FANTASY REEF BUILD

[MUCHO REEF]

Here's the perfect opportunity to help and share with real time experience, opinions, advice and suggestions. Collectively, we will discuss, suggest and contribute to the building of a reef tank with what we consider the best, most cost efficient, most effective hardware around for this project. There are limitations though, so please read the guidelines below. With any luck, someone just might taken it upon themselves to actual build/construct the reef in question below. Lets take our time an allow this thread to develop slowly without rushing to the next purchase.


Here's the scenario.

Joe Reef Tank, a 29 year old insurance salesman works a basic 9 to 5. He had a 20 gallon nano in college, but sold it when he graduated 4 years ago and he's ready to take it to the next level with a bigger system. Joe's wife, Betty Rubble Rock Tank, a 27 year old sales exec, is on board and is willing to help Joe with their new system. Their combined gross income is $ 130,000 annually and they have no children. They have the spare time, the money and limited knowledge of reefing, but they want to build/buy their first zoanthid/palythoa reef tank. They're not looking for high tech, but somewhere above basic and in the middle is what they're hoping to achieve.


We will tackle one purchase at a time and move to the next most important purchase until the tank is completed. Please provide pictures, links etc of what you feel or suggest would be the best/next purchase for this build. When X amount of reefers collectively agree, we will move to the next purchase. Should we go with 5, 10 etc number of members who agree that the recommendation is a good one for this project before we move on? Just give me a number and we will begin.


Thanks, Mucho Reef

ps, to keep this thread fluid and cohesive, please read several prior post before you respond. Thanks.

 

[leezer]

I like the idea. I'm in. And, once my wife finishes her nursing degree, we should be approximately that age (slightly younger) with approximately the same income (slightly lower)...so I might just take the plan and do it. Granted that'll probably be about 2 years from now (slightly sooner, hopefully).

As for your question of how many agreements per recommendation: I think that will depend. If it appears to be fairly clear that no one is stating a valid argument against the recommendation or providing a better alternative, 5 opinions should be sufficient. If it becomes an issue with multiple potential "best" options, 10 people may be a better way to go, if for no other reason to keep more people happy and engaged in the thread.

 

[96p993]

This could be interesting....I guess my first questions would be : Location of tank?
Do we have a tank room, basement?

Purchase of tank will be dependent on these questions

 

[J.R.L.]

i think tank location would be first thing decided, and i would go with it somewhere in the living room like a center piece where company can gather and chat

so how about LIVING ROOM?

 

[MUCHO REEF]

You guys/gals will decide everything, size, location, placement, hardware etc, everything. You will build this system from the ground up. Lets kick this off now. I will only inject my opinion as the thread progresses. This entire project depends solely upon you the members/reefers in this forum. So what is the very first thing Joe and Betty should do?

1. ?


PS, Hey Leezer, with only 4 replies and 58 views, this project might be finish around the time you are ready to buy/build that system.

 

[Saltwater Guy]

The very fist thing a person should do when buying a tank is set a start up budget for how much they want to spend. 150,000 annually but we don’t know what they want to put towards a tank. I would say that a fair budget would be 10k for a build like this.

The second thing is figure out what they want to keep. We know this is a zoanthid/palythoa reef tank.

The very next thing that a person should do is decide how big of a tank they want/can afford/can manage.

Questions to ask yourself when deciding this:

Location/Space available
Glass/Acrylic
How much you want to spend (the tank itself is the cheap part)
What type of filter system (depending on what you want to run would dictate the size of the system.)

Given this situation I would say 180 gallon (72x24x25) glass reef ready tank would be a perfect fit as long as the space is willing.

Why this big:

With this size tank you will have a higher margin for error when it comes to maintaining water quality than a smaller tank.

The reef ready tank allows for a sump type filter which will house equipment making it easier to maintain.

Aqua-scaping opens up with the tank dimensions and it allows for you to keep more fish and different types

How many of us set up a 55-125 gallon tank to wish we would have gone bigger. We spent all the money to set this up and now we have to buy a lot of the equipment over because of the tank size.

Down sides of this tank size

COST, COST, COST

The equipment cost would be very high but in my opinion it is offset by the possibilities this presents.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

Valid points, but I think you are way ahead of the game. I want us to tackle one thing at a time to make this simple, easy and fun. What is the very first thing Betty and Joe should do SWG? Is it setting a budget?

 

[Saltwater Guy]

I think that the very first thing is to set a budget that way we can keep tabs on decisions and cost of them to ensure we are able to keep this reasonable.

 

[IridescentLily]

Figure out what corals or fish they want to keep.

Decide what size tank.

Decide what is the place to best put it.

