Hey well I'm finally in a postion to start reef tank I went to a local shop and heres what I'm looking at getting, a 46 gallon bow front aquarium with stand, high output T-5 lights, skimmer, 3 power heads, live sand and a heater. With about 20 pounds of live rock to start. Or should I spend the extra money and get a predrilled tank and a sump system? I would like to purchase by this weekend. So I can get my tank cycling. I am really excited to finally be able to start a tank, I have been moving so much the last 5 years. Also is glass or arilic tanks better? Any other recomendations would be greatly recieved. Thank you and I'm sure I will have alot more questions.
Very New with lots of questions
- Thread starter Sub Nate
- Start date
lcstorc
Well-Known Member
Sounds like you are headed in the right direction.
As far as glass vs acrylic there are pros and cons to each. The biggest ones are glass is heavy and acrylic scratches easily.
As far as the bowfront, I like the look but there are some challenges. Gettin lights that will provide adequate coverage over the whole tank is difficult and viewing and pictures will always be a bit distorted by the curve in the glass. It also adds some challenges when trying to clean the inside edges of the tank. I do love the way they look, but I just wanted to point those things out.
I believe (but don't quote me) you can get a pre-drilled bow front.
Regardless of the tank, I would definitely recommend getting a pre-drilled tank. HOB overflows are a royal pain.
As far as the sump, it is quite simple to build your own. Basically the shole purpose of the sump is space. It holds extra water and holds equipment. They are generally made from a smaller tank and some baffles.
Find out what kind of skimmer they are referring to. There are som great skimmers and there are some lousy skimmers. Be sure you are spending your money wisely.
T5 lighting is a good choice depending on what you want to keep in the tank. Depending on the wattage, number of bulbs and wattage you may or may not have enough light to keep Anemones, clams, and hard corals. Good T5 lights will even handle those but softies and lps will be fine under most T5 setups.
Get as much LR in the tank as you can from the beginning. Adding LR after the fact is going to cause another cycle and you don't want that.
Keep in mind that you must be very patient in this hobby. It just plain takes time.
Another thing you may not be thinking about is your water source. You do not want to use tap water. You need to either buy a RO/DI system or be prepared to buy water from your LFS or somewhere else. Reef systems demand high water quality.
As far as glass vs acrylic there are pros and cons to each. The biggest ones are glass is heavy and acrylic scratches easily.
As far as the bowfront, I like the look but there are some challenges. Gettin lights that will provide adequate coverage over the whole tank is difficult and viewing and pictures will always be a bit distorted by the curve in the glass. It also adds some challenges when trying to clean the inside edges of the tank. I do love the way they look, but I just wanted to point those things out.
I believe (but don't quote me) you can get a pre-drilled bow front.
Regardless of the tank, I would definitely recommend getting a pre-drilled tank. HOB overflows are a royal pain.
As far as the sump, it is quite simple to build your own. Basically the shole purpose of the sump is space. It holds extra water and holds equipment. They are generally made from a smaller tank and some baffles.
Find out what kind of skimmer they are referring to. There are som great skimmers and there are some lousy skimmers. Be sure you are spending your money wisely.
T5 lighting is a good choice depending on what you want to keep in the tank. Depending on the wattage, number of bulbs and wattage you may or may not have enough light to keep Anemones, clams, and hard corals. Good T5 lights will even handle those but softies and lps will be fine under most T5 setups.
Get as much LR in the tank as you can from the beginning. Adding LR after the fact is going to cause another cycle and you don't want that.
Keep in mind that you must be very patient in this hobby. It just plain takes time.
Another thing you may not be thinking about is your water source. You do not want to use tap water. You need to either buy a RO/DI system or be prepared to buy water from your LFS or somewhere else. Reef systems demand high water quality.
ChiaReefer54
Member
I have a drilled glass aquarium now. I've heard that the acrylics do scratch rather easily but haven't seen for myself. I used to have a 55G FOWLR undrilled glass with a HOB overflow to a sump. It was a pain to get the syphon started and it needed room behind it for the box and hoses. This go around I decided to purchase a drilled 55g and like it so much better. It can go pretty much flush to the wall. Also I would think it has a better water turn over because the corner overflow is much larger than the HOB, but I could be wrong. Plus no more syphoning, gravity does the work for ya 
that was the biggest PIA of it all... Anyway good luck and have fun. I Just recently got back into the hobby and decided to go the reef route so I'm learning a lot myself and this site has been great. Your off to a good start by researching and getting opinions other than from the LFS. I've learned they are not always the best source of info. anyway happy reefing!!!
that was the biggest PIA of it all... Anyway good luck and have fun. I Just recently got back into the hobby and decided to go the reef route so I'm learning a lot myself and this site has been great. Your off to a good start by researching and getting opinions other than from the LFS. I've learned they are not always the best source of info. anyway happy reefing!!!