Hi all!! I just got the AWESOME news that for Christmas my hubby is letting me put a 70 gallon Oceanic tank and stand (the new shaker style) on lay-away!!! :clap: :dance2: :clap: :dance2: I am sooooo excited, and have decided to go for SW!!! I am VERY much a newbie!! I have been reading on here for a few hours, but am still very lost lol! Other than the tank, LR, and live sand, I have no idea what I will need. TIA everyone!!
Ok another Newbie....with LOTS of questions :D
- Thread starter JulieNicole23
- Start date
Lighting - this will depend, What do you want REEF or FOWLER, most people set up fowlers first, to get the hang of keeping salties then they go to the lfs and see the corals, they emidiately want them! Basically, this choice wil depend on what you want to get, if you are only interested in fish then Fluros will be the way to go as they are cheap, if you are thinking reef with a mixture of SPS, LPS and clams, and softies, various other corals, IMO your best choice would be Metal halide or T5. First you must decide what you want, then ask further questions based on what you want to keep.
Skimmer - Most People say this is a must have item, personally i do not use one, but it make life a hell of a lot easier, with out going into to much detail, they basically suck in water, pass it up through a chamber and remove proteins, these proteins are good and bad, MAINLY BAD, they remove Nitrate and other toxins harmful to fish, having a skimmer will greatly improve water quality and i suggest you buy one. (do not get a cheap *** one, the more expensive the better, NORMALLY).
Powerhead - these are used to creat a current, provide oxygen to fish and inverts, most people are aiming to provide their tank with atleast 10 x the amount of volume in their tank, eg 40 gallon tank 400 gallons of water turned of per hour. I prefer more than that and am currently have a turnover rate at 21 times per hour. Powerheads are essential, especially if you have live rock, as you do not want any dead spots in the tank as this leads to problems, which lead to money!
Heater/chiller - most LFS only provide customers with tropical fish rather than temperate, for 2 main reasons, 1 a heater cost a lot less than a chiler does and 2 the tropical fish are generally more colourful and there is more variety. if you are keeping Tropical then normally a chiller isn't needed. Chiller are only used on tropical tanks if the aquarium is consistently going over 25 degrees celcius, i think 80 degrees farienheit. Other items that may bump up your tempreture is the lighting, genrally Metal Halides, Do not keep a cover lid on you tank, either have open to or egg crate as a lid will stop gas exchange and also rise up in tempreture, instead of buying a chiller, people will buy a small fan to blow air onto the water and can bring the tank down a few degrees and is a lot cheaper.
Sump - wet and dry filter, with in sump skimmer, these are the best filters for marines, do a google search on this as i can not be bothered in telling you about it, as i would be writing a book.
refugium - keeps animals safe, if they are damaged for fights etc, these are very helpful and handy if you are keeping difficult fish like mandarins, because you can stock pods in the refugium and they will make their way into the display and the mandarin can eat them, also do a google search on this.
RO/DI - reverse osmosis, basically tap water cannot be used as to many additives are added that are harmful to fish, a ro/di water purifier unit will make the water safe for fishes when you are doing top off or mixing the water with salt, these are essential, unless you have a rain water tank, then you can use water from their, as i do. also do a google search on this to atain more info as i don't want to write a book here.
Other basic instruments such as hydrometer, thermometer, net, test kits (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, calcium, etc.)
will write more tomorrow, my hands are getting tired.
Skimmer - Most People say this is a must have item, personally i do not use one, but it make life a hell of a lot easier, with out going into to much detail, they basically suck in water, pass it up through a chamber and remove proteins, these proteins are good and bad, MAINLY BAD, they remove Nitrate and other toxins harmful to fish, having a skimmer will greatly improve water quality and i suggest you buy one. (do not get a cheap *** one, the more expensive the better, NORMALLY).
Powerhead - these are used to creat a current, provide oxygen to fish and inverts, most people are aiming to provide their tank with atleast 10 x the amount of volume in their tank, eg 40 gallon tank 400 gallons of water turned of per hour. I prefer more than that and am currently have a turnover rate at 21 times per hour. Powerheads are essential, especially if you have live rock, as you do not want any dead spots in the tank as this leads to problems, which lead to money!
Heater/chiller - most LFS only provide customers with tropical fish rather than temperate, for 2 main reasons, 1 a heater cost a lot less than a chiler does and 2 the tropical fish are generally more colourful and there is more variety. if you are keeping Tropical then normally a chiller isn't needed. Chiller are only used on tropical tanks if the aquarium is consistently going over 25 degrees celcius, i think 80 degrees farienheit. Other items that may bump up your tempreture is the lighting, genrally Metal Halides, Do not keep a cover lid on you tank, either have open to or egg crate as a lid will stop gas exchange and also rise up in tempreture, instead of buying a chiller, people will buy a small fan to blow air onto the water and can bring the tank down a few degrees and is a lot cheaper.
Sump - wet and dry filter, with in sump skimmer, these are the best filters for marines, do a google search on this as i can not be bothered in telling you about it, as i would be writing a book.
refugium - keeps animals safe, if they are damaged for fights etc, these are very helpful and handy if you are keeping difficult fish like mandarins, because you can stock pods in the refugium and they will make their way into the display and the mandarin can eat them, also do a google search on this.
RO/DI - reverse osmosis, basically tap water cannot be used as to many additives are added that are harmful to fish, a ro/di water purifier unit will make the water safe for fishes when you are doing top off or mixing the water with salt, these are essential, unless you have a rain water tank, then you can use water from their, as i do. also do a google search on this to atain more info as i don't want to write a book here.
Other basic instruments such as hydrometer, thermometer, net, test kits (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, calcium, etc.)
will write more tomorrow, my hands are getting tired.