Noob

I am aware they are more difficult. Thank you for the words of wisdom. It's either I get something tiny or take 6 months to convert my 65 gal to a reef tank and spend a Lot more.
 
Hopped on craigslist and the cheapest I could swap my 65gal tank over to salt is $750 and only because I already have an adequate light fixture.
 
I just set up a 55g with a custom built stand.

No coral yet, but with all the LR and shopping around i got some great deals

Defiantly have not gone over the 500 mark, and all i need is a skimmer, just found one on ebay for 70 bucks

Dont need everything, especially to start out, and you don't need the top of the line equipment that some people on here consider necessary. 250 for a power head? Yeah mine cost 30, its a little noisy and i can not control the speed.. but its 200 bucks i could spend on coral now
 
I'm sure I could find some good deals with time. My biggest problem is my aquarium budget is a small percentage of my small business profit, and unless I build 20 holsters this week, I'm lucky if I can buy a 10 gal setup.

I want one clown fish (unless they are happier as a pair) and one or two shrimp but mostly LPS and zoas with live sand and live rock.
 
They are truly awesome to watch as a pair... Blows any freshwater fish.. out of the water, lol. The male will shake rapidly as sort of a submission to the female, they follow eachother everyware.

Mine sleep in different places, female at top male at bottom, first thing when the light turns on they both wake up and immediatly go looking for eachother, once they find themselves they dance around for a bit and chase eachother, if i ever loose one and not the other i am going to feel so bad for them
 
Here is a budgeted 10g for ya

10g tank at petco, dollar a gallon sale, 10 bucks!

hang on back filter, rated for a higher tank (20g), maybe 20 bucks

small heater, another 10-15

Walmart has 100 gph pumps for like 6 bucks, grab two of those and than you just have to figure out a lighting situation


Doesnt have to be perfect and expensive first time out, i started with something like the above ^ and then just transfered my clowns to the 55g i built

Same could be done for petcos 20 and 30 gallons, the bigger tank would really only be reflected in the lighting costs ,everything else would be minimal.. that is on a budget

If you wanted to you could get a 5-10g biocube and pack a grand worth of equipment into it
 
Craigslist has small tanks for about $1/gal. My main interest in a small tank is coral, the clown fish are for my wife and 2 year old daughter (who calls all of our fish Nemo, even the black ghost knife fish), not that I wouldn't enjoy watching them. My desire for a nano/bio/pico tank is the included skimmer (i know most are just barely adequate) and whatnot. I know things change quickly in small environments and I'm trying to increase my chances as much as possible. I have been working on the assumption the standard hob filter associated with freshwater tanks isn't sufficient for what I want. If I am wrong, please correct me.

Once again, thanks for the advice.
 
GrizFyrFyter said:
Craigslist has small tanks for about $1/gal. My main interest in a small tank is coral, the clown fish are for my wife and 2 year old daughter (who calls all of our fish Nemo, even the black ghost knife fish), not that I wouldn't enjoy watching them. My desire for a nano/bio/pico tank is the included skimmer (i know most are just barely adequate) and whatnot. I know things change quickly in small environments and I'm trying to increase my chances as much as possible. I have been working on the assumption the standard hob filter associated with freshwater tanks isn't sufficient for what I want. If I am wrong, please correct me.

Once again, thanks for the advice.
Click to expand...

Its a matter of opinion really.. there is people here that will swear you need to spend like 100$ per gallon on a tank, 300 power heads and thousand dollar skimmers.. i bought a HOB filter for a 75g tank, and it works great for my 55g, very healthy and clean, great airation
 
Adamw327 said:
Its a matter of opinion really.. there is people here that will swear you need to spend like 100$ per gallon on a tank, 300 power heads and thousand dollar skimmers.. i bought a HOB filter for a 75g tank, and it works great for my 55g, very healthy and clean, great airation
Click to expand...

Ok. I will look into it. I really prefer the look of a cube vs rectangular tank and I am doing a little research into building my own. I am currently negotiating a trade for a sump w/ pump that will handle my 65 freshwater tank (and eventually when it is saltwater) and that frees up my Odyssea (fx5 clone) canister filter.

