Beginner, still in planning stage- very scared!

[bamagirl1044]

I have a brand new 55G and would like to make the leap from FW to SW. I EVENTUALLY want to have a reef tank. My tank is apparently my tank is not a standard shape. It's 30" long and 18" wide and 24" deep and I'm unsure of what lighting I need. I'm not sure of what corals I want in the tank, but I do know that EVENTUALLY I want to have a pair of clownfish and an anemone.

At this point all I have is the tank, air pump, 300W heater, and a hang-on tank power filter left over from my FW days. Any suggestions about equipment, or anything else would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[bnhd3]

you should consider building a sump tank. in your case a 20g long would make a good little sump. you would need an overflow box to hang on the tank. find a good protein skimmer. i guess you mean there isn't a standard light unit that length. there are many units you can purchase that you hang from the ceiling over your tank. perhaps this would be a good way to go. you could build your own canopy and put in a diy lighting system.

[bamagirl1044]

I have a 20G long that I used to hold my feeder fish, I could use that. I'm a little apprehensive about drilling my tank though.

Any suggestions on how many watts I will need and what type?

[rustybucket145]

Protein skimmer is #1, be sure to get a good one!

You wouldn't have to drill if you did the HOB overflow siphon device.

For that deep of a tank you really need Metal Halide lighting. You could get away with a single 400w in the 14k range. With a good reflector it would only cost you $300 +/-. This light fixture would last you pretty much for the life of your tank. You would have to chage the bulb once a year but other than that it's pretty much maintance free.

Keep the filter and air pump for backup, you will find something to use them for. It just won't be on your saltwater tank. They are both pretty much useless.

So what are you waitin for??? Go to Lowes and buy a couple bags of sand, go to the LFS or petsmart and get a 5gal bucket of salt!!! Get it fired up!!

heheh,.... jk, planning everything will save you alot of time, heartache and most of all MONEY! Here's a diagram of a sump just to give you some of the basics. The return pump can be mounted internally and so can the skimmer. This is nothing but a 20gal tank with glass baffles (from lowes window cutting dept) siliconed in place. I think the whole setup cost $30 total. Since you already have the tank you're almost there. Glass and silicone and pump/plumbing are all you need!

http://www.buddyscampfire.com/meshModImages/sump.jpg

[bamagirl1044]

Great! Thanks for the info rustybucket145! The diagram is great, although, I'm not the most "mechanically inclined" I think I can figure it out. I didn't know you could have a sump without drilling.

I thought I would need more watts/gallon because of the depth of the tank.

Did you say go to lowes and get sand?! I thought I had to order the expensive, live sand. What gives? I can't begin to tell you how much conflicting information I've found!! I'm glad I found this forum to tell me the truth without trying to sell me something!

Thanks

[akaatomic]

1st-live sand is just sand that carries denitrifying bacteria. The same bacteria will develop on regular sand, but will take a few months to seed. So, you can save time and buy live. Besides that, it's made of different material and has a more "natural" look. Start with a bare bottom tank and add the sand when you decide what's best for you. Keeping a saltwater fish tank is just as easy to keep as a freshwater tank (there's just salt). Keeping a reef is a bit tougher. It incurrs a larger expense in equipment and more maintenance and care. You can reuse all of the stuff you already have to get you started (you don't need the air). Your first purchases should be:
Some live rock (you'll want about 1.5lbs/gallon eventually. Same rule as sand. you can buy dead or live rock. dead is cheap. live is expensive)
Protein skimmer (biological filter to remove harmful waste. Some might tell you not totally necessary, but it keeps the water very clean)
Lights (the more you spend, the more you can keep. Fish don't care. Soft corals are a bit needy. Hard corals need tons. Anenomes happen to require a lot of light so plan accordingly.)

Start with some live rock, then some crabs and snails, then fish, then whatever else you want. That way your expenses will be spread out a bit.

[SquidHC]

Im really new to the hobby, but I have spent about two months reading and just put water in my tank about a week ago. Heres a few things to consider, and some mistakes I have made already so you can learn from them =D

Firstly, research is absolute key. Anything worth doing in a saltwater tank is worth doing slowly and patiently. Spend alot of time on here reading and asking any questions you may have.

ok so heres a general list.