 

[Paul_PSU]

Need to know what you want before you set the budget. Then make the choices of each item, starfire vs regular glass..., based on the budget. I think we should start with location of tank and that will determine size and type (in wall, peninsula, island). With that being said, I think the tank should be in the center of the family/game room.

 

[todd03blown]

I agree, you need to determine where you want the tank as that will determine size, etc.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

Betty has never owned a tank nor does she have any reefing experience and she wants to be a part of this. Joe owned a small 20 gallon nano in college which he sold 4 years ago. He has been totally out of the loop on reefing for the past 4 years. Does anyone concur that the size, budget, tank mates and/or placement are the very first decisions they should make?


Mucho Reef

 

[mille239]

First thing they should do?????? Set aside 4 hours each night for 6-8 weeks reading every possible resource they can on the hobby and talking to knowledgeable people who are current on the hobby (since only one of them has any background, and even that is out of date)

Reef Central would be a great start

 

[Saltwater Guy]

I have to say budget again because you may want a 10,000 gallon tank but only have $500 budget. With the budget you then can decide where to go from there. Location would be second but a budget has to be the very first thing you do.

 

[mille239]

Figuring out a budget would be second in my book, but if you don't know what current trends in costs of tanks, equipment livestock, etc... are currently, you won't know how much to allocate.

 

[Saltwater Guy]

Research is great, but don’t you think they should know what they are researching for?
They should figure out the following first, which will require research

1. If they can afford it
2. What they want to keep (so they can research it)
3. Where or if they have the space to keep it

I’m not saying the should go buy a tank put it where they want it and then go read up on it. I think they should say, can commit $x.xx dollars to this. What do we want to keep and where is this going to fit. Then go on here and do all the research they can to start the planning stage.

 

[thelastlaugh9]

Budget needs to be first.. Without that there is know way to figure out anything. Saltwater Guy is 100% correct

 

[MUCHO REEF]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13471295#post13471295 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mille239
First thing they should do?????? Set aside 4 hours each night for 6-8 weeks reading every possible resource they can on the hobby and talking to knowledgeable people who are current on the hobby (since only one of them has any background, and even that is out of date)

Reef Central would be a great start

I think mille239 hits it square on the head. So many reefers jump into this hobby and jump right back out due to premature failures due to a lack of basic knowledge. They experience all the bad and become discouraged and leave.

Betty has never own a reef tank and Joe hasn't had one in 4 years. Taking some time to read what RC has to offer with a wealth of information and knowledgeable reefers who have already traveled the same road would be my very first choice. To parallel that thought, my suggestion for the very first purchase would be some great reference material, books.

http://www.amazon.com/Aquarium-Corals-Selection-Husbandry-Natural/dp/1890087483

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...=PROD&Product_Code=BK-ACS&Category_Code=Books

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...=PROD&Product_Code=BK-RA3&Category_Code=Books


I would highly recommend Eric B's Aquarium Coral book as it shares the most info on Zoanthids and Palythoas in one book that I have found as well as a wealth of other added info most condusive for a beginner. Lots of pictures and very well written. There are other great books out there, but this is the one I share with everyone. In goes in depth on many topics that will aid anyone in setting up or achieving sound reefing advice and value added information.

Also, Delbeck & Sprung vol 3, again, there are a ton of good books out there, but this book is a reefing bible. If I start talking about it now I won't stop. You can find them cheaper if you look around the net.

My very first purchase, after reading and asking tons of questions online, locally and at LFS's, would be the purchase of a few good books. They will help now and in the future.

Just my 2.

Mucho Reef

Can you really bubget for something you don't have any knowledge of? I'm just asking. Knowledge of what to expect will help dictate just how much you to spend. I'm just asking.

 

[Saltwater Guy]

Don’t you think that you need to know how much you can spend so that the research they do is researching the correct things.

All I am saying is they already have made the decision to get a tank and they have decided what type of tank they want. Based off of this I would assume that they have done “some” research on the topic. They have stated that they want to keep a zoo/pally tank so that means that they had to have looked something up somewhere to make this decision.

I think that we are really splitting hairs here by saying they need a budget and they need to do research. I think it’s the chicken before the egg question. You need to do both together.

You need to have done some basic research to know what the hobby has to offer and what they want out of it which by saying they want a zoo/pally tank I believe they have done this. Now they need to say what can we afford? After that they need to go to the drawing board and do research based off of what they can afford and what they can get.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

We have on the table budget, tank size, tank placement and live stock. Lets make a choice on what should be their first purchase/concern for Joe and Betty. It would be great to hear from many reefers young and old, both newbie and experienced. Thanks a bunch.

Mucho