Help Whats needed for a saltwater aquarium with coral

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That's a big list you have there. Cleaning the corals? Saltwater isn't like freshwater where you have to vacuum everything. I would recommend picking up a aquarium start up book. What kind of reactors are you lookin at? You're already looking at getting reactors? You should focus on just getting your basics together then add stuff as you go and as you need it.

If this is your first SW tank I would take it easy at first then do research on corals that you would like to add.

Also you're building the tank yourself? Do you have any experience or plans on what you need and how you're goin to build the tank? What thickness of glass are you going to use?

With that lighting you're only going to be pushing 2.4w/gal which won't be enough if you're looking to do LPS/SPS or clams and anemones.

And just a side note for keeping your sandbed clean ect the best thing is to buy a nice CUC (clean up crew)
 
I hate snails and I'm going to do an overflow so I don't want them to clog it like they did in my freshwater tank which I built plus yes I do have experience but last time for glass I just got it from a friend last time and it was the perfect thickness so I used it. Now I need to find a glass maker because I don't want to spend $500 on a tank and a tank for the sump.
 
For glass I highly recommend looking locally! Ordering online usually won't get you the best deal and the shipping can get very pricey.
 
Plus I looking at carbon and Gfo reactor so my water will be cleaner since I'm only going to use a reef octopus skimmer, live sand, live rock, and the reactor so my tank would be nice and clean
 
And maybe one of those filter socks, but lots of people say they don't help unless you change them everyday so I really don't know if I should use it or not
 
Fishfreak1 said:
I hate snails and I'm going to do an overflow so I don't want them to clog it like they did in my freshwater tank which I built plus yes I do have experience but last time for glass I just got it from a friend last time and it was the perfect thickness so I used it. Now I need to find a glass maker because I don't want to spend $500 on a tank and a tank for the sump.

Snails are unavoidable in saltwater, sorry... Lol. The are the work horses of the tank. Also, per you're list, you should consider tossing the hydrometer off your list now because you will do it later when you figure out it is a waste of time and highly inaccurate. What you will need is a refractometer.

In my opinion, if you are truly going to get into this, you cannot hold back on you components. This is where a lot of people fail. I like the comment about getting a book, you may know how to keep freshwater, but now your getting into a hole new realm.

The taotronics can keep plenty of corals alive, but I they are not dimmable, you will have a bleaching issue and hurt or kill a lot of corals.
 
Also what lights do u think I should use on a 48 in wide tank 18 in front to back and 24 in height and with coral and fish in it, I've heard coralife sucks teotronics is good but 180 per 1 and i would need 2 or 3 of them and didn't hear about any other companies really. Any suggestions?
 
I've never heard bad things about Coralife. I have 3 lighting systems by Coralife and they work amazing.

I may have misunderstood but are you not going to be using a canister filter or anything besides your sump? A Protein skimmer isn't something that replaces your filter.
 
I'm going to use live sand and live rock for biological filtration and then a sump with a protein skimmer Gfo and carbon reactor and the algae that makes pods (i forgot the name of it) and maybe a filter sock but no canister filter
 
I heard Red Sea test kits are pretty accurate. API test kits are pretty much for when you have your cycle..unless you don't mind getting inaccurate readings and possibly losing corals, inverts, fish, etc.

And you can just use a siphon, but I recommend getting a smaller one than what it's rated. All it would be good for is siphoning out debri on rocks and on the sand. Or you could ditch that and get a turkey baster (or powerhead which is more efficient) and blow off the debri from the rocks and let it be carried down to your sump through a filter sock or something.

I use a felt filter sock and it's made the water A LOT clearer and cleaner, but it does get dirty fast. I put it in the washing machine w/ no detergent and pre-rinse before hand each week when I'm doing water changes and maintenance. Mesh ones dont get as clogged so fast. However, one time, a snail fell into it, died and decomposed and made the whole water smell horrible. I only found out there was a snail after I washed it b/c the sock was too dirty to tell if something was in there or not.

+1 on the GFO reactor (a carbon reactor would be nice too). It's chaeto morpha, the only macroalgae that doesn't go sexual. It absorbs nitrates and you can just rip it off and toss it or give it away.
 
+1 for the Red Sea kits. I gotta get all of their test kits soon to replace these API test kits I still have -_-

But I highly recommend picking up an aquarium star up book. Here's one of my favorite books so far. I have several more but idk where they went.
 

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My lighting budget is $360 because I can get 2 teotronics lights for that price and I'm seeing if I can find anything with a lower price but as good
 
I feel dumb I just remembered my reef's lighting is Deep Blue brand not Coralife -_- I love my Deep Blue system and highly recommend them. My other 2 systems have Coralife.
 
How much watts per gallon should I have if I'm thinking of putting different corals in the tank an fish
 
How much watts should the light have per gallon of my tank if I'm thinking of many corals and many different fish?
 
Fishfreak1 said:
How much watts per gallon should I have if I'm thinking of putting different corals in the tank an fish

Around 4-5watts per gallon if not 6
 
What light do u think I should get then because the taotronics is rated at 120w each and I was going to get 2 but right now it looks like I will need 5 of them just to keep my coral alive (don't have any yet) so that's about $900 which is way out of my league for lighting
 
Welcome to large reef tanks lol. If you did softies like Zoanthids and Mushrooms you could get away with 3watts/gallon
 
Watts per gallon isn't an accurate rule, especially when it comes to LEDs b/c they have a lower wattage than MH and T5 HO etc, but they penetrate through the water really good. My lfs got LEDs and they say they only have them on 50% and sometimes it's too much for even the SPS. Check the par rating. Don't know many LEDs or have personal experience with them. I know ecoxotic, ecotech, and aquasol are great companies that have high quality LEDs, but they are really expensive and prob. won't fit in your budget.
 
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