Thinking need guidance/mentoring

[ddodad]

I've been thinking of making my next tank a salt water one. I have been keeping fresh water fish on and off for the last 30 or so years, and I'm an avid scuba diver.

When I first thought of going salt I went a little crazy with my wish list and ended up with a stock that would need at least a 400gallon fowlr. Not all fish were reef safe. I got really discouraged to say the least and just upgraded/redid my fresh water.

Fast forward to now, I've rebooked at some salt water species of a smaller variety and now I am thinking of a 55-75 gallon reef.

Stupid phone app

Here are my questions

Is that too much for a newbie to salt?

Besides the tanks what else do I need to invest in?

Once set how time consuming is the upkeep if I do it I want to do it right

I have a lot more questions I'm also doing my own research

 

[Greenstreet.1]

Or you doing fish only or reef tank.

 

[aquandrew]

if i were you i would do the 75 gallon and start off with making it just a fowlr. get reef safe fish so when your ready to start the reef they wont harm it. get practice with just fish and testing all of the levels. reef tanks usually require quite a bit of care and knowledge for them to thrive. things needed: lighting sufficient for the kinds of coral you want, powerheads, protein skimmer, heater, chiller if necessary. a sump and refugium are a good idea also. lots and lots of research!!

 

[Trueerfan]

First off the the biggest tank you can afford. Once set up and running it takes care of itself, just do water changes and clean the glass.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Mine doesn't take care of itself... I want one like that. But a daily maintenance is pretty easy. I'm also a diver, so it is a bit different for us as we have been on the real reef. I think it gives you an added appreciation and feeling of responsibility being a diver with a salt tank.

 

[herp_mommy]

Here is what I got to set up my first 75 reef tank. I do about an hour of maintenance everyday, including feeding and evaporation replacement.


1x tank 75gal
1x stand
1x T5HO light fixture 8 bulb
4x white bulbs
2x pink bulbs
2x blue bulbs
1x overflow
1x prefilter sponge
1x 30gal sump
1x filter floss
1x filter sock
1x 5lbs live rock for sump
1x return pump
1x aqualifter
1x 50ft of aquarium airline tubing
2x flexible tubing 4' (going to be cut to size) for overflow and return
1x return spray nozzle
1x small drill (for drilling hole into return nozzle to prevent backsiphon)
6x 20lb bags of aragonite sand
1x 70lbs of live rock
1x magnet glass cleaner (or acrylic)
1x saltwater buffer
1x Reef part 1 (supplement)
1x Reef part 2 (supplement)
5x 5gal buckets (always good to have)
5x 2.5 gal buckets (always good to have, too)
1x 50lb box of reef crystals salt mix (assuming 75gal + 15gal in sump)
1x siphon for water changes
4x powerheads (two in the tank, one for mixing salt, one in QT tank)
1x hospital/ quarantine tank (10-30gal)
1x HOB filter (for QT tank)
3x PVC elbows (for QT tank)
6x raw table shrimp (to start cycle)
1x API saltwater test kit
1x API saltwater reef test kit

I think that's everything....

 

[ddodad]

Thanks everyone for responding, I feel much better now. I thought I would need to make up my mind if I was going reef or fowlr, I didn't know I could go reef from it.....

So I realize it is another couple grand besides the tank and stand. I'm now going to read up some more on what exactly needs to be done since I want to do it right

Mine doesn't take care of itself... I want one like that. But a daily maintenance is pretty easy. I'm also a diver, so it is a bit different for us as we have been on the real reef. I think it gives you an added appreciation and feeling of responsibility being a diver with a salt tank.

Exactly why until now I stayed in fresh water, I didn't think I could replicate or make something that would do justice to the real think

Here is what I got to set up my first 75 reef tank. I do about an hour of maintenance everyday, including feeding and evaporation replacement.

