The season of fishmas has begun! Help me spend my money!!

[Squibege]

Santa came early this year so my reef tank is starting!!

First round of incessantly annoying questions I will be asking you all:

1) What's okay to buy used? What should I always buy new?

2) I like the idea of dry rock so I have time to fiddle with aquascaping and don't want to introduce unwanted critters.... BUT I would like to use LR to seed some good biodiversity to the tank. Is there a way to QT the live rock to deal with any unwanted critters before sticking it in the DT? Other than porosity and visual aesthetics- should I be picky about where I get the dry rock?

3) Should I specifically look for a drilled tank to have a sump? Drilling it myself sounds scary... Can I take it somewhere for someone else to drill it? Is there a type of tank that's better for this?

4) I'm assuming the stand just has to support the entire surface area of the tank and be sturdy enough to hold the crazy amount of weight


Anything else to think of while gathering things????

 

[ScienceRulez]

Santa came early this year so my reef tank is starting!!

First round of incessantly annoying questions I will be asking you all:

1) What's okay to buy used? What should I always buy new?

While speaking only for myself, I don't see anything wrong with buying used. a lot of times you can get higher quality stuff or a larger tank for a lot less than new. When buying a used tank, keep a close eye on the corners to make sure they are sound, the last thing you want are leaks.


2) I like the idea of dry rock so I have time to fiddle with aquascaping and don't want to introduce unwanted critters.... BUT I would like to use LR to seed some good biodiversity to the tank. Is there a way to QT the live rock to deal with any unwanted critters before sticking it in the DT? Other than porosity and visual aesthetics- should I be picky about where I get the dry rock?

I got my dry (base) rock from the LFS, they were competitive with online pricing, and personally I prefer to purchase local whenever possible to keep the money closer to home so to speak. Others can suggest good places to get rock online.

3) Should I specifically look for a drilled tank to have a sump? Drilling it myself sounds scary... Can I take it somewhere for someone else to drill it? Is there a type of tank that's better for this?

You can get pre-drilled tanks but you will pay dearly for that convenience. Drilling it yourself can be scary, but it's not rocket science, take it slow, use lots of water to keep the cutter and glass cool, and it can be done.

4) I'm assuming the stand just has to support the entire surface area of the tank and be sturdy enough to hold the crazy amount of weight

I'm not sure what you mean by the entire surface area, with my tanks at home (freshwater) only the outside of the tanks are resting on the stand, which is why they say to never move a fishtank that's full of water. The stand needs to be sturdy however.

Anything else to think of while gathering things????

Oh there are plenty of things, location of the tank, pumps, salt, containers to hold the water for salt mixing, RODI filter to make sure the water is the best it can be. Lights are important, especially for reef tanks. This hobby can get very expensive very quickly. :fish1:

 

[rfgonzo]

Take a look at sticky, some of the best information can be found in them. good luck