if you guys mention the topic about books i would recommend picking up ........ The New Marine Aquarium: step by step setup and stocking guide bye Michael S. Paletta. This book really helped me out in the beginning and so feel free to ask any questions here. You might get sometimes different opinions from different members but generally its in the same ball park. Enjoy the site.
New to reef tanks
- Thread starter LaurenBabe
- Start date
- Location
- Marine Park
Lauren this hobby is like religion and a bit like math. It's like religion in that everyone has a different opinion on what the "right way" to do things is. It's like math in that there are MANY different ways to get to the same point.
The very first thing to do would be to research what you want to keep in your tank. Once you've picked out the fish, corals etc that you like just provide a tank that suits their needs. Keep in mind though the following:
"Nothing good happens fast!" As long as you always remember that phrase you'll do well in this hobby.
Also read up as much as you can www.wetwebmedia.com is a good resource for soaking up tons of info. Keep to your bio roots as you read and you'll be set.
The very first thing to do would be to research what you want to keep in your tank. Once you've picked out the fish, corals etc that you like just provide a tank that suits their needs. Keep in mind though the following:
"Nothing good happens fast!" As long as you always remember that phrase you'll do well in this hobby.
Also read up as much as you can www.wetwebmedia.com is a good resource for soaking up tons of info. Keep to your bio roots as you read and you'll be set.
Lauren, whatever you do, whatever you read, whoever you decide to take advice from, getting the best Protein skimmer that you can afford will only make this hobby MUCH easier. Huge powerful protein skimmers have made succesful reefers out of complete idiots.....I guess I could be used as an example:headache:
Best of Luck
Best of Luck
fritz, tumbs up for avatar.
lauren if you will be patient enough to do this right it will really pay off. what you need to concentrate on is to read starter stuff as much as you can. here people will help you with equipment and livestock couse most importend part about MR is friendship people find here. and without friends any hobby only half the fun.
It takes years to establish amazing reef display . most of us struggle to do this. everyone have problems but the challenge is the thing everyone is here for. good luck
lauren if you will be patient enough to do this right it will really pay off. what you need to concentrate on is to read starter stuff as much as you can. here people will help you with equipment and livestock couse most importend part about MR is friendship people find here. and without friends any hobby only half the fun.
It takes years to establish amazing reef display . most of us struggle to do this. everyone have problems but the challenge is the thing everyone is here for. good luck
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- Location
- Upper East Side
Hey, I'm a girl with a fish tank too! 
I have to second and third what everyone has said about the books. Also, I found it helpful to sit down and write a list of the fish I wanted to keep. This gave me something to work towards and something to look forward too. It also gave me something to consider in selecting a tank.
Good luck! Are you going to come to the swap? I went to the last swap with no tank yet and came out of it with 75% of the stuff I needed to start my tank, so I would highly recommend it even if you don't have everything set up yet.
I have to second and third what everyone has said about the books. Also, I found it helpful to sit down and write a list of the fish I wanted to keep. This gave me something to work towards and something to look forward too. It also gave me something to consider in selecting a tank.
Good luck! Are you going to come to the swap? I went to the last swap with no tank yet and came out of it with 75% of the stuff I needed to start my tank, so I would highly recommend it even if you don't have everything set up yet.
heyy people especially lisa and leslie!! thanks for all the advice i did alot alot alot of reading and just a quick question ... i dont know if this is stupid but what kind of lights do you use? and does it matter how big the tank is? also what kind of salt and sand should i use, another member told me that it is imposible to keep a reef tank in ny because of the already high phosphate levels. i heard i should get metel halids or t 5 lighting what is the best? what do most of you guys use? as for salt i wanted to get it asap so i asked the people at fish town and spent 90 tropic marron but now i am reading people use instant ocean what is the difference?? also i read you have to get test kits i was told salifert were the best is this true? im sorry for all the questions im trying to be pactient just itching to get a tank set up!! even though i still havent found on yet lol
as for the frag swap what is the deal with that? i will definitly go if i have off from work! actually lol i might just have to take off from work if i go n e way thanks
L
as for the frag swap what is the deal with that? i will definitly go if i have off from work! actually lol i might just have to take off from work if i go n e way thanks
L
I would set a budget for settin up your tank and a budget for stocking your tank. A bigger tank not only costs more initially but also to maintain. That being said, a bigger tank is more easy to keep stable and stability is key to sucess.