Again, I only have theoretical knowledge of marine tanks so set me straight if I'm wrong. In a reef tank (with more tolerant coral), a protein Skimmer primarily supports the fish? I don't tend to over feed except when my daughter was tossing sinking pellets into a tank.... That problem has been solved.
 
I have a good old Aquaclear power filter on my 40 breeder for flow, along with my hang-on-back Bak Pak skimmer and a refugium (grows macroalgae and supports copepods for my mandarin goby). The 'fuge is by Marineland, it's basically a breeder box, but I added a small pump to it for better flow.

From what I understand, the skimmer works to support both fish and corals by removing wastes - I call it my tank's diaper - the skimmate smells HORRIBLE, but that means it's working in getting the crap out of the tank. It's not a replacement for water changes though.

I am in the MP10 $235 power head club, but I bought them used here (for $160)...my Koralia pumps didn't provide adequate flow and I had red cyano algae everywhere, a result of poor flow. Once I added the MP10, the cyano disappeared and the corals look happier too. It worked so well, and I love the reduced footprint in the tank, so I bought another one used. Your experience may be different, though, hopefully!
 
mandarin_goby said:
I have a good old Aquaclear power filter on my 40 breeder for flow, along with my hang-on-back Bak Pak skimmer and a refugium (grows macroalgae and supports copepods for my mandarin goby). The 'fuge is by Marineland, it's basically a breeder box, but I added a small pump to it for better flow.

From what I understand, the skimmer works to support both fish and corals by removing wastes - I call it my tank's diaper - the skimmate smells HORRIBLE, but that means it's working in getting the crap out of the tank. It's not a replacement for water changes though.

I am in the MP10 $235 power head club, but I bought them used here (for $160)...my Koralia pumps didn't provide adequate flow and I had red cyano algae everywhere, a result of poor flow. Once I added the MP10, the cyano disappeared and the corals look happier too. It worked so well, and I love the reduced footprint in the tank, so I bought another one used. Your experience may be different, though, hopefully!
Click to expand...

I definitely understand the usefulness of the expensive circulation pumps. I have a lot of hobbies but this is the only one I don't know what's "you get what you pay for" and what is overpriced.
 
Oh yes, the merits of MP10s is highly debated - those that love them swear by them, and those that don't haven't tried them (just kidding :)). I just know they're much better than my previous Koralias. Tunze is another expensive brand of powerheads, but one that reefers swear by - even more so than Mp10s in that you can aim the flow and they're very reliable.

The new kids on the block are the WP40s and 25s...these are similar to the MP10 in that they're controllable, but for far less $$$, I think the WP40 is $100 or so, but they're HUGE (grapefruit sized I hear) and suitable for large tanks like 125s. The WP25 will be for smaller tanks, but may be too big in size for my tastes - some of the appeal of MP10s is aesthetics - the in-tank footprint is far smaller than the Koralias' in that the motor is on the outside.
 
I just read a write up about building tiny powerheads for really small tanks.

I have the time to do daily and weekly maintenance (water changes, cleaning, tests and top offs) on a small tank but I don't have the capital for startup on a big tank. My wife won't tolerate a half built tank in the house (no garage at current residence) while I piece things together over time.
 
I understand that completely! Nothing wrong with smaller tanks, especially since you can do the maintenance frequently. My 12 gallon was great for about half a year before I got the 40 breeder going...really fun and rewarding, even on a small scale. I learned a lot having that tank to start with.
 
Missed an entire page before i posted =]

Don't have any expertise on lights, most small tanks use LEDS, T5 flourencents are considered the "cheap" way to go but many people desire them over other options because of the spectrum of light achieved and ability to customize the combinations of different bulbs

ATI is one of the top mentioned brands. Personally i bought a cheapo unit on ebay and then replaced the crap bulbs with ATI ones, instead of spending an extra 100 or so on an ATI fixture. Defiantly not as great, but it will get the job done
 
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