The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
I want to start a marine tank, but what would I need in terms of filtration, decor, coral, and water quality? Also, what are some good fish to start with?
1. READ, READ, READ!
2. Decide what tank size you want, can afford, and will fit where you want it. Some say a 29g is a good starter sw tank. I started 75g.
Post back and we can go from there. The questions you asked are dependent on your tank size.
Yup, as revhtree said, you need to get yourself a book. The answers to your question are way beyond the scope of a reply in this thread. There's just too many different possibilities.
Check the library link at the top of the page for some suggested texts.
i am also just starting a new salt water tank. learn how to cure live rock thats ill all say so not to confuse you. but a very good place to go is http://www.aquariumarts.com/liverock.html i highly recomend this site it is very informational print and comprehend this
The basic setup, heater, no lighting, some power heads, and a basic filter(Hob or canister) you will be able to keep fish only. Damsels and some clown are relatively hardy
Add a skimmer better lighting and more phs you could add live rock
add a sump and fuge you could keep some corals
with better (MH) light you could keep most things
as the list goes down higher water quality is required
The question you need to ask yourself is "what do I want the tank to look like when I"m done?" Then Reasearch the needs of the specimins you want and design the system around that.
you can also save a lot of money by investiong into a do it yourself wet/dry. ive heard a lot of people recomending it for salt water without LR. i myself am going with LR and no filter at all just Powerheads and Live sand that i made while curing LR.
I just want to reiterate that the best research at this point is still a book, and not the internet which is only useful once you've gained a reasonable amount of knowledge and therefore are able to distinguish between good and bad information
The Conscientious Marine Aquarist - Robert M. Fenner Reef Secrets - Alf Jacob Nilsen, Svein a Fossa