1) Set your budget
2) research how much things cost
3) buy the biggest you can afford to set up and maintain
My tank is 120 gallons. I bought almost all my equipment new. I have had it since June and have spent about $9,000 on it including set up, supplies, and livestock.
I use T-5 lights to minimize heat in my tank. I have to keep it covered because my cats like to play in the water. A covered tank will heat up more quickly than a non covered tank and maintaining temp stability is key. I also have a chiller which I LOVE! I like to open the windows in my apartment in the summer and this way I don't have to worry about the tank overheating.
Phosphates in NY water are not an issue. The 2nd thing you need to buy after books is an RODI water purifier. You can get them from e-bay, Buckeye Field Supply, DrsFosterandSmith.com, and a million other places.
Salifert are the best test kits for most things. I have heard that the Phosphate test kit is not that good. I don't really know that much about this topic.
I use Tropic Marin salt as well. I don't know how well the other salts work because I have never tried them. Tropic Marin is low in magnesium which is something you will not have to worry about for a while. Go ahead and use the salt you already bought. You can research price vs. quality and make your decision about which salt to use as you learn more.
Hope this is helpful,
Leslie
1) Set your budget
2) research how much things cost
3) buy the biggest you can afford to set up and maintain
My tank is 120 gallons. I bought almost all my equipment new. I have had it since June and have spent about $9,000 on it including set up, supplies, and livestock.
I use T-5 lights to minimize heat in my tank. I have to keep it covered because my cats like to play in the water. A covered tank will heat up more quickly than a non covered tank and maintaining temp stability is key. I also have a chiller which I LOVE! I like to open the windows in my apartment in the summer and this way I don't have to worry about the tank overheating.
Phosphates in NY water are not an issue. The 2nd thing you need to buy after books is an RODI water purifier. You can get them from e-bay, Buckeye Field Supply, DrsFosterandSmith.com, and a million other places.
Salifert are the best test kits for most things. I have heard that the Phosphate test kit is not that good. I don't really know that much about this topic.
I use Tropic Marin salt as well. I don't know how well the other salts work because I have never tried them. Tropic Marin is low in magnesium which is something you will not have to worry about for a while. Go ahead and use the salt you already bought. You can research price vs. quality and make your decision about which salt to use as you learn more.
Hope this is helpful,
Leslie
The water in Queens is very high in phosphates, and I would assume the water in Manhattan is very high as well. (Not necessarily so, as they come from two different aquafiers, but both of them fill up from rain runoff upstate, presumably leading to the high phosphates)
But since you want to filter your water anyway, it is not much of a problem. Salifert test kits are great but not for phosphate, so don't waste your money on that one. That being said, many people here run succesfull tanks with high phosphates, it only really becomes a problem when you are keeping some of the more demanding corals.
- Location
- Marine Park
This is what I was talking about. What kind of toy is best for a dog? Which food is best for dogs? It depends. Some corals and fish like dim light, some like bright light and some need radioactive ultraviolet sun for 8 hours a day. If you start buying stuff based on "which is best" you're going to have lots of stuff for sale very soon. Figure out what you need based on what you plan to keep.
- Location
- Upper East Side
Those aren't stupid questions, but they go back to what we've all been saying - read a couple of books before you dive in. Most books will cover your options for lights in one of the introductory chapters. Personally, I have Power Compacts on my tank as most of the things that I wanted to keep when I initially set up don't need particularly high light. (Now I am considering a switch to MH because I want to keep things that have greater lighting needs, like a clam, an anemone and a couple particular corals).
I use Instant Ocean salt because it is cheap, and if you look at the ingredients on most salt, salt is basically salt. If you are going to sink money into this hobby, there are a lot of better places to do in than on your salt mix.
You definitely must get test kits - to start out, you should get Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, pH, Phosphate, Calcium and Alkalinity. The first four are imperative for figuring out when your tank is ready to hold livestock. You can probably get an Ammonia and Nitrite test kit from somone on the board because you basically don't need them once your tank is cycled.
