first tank

[uhtred]

Hi, I'm just looking to set up a tank - it arrives tomorrow - and i am interested to set up a marine reef. I have zero fish keeping experience. a friend suggested to try tropical fish keeping first as its a little easier, but that doesnt really interest me (not sure why!). I would be grateful to receive your opinions - would it be ok for me to set up a marine reef tank as my first tank?
i know there would be lots to learn, but to some extent - that's the point lol.
Thanks

 

[Juruense]

Skimmer - $250
Lighting - $250
Substrate, chemicals, salt, misc crap - $250
Powerheads/wavemakers - $250

Still want to do salt water?

You know if you setup a nice freshwater tank with live plants and tetras it can be very vibrant and colorful with minimal work and expense.

Rough estimate SW will be ten times and much work and ten times as much expense, its your call...

Also the learning curve on SW is much steeper than FW. There is a lot more to learn and know when doing SW.

Note: the dollar amounts are all rough estimates and I do not have any interest in debating them.

 

[-Pixie-]

Im a newbie myself, my tank is about 3 months old.

I suggest not getting a freshwater setup as a way to learn, as it will only teach you bad habits, if you want SW start SW, ive had freshwater setups my whole life, both display and breeding and it taught me nothing that helped me in anyway with saltwater.

Start with the basics, you would get up and running for about $1000

In my opinion start with about a 200 lt/55g tank a decent sized tank for a refugium/sump maybe 15g minimum, you will need a pump to pump water from your refugium back to your main tank, atleast 2 powerheads with atleast 10 times water volume flow, so if you have 200 lt tank, minimum flow of 2000 lph for all pumps and powerheads.

You will need the basic test kits - ph ammonia nitrate nitrite, and if you plan on having corals minimum of a calcium test kit, also carbonate hardness kit.

you will need a light for your refugium/sump, also a lighting fixture for your main tank, these usually cost upwards of $200

also a thermometer of some kind, and alot of plumbing bits and peices.

the use of a skimmer is upto you, it is unneeded but handy for a beginner, i dont use a skimmer but i instead use $200 mud in my refugium full of trace elements that remove what a skimmer would.

Also a big cost for a beginner i found was a chiller hopefully due to where you live it wont be necesary looking at around $500 for a chiller alone.

the aboveitems will get you near started, after that you willneed substrate, live rock and ro/di water

hope i helped =P


Just research research and research some more, everybody does it different, many people will steer you away many will help, just listen and take alot of advice on board before you ever put anything in your tank, or in the end you will find you are forever replacing and upgrading your equipment, which then will cost a fortune

 

[BASA]

Is your new tank drilled and what size it is?

 

[uhtred]

Thanks for the advice, the cost is an issue, but if i want to end up with a marine tank, then buying tropical is perhaps money spent anyway. I have a 240 litre Juwel tank with T5 lights, filter etc on the way.
My impression is that planted FW tanks are quite a lot of work too, and i'm not a fan of plastic plants, although they can look pretty realistic.

How much time do you folks spend on your reef tank daily/weekly?

 

[pmcadams]

A marine tank will require more maintenance than the typical FW tank, certainly more costly in both start up and maintenance. I'll add a RO/DI water system to the marine must have list. You will be seeing a lot of evaporation and require regular water changes for a marine tank. Either marine or freshwater is a commitment. I prefer a reef, but don't write off FW tanks as uninteresting...

http://www.hemmy.net/2007/08/06/aquarium-art-by-takashi-amano/

 

[Jesterrace]

Im a newbie myself, my tank is about 3 months old.

I suggest not getting a freshwater setup as a way to learn, as it will only teach you bad habits, if you want SW start SW, ive had freshwater setups my whole life, both display and breeding and it taught me nothing that helped me in anyway with saltwater.

Start with the basics, you would get up and running for about $1000

In my opinion start with about a 200 lt/55g tank a decent sized tank for a refugium/sump maybe 15g minimum, you will need a pump to pump water from your refugium back to your main tank, atleast 2 powerheads with atleast 10 times water volume flow, so if you have 200 lt tank, minimum flow of 2000 lph for all pumps and powerheads.

You will need the basic test kits - ph ammonia nitrate nitrite, and if you plan on having corals minimum of a calcium test kit, also carbonate hardness kit.

you will need a light for your refugium/sump, also a lighting fixture for your main tank, these usually cost upwards of $200

also a thermometer of some kind, and alot of plumbing bits and peices.

the use of a skimmer is upto you, it is unneeded but handy for a beginner, i dont use a skimmer but i instead use $200 mud in my refugium full of trace elements that remove what a skimmer would.

Also a big cost for a beginner i found was a chiller hopefully due to where you live it wont be necesary looking at around $500 for a chiller alone.

the aboveitems will get you near started, after that you willneed substrate, live rock and ro/di water

hope i helped =P


Just research research and research some more, everybody does it different, many people will steer you away many will help, just listen and take alot of advice on board before you ever put anything in your tank, or in the end you will find you are forever replacing and upgrading your equipment, which then will cost a fortune

I know this is bumping an old post, but the more and more I look at it, I agree. There are so many specific things about the Marine environment that don't translate over to saltwater in terms of equipment, media bags, tank setup/cycling, etc. It will teach you some basic principles of water testing and some form of discipline for water changes but that's about it. Agreed definitely on the bad habits. Many Freshwater folks make the mistake of building a saltwater tank with a Freshwater environment (ie fake plants, bubblers, undergravel filters, goofy fake decorations) and then simply add aquarium salt and water conditioner and then wonder why nothing is cycling and what is going wrong, only to have to gut the entire tank and start all over with live rock, sand, etc. I made a couple of noob mistakes (one major one) and my current 36 gallon bowfront is my first fish tank of any kind but I at least knew going in to do RO/RODI/Saltmix, live rock, sand and a cycling process because I researched Marine environments from the beginning.