Newbie Tips [Archive] - Reef Central Online Community

Shagsbeard

09/25/2006, 05:26 PM

In terms of cost, the tank is about 10% of the eventual cost to get things going if you buy the modern gadgets and stuff new. While we tend to swear by "YOU MUST HAVE" when really it's a more "should have", much of the advice given here is based on some pretty common assumptions.

You'll need live rock. You can do without it, but no one does... cept maybe resturants. Generally live rock is about $5/lb give or take and you'll need about 1-1.5 lbs per gallon of your tank. So a 100 gallon tank needs about $500-$750 in rocks. You can do it cheaper... but it's more work/time.

You need sand. Lots of people go bare bottom, but most of the advice you get here is based on having a sand bed. If you choose to go without sand, let people know you're bare bottom when you ask questions. About $200 for sand. Again... you can save money, but if you go LFS... about $200.

Lighting... you need light. Here's where you can drop $1000 easy, or go cheap and only spend $250 or so. What you can put in your tank will be limitted by light far more often than by volume.

Filtration: Your rock is your primary filter, but you need flow to make it work. You also will be assumed to be using a skimmer, but some go without one. Skimmers save in water changes and the cost of water will offset the cost of a good skimmer. Don't buy a canister. This form of filtration is great for fresh water, or if you don't have live rock, but is overkill in a LR tank. Overkill is bad... not only in costs, but in terms of waste products.

Water: An RO/DI unit will pay for itself in a year. Get one. (again... there are those people who call us idiots for not using tap water... we politely smile and ignore them)

Best advice I could give is to plan plan plan. Know what you want to end up with so "creeping doom" doesn't set in. You will always be able to replace what you get with something that does it better. That makes the costs creep up. Get something and stick with it, even if there's something else out there that's new and shiny.

There are two basic tank models that are prevalent (though there are others), the FOWLR (fish only with live rock) and the reef. Reefs need better lights and better water. FOWLR are less needy. Both can be done well by beginners though... it's more a mater of cost than experience. Decide which you are and stick to it... don't be a "I'm FOWLR but will go reef someday" I'm FOWLR and next year I'll be starting a reef in a seperate tank.

Read here about people setting up tanks long before you go out and get one. There's at least five or six tanks a week being talked about, and you can save yourself a lot of woes if you read the threads about their troubles.

(can you tell I'm at work?)

Get your tank and plumbing set up long before you decide to put water in. This was my biggest mistake. I got the water in, and the tank going and then said "I NEED a sump!" Nonsense. Decide if you want a sump or not and stick to it. I've got a sump now but it took for ever and a day to get the thing working... well... it's still not really working the way I want, but it's sort of working. I really wish that the first thing I did was decide to install a sump before I even put the tank on the stand.

Learn the nitrogen cycle. Don't just throw terms about like "has my tank cycled?" until you know what cycle you are talking about. It's not hard to understand... there are great articles in the chemistry forum.

Use the best, most expensive, most accurate tests you can buy until you get experience. After you gain some experience with tank chemistry, you can fall back on the 5 in 1 test strips and what not, but until you really know what you are looking at, look for a more quantitative test. Salifert is highly recommended here. You'll need tests for pH, Ammonia and Nitrate to monitor the nitrogen cycle... some test for nitrite too, but it's typically not needed as an accurate measure, and you can test with the strip. There are plenty of other tests, but those are the main three.