I think I am going to do it...

[Tc3driver]

Well maybe...

Here's the rub... All this stuff and to be honest I am so lost on what it all does...

I know from owning aquariums in the past that small is bad, especially in a salty env, things can change very quickly... almost too quickly for someone who more often than not works more than 12 hours a day...

for that reason I am thinking a 50-100 Gallon aquarium may be a good start...

with those parameters in mind...

Build me an aquarium... Oh I know that this sounds like an a-hole maneuver, but I love aquariums, the fish in my old aquariums proliferated quite consistently (mostly cichlids). I am TBH totally lost on all this stuff, what it does, and how it works.

Right now I am not too worried about how it is going to be stocked, I am more worried about getting a good setup together... that is the point of this thread. If you were putting together an aquarium like the one I am planning, what would you use. And any explination of what the stuff does would be an added bonus. An estimated cost would be helpful also

I can tell you that I will be doing live rock and probably live sand as well.

I want about a 6-8" base of sand.

Also if someone could recommend a good source for this equipment... I don't trust the fish mongers here in socal.. all they want is money, and I know that money does not always equal quality.

oh and say about a $5000 cap on price before stock (but including live rock and sand).

Any help would be appreciated.

[2004jetta]

first find out what size tank you want, price of a 50 gal is obviously half of a comparable 100 gal. Are you sure you want to do a Deep Sand Bed (DSB)? Do you want a corner tank, reg. rectangular, half circle? Give us some more info first.

[Tc3driver]

just your standard boring rectangle aquarium.

Sorry I should have made that clear.

I am opened to other suggestions... oh and unless otherwise suggested I would also like to go all glass...

As for the actual size... I am asking on recommendations on that as well, I don't know which would be better for a beginner into reef aquariums.

And I am not sure of anything...

What are the pros and cons of a DSB?

I know that I would like a DSB, I like the look of it... but an aquarium only looks as good as the owner is at maintaining it... correct?

[Jaded_Falcon]

One piece of advice... get a pre-drilled/ reef ready tank. My 55 has a syphon overflow and I hate it. It works but if it ever fails...! DSB's are good and bad. If you disturb them you can crash your tank. But they're great in denitrification. Many people run a remote DSB for the benefits without the worries. And buy a good skimmer. I didn't and had to buy another. Wasted money trying to save it! (before I found RC!)

[JBuffetReefer]

One important question is what kind of fish do you want to keep? Also, do you want to keep corals or fish only?

These decisions will help us help you better.

[Johnny C]

Well... You've asked a TON of question in one forum, and to be honest, you need to do some definate research before dumping $5000 into a system that is only going to fail on you. Trying to cut-corners and have others build your tank up (equipment wise) is a REALLY bad idea, as a large portion of this hobby is mere preference and asking for them is only going to get you a million and one answers. In the end, this will leave you with an empty bank account and a pounding headache!

Since you asked though, if I had $5000 (WISH I DID BTW), this is what I would buy:

-75/90/110 Pre-Drilled Aquarium (Reef Ready, depending on PREFERENCE).
-Octopus/ASM In-Sump Skimmer
-2x250w Metal Halide Lighting w/ T5 Actinics
-40G Sump w/ Refugium
-4-6'' Deep Sand Bed (Fine Grain Aragonite)
-Auto Top-Off
-1 or 2 Reactors
-ETC ETC ETC

These are the BARE essentials and there are a LOT of other options out there. A few good tips that I can give you is to buy the biggest possible setup you can afford, READ READ READ, visit a few local fish stores and see what catches your attention.

[46FiatYamaha]

Another option, you can look on craigslist and local ads for a full functioning system, and odds are it'll be a good bit less than $5000, and if it's currently up and running before you buy it you'll know if it all works (equipment wise) Just about a month ago there was a past TOTM for sale here http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-07/totm/index.php for $7500. If you could find something like this but in your price range it could save you a lot of work and money

[Ken Good]

I want to expound on an earlier post. Some of the equipment that you will need will depend on what you want to keep in the aquarium. If you want to keep certain corals or anenomies then you will have to meet certain lighting requirements. A drilled tank will help with noise if you have a fuge.

