first saltwater tank

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jamieandrich

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My boyfriend and I purchased a 120g tank on boxing day and are planning on making it saltwater (We already have a 110g feshwater). But we are not sure what exactly it involves. I was wondering if anyone could recommend a few good books or webpages to help get us started. thank you
 

Reefscape

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Blinky
Hey there, glad to hear your looking to come over to saltwater keeping..

Before we can start bounding you with some links etc etc..Tell us a little more about the tank..I.E what equiptment you have for it..What are you planning to keep in the tank?? A FOWLR ( Fish Only With Live Rock ) or are you planning on going for a Reef setup?

As for books, this is a fabulous book..

"The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" by Robert M. Fenner

Niko
 

jamieandrich

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lol as for now all we have is the tank and the glass top ( i wish we boxing week sale was in the middle of the year so we would have had more money to buy stuff for it) We are slowing going to buy equipment as income permits us to. We want to have a reef aquarium with fish. The tank is 60"x18"x26"
 

Reefscape

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Well, first thing is first then, buy the book i pointed out to you..It will explain the equiptment used in keeping marine fish..

Main parts you need to buy is..( about 120 US Gals )

Lighting - 2 x 250w Metal Halides with Actinics to suppliment
Skimmer
Heater - 2 x 200W
Powerheads - 3 x MaxiJet 1200 should be enough
Filter - This depends on personal preference
UV Sterilizer - Optional
Live rock - About 1 to 1.5lbs per gallon
Substrate - Live sand preferably
Thermometer
Saltwater Test kit - one that can test at least pH, Ammonia, nitrITE, nitrATE
Hydrometer
Salt
RO or RO/DI Unit - Reverse Osmosis Unit to purify water
Water dechlorinator

I think that covers mainly the basic things that you are going to need to hopefully have a lovely successfull Reef system..Obviously, the list above does change if you are going to incorporate a sump or refugium into the system as you have to start buying plumbing, pumps..Is the tank that you have brought drilled?

I hope this gives you a little insight in to what is needed..The cheapest thing that you need to get for the setup comes for free, but you need bucket loads of it...and that is PATIENCE, loads of it..

Good luck, keep us all informed about any choices you make and i am sure the people on here will comment on any equiptment choices you make..

Hope that helps

Niko
 

TrevDizzle

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Aug 1, 2006
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A good book is "The New Marine Aquarium" by Michael S. Paletta. Helped me with finding info and setting up my first SW aquarium. Also has a good stocking guide, when it comes to adding new fishes.
 

Reefscape

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Mixing your own saltwater is a relativly easy process...Just go out and buy a rubbermaid container, about 30 - 40 gals, have your RO unit drip the water direct into that, when full, add your salt and mix..24 - 48 hours before you want to use it, switch on a powerhead and heater to aireate and your good to go..Nice and easy saltwater...Plus, the bonus of doing your own, is that you always have mixed saltwater on hand if you ever need to do emergency water changes out of shop hours etc etc..

On a tank of 120 gal, i wonder if just a powerfull pump is going to be enough? its a large body of water in there, and there really does need to have good circulation round the tank. A pump will circulate yes, but i dont think it would be enough just on its own and i think you will end up with dead spots where detrius will start to build up causing problems down the road..Powerheads, like the maxijet 1200 dont really cost that much and they are a great way to get good turn over in the tank..

Hope that helps

Niko
 

Germanman

My fish are my babies
if u want corals ull need a good flow in the tank and one pump isnt gona cut it. its best to have surface disruption across the whole tank for good oxygen exchange and ull need cross flow to encourage corals to open and to blow the mucus and detritus out of the corals as well. my tank has 2 power heads and then the refugum and the fluval blowing at counter currents and the one power head blowing for a left side to create a down flow over my ground corals. then a small via aqua 40 blows a light current down behind all my live rock to prevent build up behind the rock.
 
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