Yep, another newbie....sort of.......

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Ken Bryant

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Dec 6, 2006
Messages
3
Greetings folks,

Well I am considering taking the plunge back into marine. I say back, because some 20 years ago I had a very nice marine fish only set up. I had it up and running for a couple years and it was great fun. Unfortunatly life got busy and I began moving often. Now things might just be getting ready to start slowing down again and I want to set up another tank. This time it's going to be a REEF set up. Now I know there is a large difference in the way people do things from fish only to reef set ups.

I plan on going all out on the set up just not real sure if I need to...Hope that makes sence..

Tank size I am planning is 55-75 gal. Simple rectangle 48" length. I know bigger is better... :)

With all the changes I need to get ahold of some things to get this thing rolling.

Other than the Tank... Where to start? I need to buy an item at a time. I plan on getting all the equipment first then the tank. So given the Tank size what should I get first, second..third, etc...? I am a hard core buy it first, buy it once

Oh I have one more MAJOR move comming up and that's the reason for buying items first. Ideally this will be the last move and that's when I want to get this tank up and running :)

Any way, some advice is very much appreciated :)
 
CRAIGSLIST.COM !!!!!!. it would have saved me a ton of cah by now, go there first.
 
A skimmer would be good to get right now if you want equipement first. Your lighting would be good to get also.
 
CRAIGSLIST.COM??? I went there where does it apply to Marine reef systems?

Yep, a Skimmer is on the list but lighting is an item I might have to wait on till I get the tank.
 
Start off with:
1. Skimmer-I'm loving the Aqua-C Remora brand.
2. Heater-VisiTherm, Ebo, Won Brothers, are some good brand. Stay away from All-Glass!!!
3. Lights-MH or CF for corals
4. Test kit-Aquarium Pharmaceuticals has a good Master Test Kit, but I'd also invest in a Calcium test kit
5. Salt mix (I'd wait until you've moved for that),
6. Refractometer,
7. A few powerheads- Something like Maxi-Jets, Aquaclear brands.

Will you be using tap water or RO/DI water? If RO water, I'd purchase that as well before your tank. Search for a user 'filterdirect' on ebay. Quality units and great prices.

That will get you off to a good start. Then you can look into sand and liverock.

Craigs List has a lot of used equipment on it, and I think that is what mazilla was referring too. You can get a lot of cheaper prices by ordering online. www.drsfostersmith.com is a good source that does NOT charge extra weight charges, which is VERY nice.

HTH, and welcome to AA.
 
Thanks for all the advice thus far! I picked up a magazine and saw an ad for hte Red Sea Max 34 gallon all in one reef set up. What do you all think of that?
 
WELCOME TO AA!!

Please do not cycle with live animals.

Ken Bryant said:
Thanks for all the advice thus far! I picked up a magazine and saw an ad for hte Red Sea Max 34 gallon all in one reef set up. What do you all think of that?
Personally I like to pick an choose my equipment. I find the "kits" are good for beginners but tend to have other cheap equipment and you have to buy other, better equipment.
I love ordering from drsfosterandsmith.com, they don't charge extra for weight. I have ordered almost all of my equipment from them, including lights, sand and salt mix.
 
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