Do some reasearch of your LFS's (local fish stores). Dont go to your local place that has pets of all types, like say somewhere you would take our kid to buy a hampster. Find out where there are "salt water specialty" stores. Then go to them and tactfully bug them with all your questions untill you get a feel for each of them. Also realize that each of them have there own way of doing things and you will likely get a lot of mixed info. This seems to be the case in this hobby, everyone has there own idea of what the "right way" to do things are.

Decide what type of tank you want to have. Do you want a FOWLR(fish only with live rock), mixed reef (fish and some corals), or reef only which is mainly corals and a few fish. This will help you decide what type of equpiment you need.

Also there are soft corals and hard corals. Soft corals such as anenomes require less lighting and less water circulation than hard corals do. They also(from what I understand) are abit heartier so they are easier to take care of.

Once you decide the direction you want to take your tank you can make a decision as to what hardware your gonna need. Heres a basic list (please note again that I am no expert, so double check the info)
-skimmer (your main filter, dont skimp here)
-lighting (hard corals require metal halide, soft corals can deal with compact flourecent, fish dont really care about light)
-powerheads (you need to move your water around alot in your tank. These little jets will do a nice job)
-heaters (two smaller ones is better than one giant one incase one dies on you, also make sure you get the fully submergable ones, not the hang on back type)

That pretty much coveres the very basics as far as hardware goes. I opted to not build a sump to start with because of the added cost. You can always opt to add a sump later on. This obviously requires more hardware that I didnt list. As far as drilling your tank goes, you dont have to. Although the drilled way to plum in a sump is more desireable and from what I understand slightly more dependable, the over the back types seem to work just fine. Remember you can always drill your tank and then cap off the plumbing so you can attach a sump in the future.

I wouldnt suggest getting live sand because it is very expensive, but I really REALLY wouldnt go to home depot and purchase sand. You have no idea whats in it, where its from, or anything else. Go buy yourself two twenty pound bags of dry reef san from your LFS. People say to stay away from "coral rubble" because it can supposedly cause nitrate issues in the future. I went with two bags of sand and one bag of coral rubble in my 75 because I liked the texture diferences.

As far as live rock goes, this can get spendy. If you had a really big tank you could buy base rock (dead "live rock") to add mass to your tank, then put all your live rock on top of it, but in a smaller tank I would only use live rock. People suggest anywhere from 1-2 lbs of rock per gallon. This varies alot because some rock is very dense and some is very pourous. Fish need alot of rock to hide in, where as corals just need enough to attach to. To start your cycle you can put in as little or as much rock as you want, but after your first cycle is over you need to make sure te rock your adding is cured or it will have die off on it that will cause nitrogen spikes and thats bad. Depending on your budget I would make sure to get at least like 20-30 lbs of rock to start off with (more if you can afford it). The rock acts as a breeding place for bacteria and is a great natural filter. This is key to your tanks sucess. I would look around before buying rock. It seems thqat your LFS's will have a large variety of rock, including diferent shapes, sizes, and quality of rock. They will also vary greatly in price from around $4-$8/lbs. Although you may be able to find people willing to sell you live rock from there tanks for much less than your LFS is selling it, I would be careful because there can be bad stuff on rocks that you dont want to put in your tank. Just be sure your comfortable with whoever is selling you the rock.

This should give you somewhere to start with. Figure out how you plan to cycle your tank. I have been told about 50 diferent ways to do it so ust find one you like and go with it. Im sure that each diferent way will work, so you just gotta pick one. I dont suggest using damsels because there an aggressive fish that wont do well in your reef anyway, and imho its mean to make a fish suffer through the rough ups and downs your water is going have in the first few weeks. Best of luck and enjoy your tank.

[sschoelen]

I really think there are a lot of good posts and a lot of good info here but it all depends on how much you want to get into it. My first tank was a 55 without a sump, standard lighting, standard filter. Nothing special and that will do fine for just fish. Yes, you will need MUCH more for more things but it all depends on how you want to grow and what you will want in the future. Don't let it all scare you. Once you get going it is not that bad.