tehmetalleer
Aquarium Advice Newbie
Hello, everyone! Just wanted to introduce myself. I'm currently in the planning/research phase of setting up my first ever saltwater aquarium! (Actually my first aquarium ever, period.) Money's tight so I'm going to be buying the hardware a little at a time so that once I'm actually ready to set the tank up it won't be such a big deal financially.
Currently my plans are to use an old 20 gallon tank my dad had, and for filtration I've heard about people converting filters like the AquaClear model for 70 or 120 gallon tanks to refugiums. I'm hoping the extra filtration will create a sufficient current that I won't need a power head. Is that possible?
I'm also looking for an economical way to give my tank reef-ready lighting since I definitely eventually want to have some corals, even though it'll be FOWLR to start off with. The lights I looked at at the LFS were all $180-$200. Is there any way to do this more economically?
EDIT: I know artificial cycling products can be a good tool to get a tank's nitrate cycle started but I've also heard that they can be pretty controversial as they may use sub-par bacteria, etc. What are your guys' opinion on cycle?
Anyways, I look forward to reading and eventually giving advice on this forum.
Currently my plans are to use an old 20 gallon tank my dad had, and for filtration I've heard about people converting filters like the AquaClear model for 70 or 120 gallon tanks to refugiums. I'm hoping the extra filtration will create a sufficient current that I won't need a power head. Is that possible?
I'm also looking for an economical way to give my tank reef-ready lighting since I definitely eventually want to have some corals, even though it'll be FOWLR to start off with. The lights I looked at at the LFS were all $180-$200. Is there any way to do this more economically?
EDIT: I know artificial cycling products can be a good tool to get a tank's nitrate cycle started but I've also heard that they can be pretty controversial as they may use sub-par bacteria, etc. What are your guys' opinion on cycle?
Anyways, I look forward to reading and eventually giving advice on this forum.
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