Newbie To Salt Water Aquariums

[Tank2379]

Sorry Guys, I just received the Aquarium it's a 50 gallon I was 5 Gallons off.. Sorry.... .... He gave me 2 extra Power Heads 450 and 2- 200watt heaters that should cut down my cost of buying that equipment Sweet... Have a question should I use both 200 watt heaters or should I buy a 250 watt heater and try to cut space? Let me know... Thanks

[Ziggy953]

Are you planning on having a sump on this system? If you are I would suggest using both heaters. They will keep your temp better then a single heater and if one fails you still have one working in the system.

[Tank2379]

No Sumping I pretty Much got and Idea on which Filter I will be getting But yes definitely will be using both Heaters if needed....

Which would Be this one check it out ans let me know what you guys think?

Canister Filters: Marineland C-Series Multi-Stage Canister Filters

[CaptainAhab]

Fluval 404's

[cmor1701d]

No plans for a reef tank then?
Not to dis Marineland, but the Fluval's generaly get the best remarks.

Use both heaters. The insurance a backup provides is worth it.

What about lighting?

You are not planning on getting an anemone, right?

[Tank2379]

Yes I want the Reef Before adding fish I want to have the best lighting for my reef... Before I go on.... How would I start off on starting the reef if any one has and idea? From what I've read the starting point would be Live Rocks then add the Coral or Anemones.....? Any one have any more Ideas or is this right on how to start out? So Fluval's generally the best to go with on filtration huh?

[roka64]

I'll kind of piggy back Captainahab's recommendation but if you can afford it, get the 405 series (the newer model) I have the 304 and it is kind of tough to "crack" open to clean. The 05 series is much easier.

[Tank2379]

Yeah i'll be sticking with the 404 model... Hopefully it's just as good as the 405 model...

[cmor1701d]

You do realize that for a reef tank the cannister filter will need to be cleaned more often than suggested to keep your nitrates in check. Or you could do larger/more frequent pwc's.

You start the tank as you would any other. Get the rocks and sand in the tank, fill with per-mixed sw and cycle the tank. After the cycle completes do a large 30% -50% water change and check stability over the next week or so before adding any livestock.

[CaptainAhab]

When you get it, take all the foam out. Fill 2 or 3 of the 4 media baskets with LR rubble (small pieces of LR) . Leave 1 or 2 media baskets open. In the future if you need to run carbon, GFO, or anything else you can pop the top open and use the empty media baskets for that.

With the foam out and using LR rubble there is very little maintenance. Basically a 1 gallon sump with a pump included

With no foam media, the 'nitrate factory' phrase you'll hear talked about is greatly reduced.