What would you do if this was your tank?

[swbeginner]

you have a 130 dollar budget, this is a 29 gallon sw tank...go crazy! Describe in detail what exactly you would do with it. It now has crushed coral and tufa rock.[IMG][/IMG] The 130 is in addition to what you see here.
ok, live rock, what kind and how much to get?

[cereberus]

buy some fiji base rock from drs.fosterssmith.com.

[papagimp]

First thing I would do, get more money. While you can do an awful lot of DIY projects to save craploads, $130 to put together an entire SW system.....aint nothin' I could do with that. Lighting alone would cost me more.

If it were my 29g and I had $130 to work with, I think it would get turned into a sump for another of my tanks. Honest answer.

[Pulp Fishin]

Buy some cheep base rock or live rock if your budget allows.
And I see your new here.

To Reef Central

[supertech3]

I would not be messing around with crushed coral (sand better) experienced this mistake already. I would take it slow and make sure I have all the equipment needed first (pumps,water flow items, skimmer, etc..) and then probably purchase live rock to fill the tank.

[Playa-1]

First I would buy myself a good reef keeping book before i went any further. Then I would read it a couple of times. Then I would spend a couple of months on this web site doing as much research as I could stand while I saved up some money. I might get me a good Salt Water Aquarium screen saver to keep me occupied while I was saving up some money. Then I would use the 29 gallon as a sump and get a bigger tank. I would plumb the tanks together and buy some salt and cycle the system really good while i was saving up some more money. Then I might be ready to go crazy! stocking the tank

[Imanz0]

If anything, please remove that crushed coral, and put live sand in there, its not worth vacuming it everytime you do a water change, really hard to work with nitrates.. Then, 130$... Thats what i thought i would spend on my 1 gallon tank, iv spend over 150 in just corals... So for your 29 gallon you gunna need a ton of more money. Then try and replace those bubbles with powerheads. Iv had bubbles before. From what i see, they are only good for looks, dont really move water.

[Imanz0]

Or, make it fresh water...

[george81]

agreed, this is not a cheap hobby, 130 bucks wont get anything, and half of that is going to be gone once you buy sand and get rid of crushed coral.

[airinhere]

I would buy a couple of books.

The Concientious Marine Aquarist by Bob Fenner,
Reef Invertebrates by Anthony Calfo
and get myself a subscription to Coral Magazine.

[AquamanE]

I agree. But books amgazines. spend lots of time readin what is happening on this web site. Unfortunately it is an expensive hobby, $130 wont get you very far.

[AquariumChicky]

It took me 2 years to set up my 55gallon sw aquarium. I did a ton of research (my family thinks it's wierd I can name almost every fish at the fish stores and aquariums) and saved.

Finally, my parents were tired of an empty tank sittin in the living room. So, my step-dad agreed to help pay for it. We've both put in about 1000-1200 each, and my moms put 100-150 into it.

As they mentioned before, it's not cheap. I agree. Do your research, and don't rush. Take your time, and save up.

[mfp4073]

find a local forum or club. Wait till someone posts about breaking down a tank and then scoop up rock and sand at $2lb and $.50 a lb respectively. While there ask if they have anything else you could use (like test kits, nets, powerheads, old skimmers). Next sit and wait for lights to come up for sale. Craigslist or the local club again. Could be a hang from the ceiling pendant, self contained hood, or retrofit. About this time you can start looking for skimmers and get used to doing water changes and testing!

This can be done for cheap, but you have to have patience!!!

[agreeive?fish]

forget the reef..get a few more pieces of live rock and a couple of dartfish..and enjoy the tank (this is all assuming you have some filtration as you did not list equipment you have if any

[kzickovich]

first you have to figure out what kind of tank you want, it makes a big difference in $ Lets say you want a reef tank the light alone will cost big $ but a fo tank a cheap pc light will be good. Back to a reef, filter you will need a sump and refugium guess what big $. I have one friend that is also into fish tanks has a fo tank with no rock just some ships and what not in the tank that he has a semicheap filter on. However there was a thread on here in the begining of the week where some people have a very nice reef tank with a regular filter so I guess that could go eather way. The best advice I could give you is hang out here and read some threads and get some ideas of what you want and how you want to do it.

[Imanz0]

Yeah! Actually, you can do this for under 130$. No corals at all. Go get like 2 clowns, and thats it. Just fill with rock, and sand. ( Sand, 50$ for 29gall.) (2 clowns 20$ each.)A HOB filter(Maybe 40$) No money for live rock, just put fake ordiments. The chances of you being successfull with this is maybe 70%, but remember, our word can only go so far...

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by swbeginner
you have a 130 dollar budget, this is a 29 gallon sw tank...go crazy! Describe in detail what exactly you would do with it. It now has crushed coral and tufa rock.[IMG][/IMG] The 130 is in addition to what you see here.
ok, live rock, what kind and how much to get?

the first thing i would do is join www.photobucket.com so you can post a better picture of what you are starting with

www.photobucket.com
upload your pics from your computer
under each pic will be 4 codes
pick the 4th the "img" code and copy it
paste it into your posts

BTW its free so you won't be using any of your 130 bucks

[BeesGoneWild]

hehe yeah i agree capn.

First i would suck out the crushed coral. Id do it bare bottom, since you are probably using stock florescence i would upgrade them to a used pc setup. Then a couple small Mjs, Three nice sized rocks and then id beg (ask for freebies) local reefers for frags of green star poylps and red mushrooms and maybe buy a clown gobie for kicks..... I would buy salt with the rest of the money since you wont have any skimmer so you will nee to do water changes constantly. Then id get a job at mcdonalds and earn more cash so i could get serouse about the hobby while reading reefcentral on my days off.

[Imanz0]

Just go with fresh water, you will literally be able to have over 20 fish in that 29 gallon, and it will be less than 70$... I think you will enjoy it much better than your little money usuage for salt water.

[Lotus99]

1) Go to the local club forum or join a local club.
2) Find someone selling stuff cheap. 30 or 40 lbs of live rock, some powerheads, a free fish, if you're lucky. Don't beg, just wait for free stuff to come up.
3) Hope that you got enough free stuff to pay for some lighting.
4) Hope that you have a little left over for some corals.

[Imanz0]

Your best bet! This is it for real! Go with freshwater. Get more than 20+ Fish in there! Never have to worry about nitrates as much as in salt water. Promis will cost less than 70 dollars even with the 20+ Fish! Every store also has warenty on fresh water fish! What reason do you have not to do it! You also dont need a protein skimmer! Get strong HOB filter.

[seanb1]

yep join a local club. its your best bet.

look in the club forums here on reef central to see if one exists in your area.

[ACBlinky]

Lots of good ideas here so far.

If this was my tank, I think I'd pick up a powerhead or HOB filter, buy some LR and a bit of sand from someone leaving the hobby and set up a FOWLR tank for now. A pair of clowns, a pistol shrimp & goby pair or even a couple small damsels would give you something fun to watch and care for while you're saving up for lights. Once the budget allows for lighting, you can start to invest in corals and maybe another slightly more expensive fish (depending on what you start with).

Look in the DIY forum - there are some great projects including skimmers made from water bottles, refugiums made from old HOB filters, powerhead mods and more.

[swbeginner]

I have been keeping fw for years and I am really wanting to go sw.

[Aquarist007]

I was serious here--if you can't post a good pic then list what you have--it is easier to build from their on a limited budget