Salt into our diet.

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joelavguy

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Mar 2, 2005
Messages
7
Location
Virgina Beach
Greetings,
The wife and I have had fresh water tanks for most of our lives. We have decided to put a little salt into our diet. This prompts the obvious questions to you the experts. What kind of filter, decorations, etc... Give me your thoughts, quick start articles/tips.

Blessings,
Joel & Raechel
 
First off Welcome to AA, as far as advice goes a lot of it it personal preference, do a search on this site for all your questions you need answered, read a few books and get an idea as to what your wanting to know. Then come back and ask more specific questions, not trying to sound short but we could type for hours on the openess of your question. Good luck
 
I'm no sw genius by any means but when you hit a stumbling block the guys here great about helping out.
 
Here's some basic questions to start:

Do you want Corals or Fish only?
How much do you want to spend up front?
How much do you want to spend on an ongoing basis?



Those are the major forks in the road.
 
Looking to spend about $1,500 on tank, stand/cover, filter and sump.
Re: Corals or Fish. The wife wants Fish

Does marine life not "build" its own reef/coral system.
 
Some fish will pick at or eat corals. Corals are beautiful but require far better environments and care than most fish. The types of fish will be greatly limited in a "reef" tank (one with corals). You don't want a $75 picking at a $75 coral.

Corals won't form on their own - unless by some small chance you get live rock that comes with some coral which is unlikely.
 
To give you an idea, I got a pretty good deal on everything I needed for a 125 SW system for $760 (USED) - including:

125 tank/stand/hood
6 x 55w coralife PC lighting
80-90 lbs of live rock
substrate
wet/dry box
simple skimmer
a few powerheads, wet/dry pump
R/O water unit
2 heaters
HOT Magnum canister (which I don't use)
15w Aqua UV sterilizer

I added a Fluval 404 canister+surface skimmer for about $100. I'd say the cost for everything less livestock was about $1000-1100.

Contrary to the way most things in life work - bigger is better when you're starting out in SW.
 
May I recommend "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" by Robert M. Fenner. Do a search on this title and I think you'll find that the folks on this board agree that this is a great text. Fenner will give you lots to think about and give you a great introduction to SW. The book will also help by giving you an intro to a lot of the lingo involved so you can better phrase your questions here at AA :)

Good luck!!!
 
The corals (especially things like frogspawn and Xenia) add such a dramatic effect to the tank. We weren't sure we'd want corals and now we look at the fish *far* less than we look at the corals! (I have progress pics in my gallery of my tank since we started it 4 months ago). Think twice before committing! Especially in a 10g tank where you'll be able to carry precious few fish but you'll be able to light it up well enough to grow great corals fairly easily!

*Edit* Oops. I confused you with the guy who was getting the 10G tank! Sorry! Even in my 120 I feel like I can carry precious few fish though :roll:
 
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