The girlfriend and I have decided to start a SW mini reef tank. I bought a 90 gallon tank that was pre drilled. I'll be honest, I don't know a lot about the hobby. I have been reading a lot and have a ton of questions. I saw the sticky at the top of this forum but it is not working. I am sure a lot of these questions have been answered already. I kind of know what I need but I am not totally sure how it all plums together and so on. Here are pictures of my new tank.
As for what I want in the tank I'd like to have live rock, mushrooms, coral, fish, inverts, ect. I am looking for a pretty and colorful tank. I don't want anything that is extremely hard to take care of. I don't want to waste money on equipment I don't really need. There are so many things to learn it's almost overwhelming. So here are the questions I have. Please bear with me.
What is the black baffle for in my tank? Is this what they consider a built in overflow or do I need to buy something else?
What do I need to do for an overflow and how do I hook it up? I have a 30 gallon tank lying around, can I uses this?
What do I need for a sump? I am assuming a sump just pumps water out of the tank for filtering? Is this correct? Does the sump pump it into the overflow tank first then get filtered? These are all assumptions here and I could be totally wrong.
What protein skimmer should I be looking at? Any particula brands?
What RO filter/pump should I be looking at? I am unsure what I do with this. Does it stay hooked up to the tank all the time or do I just use it when I want to add water to the tank?
What kind of lighting will work well for the tank I want? I like to have a clear white light.
Do I need a biofilter? Chemical filter? Or just a regular good ol filter?
Will I need a powerhead? My tank came with some sort of dual head nozzle. I think it is a return, does this work as a powerhead?
What kind of heater should I consider? Just follow the 3 watts per gallon rule? Any brands better than the others?
What kind of test equipment will I be needing?
What should I buy first just to get the live rock going and the tank cycling?
Is there a diagram around that shows how all this equipment gets hooked up?
I think thats all for now. I'm sure your answers will lead to more questions. Thank you in advance!
As for what I want in the tank I'd like to have live rock, mushrooms, coral, fish, inverts, ect. I am looking for a pretty and colorful tank. I don't want anything that is extremely hard to take care of. I don't want to waste money on equipment I don't really need. There are so many things to learn it's almost overwhelming. So here are the questions I have. Please bear with me.
What is the black baffle for in my tank? Is this what they consider a built in overflow or do I need to buy something else?
What do I need to do for an overflow and how do I hook it up? I have a 30 gallon tank lying around, can I uses this?
What do I need for a sump? I am assuming a sump just pumps water out of the tank for filtering? Is this correct? Does the sump pump it into the overflow tank first then get filtered? These are all assumptions here and I could be totally wrong.
What protein skimmer should I be looking at? Any particula brands?
What RO filter/pump should I be looking at? I am unsure what I do with this. Does it stay hooked up to the tank all the time or do I just use it when I want to add water to the tank?
What kind of lighting will work well for the tank I want? I like to have a clear white light.
Do I need a biofilter? Chemical filter? Or just a regular good ol filter?
Will I need a powerhead? My tank came with some sort of dual head nozzle. I think it is a return, does this work as a powerhead?
What kind of heater should I consider? Just follow the 3 watts per gallon rule? Any brands better than the others?
What kind of test equipment will I be needing?
What should I buy first just to get the live rock going and the tank cycling?
Is there a diagram around that shows how all this equipment gets hooked up?
I think thats all for now. I'm sure your answers will lead to more questions. Thank you in advance!