saltwater I need help getting started

[cnclaw]

I have a 75 gal tank. I would like to have a reef tank w/ a few fish. the question I have is what kind(s) of filteration do you all recomend? the other question is how much and of what type of lighting is good? I need help!!!!! some one please respond.

[chrisbremen]

Well i also am starting my own tank and i have done some research and what i think im going to start with is a 30 in. protein skimmer, live rocks, and a wet-dry trickle filter. i only have a 55 gal tank i think this will be ok

[Chris]

Originally posted by chrisbremen:
<STRONG>Well i also am starting my own tank and i have done some research and what i think im going to start with is a 30 in. protein skimmer, live rocks, and a wet-dry trickle filter. i only have a 55 gal tank i think this will be ok</STRONG>

I found a lot of good advice on http://www.petwarehouse.com and then click on the fish link. There is a lot of helpfull info there. Hope this helps! :)

[seabass]

Hi, I'm new here but i'd like to help. when you start a new tank its best to start with a tank over 55 gal. because less chances of small amouts of bacteria to take or crash your tank. The more water volume you have the better. for filtration you have your choice of live rock or dsb (deep sand bed) oor both (better) or skimmer. you should also think about a sump which helps alot. a sump is a smaller tank wich water flows from your display tank into your sump, than back into your display tank. the reason for this is to creat more volume (water) and to keep heaters, skimmers,pumps,biofiltres in. theres lots to learn so ask a specific question and I will help you

[Alf]

Ok guy's general post for all of you. First off get a new! good book. Stay a way from LFS advise(local fish store). as for lighting you need to decide what is going to be living in the tank before lighting suggestions should be givin. as for your W/D filters( wet and Dry) if you are going to have live rock and sand, you don't need one as they are nirtate factories and that is bad for you fish and coral. Cnclaw you won't need that bio wheel, if you use live sand and rock. I would suggest a good protine skimmer as well Or a good refugium in it's place they both do the same thing depemds on how much work you want to put into your tanks.HTH \

[TracyM]

I am also starting a new saltwater 75g and i am a newbie right now I want to know what type of equipment i would like to sustain the tank with minimal maintanence if cost effiecent i have had fresh water tanks but it has been a while. What type of equipment do I need to start researching right now i have nothing I do know I would like to have live rock and fish but at this point that is all i have decided until i do more research

[Eric]

Before you jump right in you should at least get your feet wet so to speak. I highly suggest buying a good book, after reading that, THAN make your decision if you want to get into the marine hobby. It's MUCH different than freshwater. I suggest THE CONSCIENTIOUS MARINE AQUARIAST. Oh boy I know my spelling off there. But buy a book and than decide what you want to do.

[BOB_Gorden]

Hi guys,
Eric and Alf are right. The best thing to do is research, research and when you think you have a handle on it, research some more.

Then you need to decide what type of tank do you want. There are many ways to go in salt tanks. Fish only, reef and fish, hard corals, soft corals, inverterbrates. All of these have some of the same requirements, while others have special requirements.

One thing I can suggest is a sandbed, skimmer, powerheads for additional circulation, some liverock for filtration or a wet dry for fish only tanks and a quarantine tank for new fish and any other additions of life that you may introduce to your tanks. If you use enough live rock(LR) you will not need the wet-dry filter system.

Lighting is always a big topic for discussion and should be chosen with your tank inhabitants in mind. Fish only don't really require special lighting.

If you plan on keeping corals, anenomes, mushrooms and life that uses photosynthesis, you will need special lighting. By special, I mean lighting in the proper spectrums for your animals. In fluorescent lighting there is NO or Normal Output, there is VHO or Very High Output and PC or Power Compact that come in various color temps or spectrums. Often with NO and VHO there is 50/50, 10k, actinic or 03 lighting. Then there are numerous metal halide lights that some believe need supplemental lighting from NO, VHO or PC's to aid in the color that you see in your tanks. Metal Halides produce variuos colors in your tank, depending on the particular bulb in use. There are also many types of metal halide bulbs. This is a long topic and can't be covered in this post,but I would be glad to answer any questions I can.

As you can see there are many considerations and it's up to you to decide what type of tank you will keep and what the requirements are to provide a healthy tank for the safe keeping of your animals.

I hope this helps you with your questions.

[ January 09, 2002: Message edited by: BOB_Gorden ]</p>