide on corals and anemones.

yeah i was planning on going with LR, a skimmer, and then a sump underneath and maybe a refugium tooI think thats the best way to go and most popular these days.

the only problem is im horrible with the plumbing part of it. I have been looking online and what not and i dont know if its the blonde hair or what but i dont understand how some of the things work

so for the sump and refug, what all would i need to have one for a 46 gallon tank?? like the pumps and what not, i would like to have the tank drilledIn this case,I would purchase a reef ready(predrilled) tank,either use or new.You would need a water pump for return,hoses,plastic and stainless steel hose clamps.You will have to decide if you want a sump with fuge built in or a separate sump and fuge.A separate fuge,then you may need a second small pump.

also i want to not have to worry about the sump or the tank over flowing as my house has nice birds eye maple floors

again thanks for all the advice


**Edit**

also dont want to have very many pieces of equipment in the tank

**
Click to expand...

Maybe this thread can help you somewhat.
https://www.livingreefs.com/forums/general-b-s/2968-rayray-how-works.html
 
hmmm,

my approach varies a bit more than all these wise people, but I have had success. Depending on how many fish you plan to keep in a 46, you may not need a sump. You can probably get away with a hanging filter on the back of the tank. Just have a physical filter, carbon insert, and an insert for phosphates, if you are planning for corals. I am not a fan of refugiums - I don't have one on my 125 and think they are more trouble than they are worth. Depending on you water changes and if you have enough live rock, you may not even need a protein skimmer if you do not overload the inches of fish. My buddy who owns my LFS has a 55 and does not run a skimmer.

Anyway, best of luck to you. Do what you think is best. Don't get caught up in buying more junk for your tank than you really need. Best of luck to you.

-Dr Marco :sfish:
 
If you want to keep anemones, you will need to buy all the equipment necessary to keep corals. In most cases, anemones are even harder to keep and more sensitive to water conditions than corals are. So right now, the biggest decisions you have to make are what protein skimmer to buy (like others have said, I would go with a good skimmer and 2 lbs of live rock per gallon) and what lights to buy. With lights you have 3 main choices: power compacts (PCs), T5s or metal halides (MH). With halides you can keep everything and anything you want, but they are the most expensive and put off a lot of heat. The next best thing are T5s and you can keep ALMOST everything under T5s. They are cheaper and cooler too. T5s are probably your best bet. PCs are the cheapest of them all, but will restrict which animals you can keep under them.
 
would it be better to buy the reef-ready tank at my LFS or would it be alot cheaper to order it online?? and if so onlie where would a good place to order it from??
 
Compare the prices of online with prices your LFS can get you.Some times online is cheaper,some times not.
For your lighting,I recommend the T-5s.In a 46 gallon bow front,I think you very well could keep anything your want.

BTW
We have kind of an unspoken law here.Once you get started buy and setting up,you MUST start a new build thread with pictures. J/K
But we do like looking at pictures.
 
ok so my LFS said that they could drill any tank, or get different ones through some companies, the manager emailed me with quotes on drillling

"our custom drill is 30-40.00 per hole depending on tank glass thickness and
overflow box with bulkhead 39-56.00 depending on one or two holes and size.
"

i have no idea if thats a good price or not

also theres a guy here selling this

40 gallon tank saltwater aquarium setup (corals, equipment, live rock)

he said that if he can sell all the coral and what not he would be glad to sell me his equipment, does that look good??

he didnt give a price yet, but i just asked

otherwise ill probably jsut buy a 46 gallon bowfront and have that place drill it and install an over flow for me


**Edit** And actually he had that tank drilled at the same place that i would be going to get it done at
 
IMO get what you really want ,There is no need in getting into something and WISHING down the line that you had gone the other rout.But on the other hand there is a Place to start in every hobbie and Room to grow as well. If Fish is all you want Dont make it so Corals are out of the option later on, I started out just wanting Fish and the purchases I've made to date were For that. Now Im really getting into corals and I am limited as to what i can put in the tank. with out further purchacing. Hope that helped Welcome to the reef, remember to take plenty of pictures of the process Tank builds are good fun threads...
 
I would think that 30 to 40 bucks a pop for each hole drilled in a glass tank would be a little much.But thats just me.
I would check the prices on a reef ready tank and compare the 2 before I made that decision.
 
LionFish said:
IMO get what you really want ,There is no need in getting into something and WISHING down the line that you had gone the other rout.But on the other hand there is a Place to start in every hobbie and Room to grow as well. If Fish is all you want Dont make it so Corals are out of the option later on, I started out just wanting Fish and the purchases I've made to date were For that. Now Im really getting into corals and I am limited as to what i can put in the tank. with out further purchacing. Hope that helped Welcome to the reef, remember to take plenty of pictures of the process Tank builds are good fun threads...
Click to expand...

yeah i agree thats why im planning on buying pretty much everything for a reef style tank, but just going FOWLR and getting used to it and then when i feel comfortable putting in some corals and what noti want to have nice enough lighting for some corals, nothing crazy or anything, probably just T5's, but you never know i might go with hallides, any suggestions??
 
If you start with T-5s,You'll love em.Theres several of us that are running T-5 lights.They run cooler,you dont have to buy a 150 dollar buld every 6 months,and you can keep just as much under them.
 
when picking the lighting, im a little confused about what to get, its going to be t5, but what size should i get, the tank says that its like 36" wide, do i get t5's that would be the exact width as the tank or smaller, im also a little confused about how many watts to get, i have heard people say that like 3-4wpg but then other people have said that there are other methods to determine what to get, any suggestions on what to getalso about the skimmer, the guy at the LFS said to get an aquac urchin, or an aquac remora, he said that they dont sell them at the store, they have to carry some bad stuff, but that the aquac skimmers are some of the best skimmers to get ?? whats your take on it??
 
Went looking at T5's,lets ignore the wpg rule.It doesn't apply well to T5's.I don't want to go into the specifics but it has to do with PAR values,efficiency etc.Get a fixture that fits your tank size.If its 36'' long then get a 36'' fixture.Personally,I would get a fixture with individual reflectors.They help redirect most of the light back into the tank.Check out Drfostersmith.com,Premium Aquatics.com and Marinedepot.com for T5 lighting.My first choice(in this order) would be Aquactinics,Tek lighting, and Nova Extreme(no IR yet).

BTW,the Aqua C are good skimmers...best of luck.
 

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