salwater firsttimer i need hep

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mark

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Dec 31, 2002
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Saltwater first-timer I need help!

I need some help figuring out what products to purchase. I just bought a 72 gal bowfront tank. There are so many distractions.
Please help with some product suggestions. :confused: :eek:
 
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Mark,
It all depends on what you want to do with the tank. The first thing you want to think about is what you want to put in it for inhabitants. This will decide what kind of filtration, lighting, decor etc. that you will purchase. Once you have thought about it, we can direct you to the right stuff. Also figure out a budget if you will. This will also help in suggestions.
 
Well I have around $450.00 to work with right now. I have lights, however I'm not sure they are the right type. I have Power glow,Marine Glow & Aqua Glow bulbs. For my filtration on my freshwater tanks I have always used Dual Whispers. I have also always used underwater gravel filters with Marineland 1140 power-heads. Will I be able to use any of this or would you not recommend it?
I could pretty much tell you anything you need to know about Cichlids but I have no clue about Salt. All of the local stores that deal with saltwater fish give different info and lack experience. Again I apologize for my ignorance around this issue and don't mean to bother you but I have a real passion to do this the right way. Thank you for taking the time to reply.
:D
 
Hey Mark, welcome to the salty side of things =) Not to send traffic away from Aquaria Central, but a friend and I posted an introduction to basic saltwater keeping a few months back on another board we frequent... Click here for the tutorial...

It has all the basics covered, as well as pricing =) Check it out and come on back with questions!

Btw, once you go salt, all the other tanks in your house are gonna eventually be salt too... It's addictive, and no tank is EVER big enough.....
 
Mark, I see you are from Idaho. I use to live and have an aquarium business in SunValley ID.

I have not checked out the other site that Raven gave you but I assume it has some good info to get you started.

One thing I will tell you is that you need to take most of the stuff that you learned about FW and throw it out the door. They differ quite a bit in how you maintane them. $450 will get you on your way. About the only thing I would use out of what you have is the lights for now ( Im assuming you are using all 3 bulbs) and the powerheads for circulation. You wont want to use the UG filter as it will work against you in time.

You still need to figure out what you would like inside the tank for decor or inhabitants. If you are thinking about having Live rock and Live sand then thats what I would start saving the money for. You will also need some good basic test kits to work with. I think the Salifert line is a good one at a decent price. You will need Amonia, Nitrite, nitrate for a minimum of test kits. I would start with the sand bed which you will want aprox. 4" depending on the grain size. Once you have set the system up you can start the cycling process which you can refer to this page cycling your tank. Your cycle can take anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks to complete and that point you can add some Live rock to your tank if that is the route you want to go.

Again, think about what you want in the tank
 
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