New saltwater System

[vato]

I would like to set up a saltwater aquarium in my home.And although this would be my first slatwater tank, I'm not completely without experience. I was a fish expert in a local fish store, My focus was mainly on fresh water, but I have quite a bit of knowledge in the saltwater relam as well. What my question is, what would the best set up be for a begginer? I would like to use a 45 gallon tank, would that be enough? I'd like to have live rock and coral at some point, but what would be your suggestions in terms of hardware for the tank? I was thinking a fluidized bed filter and a sump for filteration. What would be some ideas in terms of brands and products to help me out?

 

[benjen]

Well... It depends on what you want to do, but most of us around here use deep sand beds with live rock as our filtration system. These use almost all biological filtration and are pretty fault tolerant. The only mechanical parts you absolutely need are powerheads for current, lighting to enable algea and corals to survive, and probably a decent protien skimmer.

This thread from the top of the page covers how to do this:
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11232

Here is a thread for how I set up my 45 gallon tank which is currently cycling. It also includes the products that were most highly recommended to me, though my lighting is completely insufficient for corals.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28444

One of the best resources out there seems to be Robert Fenner. His book is entitled The Conscientious Marine Aquarist: A Commonsense Handbook for Successful Saltwater Hobbyists. You can also check out his website at:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/
It's a little messy, but a great resource all around.

Online prices tend to be significantly cheaper than going to a LFS (live fish seller), so here are a couple of places I think are good for aquaria supplies and such:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Shop.cfm?Ne=4&N=2004
http://www.liveaquaria.com/
http://www.premiumaquatics.com/

The best advice possible is to do a lot of reading on this forum, because many of these people are experts and they give pretty darn good advice on how to set up a stable saltwater tank without a lot of needless expenses.