Need info before buying!

Jayroi

AC Members
May 14, 2005
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Hey! I'm new to this hobby. My dad gave me his yellow tang and a clarky clown, and i'm starting to love it. I just have a 30 gallon with some fish in it. I really want to start a reef tank with hard coral becuase i hear that angel fish eat soft coral, but i love how angel fishes look. And of course live rock and what not. I plan on getting clowns and anomone's and many other fish. But my question is for what basic equipment i need before going out and buying everything. i've read many posts but i just want to make sure i got everything.

Me and my gf are planning on getting a 75gallon tank.
I know the basic stuff i need, such as powerheads and the lighting. But is it necesarry for me to get a Sump? I don't even know exactly what it does, but i would like to know if i really should look into getting that. And since i'm getting live rock i do not need to put money into a nice filter, correct me if i'm wrong. And could somone tell me what some good begginer hard corals are to start off with. ThankS!

-jayrol
 
Ah, my kind of question, hope I can help! If I use any terms you're not familiar with, don't sweat it, you'll enounter them soon enough (do a search on this site and you'll get tons of info).

Think of a sump as you would the back tank on a toilet. Has the same water as the "business end" and serves as a "reservior". Water continioulsy flows out of it into the "potty" bowl. In a sump, however, it flows in AND out from the main aquarium.

The sump is basically, also, a giant filter box. Done right, it's the best thing to have on a tank. You can put a ton of filter media if you wish, activated carbon, protien skimmer, calcium reactor, etc.... anything you want. Put your heater in it. Dump fresh water in it to top off evaporation rather than dumping it in the main tank. Add medication or additives to it. Dose kalkwassar to it. Put a bullied or bullying fish in it as a form of "solitary confinement"

Add lights to it and grow macroalgae in it for nitrate/phoshpate removal. Or build a "refugium" with live sand and rock and macroalgae and connect it to the sump. Lots of options.

As for the fish, in a 75 you have a lot of options. I'd stick to mostly dwarf angels, and even then only ONE per tank. *MAYBE* two if they are similar sized and introduced at the same time. Most other angels get bigger than a 75 can accomodate. Do research before dumping $60 on an angel, some get to be gigantic (relatively speaking).

Clownfish are a breeze to keep, note that I've had bad luck with them jumping out and freeze-drying to my carpet. Odd, b/c I've never heard of it happening before, and my water parameters were squeaky-clean (Ie, no polluted water causing them to try to escape).


One last note, and I do hope you take this seriously and heed my advise, for the sake of your wallet and for our natural resources:

Corals first, *then maybe* an anemone. The anemone is a nice thing, but they really do require special attention. They do need to be fed every other day or about three times a week, *very lightly*, and they need good light (at least 3.5 or so watts per gallon for most). There are only a few that host clownfish, not all will accept a clown or vice-versa. And overall anemones are much more picky about water conditions that most corals. I'd avoid the anemone until about month 6. By then, the tank is fully "broken in" and established, plenty of microscopic life flourishing, and water is well-established with many beneficial bacterial populations.

Sorry to dissapoint you on the anemone thing. I killed three or four of them b/c I didn't do enough research. Oh, I did some. Just only read the advice I wanted. Had a heeded the good (ie, disappointing) advice, I would have killed four less anemones and saved about $80-- that buys a LOT of sea salt!

Oh, and for a reef tank, use a good brand "reef" grade salt. NOT "Instant Ocean" sea salt--- it's fantastic and hard to beat for fish-only but severely lacks in the calcium content. I use Oceanic. Good stuff. Only slightly more 'spensive than Instant Ocean. I've tried Coralife and hate it. My corals didn't respond well to it at all.
 
Thanks for the information!! I guess i'll have to get a sump then, everyone recommends it since i'm trying to keep a reef tank. THe sump i'm looking at comes with overflow box for around 240$ is that a good price or should i keep looking around?
 
Jayroi said:
Thanks for the information!! I guess i'll have to get a sump then, everyone recommends it since i'm trying to keep a reef tank. THe sump i'm looking at comes with overflow box for around 240$ is that a good price or should i keep looking around?

I too was looking for a sump for my 75 and was astounded by the prices on most of them so I just bought a 55g tank for $100 and some acrylic from Home Depot for $15 and sectioned it off. I made my stand so I was able to fit the 55 in it but if you are handy, you can make most any tank of 55 or less fit under a 75g.

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Nice job Schigara. Definitely a plus to have nearly 50 gallons of water if you use the full volume. Either way a winner.


One note though you may be interested to know-- if you used silicone to part off the 55 gallon with acrylic, the acrylic will/may eventually break free. Acrylic/lexan/plexi, they're about the only thing silicone won't adhere to very well.
 
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