Newbie:120g tank.

[rainnay]

Hi all. So I have my brand new 120g tank. I ordered it with sump. I am planning on ordering live rock and live sand any suggestions where??? Also I am finding it very hard to find people where I live who know what size skimmers, powerheads, and such needed for a tank my size. I have tried going online and research but the info overload is crazy. Do you have any suggestions on how I can minimize my search???? I am planning on having coral in my tank but that is in the future. I want to be able to get into the routine of cleaning, water changes and such before I head to the coral stage. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

most here just use "dead" or normal sand as it will become "live" with time and the prepackage "live" sand can be questionable. On top of the normal dead sand getting a cup or so of "live" sand from a fellow aquarium that is setup and running in your area would be good to "seed" your sand.


The experts will chime in with more info on the rest of your questions

 

[ccCapt]

Welcome to AA!

For live rock, if you want to save a few $$, order some dry "live" rock from Marco rocks. This is real nice rock that was once live and is now dried out. It will cycle your tank like uncured live rock would. I would suggest getting about 100 lbs of Marco rock then just buying a few lbs of live rock from your lfs to seed your tank.
As Speed mentioned, you can just buy dry aragonite sand, or even playsand if you want and then get a cup or 2 of live sand from your lfs or from a local reefer if you know any with an established tank. It's not really necessary tho. The dry sand alone would work fine.
Skimmers come in a wide variety of prices and performance. Depending on your budget, I would suggest an Octopus NW 200 if you want to spend around $200. There really isn't a skimmer made that costs less than that, that will perform decently. If you are able to spend more, how much more, and I can recommend a higher end skimmer.
Depending on what you want to keep, I would suggest at least 2 Koralia 4's for powerheads.
What are your plans for lighting? Try to look ahead. Many people end up buy multiple sets of lighting because they find the "cheaper" lighting they started with isn't good enough for some of the corals we all like to keep. It's better to spend more up front to buy better lighting now instead of having to buy upgraded lighting down the road.

 

[rainnay]

I have set aside about $4000 for a proper start up. From my reading I know that cheap doesn't do it for the tank I want. Also from my reading there are so many choices so I came here for the advice. Thanks

 

[rainnay]

Oh yeah thanks for the info on the live rock. If I don't need it cool.