new guy needs some help

[rwesurfn]

I am about to purchase my first saltwater tank soon, I can't afford what I want so am going to buy what i can afford to setup properly. I have been browsing the forums for a few months and purchased several good books you all have recommended, have been reading and reading and reading.
I would like to set up a reef tank with LR and DSB, i plan on keeping mostly softies and lps but would like to be set up to do sps as well. Oh yeah....maybe a few fish too. Any way i seem to be having trouble deciding an a tank size I dont feel like i can afford to start with much over a 29 g tank for now. my plan is to start small and move tank to bedroom when i can afford what i want this summer or fall (wife will be outta school and boat will be paid off..woohoo). i have been looking around and kinda like the 28 bowfront, any of you have experience with bowfront tanks....what are your likes and dislikes? I have fairly good carpentry skills so stand and canopy will not be a problem.

or would suggest something else??

thank for all your help


Mike

 

[reefann]

If i were you i would browse ebay a lot. Search for in your region considering most people do not want to ship tanks. But there is always that guy who bought a tank for his kid with pumps,heaters everything and the kid lost interest. I saw one 20 gallon selling for .55$!!!! Worth checking it out. And yes that was fifty five cents.
JJ

 

[oujeeper]

The one thing that I would have to say about the bowfronts (just bought a 72 and working on getting it setup) is that there is less room and much harder to find sumps etc that will fit in the space. Love the look but for the sump and under system storage it would be nice to have a rectangle. :roll: But as one person told me is that buy what you like.

 

[JTW]

If you are looking at the 28 bow fronts, be sure to notice that the one made by Perfecto has a center support. The one made by all glass does not. This is important when it comes to lighting.
If you are going to want sps, you may want to look into a 175 watt metal halide. These have a great look and you can hang it or put it into a canope.
Don't get me wrong, you can grow sps under other lights, such as 2-65watt power compacts. Remember if you build a canope you will want to put some fans on it for cooling.
When you start to price lights, rock, etc., you will realize that for about the same cost you could do a 36" bowfront. Think about it.
J.

 

[Anonymous]

i think you should get in touch with brandon4.. something (sorry, can't remember the rest of his numbers!).

he's a specialist in nano/pico designs, and i don't see any reason why his sys's can't be scaled up a bit. my favorite reef tank for a long time (was a shop display) was a 5gal sys. you've gotten over what i think is the hardest part of keeping salt, and that's the learnin' part.