Starting a reef tank, need help!

[Wannabreefer]

I am so fasinated by marine setups so im gonna change from freshwater to keeping a reef tank. Only thing is i dont know to much.
Since many of you have great setups can you help me out with what equipment i need,basics, and any thing else you might think is usefull.

Its a 38 gallon aquarium.





Thanks

 

[Galantra]

The first thing everyone will say is research, search and read up on all information on starting and maintaining a saltwater tank before you start to buy anything. This will save you the time of knowing any situations that may happen during the start up and also let you know how you want to set your system up. Knowing what you planning on housing in the tank will help as well. I could easy tell you get live rock sand power heads and a skimmer but that won't help you that much

 

[sjsoto]

what will you like to keep?

 

[Wannabreefer]

Thanks for the responses. I would like a tang but i heard u need 75gallons plus, so just some beginners fish like perculas clowns,gobies things for beginners and probably soft corals?

 

[georgelc86]

A great site to get info is www.reefkeeping.com

www.liveaquaria.com is good for basic marine fish and coral information.

www.wetwebmedia.com and my personal favorite www.melevsreef.com as also good sites for info.

Doing your own research is valuable because you will get an idea of what you want to do and what you need. This site and reefcentral.com are great for fine tuning your research because then you will see what works for people and what doesnt. Good luck with your soon to be setup.

 

[tomtoothdoc]

sometimes too much informations on these websites, even though they're great info., can be a little daunting. and it's hard to search a topic or questions when you aren't sure what to ask.

that said, i would suggest a fairly simple book as a beginning:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1890087025/?tag=reefs04-20

welcome to our world.
good luck and have fun.

 

[Yen]

I just started about a month ago. I'll tell you my learning experience to help you make your decision.

1/ Select a tank. I think 90 G is perfect. Enough for you to stay with it for a long time. Cost wise is manageable. Look on Craigslist or some sort of penny saver circulation for tanks that for sell. That's huge saving as opposed to going to pet store and buy one. Look for Reef Ready tank, these tanks already have overflow built in, it may cost a llittle bit more but plumbing would be a lot simpler. Besides, with a non-reef-ready tank, you would have to buy an over flow box, which could cost you anywhere from 69 to 150 US dollars plus tubing too.

2/ Skimmer, don't buy skimmer before planning your sum and your after making sure your sum fits inside your stand. After you have your sum, then buy a skimmer. Based on what I learned so far, good skimmers are usually in-sum skimmer. Get the biggest skimmer possible for your sum. Again, local reef forum or Craigslist are the places to look for

3/ Look for a RO DI filter, make RO DI water before you fill the tank. If you fill the tank with tap water, then it'll take a long time to gradually replace it with RODI water.

4/ Keep fish and soft corals. I find soft corals are beautiful and don't require much light. People are saying 3 watts per gallon is good for soft corals. Less wattage means less heat and lighter energy bill.

5/ Clamp all the tubes between your sum and your main tank. I didn't once, and one night one of the tube slipped off and I got almost an inch of water in my living room. Took me the whole night to clean it up.

Hope this helps a little bit.

 

[Wannabreefer]

Thanks for the posts. But is a sump really required? because i hear you only need live rock bc then it acts as a filter?
Or the sump just to hide things?

 

[Yen]

As far as I understand and hopefully others with more experience will chime in, the live rock is your biological filter and the sump can act like your mechanical filter. But if you don't want to use the sump, you can use the canister filters such as Fluval 405. This will be your bio and also mechanical filter. With this type of filter, you need to clean it regularly, at least once every two weeks. Open it up in a month, and you see a lot of muck and it smells bad

But I think a sump is best, there you can throw in a lot of good stuffs, and avoiding to hang them behind the tank. Or instead of the sump, you can do a refugium, it's similar to the sump but it gives you room to grow macro algae. It's fun to watch little tiny things moving around in this space. This is to remove your nitrate.

