Looking to start.

[TheJudge411]

Im looking to start a reef, what equipment (lights pumps ect) would you guys recomend? Are some types of corals more difficult to take care of than others? What is the best place to buy corals...i want to start small with polyps and frag packs and stuff. What would you recomend for that as well.. Thanks!

[mps9506]

Wow... Loaded question
First thing I would do is recomend a few books for you to purchase, read and use for reference.
One would be Aquarium Corals by Eric Borneman, Natural Reef Aquariums by Tullock, and Marine Fishes by Scott W. Michael.
This will help you decide what type of corals and fish you would like to keep and build a system to properly keep and grow them. As far as good places to buy equipment, all our sponsors are quality places to buy both equipment and livestock. Depending on where you live you may also have good quality LFS's to purchase livestock and equipment from.

[mps9506]

A link to our sponsors
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/index.php?page=sponsors

[michael_cb_125]

To really get a good idea of what you need, you need to know exactly what you want. But you will need lighting adequate for the corals. A Protien skimmer is needed. What exactly are you wanting to setup. There many helpful people here, and we all love to help. Just give us a little more info ~Michael.

[blue_eyes53813]

Welcome to RS.. That is a very hard question. Lighting needs and the corals you want go hand in hand. And believe me we could tell you one thing and if you change your mind than your equipment would be off and not what is needed. yes some corals are harder to keep and more demanding than some. The SPS (small polyp stonies) like acros are very very very light demanding. If you like those than think High lighting needs right away. You mentioned polyps to start, well low - medium lighting is good but who is to say a year down the road you go from polyps to sps. You wont have enough lighting and have to spend more $ on lighting. I would look through books like mentioned above, Look through RS here and look at everyones tanks and make a list of things you want and may want down the road as far as corals. Think long term. Make a list and we can help from there.

[TheJudge411]

Ok i made a list of stuff that appealed to me, it can be changed it its a bad combination or w/e.

Corals:
Green Mouth Caulastrea
Green Star Zoanthids
Green Platygyra Brain
Green SKirt Ice Zoanthids
Bright Green Zoanthids
Green Moon Palys
Bright Green Hammers
Tub's Blue Zoanthid

and two that i liked but are way to expensive to start with:
Austrailian Metalic Green HARDY Elegance
Captive Bleed Baby Elegence Co

Cleaners:
Astrea Snails
Blue Leg Hermit
Scarlet Hermit
Emerald Crab
Queen Conch

Other Stuff:
Feather Duster
Purple Lobster (maybe?)
Spider Decorator Crab
Eventually, anemones.

Would a 45gal tank be a good start? If its any longer i'll need to put it downstairs and make room for it and that would be a pain but it could be done.

Edit)

also im from connecticut so i dont think they ahve much on corals up here but im going to fins and feathers or something like that tomorrow.

[prow]

i posted on the other thread but will join in here

on the 45gal its not only the length but more importantly how tall. for example a 45gal can be 48x12x19 and a 120gal can be 48x24x25. both are the same length but one is more than double the water volume almost triple.

your list is mostly medium light demanding corals, most anemones need light that might be to much for some of them and burn them. also i would avoid the elegance for now they are hard to keep and have hidden issues you will become familar with after doing some research on them.

[TheJudge411]

Wouldn't a shallow tank be better for the corals? any word on those corals i picked out?

[mps9506]

Nice choice of relatively easy to keep corals. I would recomend the elegance for the more advanced reef keepers though as there are a lot of underlying issues with keeping those.
As far as your other inverts, I would stay away from the lobster and the decorator crab in reef tanks. They are wonderful creatures to keep but not the best idea to keep in reef tanks.

You would have a good choice of lighting, but let us know the dimensions of the aquarium you had in mind. 45 gallons can be a few different sizes.
My guess is power compacts or t5 HO lighting would do very well for you.

Do you have any ideas of what kind of filtration you want?

[prow]

not better or worse but less lighting is needed to meet the same corals needs in a taller tank. you give up swimming room for the fish and growing room for the corals aswell as water volume. you get reduction in lighting cost and increased % of surface area for gas exchange.

[TheJudge411]

no clue at all thats what you guys are for! also i can move the dresser and put the tank on a stand for a larger tank, the elegances were a joke (partly because they were 170$ each lol) not for now maybe later. Anything else that will help keep teh tank clean that would be a good idea to have?

For sand...i live very clsoe to long island sound would it be a good idea to go there and get sand? or i also live like 30-45 minutes away from RI beaches, how about there? also rocks from there would be a good idea? or just liviing rock from the internet or the local store?

Also why would the crab and lobster be bad for a reef? i think it;d be cool to have the decorator in there, maybe have a couple heads of coral on his back

[mps9506]

Well the decorators are ad because of that. They will take stuff and stick it on themselves, knock other stuff over as well... Plus they are more than adequate at catching fish and shrimp.
I personally would NOT get sand from Long Island unless you plan on doing a temperate tank with species that grow around the island. You just never know what is in that sand.
Get your sand and live rock from the LFS or internet.
For a clean up crew about 20-25 assorted snails (astreas, netrite, and cerith snails), maybe 5-10 scarlets hermits, and 15-20 micro blue leg hermits would be good. Some people will say no way on the hermits... Choose for yourself, I personally use them and find them beneficial. Other find they are just great snail killers.

Filtration will depend on what you want to setup. I highly recomend having a sump to place a protein skimmer, heater and maybe a macro algae refugium in. But with that sized tank you could get away with a quality hang on back protein skimmer like the AquaC Remora.

[TheJudge411]

you need to explain what msot of the stuff does to help me i could do some rearanging and everything in my room and get a bigger tank...how much does a 100gal or so cost? just an estiment?

[mps9506]

If you are worried about cost I would start with something on the smaller size. the 45 gallon size would be a better size for you than the 100gallon.
Typically the CHEAPEST part of this hobby is the actual cost of the tank. The expense comes in the live rock, livestock, lighting, and filtration.
If you go with the 100 gallon you will be need to spend much more on lie rock, filtration and lighting. Probably end up spending 4x as much outfitting a 100 gallon tank than a 40...
You don't want to be forced to skimp on live rock, lighting and filtration.

[prow]

i agree with almost everything mps9506 is saying. especially agree with cheapest part is the actual tank. i just can not type fast enough to stay with you guys.

Originally Posted by mps9506

Other find they are just great snail killers.

i am one of those.