Shopping List/Suggestions

[SnowAngel2214]

Hello everbody! I'm looking for any suggestions. I've never attempted marine life before.

Recently I have taken on a new job and have to relocate. The freshwater tank that I have is wonderful, but after playing around with the live plants and such its about the time to make the leap, I've been curious for quite some time.

Here is a list of the equipment I plan to keep at the moment:

- 36 Gal. bow front tank (20" high) and stand
- Ehiem 2213 canister filter (116 gph) with customflo system
- Coralife deluxe lunar series (24") a total of 130watts (3.61 watts/gal)

And things I think I need to get (any suggestions will help, things I am really unsure about are in bold):

- two 100 watt heaters
- 45-55 lbs. of live rock (I'm a little partial to the Tonga branch)
- live sand, at leat 4" in depth for the future jawfish I plan to obtain (I likethe
pink Fifi sand)
- protein skimmer
- powerhead (not sure how many)
- refugium ( I plan to house the protein skimmer here since it will look cleaner, macroalgae, and will need this for copepods later whenever I get a mandarin)
- refractometer
- RO unit would be ideal
- necessary supplements and food
- corals, fish, and inverts, down the road.

I realize that my lighting system isn't quite as strong as it should be if I wanted to house SPS or anenomes, at least thats what I've generalized from reading, maybe if they were right at the surface? I keep on reading about pre-drilled tanks and how to drill tanks, but mine is not drilled (it might be tempered too). Is it ok to run saltwater without the overflow thing (pros and cons?)?
I've never done any treatments with copper so the silicone should not excrete copper unless the tap water I've been using is high in heavy metals.
I'd like to start off in the 36 gal. tank and eventually move to a larger tank (up to 200gal). Keeping this in mind, is there any recommendations for the skimmer, refugium (I think only a 10gal will fit under my current tank), or number and size of the powerheads? Or would any equipment suitable for that large of a tank be too powerful for a 36gal?

Anyways, maybe I'm overthinking this, but I want to do it right the first time and not have too much equipment to change out when I upgrade tanks.

 

[cuticom]

How do you plan to run the refugium below the tank without an overflow and not drilled?

The rest sounds good. You need ultimately about 25-20 x turn over in the tank as it sounds like your planning a reef tank, so the pump return from the refugium and then just add as many powerheads as needed to make up the rest of the turnover, use at least two powerheads, I've found it helps to prevent a whirlpool.

I also wouldn't bother using the cannister filter, LR, protein skimmer and powerheads will provide plenty filtration.

The lighting sounds fine, I wouldn't recommend keeping an anemone, but plenty of other corals should be Nappy in that.

I'd also suggested getting a protein skimmer rated for a larger tank, I've read numerous comments about protein skimmers not doing a very good job on the maximum size tank their rated for.

A lot of equipment for the 36g wouldn't be much use on the 200g, and most equipment on a 200g would be far to strong for the 36g. I wouldn't dream of using any of the equipment in my 42g on my 17g tank, it just doesn't work.

 

[SnowAngel2214]

Sweet, thanks for reply. It helps alot.

 

[alpha123]

Cuticom was so right on everything. Cannister has very little value. Don't upgrade the lighting now, do it last.

Your tank worth about 10% of total cost, so I would drill it. Some people can do it with Dremel tools.

Go to craig's list.