But what important is start with a tank with only live rock, set everything up and let it run fishless for a few week. Dont put in demsel, because later on it would be a nuisance, and you cannot take it back out. People told me to throw in a piece of shrimp or a dead clam once in a while to help speed up the cycle. After a week or two, put in a pair of clown fish. they're hardy and help cycle the tank, they're not expensive and they are a nice addition in the tank.

I don't mean to talk like a pro, I am not I'm new like you, and I know, you can't just read and read, and get nowhere. You got to start somewhere, might as well, learning while doing it. Just be careful, don't rush things.

 

[Wannabreefer]

As far as I understand and hopefully others with more experience will chime in, the live rock is your biological filter and the sump can act like your mechanical filter. But if you don't want to use the sump, you can use the canister filters such as Fluval 405. This will be your bio and also mechanical filter. With this type of filter, you need to clean it regularly, at least once every two weeks. Open it up in a month, and you see a lot of muck and it smells bad

But I think a sump is best, there you can throw in a lot of good stuffs, and avoiding to hang them behind the tank. Or instead of the sump, you can do a refugium, it's similar to the sump but it gives you room to grow macro algae. It's fun to watch little tiny things moving around in this space. This is to remove your nitrate.

But what important is start with a tank with only live rock, set everything up and let it run fishless for a few week. Dont put in demsel, because later on it would be a nuisance, and you cannot take it back out. People told me to throw in a piece of shrimp or a dead clam once in a while to help speed up the cycle. After a week or two, put in a pair of clown fish. they're hardy and help cycle the tank, they're not expensive and they are a nice addition in the tank.

I don't mean to talk like a pro, I am not I'm new like you, and I know, you can't just read and read, and get nowhere. You got to start somewhere, might as well, learning while doing it. Just be careful, don't rush things.

Thanks for your post! and everyone else to. I think im going to buy either a 75 or 90 gallon tank or if i find something bigger 120gallon for cheaper ill get it since i think it would be better.Soo it think i just go witha sump. A few questions do i need power heads? and how many gph do i need them to be and do i jsut need one or 2?Can i just use a normal heater 200w that i alreardy have or no ? What are some good lights like how many watts need?

Thanks again

 

[Kaz289]

Powerheads atleast 2 are needed. U need a good current especially in a larger tank, to keep the livestock happy and to keep the bad stuff from settling on the sand floor. Lighting is a big subjest and is always a cause for debate on here but I like and use a 6 bulb t5 setup. * 8 bulbs are also good. The spots for the different bulbs allow you to use a few different types of bulbs to accomplish whatever u are trying to keep. The heat/electric bill on these setups use is lower then Mh setups. But im sure someone who runs Mh bulbs will disagree. T-5s are cheaper to buy and are perfect for a beginning setup, If u dont like them u can always sell them on here and changover to an mh set up later. The heater u have is fine for right now Because it is summer you probably wont even need it and depending on the lighting u go with you may never need it. As far as tank size bigger is not always better I like my 90 beacuse its only 48in long but wider then a 55gal which makes it easier to aquascape and gives my fish more room to roam. link to My lights http://www.opentip.com/Home-Garden/...e-Pro-Aquarium-Lighting-Fixture-p-953195.html, I use these got them used and I love them. I added some blue leds from ebay for moon lights and all my corals are growing and doing fine. This is an expensive hobby so pace yourself u dont wanna buy something and regret it later research what u need and then base your purchase on performance not price. U may get something cheap and end up replacing in a month because it was a P.O.S. good luck. pm me if u have any questions

 

[tomtoothdoc]