An RO/DI is the best $100.00 investment you'll ever make for your tank. You can get them off of ebay (don't pay the insane amounts through marine depot or a local fish store). They will make keeping your tank nutrient free much easier. You don't want to start with tap water because of the high phosphate levels. My boyfriend (digitalreefer) started his tank with tap water because he didn't really know any better and eventually decided to break the whole thing down and start again because he was having such a problem keeping his phosphates down. Doing that is far more expensive in the long run than just starting with RO/DI water.
Tank size does matter as far as stability, as Leslie said. I have a 29gallon tank, but with my sump I probably have close to 35 gallons of water. I have a chiller, heater and fans to keep my temperature stable, and I do 2.5g water changes 1 to 2 times per week to keep all of my levels stable. I would not go smaller than a 29g tank - nanotanks are far more difficult to take care of.
I second Leslie's comment about a budget. My initial startup cost on a 29g tank was about $1000. That includes skimmer, two pumps, three powerheads, two tanks (29g and 10g sump), wood for stand and canopy, PVC for plumbing, test kits and hydrometer, lights, heater, chiller, activated carbon, phosban, B-ionic 2 part, 2 nets, RO/DI, salt, sand and 37lbs of liverock. I was very lucky in that I picked up a lot of my equipment used from other MR members at less than half of retail price. My electric bill has gone up about $20-$30/mo. due to the electrical uses of my tank not counting the chiller. Since my initial set up, I've probably spent about $400 more on equipment (better pump, better powerheads, phosban reactor, an aquacontroller) and countless dollars on livestock and food for said livestock (thinking about it makes my head hurt, but I would ballpark $160 on fish, $70 on food [including Kent Garlic Extreme], $100 on inverts, and waaaaaaaaay more than I should on coral). But you don't have to stock a lot of livestock right away; you can just do that as you can afford. So, what you really need to take into consideration is what you can spend on your startup costs.
You can always start with a smaller tank and upgrade later if you want. I would recommend investing your money in good equipment so that you CAN do that later. I spent the money and bought decent equipment, so I can basically upgrade to a tank of about 60 gallons without buying anything new except tank, stand, lights and more rock.
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- Location
- Greenpoint Brooklyn, NY
Wow this is alot of posts for a new member.
Anyways you first have to determine what you want inside your tank. Thats going to base stuff on tank size and lighting aside from room (your strapped for space right?). Thus the best way to descide what you would need for the stuff you keep is knowing the requirements of all that stuff and then buying accordingly. You can't take everyones advice and say well i got this b/c this person said i need to. I'd take peoples recommendations between certain products like which skimmer to buy for X size tank if that helps (there's so many to choose from). Its like buying a car imo. Just because someone says the small Rio is good and works and stuff for them might not fit you and your needs/wants. You might want an sports car or a SUV or a roomy 4 door. All depends. Then you need to descide what options you need and want in your car when you go finalize the buy.
You gotto read a book or a really good online help article to get the jist of whats involved and basic explaination of everthing. Ellebelle gave a pretty good run down on prices and your spending. The nice thing is that the spending jump between 25-29 gallons to a 55 or 60 doesn't increase as much as the gallonage did. You'll spend a little more but not 2x the amount to get one started.
The frag swap is just a little event where people get together, usually with beer and food and trade/sell/buy coral. The spring one is usually held at Pratt and its a dry campus so no beer but there is going to be guest speakers talking about stuff and its a great way to meet people in the hobby in the area. Always good to know poeple if you want to trade or buy coral =0)
As far as salt people usually use Instant Ocean because you can buy a 5 gallon bucket for 40$ online =0) cheap and good salt. When your doing weekly waterchanges salt goes quick.
Anyways you first have to determine what you want inside your tank. Thats going to base stuff on tank size and lighting aside from room (your strapped for space right?). Thus the best way to descide what you would need for the stuff you keep is knowing the requirements of all that stuff and then buying accordingly. You can't take everyones advice and say well i got this b/c this person said i need to. I'd take peoples recommendations between certain products like which skimmer to buy for X size tank if that helps (there's so many to choose from). Its like buying a car imo. Just because someone says the small Rio is good and works and stuff for them might not fit you and your needs/wants. You might want an sports car or a SUV or a roomy 4 door. All depends. Then you need to descide what options you need and want in your car when you go finalize the buy.
