Help the noob

oiliaN

New member
So I consider myself New to the hobby just because I've only successfully kept fish, never coral. I've never really needed to worry about lighting. My roommate had a 120g Reef tank, but he made a supper good purchase on Craigslist and got everything he needed for cheap then paid a small fortune for the LFS owner to come out and set up all the equipment. So I learned very little from the experience, other than 120g worth of tank, water, and equipment is unnecessarily heavy and will blow the tranny out of a Chevy Astro. Our LFS has since closed leaving me stranded for advice. I'm planning on starting with a 55g I have sitting around. I bought a 5 stage RO/DI filter off BRS so I'm good on water quality, I hope. I have plumbing experience and plenty of containers to build my own sump and drain/return system. I bought a Refractometer and once I decide on a brand Ill be buying a bucket of salt mix. The lighting is the one place I'm completely in the dark, Yay puns. I want to keep it under 250 and preferably LED if I can afford it. DIY is fine, I just dont know where to start or what to buy. I found http://www.amazon.com/Current-USA-M.../ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER and some people in the reviews/questions said it would work. But I was looking for more reliable suggestions.
 
Go for the SETTING UP and Dirt Simple Chemistry stickies atop the forum.
That will answer questions before you get into a pickle.
Re lighting---ask what it will keep. The reviews say it will keep an anemone, and some corals, but not high-light sps. I can say from experience, it may not keep some lps and clams totally happy. If you go with lower-light corals like soft corals (mushrooms, zoas, Kenya tree, toadstools) it might do ok.
 
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