Powerheads atleast 2 are needed. U need a good current especially in a larger tank, to keep the livestock happy and to keep the bad stuff from settling on the sand floor. Lighting is a big subjest and is always a cause for debate on here but I like and use a 6 bulb t5 setup. * 8 bulbs are also good. The spots for the different bulbs allow you to use a few different types of bulbs to accomplish whatever u are trying to keep. The heat/electric bill on these setups use is lower then Mh setups. But im sure someone who runs Mh bulbs will disagree. T-5s are cheaper to buy and are perfect for a beginning setup, If u dont like them u can always sell them on here and changover to an mh set up later. The heater u have is fine for right now Because it is summer you probably wont even need it and depending on the lighting u go with you may never need it. As far as tank size bigger is not always better I like my 90 beacuse its only 48in long but wider then a 55gal which makes it easier to aquascape and gives my fish more room to roam. link to My lights http://www.opentip.com/Home-Garden/...e-Pro-Aquarium-Lighting-Fixture-p-953195.html, I use these got them used and I love them. I added some blue leds from ebay for moon lights and all my corals are growing and doing fine. This is an expensive hobby so pace yourself u dont wanna buy something and regret it later research what u need and then base your purchase on performance not price. U may get something cheap and end up replacing in a month because it was a P.O.S. good luck. pm me if u have any questions

+1 excellent advice!!! 75 to 90 gal. would be a really nice size as your first tank. and decision to go with the sump will make your life easier later on. it will provide you with more options of future equipments. plus weekly 10% water change is easy and not very time consuming to do.....the easier the task, the more likely you will do it.

how much flow depends on what you want to keep. acros/ sps> lps>softies. usually the more the merrier. you're looking for current or movement of water of the whole tank not just directly pointed at some paticular coral/area.

good luck and enjoy. and look into the book i suggested earlier. it will provide a solid base of fundamental ideas.

 

[fishfreak1242]

I just started about a month ago. I'll tell you my learning experience to help you make your decision.

1/ Select a tank. I think 90 G is perfect. Enough for you to stay with it for a long time. Cost wise is manageable. Look on Craigslist or some sort of penny saver circulation for tanks that for sell. That's huge saving as opposed to going to pet store and buy one. Look for Reef Ready tank, these tanks already have overflow built in, it may cost a llittle bit more but plumbing would be a lot simpler. Besides, with a non-reef-ready tank, you would have to buy an over flow box, which could cost you anywhere from 69 to 150 US dollars plus tubing too.

2/ Skimmer, don't buy skimmer before planning your sum and your after making sure your sum fits inside your stand. After you have your sum, then buy a skimmer. Based on what I learned so far, good skimmers are usually in-sum skimmer. Get the biggest skimmer possible for your sum. Again, local reef forum or Craigslist are the places to look for

3/ Look for a RO DI filter, make RO DI water before you fill the tank. If you fill the tank with tap water, then it'll take a long time to gradually replace it with RODI water.

4/ Keep fish and soft corals. I find soft corals are beautiful and don't require much light. People are saying 3 watts per gallon is good for soft corals. Less wattage means less heat and lighter energy bill.

5/ Clamp all the tubes between your sum and your main tank. I didn't once, and one night one of the tube slipped off and I got almost an inch of water in my living room. Took me the whole night to clean it up.

Hope this helps a little bit.

I would have to disagree with this statement. As it is good for a general rule of thumb, it does not work in all cases. Let me give you an example to show how this does not work. Lets just say that you have a regular 10 gal tank that is only 10" deep. You will only need some PC lighting for this tank in order for you to keep corals in it, because PC lighting has enough penetration to go 10" down. But now lets say you have another 10gal tank, but this one is 24" deep (this is just an example). You will need much stronger lighting to be able to penetrate the water and reach the bottom of the tank.
So in conclusion, lighting should be based on how many gallons a tank is, but how deep the tank is. If you plan on getting a 90 gal tank which usually is 24" deep, then I would recommend getting 2x250w MH or if you want to go with T-5s then a 8 bulb fixture will suffice.
When you look for a skimmer I would get one that is really big, that way if you ever want to upgrade, you don't have to keep buying bigger skimmers. I'm not saying to go out and buy a 4 foot tall skimmer, but get a descent sized one.

