New here and looking for answers....

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Good Afternoon,

What an amazing resource this place is.

My wife and I did saltwater for about 7 years just over 5 years ago and shut it down due to a move, etc...

We are wanting to get back in to the hobby now and would be really grateful for some ideas on how we should go about our setup.

I have a budget in mind of about $5000.00 with a limit of a 90g acrylic as we have a location in our living room where we'd like to put it.

I know things have changed drastically, I can appreciate that just by seeing what is on these boards. When we were big into the hobby, the systems were "overflow with drilled tank to an under stand sump, etc..."

With our budget in mind, please, if you don't mind, share with us some good tips on how to get started over again. My wife and I chose to look at this as if we have no previous experience and are eager to learn from the wealth of knowledge you folks can provide.

Some of our requirements are;
- Maple stand (natural stain, etc)
- Acrylic tank 90g with a bow front if possible
- Quiet, quiet, quiet (last system sold to us was supposed to be quiet, it was not)
- Metal Halide lighting if possible in our budget
- Good place to get a "start up kit" for rock, cleaners, etc...
- Easy general maintenance (i.e filter cleaning, etc...)

We would prefer mail order as the selection of aquarium shops are slim pickings in Calgary, and I've been to them all, Pisces, Riverfront, Wei's, etc...

Thank so much in advance, let the journey begin.

I promise to take a photo journal of our journey going forward, we're excited and look forward to getting back into it, starting from scratch!

Cheers!

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[kzickovich]

There's several sites you can buy at just to name a few starting with the best Liveaquaria.com marinedepot.com and saltwaterfish.com. What do you plan on keeping? reef reef and fish or just fishwith live rock (FOWLR)

[kzickovich]

I fogot to mention welcome to the site Also check out the sponser page

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Thanks for the quick reply...

We are interested in doing reef, but this time, we want to do it properly.

Cheers!

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[suasponte2/75]

I would also suggest looking at some of the build threads to get some ideas and such. That way you'll know what you're in for and learn from some of their knowledge/mistakes.

I did a build thread a while back if that's any help. I also suggest planning everything out and being very patient. I know it'll be hard to resist with all the equipment and water laying around but it'll pay huge when you plan it all out and comes to fruition.

Here's a link to my old thread if it's any help:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=770619

I also think with the budget you have in mind that it'll be an awesome tank with all the bells and whistles.

By the way, one of the best things I did on my new tank was to make water changes easier (see pics in thread). It's gotten water changes down to minutes versus hours (turn on a spigot). So anything you can do to make tank owning easier on the plan out phase would be worthwhile in the long run (i.e. enough space to get to equipment, electrical outlets, timers, etc.).

Also welcome to the best reef board on the planet!!

HTHs,

Minh

[SquidHC]

Firstly welcome back to the hobby.

Theres definetely several things you will want to consider before doing anything.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-02/newbie/index.php

-Do you want to have a "closed loop" or use powerheads to create flow in your tank? Done properly, a closed loop can be much cleaner looking and makes that much less equipment you need in your system.

-You said you want a "reef" tank, Do you want to collect SPS(small polyup stony) or "softies/LPS. Any advise I give you further down will be based on an SPS tank.

-You said you want a 90g acrylic tank. Why? Just my personal opinion but acrylic is far inferior to glass with the exception that it is lighter and easier to modify. If you dont go with a closed loop, definetely consider getting a high quality glass tank thats pre drilled for an overflow. Starfire glass /cough /cough

-As far as quiet goes, use a "Durso Standpipe" for your overflow and buy quality pumps and it should be pretty quiet.

-On a 90g Id assume your tank will probably be somewhere near 20" tall, and 48" long. Two MH's with good reflectors would lite your tank just fine. I prefer to add some VHO's for supplimentation so your MH's dont have to run 12 hours a day. This will help with heat control and bulb life. You could use "retro kits" and get your lights done very nicely for around 500 bucks. Less if you go with just MH's.

-Id look http://www.reefcentral.com/sponsors/ at this link to find your stuff if you want to do mail order. Ive only used www.liveaquaria.com and there customer service is awesome. You can find great deals on your rock and such, but be prepared to pay for the shipping =/

-As far as easy general maintenance goes. Get a sump set up with a refugium. Get a good in sump skimmer and stick it in there. Do waterchanges, clean your glass, and dump your skimmer collection jar regularly and thats about all you'll have to do. Keep in mind, its been my experience that the less you screw with your tank the less goes wrong with it.

Also, with a $5,000 limit for your tank, you can do just about anything you want to do. An awesome bonus goodie would be an "AquaController2" or something else by this company. (They have some nicer models) http://www.neptunesys.com/

If theres any tips I could give anyone getting into the hobby there would be 3.

1. Reefkeeping isnt as hard or volatile as everyone makes it out to be as long as you take the time to make good, educated decisions along the way.

2. The "used goods for sale" forum is like the holy grail for anyone thats not rich. No reason to pay retail for anything.

3. Be patient and dont be afraid to ask questions. But in that, remember that half of what you hear may be crap so you have to be able to decifer out the good stuff. Just go with your gut on this.

Best of luck to you and your wife.

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Awesome! Thanks to everyone so far for your fantastic advice...

I really have found this forum to a great help, so much so that I upgraded my membership to premium to help support the site.

Thanks to everyone! It really is appreciated...

Cheers!

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