Need help starting

biscuitpants

New Member
I know there are many threads out there about starting up but I figured I would start my own so that I can get the exact information I need to start.

I am new to the saltwater hobby but I have been keeping freshwater fish for almost 3 years now. I recently started looking at reef tanks (as my budget is starting to allow for it) and have fallen in love. I really want to setup a nice reef tank. I currently have a 40 gallon planted tank but want to tear it down and sell the equipment to start a reef tank. I want to start completely fresh, so buying new equipment and everything else.

I am more interested in the coral side of things. I do enjoy keeping fish but I prefer beautiful and interesting looking corals. So I would like my tank to focus on growing but maybe have some clowns and shrimp. The growing can be basic though. Even just a few zoas and some very low-tech coral is fine for me.

So a few questions. What equipment do I need that is 100% necessary? I want to get the best equipment but don't want to spend my entire life savings while doing so. Also, is a sump with a refugium completely necessary. I don't know how they work entirely but have seen them in almost all setups. Is it better to buy a pre-made system from a fish store, or rather build up a system myself? Should I use blue or white lights or both?

I would love the feedback that anyone can provide! :)
 

sacktheqb65

Active Member
I think there are still lots of details needed here. How big of a setup do you want? Are you good with DIY projects? What types of corals are beautiful and interesting to you?

I personally, don't like DIY when I don't know what the outcome should be and bought the Red Sea Max 250. This is an all in one system. No sump/refugium, it is all contained in a single tank. You could go a little smaller and get a 150 or even a biocube or something like that.... OR you could want to be a DIYer all the way and start with a tank and drill holes etc.

A lot of the members here have the RSM 250 and have made modifications as needed. I think the all in one tanks are cheaper than buying individual pieces, but if you plan to upgrade things then maybe not, although you could get it up and running and then upgrade along the way, instead of buying all of the expensive stuff up front.

But really the options are out there, its just hard to tell someone else where to start because there are a lot of factors that make the decision the right (or wrong) one for you.
 

biscuitpants

New Member
An all in one tank does sound quite nice to me. I do like DIY but for something like this I would rather prefer to buy a full system that does its job properly. Maybe I can hack up something DIYey in the future.

Well my current FW setup is 40gal, so around there. I believe 40gal is roughly 150 litres? And coral wise, I don't know many of the names, but I really love how Zoas look or other polyps. It seems all LPS corals look really amazing. So mainly those?

Thanks for the pointers!
 

DianaKay

Princess Diana
RS STAFF
Hello Biscuitpants :wave:
:rbwwelc:WELCOME to Reef Sanctuary :crowd:
I like your chosen name, cute! :D

You are going to L:heart:VE SALTWATER....and in no time at all, You will start to realize that it's a bottomless money pit :rolleyes: But SO FUN!!

I would recommend getting a tank that comliments the room you plan to set it up in....as large as you have room for. You will wish later that you did if you don't.
You can pour just as much money into a 40gal set up as you can a 65 gal one & not be able to keep near as much. So go as BIG as you can.
Please stick around and ask questions as You go.
Lots of SUPER NICE members here to help you & wish you the best success You can have. I have a long list of corals that I'd suggest but that can start after you get a tank picked out!

Very BEST WISHES....:cruiser:
 

Mayja

Social Media Moderator
RS STAFF
The one thing everyone can agree on is that it's not just about keeping fish or corals alive... it's about maintaining excellent water quality. That's the key to everything. That said, the types of corals you wish to keep (at this point) are pretty easy and hardy. They will leave you some room for beginner mistakes (we've all made them).

Corals require excellent water quality and light to thrive. As for necessary equipment, anything that maintains the water is what you want to look at.

You will want to setup an RO/DI water purification system to make your own water.
You will want good water flow and pumps/powerheads that can deliver such flow reliably.
You will want a reliable heater to maintain the correct water temp.
You will want to research the different kinds of water filtration there are (sump/refugium/algae scrubber/chemical/mechanical/etc.) and decide what will work best for your system, given your space and needs.
You will want to check out protein skimmers.
You will need to choose a salt.
You will then want to decide whether you want to go with T5 bulbs, metal halides or LED lights, and then figure out which ones will meet your needs or allow you to grow beyond the current needs.

That's a good weeks worth of reading. :yup:
Welcome to RS!
 

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
I can't really claim to know much about this hobby. I've been running a tank a bit over a year and basically I only know what I've done. Others here have way more experience.

I know that I really like my Red Sea Max 250. It's 65 gallonsish. It doesn't feel too big or too small and you can do quite a bit with it. You really don't need to make any upgrades or any decisions at all to get it up and running as it is all in one, but there is flexibility to upgrade some key items if you want to.

Red Sea also has a 130 that a lot of people here love and seems quite nice. The thing is, it's a tad smaller than what you currently run and I don't know many people that want to go smaller. :)

I'm sure there are a ton of good options in the 40 gallon side, but I don't really know them well enough to recommend them.

My other thought for you is people are getting in and out of this hobby all the time. So, if money is an issue, you can often find used aquariums, sometimes fairly new ones that people had to tear down because they are moving or something, on places like craigslist for a lot less than the new price.

