For my money, it's the tank itself: all the size you can manage for the space you have to put it in, whatever that be. And a sump, which doesn't HAVE to have partitions, but in the case a fish gets down there, they're a good idea---and if you ever want a fuge, partitions are a must---or you have weed in your pump: not good.
The diy-skilled can drill, buy a downflow box, (a leak/water accident preventer that goes into your tank) ---or you can buy tanks that have them. In trying NOT to spend money, you CAN use a hang-on downflow box, but if you have any accessibility issues reaching the U tubes and restarting them, it's going to be a headache. I've used the hang-ons for freshwater, and swore at them a great deal. WIth a builtin downflow, you never ever have to restart suction.
What not to get is a canister filter---in terms of potential for accidents to your floor---and in terms of running a reef. They're fine for fish-onlies, particularly if you have messy eaters, but for a reef, they're going to have 'ups and downs' in nitrate---you clean it, it's down, you don't clean it, it rises---and corals don't like nitrate above 5 almost as badly as fish don't like ammonia. They can also cause a disaster: we have a freshwater tank that was on one, and a seal failed---yeah. A micro-marine tank can run safely on a couple of high-end Penguin filters. Not great---but basic critters can survive fine with that.
With a sump you have a place for ugly equipment, a place for a skimmer (see below: fixes nitrate problem) and reactor (removes phosphate which fuels algae) and so on. And you have a place to add chemicals and to run a water change without disturbing your fish. (10% a week change keeps your trace elements up.)
The other place to sink money is your lights: you have to consider lighting if you want a reef. Softies don't take as strong a light as stonies in general, but light is literally what they eat, the way flowers need sunlight: their internal flora take in light and produce sugars which go directly into the tissues of the corals. Wrong light, no corals. Fish don't care about your lights and may actually hide during the brightest phase of the reef lighting.
Heaters: get the absolute best---a cheap one can burn your house down, no kidding. And don't take used.
Tests: for fish only, you should buy a numerical-result alkalinity test (I use Salifert); and a refractometer (salinity). For stony reefs, you also need a numerical test for calcium and one for magnesium. You will be dosing buffer to keep the alk up; and dosing calcium and magnesium to sustain a stony reef's skeleton-building.
Dosers: a plastic measuring spoon and a cup to premix the dose in.
A little logbook to track your tests: you dose to TRENDS, not to disasters. So you watch the movement of the test numbers, and head them off before they become bad.
Sand and rock---you can start with aragonite sand and nearly all dry limestone, but condition your rock in saltwater. WE have a sticky on that. Read it. If you skip this step, you will be hip-deep in algae.
A ro/di unit, 4 cylinder recommended. This turns your mineral-laden tapwater into zero-mineral water, ready to take the precise mineral balance of your salt mix, and NOT give you fields of waving green algae or worse.
If your lights don't have a built-in timer, timers from the hardware store.
A skimmer--if you turn out to battle nitrate, your answer is to spend some money on this item, which needs a sump to live in.
A stand: you can use anything that can bear the weight, but fish-stands are calculated to stand the strain. You need sump access. You've got to be able to clean the skimmer.
Do you need a controller? I learned to run without one, and never have gotten around to having one. They are an expense you can spare until you decide you need one. I dose calcium via a simple addition of kalk (calcium compound) powder into my topoff water, while maintaining my alk and mag at specific levels, dead easy to do.
You need a stack of old towels, a couple of buckets (or Brute trashcans depending on size of your rig).
You can buy anything used EXCEPT a heater. Just shop around and look at some functioning systems or for-sale systems until you know what you're looking at, and won't be sold an antique.
Best during the 'buying' phase,---join a reef club: we have a long list of them by region and city. Members may have tanks to sell, skimmers they've outgrown, and ADVICE---these are the people who can tell you whether that tank offered for sale is a good deal or not. Ask questions. Always ask questions.
The diy-skilled can drill, buy a downflow box, (a leak/water accident preventer that goes into your tank) ---or you can buy tanks that have them. In trying NOT to spend money, you CAN use a hang-on downflow box, but if you have any accessibility issues reaching the U tubes and restarting them, it's going to be a headache. I've used the hang-ons for freshwater, and swore at them a great deal. WIth a builtin downflow, you never ever have to restart suction.
What not to get is a canister filter---in terms of potential for accidents to your floor---and in terms of running a reef. They're fine for fish-onlies, particularly if you have messy eaters, but for a reef, they're going to have 'ups and downs' in nitrate---you clean it, it's down, you don't clean it, it rises---and corals don't like nitrate above 5 almost as badly as fish don't like ammonia. They can also cause a disaster: we have a freshwater tank that was on one, and a seal failed---yeah. A micro-marine tank can run safely on a couple of high-end Penguin filters. Not great---but basic critters can survive fine with that.
With a sump you have a place for ugly equipment, a place for a skimmer (see below: fixes nitrate problem) and reactor (removes phosphate which fuels algae) and so on. And you have a place to add chemicals and to run a water change without disturbing your fish. (10% a week change keeps your trace elements up.)
The other place to sink money is your lights: you have to consider lighting if you want a reef. Softies don't take as strong a light as stonies in general, but light is literally what they eat, the way flowers need sunlight: their internal flora take in light and produce sugars which go directly into the tissues of the corals. Wrong light, no corals. Fish don't care about your lights and may actually hide during the brightest phase of the reef lighting.
Heaters: get the absolute best---a cheap one can burn your house down, no kidding. And don't take used.
Tests: for fish only, you should buy a numerical-result alkalinity test (I use Salifert); and a refractometer (salinity). For stony reefs, you also need a numerical test for calcium and one for magnesium. You will be dosing buffer to keep the alk up; and dosing calcium and magnesium to sustain a stony reef's skeleton-building.
Dosers: a plastic measuring spoon and a cup to premix the dose in.
A little logbook to track your tests: you dose to TRENDS, not to disasters. So you watch the movement of the test numbers, and head them off before they become bad.
Sand and rock---you can start with aragonite sand and nearly all dry limestone, but condition your rock in saltwater. WE have a sticky on that. Read it. If you skip this step, you will be hip-deep in algae.
A ro/di unit, 4 cylinder recommended. This turns your mineral-laden tapwater into zero-mineral water, ready to take the precise mineral balance of your salt mix, and NOT give you fields of waving green algae or worse.
If your lights don't have a built-in timer, timers from the hardware store.
A skimmer--if you turn out to battle nitrate, your answer is to spend some money on this item, which needs a sump to live in.
A stand: you can use anything that can bear the weight, but fish-stands are calculated to stand the strain. You need sump access. You've got to be able to clean the skimmer.
Do you need a controller? I learned to run without one, and never have gotten around to having one. They are an expense you can spare until you decide you need one. I dose calcium via a simple addition of kalk (calcium compound) powder into my topoff water, while maintaining my alk and mag at specific levels, dead easy to do.
You need a stack of old towels, a couple of buckets (or Brute trashcans depending on size of your rig).
You can buy anything used EXCEPT a heater. Just shop around and look at some functioning systems or for-sale systems until you know what you're looking at, and won't be sold an antique.
Best during the 'buying' phase,---join a reef club: we have a long list of them by region and city. Members may have tanks to sell, skimmers they've outgrown, and ADVICE---these are the people who can tell you whether that tank offered for sale is a good deal or not. Ask questions. Always ask questions.
