Can you help me plan....

[Spiderman]

...a 75G SWFO (or should I go 90G?) tank that will house:

two tank-bred perc clowns
a royal gramma
a banggai cardinal
a bicolor blenny
a six-line wrasse
a blue hippo tang
a valentini puffer
and a red flame angel
+ inverts

1. Where can I purchase a good aquarium? Is there a particular manufacturer that's good and reliable?
2. What's the best type of cured live rock? How many #s is ideal?
3. What good, reliable BRANDS of heaters, power filters, etc. should I purchase?
4. Should I buy a protein skimmer? How much is a good one? What's a good brand?
5. Is a sump necessary?

Man, this hobby is expensive, but it's really fun.

 

[lando]

Sounds like a good list. You may want to rethink the puffer. It could eat most of your inverts. To answer some of your questions...Buy your tank, stand locally at the LFS or in the classifieds. Decide if you want a drilled "reef ready" tank or if you want a standard, undrilled tank. All Glass Aquarium and Oceanic pretty much own the market on tanks. I am a fan of sumps, they add water volume to your tank making its more stable and allows you to hide away things like skimmers and heaters so they stay out of the main tank. If you decide on a sump you should really consider a reef ready tank. This has two holes drilled into it with an internal overflow. One drain hole goes to the sump and the other one is the return tube from the sump. A protien skimmer is not neccessary but benificial down the road. The over whelming vote on this site for live rock goes to liverocks.com. Wonderfull LR and even better customer service. The best advicve I can give now is to research, research, research. I beleive the 75 gal and the 90 gal have the same foot print, the 90 is just taller. It will give you more water volume and keep water parameters more stable. However, if you ever decide to start a reef tank, you will need stronger lighting to penetrate the extra depth. Good luck and have fun...Lando

 

[Spiderman]

Thanks for the help! If I buy a reef-ready tank, start out with fish only, and later on slowly move into reef, would that disrupt the stability of the tank, hence stress the fish out? Are the fishes less at risk with a reef tank? Or would they be just as happy and as healthy in a SWFO environment?

 

[lando]

It won't really effect stability, but you may need to alter the fish selection a bit. If you plan on going into reef tanks be sure to research fish so you get ones that are reef safe.

 

[KMyers18]

And make sure you dont ever put copper in the fish only tank. Then you'll be buying all new LS or CC which ever you use. And be carefull when you buy fish because my LFS didnt tell me that they keep copper in there tanks all the time (just small amounts) but it wont take much to ruin a good tank. And from what i here it stays in the system for a long time :|

 

[austinsdad]

Spiderman - thought I'd add a sixth question to your original list

6. Should I have a quarantine tank?

Yep. You can QT and treat with copper if needed there. I did a very simple 20g for my 75g main. Less than $200 maybe, but a money saver on livestock deaths down the road.

 

[first-timer89]

1. dono
2. almost anything from LR.com
3. what kind of filter (canister?)
4. you should defiantly get a skimmer. i am very happy with my seaclon protein skimmer. the people that have alot of problems with them must be doing something wrong.
5. i have been successful without a sump