researching

Bad protein skimmers: SeaClone, Red Sea Prizm
Good protein skimmers: Pretty much anything else. I'd recommend the Octopus brand. Those perform the best and are in a good price range.
 
that sounds good
thank you

another question. yeah you say tap water is bad for the starting of a tank. i live in the city so they have chlorine and a ton of other things in the water that will not be good for it. i understand that. but what about well water? would that be better?

my LFS sells water but its like 14.99 for 4 gal. i mean geeze its just water?
 
hehe. Go buy a RO/DI filter for $100 or so. That's the best way to go.

Well water has even more desolved material in there.
 
Well water is just as bad, or can even be worse depending on the area.

Any grocery store or Walmart will sell RO water. It's usually around 30 cents a gallon. The label will say "Prepared by Reverse Osmosis".
 
Brian_G said:
my LFS sells water but its like 14.99 for 4 gal. i mean geeze its just water?
Click to expand...

:shock: That's a rip off...I just bought 10 gallons of salt and 5 gallons of fresh from my LFS for $10 and change (should've got the Fresh from CVS like a normally do for .25/gallon, but I was lazy and in a hurry).
 
Brian you said that money wasn't really important and if that is the case I would highly recommend that you go with a 120 gallon or more if you have the room. Most everyone that has gotten into this hobby ends up upgrading their tank size. I started with a 32 gallon and within 1 1/2 years upgraded to a 150 gallon. The main reason people don't start larger is the expense, but in my opinion the cost of a 55 is not that much more significant in cost. The bad thing about upgrading later is that you have to upgrade all your equipment as well. That is costly because you end up buying basically 2 of everything.
 
Hello and welcome to the site. I am also a fellow n00b that has yet to ever own a marine aquarium and thus far has done nothing but research. One thing I haven't seen mentioned and I have read is absolutely cruicial to maintaining marine tanks is a good amount of water flow. 10 times the gallon amount is a good number to go for. The best way it seems to go buy doing that is by putting powerheads in your display tank. Also, just something to give you a general idea on costs the setup which I have created in my head as for what I want as far as a 90gallon setup up will cost me roughly 3grand and this is with equipment that is pretty basic and far from extravgent. Hope that helps!
 
ggNoRe said:
Hello and welcome to the site. I am also a fellow n00b that has yet to ever own a marine aquarium and thus far has done nothing but research. One thing I haven't seen mentioned and I have read is absolutely cruicial to maintaining marine tanks is a good amount of water flow. 10 times the gallon amount is a good number to go for. The best way it seems to go buy doing that is by putting powerheads in your display tank. Also, just something to give you a general idea on costs the setup which I have created in my head as for what I want as far as a 90gallon setup up will cost me roughly 3grand and this is with equipment that is pretty basic and far from extravgent. Hope that helps!
Click to expand...


the 10x turnover rate should be the min amount of flow you want i am running at almost 70x
 
i dont think any walmart around here sells fish. and we have like 3. i will check though.

when you all are talking about water flow are you talking about how many times the pump sends the water to the sump and through or how much force the powerheads are putting out?

money is always a factor. i just dont really have a limit. if i dont have to buy something new and extravagant then i wont buy it. but i imagine you all here are not going to steer me in the wrong direction. i feel you are all giving me the right ideas and information.

i would go for a larger tank but i just dont have the room right now.
 
By waterflow I mean the gph rating or gallons per hour turn over. Liveaquaria.com is a good place to do some quick research as far as buying fish and corals.
 
+1 gg

Quite simply, it's how much water that pump/blower moves, it's the essential feature or power heads/pumps/blowers and will be listed rather prominently on the box or in the description. If not, then it's junk. If you just want to check some pwer heads out online:

Fish & Aquarium Supplies: Water Pumps

Personally, I like the Koralias from Hydor, but I've heard people on this site use everything (even though Koralias come up a little more often, especially as their model name, "I've got two K3's and a nano, I was thinking....").
 
Wow. Well I guess I need to get one started and go from there. I'm sure I will have many more questions. I just need to do it first hand

Oh and my LFS told me that a light right in the vehibnibg wouldn't be needed but once you add corals and fish it will be. Is that right?
 
in the what? If that's supposed to mean beginning, then yes...fish do not need lights; they are more there for us to look at the fish, but coral will actually need the light for their photosynthesis process
 
Haha yes that's supposed to be the beginning. Dang iPhone keyboards. So I can save. That money at the moment and put everything together and get the lights last with coral. Awesome
 
Thank you all so much.

I believe I'm going to get a 55 gal tank with a sump within a couple dAys so be prepared for many more questions :)
 
What can anyone tell me about HOB filters? Good and bad. I see a lot of tanks for sale locally that aren't drilled so that would be easier but is it as good?
 
in my opinion they are crap for salt tanks. live rock sand and a good skimmer are the best filtration you can get besides adding a sump for more rock or as a fuge
 
Are metal halide with pc lights good? He says they are two 175/150 watt bulbs and a balast for $100.

Sound like a good deal?
 
mh lights are great find out for shure if they are 175w watt or 150w. but yes it is a great deal for 100 if the balasts are good. you would need new bulbs and they run about 50 to over a 100 depending on the bulb you get.
 

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