You gotto read a book or a really good online help article to get the jist of whats involved and basic explaination of everthing. Ellebelle gave a pretty good run down on prices and your spending. The nice thing is that the spending jump between 25-29 gallons to a 55 or 60 doesn't increase as much as the gallonage did. You'll spend a little more but not 2x the amount to get one started.
The frag swap is just a little event where people get together, usually with beer and food and trade/sell/buy coral. The spring one is usually held at Pratt and its a dry campus so no beer but there is going to be guest speakers talking about stuff and its a great way to meet people in the hobby in the area. Always good to know poeple if you want to trade or buy coral =0)
As far as salt people usually use Instant Ocean because you can buy a 5 gallon bucket for 40$ online =0) cheap and good salt. When your doing weekly waterchanges salt goes quick.
welcome to MR. This is a great site for info. I am a total newb at saltwater. I have a nano tank which I don't recomend as its very demanding in terms of husbandry.
You should write this down.
What can I spend or afford on the initial setup before livestock is bought.
How big do I want my tank to be. Keep in mind you can have a nano as long as your willing to sacrifice a day at the club if anything ever goes wrong. The smaller the tank the quicker the chemical changes can occur. That's why people are telling you to get a big tank.
What do I wish to keep? sounds like you have an itch for corals. Make sure you research as animals will be animals and they will kill or eat eachother if they are not compatible.
The last question will determine this.
What type of equipment do I need? You can get the best quality stuff from the getgo and not have to worry about upgrades later on. Like metal halides instead of T-5. A good quality skimmer. Just make sure you check here first before you go out and buy the latest stuff as it could be all hype.
One more the the internet is our friend. You can purchase very high quality salt like the tropic Marin you bought from fishtown from an online source such as Drsfosterandsmith.com . As far as people go to critisize you just brush it off your shoulder. If you really like this hobby and. Care for your livestock. Anyone could be a reefer. I don't know much and I'm a burnout at times(DEEPWATER could vouch for this) but I have a successful nano at home. So no I don't think women shouldn't have reef tank. I think everyone that appreciates this hobby should have one childen, teens, men, women and elders.
You've got questions us Manhattan reefers got answers. And no question is stupid unless its something like this question someone asked was if they could use table salt for reef aquaria lol I'm my opinion that was a dumb question. Unlike yours about test kits and the such.
Hope you enjoy this hobby and good luck.
Oh and read everything you can get tuir hands on and google, google, google.
You should write this down.
What can I spend or afford on the initial setup before livestock is bought.
How big do I want my tank to be. Keep in mind you can have a nano as long as your willing to sacrifice a day at the club if anything ever goes wrong. The smaller the tank the quicker the chemical changes can occur. That's why people are telling you to get a big tank.
What do I wish to keep? sounds like you have an itch for corals. Make sure you research as animals will be animals and they will kill or eat eachother if they are not compatible.
The last question will determine this.
What type of equipment do I need? You can get the best quality stuff from the getgo and not have to worry about upgrades later on. Like metal halides instead of T-5. A good quality skimmer. Just make sure you check here first before you go out and buy the latest stuff as it could be all hype.
One more the the internet is our friend. You can purchase very high quality salt like the tropic Marin you bought from fishtown from an online source such as Drsfosterandsmith.com . As far as people go to critisize you just brush it off your shoulder. If you really like this hobby and. Care for your livestock. Anyone could be a reefer. I don't know much and I'm a burnout at times(DEEPWATER could vouch for this) but I have a successful nano at home. So no I don't think women shouldn't have reef tank. I think everyone that appreciates this hobby should have one childen, teens, men, women and elders.
You've got questions us Manhattan reefers got answers. And no question is stupid unless its something like this question someone asked was if they could use table salt for reef aquaria lol I'm my opinion that was a dumb question. Unlike yours about test kits and the such.
Hope you enjoy this hobby and good luck.
Oh and read everything you can get tuir hands on and google, google, google.
Last edited:
- Location
- Upper East Side
I would like to think that a new male reefer who asks good questions would get the same number of responses.
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