Salt water set up after many many years....

RBan

Reefing newb
Greetings from the Bay Area...

I am seriously considering starting up a salt water tank again after many years away from the hobby. Grew up with one as a kid and loved it. It's been 30 years and I'm currently in the research and refresher phase.

I have been looking at a 34 gallon Solana to get back into it. I don't have space for anything too much larger, but I could go a bit bigger. I will probably do live rock, sand and fish only... may get into reef in the future. Would love to hear thoughts on bio cubes vs. building from scratch as well as reef vs. FO :question:

Your thoughts and advice is welcome. I look forward to learning a lot through this forum. Many Thanks!
 
Hello and welcome!

All in one tank setups are very convenient and look sharp. They usually will cost you more than building from scratch, and they will limit you more in the size and number of fish you can keep because they tend to be small (figure on one fish per 10 gallons). Building from scratch allows you to select the best equipment you can afford, whereas with an all in one setup, you are stuck with whatever it comes with for lights, filtration, etc. unless you want to pay extra to replace it.

As for reef vs. fish only, if you buy an all in one setup, I'd recommend getting one that has good lights that are strong enough to keep corals. Start with fish only, then add corals down the road when you feel confident in your abilities to keep them. If you build your own system, you can start with cheap lights (like the fluorescent strip lights used in freshwater systems) and keep fish only, then upgrade lights down the road and try your hand at coral.

I, personally, don't think a saltwater tank is complete without corals. Reef systems are beautiful, and many corals are easier to keep than fish. There are tons of very low maintenance coral that will make your tank look like a work of art, so don't be intimidated by the idea that corals are difficult to keep! 90% of them are not.
 
Thank you so much for your suggestions. I greatly appreciate it. I don't know why I'm shying away form a reef tank initially... that's all I had with my parents when I was younger. I guess I just felt with an all in one tank, space would be limited so I should start with just fish.

Can you suggest some excellent equipment to get me started in the event I build from scratch?

Many Thanks!
 
What size tank do you think you'd be looking at if you started from scratch? I recommend a 4 foot tank. It seems there are so many fish that really need that extra swimming length. A 6 foot is even better if you can pull it off, but I know a lot of people have a hard time finding the money and space for a tank that size!
 
I could do that.... any particular tank manufacturer I should consider. Other recommended equipment for set up? Many Thanks for your assistance!
 
Welcome to the site! Its good to have someone close to me. Im up in the Santa Rosa area.
I would go with a glass tank and look into using an algae scrubber just my 2 cents. Good luck and ask lots of Q's there are many great people here willing to help!
 
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