Well some advice please

G

graham82

Reefing newb
Hello all,

I am really dying to set up a saltwater aquarium. I live in an apartment so it can't be too big. Maybe 30g or so. I had one about 8 years ago that I loved but unfortunately had to get rid of. I have read through a lot of the articles on this site detailing the different parts of the system. I know it takes a bit of time before you introduce any fish to the tank and thats good because I want to build it slowly. The first purchase obviously would be the tank. Is there anywhere I can go with an order of what to buy and when? Also are there any recommendations of sites to buy equipment and such? I don't think there are any local fish stores around here. Thanks for any advice guys.

graham
 
It makes it tough to do some of the initial shopping without having a local fish store (LFS) nearby. First off, you should buy your tank, stand (make sure the stand has a good amount of room under it in case you want to put a sump tank), a heater rated for your size tank, a powerhead (or two or three), and some sort of filter (lots of research to do there, as there are several filtration methods around)

Next up, you'll want some live rock, sand, and some live sand...(assuming you want a reef tank). Once you have those basics, you can get a light and hopefully a skimmer. That should be a start, but do lots of research on everything before you buy it!

A good website with lots of helpful articles is drsfostersmith.com
 
Parrot +1

Most of it depends on what size and what type of tank your going to do. If you do a nano then you wont have to worry about some of that stuff. If your going to do a tank with a sump you will have to think about return pump, Skimmer, if your going to do a refugium or not and stuff like that.

Try to find out if there is a LFS around you or atleast simi close to you.
 
Also, if a LFS tries to sell you "starter" fish, don't! There are other ways to cycle the tank than getting a pair of fish that may or not make it...plus, a lot of times, the starter fish is a damsel, which, imo, are HORRIBLE fish to have due to their aggressive behavior. (albeit with a lot of personality)
 
Thanks for all the tips guys. I did find a couple pet stores that carry some of the stuff I need. I watched the video below and I think I am gonna follow their lead.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmjP_td2qCE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmjP_td2qCE [/ame]

Here is the list of supplies I am going to pick up. Let me know if you see anything I maybe should avoid or go with something better (cheaper?).

29 Gallon tank and stand.
Tunze Reefpack 200 (overkill?)
Visitherm Heater
Hagen Aquaclear Powerhead
Phosban Phosphate Remover (how is this applied?)
Live Rock and CaribSea Live Sand
Not sure about lighting

A couple of questions I have.

Do you have to use 100% Live Sand or can you do a mixture of like 50/50 Live/Regular?

Do they wait for the tank to cycle after adding the Live Rock and Sand before adding the corals? Does the cycling process happen on its own or do I have to do something to start it? Don't want to use fish of course.

Any suggestions on what I should do for lighting? I would like to have 3/4 corals and maybe 2/3 fish to start.

That's all I can think of for now. Man I am excited!

graham
 
graham82 said:
Do you have to use 100% Live Sand or can you do a mixture of like 50/50 Live/Regular?

Any suggestions on what I should do for lighting? I would like to have 3/4 corals and maybe 2/3 fish to start.
Click to expand...

You can do a mix of live and regular sand. Partial live sand and partial live rock just cycles your tank faster, if it cycles at all. You have to keep the bacteria alive if you're not putting fish in immediately by putting fishfood in there.

I don't have coral experience, but you definitely need good lighting. I think people are ok with power compacts for small tanks, but it's best to get at least a t5. But I know the best would be metal halides. I'm sure someone will recommend good ones for you here :)

Btw, the video no longer works. Sucks that happens.
 
wontonflip said:
You can do a mix of live and regular sand. Partial live sand and partial live rock just cycles your tank faster, if it cycles at all. You have to keep the bacteria alive if you're not putting fish in immediately by putting fishfood in there.
Click to expand...

So you're saying I could get away with 25lbs of Live Rock and mix it with some other material? What could I use with it? Just fake rocks that you see at the pet stores?
 
Looks like your good.
With the sand and such you can use regular sand and base rock, but you have to have live sand and live rock to seed that stuff. Also if you get dry
Dont worry about the phosband stuff right now.

I would get a different powerhead since I havnt even heard of the one your looking at. I would go with either a koralina or a maxijet. Look at www.drsfosterandsmith.com for those.
As far as lighting with that size tank I would go with a nice set of t5's. Maybe some Nova Extreem Pros would be good.

The tank will cycle and you dont need to add ANYTHING. Get it all set up with rock and sand and then you will have to let it sit there till the nitrites go down then you will have to do a water change.
As far as corals you will want to add them later down the road when your tank is more mature.

The most important thing about his hobby is PATIENCE.
Let us know if you have anymore questions.
 
I just found a site that will ship a pound of Live Sand for free along with the Live Rock I order. Could I get away with buying regular sand and just adding this live sand to it? Thoughts?
 
You can do that but you wont need too much sand. What I did for my big tank is rinse all of the dry sand off and put that into the tank then put the live sand on top.
 
Unless I missed it in one of the posts you havent mentioned what type of tank you are setting up. Is it a fish-only (FO), fish-only with live rock (FOWLR) or mini-reef? To get the proper advice you need to specify which type you plan to have. Because if you are going to have a FO then you dont technically even need to have lights other than to turn something on so you can see the fish. FOWLR would need some light for but nothing fancy and a mini-reef would need plenty more light and that all depends on the types of corals in the tank also. So please specify which type of tank you plan to keep.
 
Sorry about that. I would like it to be a mini-reef. Not sure exactly what corals I want to get yet but that is what I am planning for. Someone mentioned getting T5's. Are those a special kind of light? How many would I need in a 29 gallon setup?
 
yeah, don't worry about buying all live rock or all live sand. The important thing is to have enough to support your bioload. As you add more creatures, you'll want to make sure you have enough of the living stuff to support it. I had about 20 lbs of live rock to start with, and slowly added more "base rock" (dead live rock that has been dried and cleaned) that will get seeded by the live rock, and in turn, become "live".

I'd also suggest getting a refractometer to measure salinity. It is much more accurate than a hydrometer, and I know it's made my life a lot easier and given me a lot more confidence in keeping the salinity stable.
T-5's are a brighter light source, followed my the halides, which are even brighter. I think what might really help you is a book! Hit up Barnes & Nobles, they have some good "newbie" guides to saltwater aquarium - some of it might be a little out of date or not as detailed as you like, but combined with the forums and the internet, should set you in the right direction!
Alex
 
I watched that video and im not a fan. They added everything except fish all at once which is not good. Unless that was cured live rock then I dont see how those corals and fish were alive.
 
I'm sure that they actually did add everything all at once. It was supposed to go along with an article that I can't seem to find. I think they waited for a period of time before adding any living organisms to it.

Well I'm off to get the tank and stand tonight! My wallet is trembling... :)
 
Ok I picked up the tank and stand. Here is the future home of my happiness!

S7006213.JPG

What do you guys think of the stand? I got it for a pretty good price. It seems sturdy but I could see something going wrong someday. Just nervous I guess.
 
looks good - I always feel the same way about stands too, but most are built to last! One thing I'd get for in front of it is a water absorbing mat so you don't ruin your carpet.
 

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