Hey guys / gals.
First off I'm new to SW, I've spent the last month gathering information on setups, hardware to do's and not to do's. As you all know many people have their own take on how and what to do to maintain a SW tank. I started out December 21st with a brackish tank, at the time I started this tank I really wanted to go full SW but I had very limited knowledge, thought it was something I could never accomplish. After spending lots of time reading I find that the equipment offered today makes the process a little easier than it was 30 years ago when I was growing up. So with all that said I'm going full SW FOWLR and on down the road in a couple years or more getting into reef. As of now I have 4 fish the same fish I started out with I don't want to add any more fish at this time because I still have a lot of work to do on my tank. The fish are 2 spotted puffers and 2 Monos housed in a 55 gallon tank. I have a 3 inch sand bed and a few rocks and other decor for the fish. I'm a Tool and Die maker so I've made a 20 gallon sump/fuge that houses only a 1-2 inch sand bed for starters, I've made my own over flow box at this point I don't have a skimmer, live rock, plants for the fuge or lighting. At this point I only have test strips (noob) so I can't give you any real number on water conditions other than nitrates and nitrites are fine. Going to get a real test kit soon.
Really sorry this is so long winded and short of information I doing this from my phone. Thanks in advance.
Questions:
1. I'm told by my LFS that I can't add live rock till I have lighting. Is this true?
2. Lighting? T5 HO? As I said before I'm starting with FOWLR. What's a good lighting system? Keep in mind in a few years I'll slowly switch to reef.
First off I'm new to SW, I've spent the last month gathering information on setups, hardware to do's and not to do's. As you all know many people have their own take on how and what to do to maintain a SW tank. I started out December 21st with a brackish tank, at the time I started this tank I really wanted to go full SW but I had very limited knowledge, thought it was something I could never accomplish. After spending lots of time reading I find that the equipment offered today makes the process a little easier than it was 30 years ago when I was growing up. So with all that said I'm going full SW FOWLR and on down the road in a couple years or more getting into reef. As of now I have 4 fish the same fish I started out with I don't want to add any more fish at this time because I still have a lot of work to do on my tank. The fish are 2 spotted puffers and 2 Monos housed in a 55 gallon tank. I have a 3 inch sand bed and a few rocks and other decor for the fish. I'm a Tool and Die maker so I've made a 20 gallon sump/fuge that houses only a 1-2 inch sand bed for starters, I've made my own over flow box at this point I don't have a skimmer, live rock, plants for the fuge or lighting. At this point I only have test strips (noob) so I can't give you any real number on water conditions other than nitrates and nitrites are fine. Going to get a real test kit soon.
Really sorry this is so long winded and short of information I doing this from my phone. Thanks in advance.
Questions:
1. I'm told by my LFS that I can't add live rock till I have lighting. Is this true?
2. Lighting? T5 HO? As I said before I'm starting with FOWLR. What's a good lighting system? Keep in mind in a few years I'll slowly switch to reef.