 

[ed51802]

information and patients is key to success dont rush things or you will end up disapointed .. i started my reef with just some live sand and one piece of live rock now i have over 150 lbs and tons of coral that is striving. good luck and just take it easy

 

[Wannabreefer]

Thanks for your posts. I plan on getting everything set up in september since i need to save up only a 14. A few questions about lighting which are beter t-5 or mh? and what are the usually costs. And what are good online websites that are good to buy marine equipment since my only lfs is big als they dont have alll the things need for saltwater like skimmers.

Thanks

 

[fishfreak1242]

Thanks for your posts. I plan on getting everything set up in september since i need to save up only a 14. A few questions about lighting which are beter t-5 or mh? and what are the usually costs. And what are good online websites that are good to buy marine equipment since my only lfs is big als they dont have alll the things need for saltwater like skimmers.

Thanks

It really comes down to opinion when you choose between t-5 and Mh. MH give of a shimmering look that looks more natural but they get really hot and can heat up your tank a lot. T-5s you can get a variety of different bulbs to make a combination that gives you the look that you want, but it will not give you the shimmer that a MH will and it will not be as hot as the MH. Prices for a good T-5 setup is usually between 300-500$ and MH are usually around 700-900$. Check out hellolights.com or aquacave.com or bulkreefsupply.com they have some good fixtures and retrofits.

 

[Yen]

Actually, the lighting sort of "Rule of Thumb" that I was told is, 3 watts to 5 watts per gallon is sufficient, 3 watts for soft coral and 5 watts if you want to keep something more advance, i.e. hard coral. I was saying, for starters like myself, soft coral is better and 3 watts should suffice for that. For that reason, I think, 2x250 Metal Halide light is of course, good but may not be necessary for soft coral.

I have a 300 w MH for my 90 G and I think it's great for what I plan to keep.

Again, I'm no expert, so I could be wrong too.

I would have to disagree with this statement. As it is good for a general rule of thumb, it does not work in all cases. Let me give you an example to show how this does not work. Lets just say that you have a regular 10 gal tank that is only 10" deep. You will only need some PC lighting for this tank in order for you to keep corals in it, because PC lighting has enough penetration to go 10" down. But now lets say you have another 10gal tank, but this one is 24" deep (this is just an example). You will need much stronger lighting to be able to penetrate the water and reach the bottom of the tank.
So in conclusion, lighting should be based on how many gallons a tank is, but how deep the tank is. If you plan on getting a 90 gal tank which usually is 24" deep, then I would recommend getting 2x250w MH or if you want to go with T-5s then a 8 bulb fixture will suffice.
When you look for a skimmer I would get one that is really big, that way if you ever want to upgrade, you don't have to keep buying bigger skimmers. I'm not saying to go out and buy a 4 foot tall skimmer, but get a descent sized one.

 

[fishfreak1242]

Actually, the lighting sort of "Rule of Thumb" that I was told is, 3 watts to 5 watts per gallon is sufficient, 3 watts for soft coral and 5 watts if you want to keep something more advance, i.e. hard coral. I was saying, for starters like myself, soft coral is better and 3 watts should suffice for that. For that reason, I think, 2x250 Metal Halide light is of course, good but may not be necessary for soft coral.

I have a 300 w MH for my 90 G and I think it's great for what I plan to keep.

Again, I'm no expert, so I could be wrong too.

Well the "Rule of Thumb" that you were told does not seem to be correct in all cases IMO.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

The watts per gallon formula isn't really pertinent anymore with the new lighting systems available these days. It is really what you want to keep, spend, depth of tank and the area you plan on covering for the most part now. Heat output is important as well with the summer months on the way as well.

 

[Yen]

At least it works for me and a few people I know:splitspin
I still think if you don't plan to keep hard coral, just go out and buy a 500 to 700 dollars light fixture of 500W is way over kill, and unnecessary.

Well the "Rule of Thumb" that you were told does not seem to be correct in all cases IMO.