new to comas

[Eglass]

hello, first off i am new to COMAS and new to the saltwater hobby. i currently have a 20 gal sw tank with a small amount of live rock (on a budget and will be getting more soon) some limestone, and live sand. it is still cycling and has been cycling for about a week. i am going to be investing in lighting for it and would like to make it all custom. any pointers for my tank? lights, rock ect?
thanks

 

[madkat]

I would reccommend you start off slow, get all of your rock,sand, filtration and flow before you add a single fish. Make sure your tank is completely cycled and then start slow on the fish adds. I like to add 2 weeks apart, up until you have your population.

As far as lights go it depends on what you want to keep. Zoas and leathers you can do with PC, if you want LPS/SPS I reccommend a minimum of t-5 and look into the LED world. The upfront cost is more but that will save you in the long run.

Geissmann/ATI for T-5 lamps and Cree only for LED.

~Madkat

 

[Eglass]

yes, i am going to wait on fish for awhile ( i really want a star fish, and some clowns) , not ready for all the investment. (i am going to do corals but i am not sure what i want. i am thinking zoas... (one more reason i am waiting on led lights)) i have looked into led lights (just for pricing) and i was thinking the cree lights on the rapidled.com, i was thinking about investing in the 12 piece kit that includes the controlor (dimmable) and 12 lights (blue and white) its like 110$ so i would wait on getting it for a while until i decide which corals i want to invest in. does this sound like a good investment or should i just scrap it all together? for now i am just using incandecent lighting while it cycles so it at least looks good lol.

 

[madkat]

yes, i am going to wait on fish for awhile ( i really want a star fish, and some clowns) , not ready for all the investment. (i am going to do corals but i am not sure what i want. i am thinking zoas... (one more reason i am waiting on led lights)) i have looked into led lights (just for pricing) and i was thinking the cree lights on the rapidled.com, i was thinking about investing in the 12 piece kit that includes the controlor (dimmable) and 12 lights (blue and white) its like 110$ so i would wait on getting it for a while until i decide which corals i want to invest in. does this sound like a good investment or should i just scrap it all together? for now i am just using incandecent lighting while it cycles so it at least looks good lol.

That is a good LED, I would defer to Ghellin since he is the resident GURU when it comes to LED. I would look at using a 50/50 bulb in a fluorescent housing if you want looks. Incandescent kinda went the way of the dinosaur a few years back.

 

[Eglass]

yea incandescent is way old but hey for what i am using it for (just to make the tank look pretty while it cycles) its fine. lol and i am going to make a custom housing for my lights, 2.25ft long and 8inch wide and 6inch tall, this will house my incandescent for awhile and will make a good base for the leds if i choose to go that way (i am about 95% sure i will). and ok thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
what corals would you say i should start with (in several months of course), i dont want something taky looking or something that is going to take hours and hours and hours a week to maintain... just something for a beginner!

 

[madkat]

Low light only, at the most with incandescent would be deep water zoas or simple leathers.

I would run fish only if it were me. Absolutely no hard corals and no anemones.

 

[Eglass]

ok cool, i was wrong, i have a 29 gal tank i made a typo. lol
thanks

 

[MarlinDreams]

Also come join us at a meeting or two. There is a lot of great information that can be culled from the members there. In fact there are some people there that will blow you away with their saltwater knowledge. I know I was impressed.