New to Saltwater

[ravenjred]

Hi everyone,
I am new to Reefcentral and new to saltwater. I currently have 75g. freshwater aquarium that is my first tank and I've had it for 3 years. I want to get a saltwater tank and am looking at a 60g. cube that is 24x24x24. I would appreciate any thoughts on equipment to use. Here is what I've been told by some people I know and my researching.
Sump - custom made 22x16x16 to fit in the stand. With refugium. Some tell me that a refugium for a tank this small is just a marketing ploy. I don't know a lot about sumps/refugiums so any help here would be great.
Protein Skimmer - Reef Octopus 160-INT, some say the 110 would be better, that the 160 is too strong for a 60g. tank. Again, I know nothing about them.
Pump - Water Blaster HY5000
Power Heads - Koralia 600 Reef Controller Kit. I also like the VorTech MP10's but they are a little pricey.
BRS 6 stage Universal RO/DI system, 75g. per day
2 - 125 watt heaters
Lighting - Maxspect R420$ (Razor)LED - 20.5" long
Refractometer
Either Tropic Marin or Instant Ocean Reef crystals
Rock and Sand from marcorocks.com
Any thought would be greatly appreciated.
I live in Suffolk County, Long Island, NY so if anyone is nearby, I would love to meet/talk with you.
Thank you all and have a great day.
Ed

[formsix]

Welcome!! Glad your doing so much research before jumping in. Equipment list looks fine to me -- nothing jumps out as problematic, but I'm sure you'll get more nuanced advice from others. I would suggest regular Instant Ocean salt to start rather than reef crystals -- it's cheaper and just a good solid salt to start with, IMO.

One question I have for you is what you would like to keep in the tank. A 60g cube can certainly make a nice little reef with some corals, inverts, and some small fish (pair of ocellaris clowns, a goby, blenny, etc.). However, you will be really limited in the fish you can stock, especially if you start looking at any that like swimming space -- even the smaller wrasses won't really work in that tank size. If you're fine sticking with "nano" fish, that's fine, but don't confuse the volume (60g sounds like a lot!) with usable swimming space. A 60g that's 3' long will give you more options, and a ~75g that's 4' long will open up a lot of new options. But, as I said, a 60g cube can make a really nice reef too, and certainly is a reasonable choice if your focus is on corals and a few smaller fish

[ravenjred]

Thank you for your advice. I want to have some corals and fish and I know that swimming space is not great. My problem is that the tank is going on the 2nd floor of a house and I am a little bit afraid of the weight if I go much bigger. Any thoughts on this? One of my main concerns is the skimmer. Do you think the 160-INT is too strong for this size tank?

[Reverend Reefer]

depending on the space you have that you want to put the tank, i think what formsix was suggesting is not necessarily a huge tank, but rather, a differently shaped tank. instead of the 60G cube, maybe a 75G rectangular 4' long tank might be better. also, if you're concerned about the weight upstairs, a long tank would distribute the weight better than a cube tank whose concentrated weight would be on a smaller footprint upstairs. the longer tank might also give your fish more swim room....

people say this alot so i'm gunna repeat it, get a good skimmer, and get one that is rated one above what is recommended for your tank size. now that i've said it with that being said, i've never owned a good skimmer!!! they're expensive. lol.

[formsix]

Originally Posted by Reverend Reefer

depending on the space you have that you want to put the tank, i think what formsix was suggesting is not necessarily a huge tank, but rather, a differently shaped tank. instead of the 60G cube, maybe a 75G rectangular 4' long tank might be better. also, if you're concerned about the weight upstairs, a long tank would distribute the weight better than a cube tank whose concentrated weight would be on a smaller footprint upstairs. the longer tank might also give your fish more swim room....

people say this alot so i'm gunna repeat it, get a good skimmer, and get one that is rated one above what is recommended for your tank size. now that i've said it with that being said, i've never owned a good skimmer!!! they're expensive. lol.

+1 to all of this. That's exactly what I meant -- that a 75g rectangular 4' tank gives you many more stocking options than a 60g cube, but isn't all that much more total water volume. And I also agree that the weight distribution is better -- the tank should sit on more joists (better distribution) as long as you put it perpendicular to the joists.

Re: the weight. First off, I'm not an engineer, and don't pretend to be one. That said, my tank (a 75g with a 40g sump underneath) was initially set up on the second floor of an apartment, and is now on the main floor w/ a basement underneath. From what I understand, for tanks in this size range, weight isn't generally a concern if you take general precautions -- namely, setting the tank up perpendicular to the joists along a load-bearing wall. I'm fairly confident this is the case with much older houses that are built solidly and new construction, but there might have been some time in the not-to-distant past when houses weren't built to the same code as they are now.

[ravenjred]

Thanks for the input. It is much appreciated. I agree about the 75g. long tank instead and I actually want to do that. Now the tricky part, I have to convince my wife, since I already showed her the cube and she actually likes it. Lol. Thanks again.