Maxx
Well-Known Member
We get lots of people visiting the board and wanting to know how to start up a Marine aquarium. Many have either already purchased a set up at the LFS or just came back from visiting one and were mesmerized by what they saw. I thought this would be a great way to start up a thread in the beginners forum sorta detailing what is needed to start a successful reef tank.
I'm talking about all aspects here...lighting, water quality, water flow, equipment purchases, live stock, (compatability and requirements), the whole deal.
There are many ways to start up a reef tank, and many different methods of reaching whatever particular goals you might have for reefkeeping. What I'm wanting here is for everyone to contribute their input on what they've found to useful, good to know, and what to avoid like the plague.
I feel that the first step is to decide what exactly you want to keep. Love the look of stoney corals?
Photo by Greg Rothschild
Prefer the wild shapes and movement of soft corals?
Photographer unknown
Or do you want just a fish only tank to keep all those really cool "personality fish" which would eat everything inside a reef tank?
Photo by o2manyfish
The point is:
There are many ways to go about doing this. There is no one right or wrong way. What I'm hoping to accomplish here is give a sort of tutorial of how these goals can be accomplished by breaking it down into a couple of major focus points. We'll do this by focussing on what it takes to set up each one of these type of tanks successfully, so that someone new to the hobby has an idea of what they are getting into and what to look for. Please join in and help out.
Nick
I'm talking about all aspects here...lighting, water quality, water flow, equipment purchases, live stock, (compatability and requirements), the whole deal.
There are many ways to start up a reef tank, and many different methods of reaching whatever particular goals you might have for reefkeeping. What I'm wanting here is for everyone to contribute their input on what they've found to useful, good to know, and what to avoid like the plague.
I feel that the first step is to decide what exactly you want to keep. Love the look of stoney corals?
Photo by Greg Rothschild
Prefer the wild shapes and movement of soft corals?
Photographer unknown
Or do you want just a fish only tank to keep all those really cool "personality fish" which would eat everything inside a reef tank?
Photo by o2manyfish
The point is:
There are many ways to go about doing this. There is no one right or wrong way. What I'm hoping to accomplish here is give a sort of tutorial of how these goals can be accomplished by breaking it down into a couple of major focus points. We'll do this by focussing on what it takes to set up each one of these type of tanks successfully, so that someone new to the hobby has an idea of what they are getting into and what to look for. Please join in and help out.
Nick