1x tank 75gal
1x stand
1x T5HO light fixture 8 bulb
4x white bulbs
2x pink bulbs
2x blue bulbs
1x overflow
1x prefilter sponge
1x 30gal sump
1x filter floss
1x filter sock
1x 5lbs live rock for sump
1x return pump
1x aqualifter
1x 50ft of aquarium airline tubing
2x flexible tubing 4' (going to be cut to size) for overflow and return
1x return spray nozzle
1x small drill (for drilling hole into return nozzle to prevent backsiphon)
6x 20lb bags of aragonite sand
1x 70lbs of live rock
1x magnet glass cleaner (or acrylic)
1x saltwater buffer
1x Reef part 1 (supplement)
1x Reef part 2 (supplement)
5x 5gal buckets (always good to have)
5x 2.5 gal buckets (always good to have, too)
1x 50lb box of reef crystals salt mix (assuming 75gal + 15gal in sump)
1x siphon for water changes
4x powerheads (two in the tank, one for mixing salt, one in QT tank)
1x hospital/ quarantine tank (10-30gal)
1x HOB filter (for QT tank)
3x PVC elbows (for QT tank)
6x raw table shrimp (to start cycle)
1x API saltwater test kit
1x API saltwater reef test kit

I think that's everything....

Wow that's quite a list

 

[Tkey3425]

That list looks overwhelming to me and I have a 180 but that's really the same stuff I have but I accumulated most of it over time. If you start out fish only then you could cut almost half the price of start up. And save 10x the money in livestock haha.

 

[carey]

the only equipment I would add to the list is an ro.di water unit. With fowlr or reef you really want one so you start off right and stay on track. You can spend $100-$200 on a decent unit. Also add a refractometer to measure salinity. Not sure if I saw that listed above.

Good luck and ask away!

 

[herp_mommy]

the only equipment I would add to the list is an ro.di water unit. With fowlr or reef you really want one so you start off right and stay on track. You can spend $100-$200 on a decent unit. Also add a refractometer to measure salinity. Not sure if I saw that listed above.

Good luck and ask away!

Good eye Carey, I also forgot a skimmer.

 

[carey]

Oh almost forgot!!! Get a drilled tank and you will need a little less of the equipment listed above. AND it really is the easiest and best way to go. I run all types of setups and I long for the day I can upgrade my 125g reef thats not drilled to a larger drilled tank. One of my few regrets in the hobby.

 

[carey]

All the addons! lol thats why the $$ adds up quick.

Also the sump/refugium or whatever actual filter he goes with

 

[ddodad]

I know it adds up quick do you guys think a 3-4 thousand budget (not including tank and stand) would be doable. My wife admitted to me she is getting me a new tank as a birthday gift.

 

[CatoeSc]

I just finished accumulating all the equipment for a 25 gallon FOWLR set up with the intention of a future reef. What I have noticed is that there seem to be several different approaches to setting up. The same person might have a ton of different ideas of how to set up your system.

For me, I'm using a 10 gallon tank for a sump, an Eshopps nano skimmer, and lots of live rock. My tank isn't drilled, so I have an Eshopps overflow box, too. I still can't quite get my head around why I don't need an actual filter, but I'm okay with it.

I decided that I would settle on a tank size, buy it, then slowly piece together everything I needed so I wouldn't spend all the money at once. I know 25 gallons is a lot different than 75, but it still helped to space out the costs. All that said, your probably gonna spend as much on a skimmer as I spent on everything together!

 

[carey]

With that kind of budget you can get quite the nice setup.

Still, keep researching, I can't tell you how many hours upon hours I spent searching and reading before I got the hang of it. lol I still spend a stupid amount of time each day researching. Thats what i really love about this hobby, there is always something new to learn and it keeps my interest.

 

[Tkey3425]

I built my 180 gallon for $2500 minus live stock. And ive been aelling frags if acropora and green star polyps left and right with some ocasional anemones when mine are big enough to propagate. You can "Make" money on a reef tank while enjoying the hobby. You can get a pretty sweet tank going for that. I picked up my starfire glass tank from a guy who downsized fairly cheap. But you could easily put together a new 125 gallon for that price. I would think with a little research. My biggest expense was my light fixture.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Craigslist and ebay are your best friends.

I've found many bargains.

 

[Tkey3425]

Craigslist and ebay are your best friends.

+1 scored my 180 starfire drilled with overflows, sump and stand for $250 a couple years back.

 

[CatoeSc]

Craigslist and ebay are your best friends.

I've found many bargains.

If you want new, check Amazon, too. I've found that I can get most aquarium "stuff" pretty cheap there.

 

[Tkey3425]

Amazon, bulk reef supply, drs foster and smith, eBay, pet solutions, reefs 2 go(livestock), petco online(livestock in much better health than when you get them from most petco stores), reefcleaners, all are good sites that sell either livestock or supplies. I've always had good experience with these.