I went all new because I didn't feel comfortable buying used being completely new to the hobby, but since you have some experience maybe that's an option for you.
 
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biscuitpants

New Member
Thanks for all the replies guys, I really do appreciate the help!

Wow Diana, that is a seriously beautiful tank! I am so impressed.

Yeah I definitely do not want to scale down. I feel that 40 gallon is a good size for me. Any bigger and I would have to re-arrange my room a bit which may be quite hard. Plus, that size fits nicely in the corner of my room which makes it almost a centre piece.

I am not gonna dive straight into buying yet. I want to research one hell of a lot before I do any buying of any sort. I also need to save up some more so that I can by the best equipment possible. It seems that with saltwater tanks the more you spend in the beginning the better in the long run.
 

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
I am not gonna dive straight into buying yet. I want to research one hell of a lot before I do any buying of any sort. I also need to save up some more so that I can by the best equipment possible. It seems that with saltwater tanks the more you spend in the beginning the better in the long run.

That sounds reasonable. Research is always good.

My other piece of advice is don't buy extras for the tank until you really understand why you want it and that you need it. I say that because I've seen a lot of newer people get sold a lot of expensive equipment (it adds up in a hurry in this hobby) by (say) their LFS and sometimes they don't even need it.

For example, check the temperature of your tank before you assume you need a chiller. I almost bought one early on just because everyone was telling me I would need one and as it turns out I really, really don't. My temps are in a great range without one. That's a big, expensive, noisy piece of equipment I would have bought for absolutely no good reason.
 

Desmond

Well-Known Member
I would think you should look for a tank designed for salt water rather than upgrading your fresh water tank. By the time you add up all the upgrades you wont be far off the price of a new tank which will be much more suited to your needs and you can slowly modify this.
Make sure you add the cost of everything you will need to start.
Good test kits for N04 , N02 , N03 , P04 , PH , and a refractometer for measuring your salinity.
After this you may want to consider buyinh test kits for CA, MG and KH.
Also make sure to cost in the price of live rock. You will also need to decide if you are going to buy your salt water or make it yoursel. Much better to make yourself as you know what you are getting and salinty will be what you make it stores salinity can vary and tends to be on lower range to save money for them. You will need a RO unit to make RO water for mixing your salt.
As for the corals Zoanthids are pretty easy to keep alive and LPS needs to have nice stable conditions.The lighting you will get should be of a good quaility for corals. With a new tank you should have this in the price. Lighting can be expensive. I spent over 500 dollars on my lighting with wifi controller.Also there are so many more gadgets you can get your head will be spinning. My advise is start slowly with what you need and work from there. Get the tank , rock and test kits organised and start cycling the tank.Lots of great people on here and you will get allot of help.
Also one last thing is too look into an ATU (Auto top up unit)
This will save you topping up the tank everyday from water that condensates and will also keep your salinity level stable which is important :) As you are located in South Africa i would also consider a backup power source as other member from there i have talked to said they have power cuts sometimes and also you may need to consider a chiller for your tank to keep the temperature of the water stable. Lol i know allot to think about :)
The main thing is research research and more research and be patient nothing happens fast in this hobby :)
 

sacktheqb65

Active Member
As I said before. There are a lot of us that are Red Sea fans. Take a look here http://www.redseafish.com/max-concept/max-130d/

The 130 is a 34 gallon tank (only 29 gallons in the display portion) and the 250 is a 65 gallon tank (60 gallons in the display portion)... Both are in your neighborhood as far as size.

I have the 250, I only added a thermometer and an automatic top off unit. Depending on the heat where you keep the tank you may need a chiller but luckily, I haven't.

I am sure there are others like the biocube. that are a little cheaper, but the biggest biocube is, I think, 29 gallons.

There are also some folks on here who would probably hate the all in one advice and want to plumb their own tanks, but I really think that until you understand all of the equipment and all in one is the way to go.

I have had my tank right around a year and I still don't know what a bunch of stuff does, but I stay on here and keep reading!

I am positive that there are other tank manufacturers out there... anyone else have thoughts?
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
...
I am not gonna dive straight into buying yet. I want to research one hell of a lot before I do any buying of any sort. I also need to save up some more so that I can by the best equipment possible. It seems that with saltwater tanks the more you spend in the beginning the better in the long run.

I quite agree. Plan what you want to keep in the tank first, and let that drive the equipment selection. Your going to need to make some choices along the way. You almost never get to include everything you want.

Top quality equipment is the way to go. Long term it's the least expensive way to go. Also, top quality doesn't necessarily mean most expensive.

As for the all in one systems, such as the RSM 250, it all depends upon what you want out of your system. The stock system will work just fine out of the box, and you can make some upgrades to it. On the other hand, doing everything from scratch lets you put on exactly the gear you want. However, unless you do a lot of DIY, it will tend to cost you more long term.

Personally, I much prefer doing everything from scratch, but them I usually know exactly what I want and I don't mind the extra costs.
 

Desmond

Well-Known Member
I will eventually build my own system but i have allot to learn before i will even consider doing so. The practical side setting it up would be fine but getting it all running like a engine firing perfectly is a trick that takes allot of time reasearch and effort :) I have to say i am happy with the red sea max as it is easy to get started with :)
 
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