I need help with first tank please

[Jorday]

Hey all,

First off, everyone can relax as there are no animals currently sick or dying in my home. There isn't even an aquarium in my home at all.

Ive been interested in entering this hobby for several years and I've been lurking on various forums and watching videos for a long time. I almost decided to proceed with starting up a tank last year but decided I wasn't ready yet and needed to gather more information.

I can't imagine trying to enter this hobby before the internet, but now there is such an incredibly huge amount of information available. As a person with no personal experience doing this, I'm finding it very difficult to sort through the vast amount of info even related to beginning level topics. I am not exaggerating when I say that I've been reading about this for years but have hesitated.

I can't decide what tank to get. We've been looking at the red sea reefer 450 lately. I like the looks of the tank. I like the idea that it comes with a stand and sump, but selecting most of the equipment like lights and a skimmer are left up to you. We could fit a 240 gallon 8 foot tank in our living room if we wanted. We could get something smaller.

My girlfriend and I have decided that the regal angel is our favorite fish, but it's not an appropriate choice for beginners. It will be years before we are ready tto consider that. No need to direct me to the regal angel primer, I've read all 150 pages of it more than once. So we need to pick out something else to start with, but we've struggled with that task little bit.

Maybe some of you could help us come up with a vision of our first tank? I get that it's really a personal thing and its really what you want, but I think we could use some ideas to help give us some things to think about that maybe we hadn't considered. I'm not looking for someone else to pick out my tank and fish for me, but I think I need some direction to help get the ideas flowing. Like a "well, have you thought about this..." type of thing if that makes sense.

What would you get if you were entering this hobby all over again? What size tank would you get and why that one? Anything you wish someone would have told you when you were new that you could pass on to us lol?

any thoughts are very much appreciated, thanks!

Jordan

 

[heathlindner25]

FIrst... let me say welcome to the salty side, if I were to give you one bit of advice I would say, build the largest system you think you can afford to run for the rest of your life ,and take it slow.
if you're anything like some of us... This bug bites hard and you'll be hooked for life, so do it right the first time.

 

[stingeragent]

+1 to the above. Get the biggest tank you can afford. I was nervous getting into salt despite keeping freshwater. I started with a 20 long. 3 months later, I also setup a 55. 6 months later the 20 became a 40. 3 weeks ago I got a 125. If I could do it all over I'd start with either a 40 or a 125. If you wanna stay under 100 gallons, the 40B has great dimensions. The biggest thing I learned is get the really necessary stuff up front. Get good test kits, get a refractometer, get an RO/DI unit from the getgo, get good lighting up front. As for the tank direction, you gotta decide do you want a fish only tank or a reef tank. That will affect your lighting choices. Also, once you get a plan, stick to it, and don't substitute. For my first sump setup, I had ordered 1 1/2" inch bulkheads along with the hole saw for it online. When they came in, I realized they were much too big for my tank ( I was thinking they were 1" not 1 1/2 for some reason when I ordered). Anyways, the only bulkheads I could find locally along with a hole saw to match were 1/2". I didn't want to wait another week to order the correct sized ones so I stupidly went with it. Needless to say, the flow was way too low and ended up getting rid of the sump altogether on that tank. Having said all that, is your end goal, however many years it is from now, to have a large established reef tank full of coral, or just a FOWLR. I'm not familiar with the angel you want, but I'd assume it's not reef safe. If that's your end goal, and they aren't reef safe, there's no reason for you to setup a reef style tank in the interim, because when your ready for the angel, you'll have to go through the hassle of selling off all your coral.

 

[MJV0103]

I inherited my dads tank and took it to places he never had it. It's a 50g with my own diy 20g sump. With that being said, this is my first tank I've taken care of personally. I think this size was a good starting tank. I've been in the hobby only 8 months. Now I wish I'd have thought this thru and did my own build. I've looked at the Red Sea Max's but don't think they give you enough room in the stand for what a tank really needs. Same with my stand, there's no room. Make sure you consider the hidden components just as much as you think of stocking that DT. It will make your life easier in the long run.

 

[Bcrowe2012]

I agree with the other posts. Get what you want to start, it will save lots of money and frustration. First piece of equipment you will want is a good rodi unit. Next get a tank size you want. I would go for dimensions rather than gallons. You don't want a tank that's so high you can't get in to take care of it or move corals. Once you have your tank size look at various tanks on google and see what you like. Softies, lps, sps or a mix. Make a list of equipment you will need and buy good equipment from the start. Once again that will save you money and frustration.

I personally like an sps lps mixed tank with t5 lighting.

Another piece of advice is look into your local reef club, if there is one near you.

My last bit of advice is be careful researching too much. Some people may chastise me for saying that, but for me I get frustrated and confused reading 20 opinions on one question. Get a few trustworthy opinions and do what seems to be the best option.

 

[danil]

I would say it might be not a best idea to start with biggest tank you can fit in your living room. You have to test yourself on smaller tank first plus you'll get feel for a hobby without braking your bank account. In year or two you can migrate to a bigger tank of your dream and transfer anything you have to new set up.

 

[johnike]

Then again, a 240 is kinda nice.
Might as well get it over with.

 

[Jorday]

Thanks for the responses guys very helpful stuff.

I inherited my dads tank and took it to places he never had it. It's a 50g with my own diy 20g sump. With that being said, this is my first tank I've taken care of personally. I think this size was a good starting tank. I've been in the hobby only 8 months. Now I wish I'd have thought this thru and did my own build. I've looked at the Red Sea Max's but don't think they give you enough room in the stand for what a tank really needs. Same with my stand, there's no room. Make sure you consider the hidden components just as much as you think of stocking that DT. It will make your life easier in the long run.

Hmm, well thanks for pointing out that as a potential weakness there. That would be a bummer to feel like the stand was simply too small to hold what it needs to have in it. I would like to place the sump and related equipment in the basement and run the overflow and return through the floor, but it's just not going to be possible in our current home. So that basically leaves the sump in the stand plan or the sump in the compartment at the back of the DT plan. I wonder what else I could consider? I know fully custom is always an option but that might be difficult to plan for a complete noob like me without failing to consider a lot of stuff just due to being new.

 

[goldenglove605]

+1 on the larger tanks just make sure you have a plan on how to accomplish water changes with ease(not having to lift heavy buckets of water for years). Also think about cleaning and tank dimensions that may be hard to clean, since no one likes looking at a dirty tank. If you plan on doing corals larger tanks need more lighting than the small ones.
Another +1 on the Rodi filter system get one asap makes life alot easier.
If you start with a large tank over a smaller one take it slow and don't rush things get used to the hobby before diving headfirst and not liking the results.