SaltWaterN00b

\/\/h47 @ n00b !!!
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Hello everyone my name is Patrick I currently live in NYC and decided to get a salt water tank,I have had fresh water all my life and now I feel ready for a challenge and burn some cash :tongue: right now the tank is completely dismantled as I want to soak in as much info as possible before i start it. I have been impatiently waiting for a book i purchased in the mail, but Id rather hear from some personal experiences.

The tank is a 55 gallon, crushed coral (given with the tank), I have a large filter, full test kit, small power head, shells, coral (real and fake), salt water level tester.......the rest escapes me at the moment. Next I will be purchasing live rock, live sand and a heater. A member of this board is actually trying to get me some sand (also the person I bought all this stuff from).

Basically Im asking for any tips or link me to the common FAQ im sure is stickied somewhere to help me start this tank, I may buy another power head because I was told i should have alot of water movement, I plan to have a fish only tank but who knows, i change my mind often!:headache:

Thanks for any help!!
 

masterswimmer

Old School Reefer
Vendor
Location
NY
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Hi Patrick,
Welcome to MR. Glad to hear you're taking the plunge.

Here's a brand new thread started by a brand new reefer, Leslie, like yourself. A lot of your questions will be answered there. Check it out and see what you can absorb.

Congrats on being a smart noobie. Ask questions and learn BEFORE making expensive mistakes.

swimmer
 

Chiefmcfuz

Old School Reefer
Location
Westchester, NY
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Hey welcome to MR, First suggestion is to get rid of that Crushed coral and either go bare bottom or a sand bed. Crushed coral is gonna cause you problems in the future. Never re-use any substrate always start with new stuff.
 

drunktank

Advanced Reefer
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best tips i can give you are

1- always do your research before buying anything (equipement and fish)

2- never buy something cheap b/c of the price - example, spend 200 dollars on a good skimmer, not 20 dollars on a skilter :)

3- Do it right the first time- or else your going to end up loosing money
 

Reefer420

Advanced Reefer
Location
Manhattan
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Chiefmcfuz said:
Hey welcome to MR, First suggestion is to get rid of that Crushed coral and either go bare bottom or a sand bed. Crushed coral is gonna cause you problems in the future...

I don't know about that- I have a 1.5" crushed coral/sand mixed substrate and it does well in my tank. I got it straight from the sea floor (from Tampa bay saltwater- where they get their rock) - so its part of the natural biotope...I have lots of sandsifting creatures as part of my cleaner crew too.

my substrate was 'live' though - I don't know about adding just coral from a bag.
 
Location
Howell, NJ
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ANCHIENT MARINER said:
TRUST WHAT THE MODERATORS SAY YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT

:grouphug:

2nd that and the members with high posts lolz... anyways do some reading on here use the search option up top and learn everything u can so it will make it easier on us to help you.... also i would go out and buy some books on this hobby... (someone here will recc. some great books.....)

also what are you looking to care for... only fish... or maybe someday in the near future corals...
 

jhale

ReefsMagazine!
Location
G.V NYC
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Welcome to Manhattan Reefs,

fun name, but what happens when your not a noob anymore? haha

this is going to be quick, but I agree read a ton before buying equipment.
and that goes double for livestock!

loose the crushed coral it does not belong in a fish tank. the big particles trap detritus and it just sits between the big crushed coral chunks and rots. it's either sand bed, or bare bottom these days. your going to have to research which one is right for you.

honestly i would not be buying any live rock till you read up on things, once you feel comfortable with what your doing then go for it. reefing ain't easy, and it sucks when you spend money and stuff dies, or you end up with a mess of a tank.

like others said do it right the first time, okay that's all for now. go study :D
 

tcmike64

Junior Member
Location
westchester
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Hey welcome to this addicting hobby. As I agree with everyone to read as much as possible, my other advice to you is to find a dealer that you can trust and is honest. Not sure where you are going to find that in the city. I live in westchester and it took me a while but I finally found one. Good luck
 

Chiefmcfuz

Old School Reefer
Location
Westchester, NY
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Oh hey 2 more things.

Live rock is for all saltwater tanks it helps so much with the biological filtration of the tank. Lastly watch out for the inevitable THREAD HIJACK that happens here on MR, it's all good but sometimes we can go on for pages and pages and pages and forget we hijacked someone elses thread. :) .
 

marrone

The All Powerful OZ
Staff member
Location
The Big City
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If you plan on going with saltwater fish you need to determine what type of setup you plan on going with. Don't get caught up applying principal for a reef tank to a fish only or fish only with live rock tank.

There are many different ways of setting up a fish tank and you need to decide which way your going to go. Live rock is fine but it does take up space in the tank, which will cut down on the size and amount of fish you can have. It's also not nessecary to have live rock in a fish tank, for biological filteration, as it is for a reef tank. There are otherways of setting up biology filteration.

What you really need to do is do some research on different fish that you may want and come up with a list. From there you can determine your setup and start to get the tank moving. It's a learning process and it does take some time.
 

SaltWaterN00b

\/\/h47 @ n00b !!!
Rating - 100%
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Ok Ive been reding to the point that my eyes are now burning (no pain no gain right?).

Here is what I have

55 gallon tank (high)
Filter (dual cartridge hanging filter)
Test kit
Salt water tester (name escapes me)
Power head (going to buy a second one)
200W Heater (in the purchase process)

Now I plan to go all fish, well as many as I can get. How many lbs of Live sand and Live rock will I need? Do I need a protein skimmer? Wife is bugging me for a star fish, can i get one in the future without changing the type of tank it is? BTW there is no chance in the near future of me switching to any type of reef tank.

Soon to be on your "GEEZ!, This guy again?!" list,
Patrick
 

marrone

The All Powerful OZ
Staff member
Location
The Big City
Rating - 98.8%
80   1   0
SaltWaterN00b said:
Ok Ive been reding to the point that my eyes are now burning (no pain no gain right?).

Here is what I have

55 gallon tank (high)
Filter (dual cartridge hanging filter)
Test kit
Salt water tester (name escapes me)
Power head (going to buy a second one)
200W Heater (in the purchase process)

Ok so far you have some of the things that are need to get you fish tank going. You'll need a refactormeter to measure the SG and a protein skimmer but the skimmer can wait to later so I wouldn't worry about it yet. Also since this is a fish only tank you should get a product call Nitrex. This will help you with the tank cycling in the begining. I'll tell you more about this product later on.

As for Live rock and Live sand, this is all going to depend on what type of fish you plan on keeping. Since this is a fish only tank you don't need a lot of live rock or even any live rock and the same goes for the sand.

So what you need to do right now is to decide on what fish you want to keep and make a list. Make a list and then decide what is the one or two fish that you really want. From there a decision can be made on whether the fish will work with what you have and what other fish you can add with it.
 

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