If I had $5,000.00 and was starting over here is what I would buy:

1. 100 gal. reef ready tank. I would also have it drilled for a closed loop system.
2. get a 30 to 50 gal fuge.
3. buy good lighting which meets your needs.
4. buy a protein skimmer one size bigger than you think you need.
5. if you have the fuge drilled you can use an external return pump. Also, you will need an external pump for the closed loop.
6. an RO/DI unit so that you can make your own water (never use tap water because it is the gift that keeps on giving concerning algae).
7. I would also buy reactors for carbon, phosban and denitrification (but part of this depends on if you plan to have hard corals).
8. I also have a UV unit, but I do not know if I would buy one if I was just starting.

Good luck.

Ken

[Ken Good]

I would also buy a controller but that is because I am a computer geek.

Ken

[Reef-Ski]

+1 on 46FiatYamaha response.

You should be able to find a great deal on the size tanks you are looking into.

I would strongly encourage lots of research. Even if you were to find a great deal on a used system you still need to understand the basics to keep it up.

That said I would look into finding a used 90 gallon Oceanic reef ready setup. You should be able to find a great deal on one for under $1,000

Save the extra $4,000 because in about 1 year after you gain some experience and knowledge in this hobby, and the reef bug really bits you will want to upgrade for sure

[Tc3driver]

This has strayed from what I had hoped it would be

I don't want to purchase someone else's problems, the fun part for me has always been building stuff. Back when I was racing I loved building my cars, tuning them, getting the suspension tweaked out, 4 or 5 hours of work for 4 to 5 minutes of enjoyment. I want to set it up from nothing... it is just that reading around this and other forums, it seems that there is more crap (read: junk items) out there than good...

that is more what I am going for, trying to weed out the crap before I buy it :P

but thanks for the help...

[Sk8r]

You can spend about 3000.00 outfitting a 54 g tank with sump, fake hood, mh lighting, mag 9.5 pump and 20g sump with Urchin skimmer.
You can see by my equipment list I didn't stay to that. I now have a basement sump of 30 g and I got a bigger pump.

You need: a skimmer, lights (t5 or mh), ballasts, return pump, durso/standpipe, reefready tank with thick glass (you don't want a break!), appropriate hoses, heater, and an autotopoff unit (inexpensive dual float switch connected to freshwater reservoir). You will be doing a 10% water change per week: that'll be 5 gallons or 10, your choice, by tank size. If you want such fish as tangs and angels, pick a 100g. If you are happy with corals, gobies, blennies, etc, pick a 50. Tanks make noise---like an in-house waterfall. You cannot treat fish for parasites inside your tank (treatments kill necessary bacteria)---so you'll want an adequate small bare tank with heater to house fish for a couple of weeks before you let them into your tank. You'll need spare poly buckets to mix and drain in, you'll need a lifting/stirring pump and some extra hoses for water changes, and you'll definitely need a ro/di filter, not necessarily plumbed in, but where you can run it when you need water. At 5 g a week, this will pay for itself fairly soon. You will need certain tests, including a refractometer and alk tests, some supplements, depending on whether you keep corals (pretty easy, and they grow fast, but some fish (angels) eat them or at least most kinds of them, so read up!) and good luck!

[46FiatYamaha]

if you want to build something up from scratch why are you asking us to do all the work?

[JBuffetReefer]

You still haven't answered some important questions like what you want to keep. Are you planning on just having fish or do you want corals? Also, what kinds of fish do you want to keep? These are very important questions you need to ask yourself before starting to plan your system.

A budget of 5k and all new equipment is plenty to start a system. Here's what I recommend.

I would recommend a 120g AGA tank. This is a 4'x2'x2' tank. It's a good size for a starter tank and will allow you to hold most fishes outside of the really big fish.

I would recommend you shop around the LFS and see what they are selling them for and see if you can bargain with them. I bought one for about $1,300 for the tank stand and hood. It might be more down in So. Cal. but you shouldn't pay more than $1,500 -$1,800 for this tank.

Try to ask for a package deal if you buy everything from them, provided they have all the equipment you want.

In regards to lighting, if you are planning on just having fish then you will only need fluorescent lighting, however sooner or later you will get the coral bug. The bare minimum lighting you will want for a 120g tank would be 2 150w MH lights. This will allow you to keep most zoos, anemones and some LPS & SPS's. This light will run about $500. If you want lighting that will handle anything, then I would recommend a 2 250MH with 2 96w antinic bulbs. This will run about $1,100. These prices are for light fixtures, it might be cheaper if you want to build the ballasts yourself.

