[nikkibabee]

I am starting my first Reef with the help of Ming from this site. He has been a great help! I bought the 59 Gal tank set up with custom sump from BklynNano and am excited to get started. The set up is beautiful btw! I will post pictures as I go along so maybe this will help any other newbies like me. I am really excited! I also purchased today some live fiji rock and some pieces of Tonga that Ming is helping me cure. It will be a while till I get my tank up and running but it will be well worth the wait. Anyway, I am looking for opinions on a good skimmer and lighting. Please let me know what you think.

Thanks!!!

[nikkibabee]

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/...-new-tank.html

[Chiefmcfuz]

Great looking tank. What do you need as far as equipment goes now?

[nikkibabee]

I need lights, and the skimmer. I would also like to get a chiller and wave simulator...But I have time for that. I am also going to connect a smaller set up for sea horses, I am looking for a small hex set up but that can come later.

[Chiefmcfuz]

What kind of lighting? What kind of skimmer? I am going to suggest a controller like the aquacontroler or the reefkeeper 2 as well, they can act as a timer/wavemaker/thermometer/ph tester/they will turn off your lights and heater if the temp goes too high in the tank and turn on a fan or chiller to bring the temp down.

I am running a 250w Metal Halide setup on my 24 gallon tank and I have a 10 dollar fan from House of fish that turns on when things get too hot in the tank and that is sufficient and much more cost effective. You may want to try that first before dumping a whole lot of $$$ into a chiller.

[nikkibabee]

Great Idea. I don't know what kind of skimmer, like I said I am new to all of this so any suggestions would be great! I saw this ad on CL, but its all not english to me.
http://newyork.craigslist.org/stn/for/468595222.html
Let me know any suggestions that you think would work.

Thanks!!!

[Chiefmcfuz]

No way on that skimmer LOL Also no sea clone skimmers or prizm skimmers as well. You need to decide if you want an in sump skimmer or a hang on back skimmer. Once you make that decision the next decision is what brand skimmer and size skimmer you want as well. The lighting decision depends on what type of corals you want to keep as well. Once you decide that it will dictate what type of lighting you get as well.

[nikkibabee]

I would like an in sump skimmer. I do not want too many things hanging out of my tank. The coral I want will be all different. I would like to set up a tank that has a reef as well as a deeper swimming area for the fish and darker coves for other coral. I really want to go all out on this tank. So Im up to spending a little extra for nicer things just not breaking the bank.

[Chiefmcfuz]

What types of corals? SPS LPS Soft Zoas?

	SPS Small Polyped Scleractinians - Sometimes known as Small Polyped Stony corals. These are hard corals that have extremely small polyps. They are typically on the difficult side and require Metal Halide lighting or dense Power Compact or T5 arrays. These corals are prized for their rareness and ability to be easily fragged into multiple colonies.

	LPS Large Polyped Stony corals – In the aquarium hobby this is a common division of the species of stony corals based upon the visual assessment of the size of the polyps. Corals in this category were among the first stony corals to be kept successfully in captivity and include many very beautiful species. Commonly kept Genera include Euphyllia (hammer/frogspawn coral), Favia (brain coral), Plerogyra (bubble coral), Lobophyllia (meat/tooth coral), and Caulastrea (candycane coral). LPS corals also include the popular solitary non-colonial stony corals such as Fungia (plate coral), Cynarina (button coral), Trachyphyllia (open brain coral), and Herpolitha (tongue coral). Like their SPS counterparts, LPS corals require good water quality, intense lighting of the appropriate spectrum, adequate water movement and regular supplementation of calcium.

[nikkibabee]

Possibly both, I want to set up a tank that can hold just about anything. :-)
Am I asking for too much...lol?