What do I need to start a tank?

S

SPS657

New member
I normally do freshwater, but like salt water, and have a 20 gallon tank, with a hood with a floresint light, and I have a stand, and I can get coral for cheap, what do i need????
 
A lot of money, an RO/DI unit, a refractometer, and some salt would be a good place to start.

Welcome to RC!!


There are some "STICKY's" at the top of each forum that are often filled with useful information on how to get started. Waterkeeper wrote many interesting articles.


Edit: My mistake, there are no stickies at the top of the beginners forum anymore.
 
+1 for a lot of money.

Start here: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1031074

Then read through these forums. I think you'll find that after you consider (assuming you want to keep coral) the new lighting you'll need, the protein skimmer, fuge, RODI unit, pumps, live rock, sand, etc.. that you'll reconsider the idea of trying to do this with your 20 gallon and start with something a little larger, and reef-ready.
 
You can't keep coral under florescent, I recommend T5's. The tank will need (well, should have) holes drilled into the side to drain water into a 'sump' where you will store your equipment i.e. filters (protein skimmer: a nice little gem not available in freshwater because the water must be a certain density), heater, activated carbon, ect. A pump will return the water back to the tank to be once again drained into the filters. Most of the gunk in salt water rises to the top, so an 'overflow' box is used to take the top layer of the water into your filtration below the main tank. Because of this top skimming method, a hang on the back filter, such as the emperor 400 or other excellent filters used in freshwater are useless by themselves for long term success, and are not used. You will want to quarantine your fish before adding them to your system, and a hang on the back filter may be used in these short term setups. I would, as suggested above, look into a bigger tank (perhaps a 55 gallon) and use your 20 as a sump, or quarantine tank.

And
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r236/TitusvileSurfer/welcome.gif" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
:)
 
Here are some great links to get your started...and I mean started. haha

The Waterkeeper article mentioned above (its a keeper)
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1031074

Travis L. Stevens has another epic thread which would show you how to use the 20 gallon you have there.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=912378

Water
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-03/rhf/index.php
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-03/rhf/index.php#2
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.php
RO/DI
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/rhf/index.php

Tina, eat your FOOD!
http://www.melevsreef.com/food.html

Metal Halide lights by Sanjay Joshi
http://www.personal.psu.edu/sbj4/aquarium/articles/MetalHalideLamps1.htm
http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com/

Quarantine
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=684888&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

Fish
tangs
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=739380

Sumps
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-01/gt/index.php

Drilling Glass
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=603816
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=962136&perpage=25&pagenumber=6

Misc
Other good links
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=781895
 
sps...you need a list of the corals you want, and then reverse engineer everything from there. With your current set-up, you can keep softies, some leathers and all non-photo synthetic corals (i.e. sun corals)......

just do some basic reading...th infos all out there
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10796401#post10796401 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BurntOutReefer
"You can't keep coral under florescent"....

Bull hookey. Please re-phrase your statement and dont give out bad advice.
Click to expand...

I think TitusvileSurfer was probably referring to what he expected to be a typical 20 gallon setup with a standard AGA "deluxe wood" (or Perfecto or whatever) fixture -- If he's got a 20 long, he very well may have a single 20W 8000K T-8 in it or something for all we know -- it may work for some softies (I don't know), but we don't know what light SPS has -- no one has even asked I don't think -- Do you think 1W/Gallon would suffice for some mushrooms and leathers? Just wondering -- I seriously don't know -- I do know that I can't get many FW plants to thrive in anything less than 3W/gallon and I'm using slightly less than 4W/Gal with CF's in my SW tank and a lot of the vets here are frequently trying to convince me to move to a T5 or MH bulbs..

If you disagree with the advice given about starting fresh with a new tank, then tell SPS exactly what he needs (the basics for now before he picks his corals first) so he can get going..
 
Re: What do I need to start a tank?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10794480#post10794480 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SPS657
I normally do freshwater, but like salt water, and have a 20 gallon tank, with a hood with a floresint light, and I have a stand, and I can get coral for cheap, what do i need????
Click to expand...

The Bare Basics

A Powerhead
A Skimmer
A Salt mix or something like Nutri seawater
Sand (Quality Marine Sand most pet stores carry) i have 15 lbs of sand in my 20g long SW tank
I would get some live rock(just me cant stand a bare looking tank)
A LOT OF PATIENCE cause nothing in SW is fast.
And a Good Lighting System Not the standard Light hood that is used for a freshwater tank. Good lighting now will save time and Money later if you want Coral.

I also Recommend you get some Egg Crate and Section of an small Area at the End of your tank and put some Macro Algae in it.

This is the stuff i would have in a perfect world where money wasn't a concern plus a lot of other stuff. But you can also get away with less i am right now. i have no skimmer and cheap but effective lighting.
 
Alright, alright I concede. I made a lot of assumptions. First off I assumed this equipment was used, as he already had everything before deciding to go salt water. Second he stated his very specific interest in corals, and his name is SPS. I figure hes planning on keeping a little more than simple mushrooms. Now I know its a bit of a stretch, but your not going to keep SPS corals under florescent lights, used ones or not. Perhaps he will chime in as to whether or not he did plan to keep SPS corals specifically. T5's or MH on this case would be a sensible and worthwhile investment. He could manage with VHO (a type of florescent, but doubtful he has) or PC's as well. That said, your right and I should have been more specific.
 
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