Beginner Questions

you'll want in the neighborhood of 1.5 lbs of live rock per gallon :)

are you sure you want a lion fish? they are pretty, but very sedentary. also not a very "community oriented" fish. personally i enjoy a splash o' color and lots of movement, but that's just me.

ps - i, too, thought i wanted FOWLR... and i ended up with 96 watts PC lighting... on a 10 gallon. go for the best lighting you can afford, within reason!
 
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Since no one else has said it on this thread: Welcome to AC! Nice to see another flatland SW person!

Sounds like you are getting pretty good advice from everyone. Here's my 2cents:
If you really want to get a lion, get the best skimmer you can afford. Lions are very messy from both ends! A skimmer will pull a lot of that out of the water, so you don't have to worry quite as much about water quality.
You can do a search on skimmers to see what the concensus is on which brand vs. price is the best.

Fish only tanks are cheaper than reefs, if only because you don't have to pay for all those corals, etc.-but they sure are beautiful to look at!! I have horrid lights on my tank, so I have so far managed to tell myself "no!" on corals, but i sure do like looking at them & wishing...
You also don't have to fret as much about your water quality with a FOWLR tank; most fish can put up with poorer water quality, while most corals can't.

As far as lights are concerned, like someone else said-buy the best you can afford. There is a website - ahsupply.com - which sells light refit kits, if you are something of a handyman. I've heard lots of people say the kits are easy to use and come with good instructions. So, if you have the lights that came with your tank, you can use the kits and put them in the original light hoods. There are limitations on this, though-you don't want to get carried away & have a mass of melted plastic on top of your tank!

I agree with CHughes on the rock-you will want at least 75 lbs, and the higher you go towards 150, the better-all the critters in the rock eat all the stuff in the water, so you have cleaner water. A deep sand bed will help with this also. You don't have to get the expensive sand at the LFS. You can go to Home Depot & pick up the playsand they sell for sandboxes cheap. The most suggested kind is Southdown, or Old Castle, since these are aragonite sand, and will help keep your ph up, among other things.

Powerheads-lots of variance here-the only one I've heard not to use (a lot) is the Rio ph's-they will work fine for a while, then will blow up & spit oil all over the tank & kill everything.

HTH!
 
First of all,
Thank you for the welcome to the message board. I have found a lot of VERY helpful information here. All of the suggestions and comments have been extremely helpful.
I do agree with you...the corals are very pretty to look at, but right now I think I will just go with a FOWLR. They seem to be a lot easier for the beginner to start off with. After I get used to everything I can then move on to a coral setup.
I haven't yet decided on if I am going to get a lionfish or not. I do realize that they require a lot of attention and that isn't a problem...I have a feeling that I am going to find some other fish that are easier for the beginner to start of with and then work up to a lion. Any suggestions?
And just for the record I do want to say that this message board has been a very enlightening education for me. I have a feeling that saltwater is going to be a lifelong labor of love for me.
Once again, thank you for the welcome to the message board.

Bradd
 
What types of fish would you suggest for a beginner? I would like some color, and would really like the fish to be active. What about shrimp, crabs, or something of that nature as well?

Ideas? :o
 
Well, I already mentioned clown fish... I think firefish and chromis are supposed to be rather peaceful and can be kept in schools (somebody who actually knows what they're talking about want to help me out here???). I think some of the pygmy angels might be acceptable, but I would stay away from tangs.

I really like my scarlet cleaner shrimp. He flutters about the tank and doesn't like to hide like my peppermint shrimp. He even cleans my hand! Crabs aren't all that active, and some like to eat corals (in case you decide to keep any in the future....), but I enjoy the 'saga' of my blue-legged hermits. (I call it a saga because sometimes it seems simply getting across a piece of live rock seems like an endless journey for them, lol).

A pistol shrimp and goby combo would be really cute, but not exactly noticeable from across the room due to their small sizes.
 
Chromis are peaceful to a point. I had my 3 for 8 months before the biggest 1 started chasing the other 2. This chasing has been going on for 6 weeks or so and I just noticed the other day that the second biggest 1 has an abrasion on his side.
After I bought my 3 chromis is when I found out this is normal.
 
kcmo lawman said:
What types of fish would you suggest for a beginner? I would like some color, and would really like the fish to be active. What about shrimp, crabs, or something of that nature as well?

Ideas? :o
Click to expand...
A 75 gives you a lot of room to choose. Pretty much all the great colored tangs and angels will work, along with a huge selection of dwarfs, percs, psuedos, grammas, etc. If I were you, I'd pick my favorite fish and build from there. Compatibility is more art than science, but you should be able to build a great colorful tank.

Also, the "live rock/live sand" systems mentioned above are great for reefs and lightly loaded FO tanks. However, I'm the exception on this forum, and for a FO tank, I would go with a good wet dry, crushed coral, a UV and a good skimmer. I like lots of fish and lots of color, and IMHO, this type of system gives you more control over your filtration and stocking levels.
 
Ok I guess it is time to head to the lfs to see what types and colors of fish I can, and will be able to add to the tank. As of yet, I still have to get the sand, live rock, and do the cycling of the tank so as you can see I still have a ways to go. The reason for it taking so long isn't due to money, it is wanting to get everything right and do things right the first time and not have to put any fish through any undue stress.

I do appreciate all the help and advice that has been given to me and I will make sure to keep everyone posted.
Thanks once again,
Bradd
 
If you are going to go with some live rock I would suggest not doing the entire sand bed with live sand as it will add up money wise pretty fast. Get your rock and then buy 10 or so lbs of live sand from a reefer, with a well established tank, local to you for the critters in the sand bed. And the live rock will have some critters on it as well.

You can easily get sand that would be perfect for the tank, and not spend so much money. It's been called a few different things, Southdown and Old Castle Tropical Play Sand (in the landscaping supplies). The old castle can be bought for about $7.00 for a 50lb bag from HomeDepot in many areas (rinse it lots and lots and lots).
I thought I was going to go FOWLR but then I saw xenia (easy to keep no real extras beyond lights and it's cheap) and mushrooms and zoos... all can be kept pretty easily.

Also, check into used lighting systems. eBay, aquabid, etc. You may find a good deal just waiting for you. Search for a local Kansas reefer board and watch their classifieds for used skimmers and such, heck you may even find someone selling off live rock for much cheaper than you could get at most lfs'!


Good luck with it. I'm so glad I went ahead and took the plunge! :D
 
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