For filtration I would recommend buying a 40g breeder tank and building a sump, they run about $100. For a skimmer, I would recommend MSX or Octo for about $300 for this size tank. A refugium will just require a clamp on light. The return pump will be about $200. I would also recommend an ATO (autotop off system) for about $100 WITH A 5-10g tank.

For flow I would get 2 korelia powerheads for $60 a piece.

After that, all you need is sand and LR which will run about $300 for both.

The rest is salt, refractometer, buckets mixing powerheads and supplements.

Hope this helps.

[Tc3driver]

Originally posted by Sk8r
You can spend about 3000.00 outfitting a 54 g tank with sump, fake hood, mh lighting, mag 9.5 pump and 20g sump with Urchin skimmer.
You can see by my equipment list I didn't stay to that. I now have a basement sump of 30 g and I got a bigger pump.

You need: a skimmer, lights (t5 or mh), ballasts, return pump, durso/standpipe, reefready tank with thick glass (you don't want a break!), appropriate hoses, heater, and an autotopoff unit (inexpensive dual float switch connected to freshwater reservoir). You will be doing a 10% water change per week: that'll be 5 gallons or 10, your choice, by tank size. If you want such fish as tangs and angels, pick a 100g. If you are happy with corals, gobies, blennies, etc, pick a 50. Tanks make noise---like an in-house waterfall. You cannot treat fish for parasites inside your tank (treatments kill necessary bacteria)---so you'll want an adequate small bare tank with heater to house fish for a couple of weeks before you let them into your tank. You'll need spare poly buckets to mix and drain in, you'll need a lifting/stirring pump and some extra hoses for water changes, and you'll definitely need a ro/di filter, not necessarily plumbed in, but where you can run it when you need water. At 5 g a week, this will pay for itself fairly soon. You will need certain tests, including a refractometer and alk tests, some supplements, depending on whether you keep corals (pretty easy, and they grow fast, but some fish (angels) eat them or at least most kinds of them, so read up!) and good luck!

Thank you

Excellent information

Originally posted by 46FiatYamaha
if you want to build something up from scratch why are you asking us to do all the work?

Because you have already done the work, if you read the entire thread, you will find that I don't want to have to buy twice. It is going to be an insane learning experience, and a steep learning curve. But starting with the right stuff helps curb that slightly. I normally ignore trollish posts like this, but felt I should at least defend my stance a bit.

Originally posted by JBuffetReefer
You still haven't answered some important questions like what you want to keep. Are you planning on just having fish or do you want corals? Also, what kinds of fish do you want to keep? These are very important questions you need to ask yourself before starting to plan your system.

A budget of 5k and all new equipment is plenty to start a system. Here's what I recommend.

I would recommend a 120g AGA tank. This is a 4'x2'x2' tank. It's a good size for a starter tank and will allow you to hold most fishes outside of the really big fish.

I would recommend you shop around the LFS and see what they are selling them for and see if you can bargain with them. I bought one for about $1,300 for the tank stand and hood. It might be more down in So. Cal. but you shouldn't pay more than $1,500 -$1,800 for this tank.

Try to ask for a package deal if you buy everything from them, provided they have all the equipment you want.

In regards to lighting, if you are planning on just having fish then you will only need fluorescent lighting, however sooner or later you will get the coral bug. The bare minimum lighting you will want for a 120g tank would be 2 150w MH lights. This will allow you to keep most zoos, anemones and some LPS & SPS's. This light will run about $500. If you want lighting that will handle anything, then I would recommend a 2 250MH with 2 96w antinic bulbs. This will run about $1,100. These prices are for light fixtures, it might be cheaper if you want to build the ballasts yourself.

For filtration I would recommend buying a 40g breeder tank and building a sump, they run about $100. For a skimmer, I would recommend MSX or Octo for about $300 for this size tank. A refugium will just require a clamp on light. The return pump will be about $200. I would also recommend an ATO (autotop off system) for about $100 WITH A 5-10g tank.

For flow I would get 2 korelia powerheads for $60 a piece.

After that, all you need is sand and LR which will run about $300 for both.

The rest is salt, refractometer, buckets mixing powerheads and supplements.

Hope this helps.

YOU DA MAN!!! (woman?)

This is helping a lot.

After reading around a bit, I am probably going to go with soft corals and some anemones, other than that just CUC stuff. I don't want a lot of fish, more shrimps and crabs maybe.... some clams...

Still working out exactly how I want to stock it. But I efficiently want choral and a general reef setting.