New and need knowledge

aquaticnewbie · 01/27/2016, 11:22 PM

Hi, my name is Kasey. I recently had a very close friend pass who owned a couple tanks. He wanted to set them up but never had the time. So now I have them. I want to set one up for now until I get the hang of things. It is a 44 gallon pentagon tank, I have a bunch of rock, a couple circulation pumps, and some lighting that I think is too small for the tank. Can anyone help me with what else I need to get and any helpful hints along the way. Like do I really need a protein skimmer? Not really wanting to get into the real sensitive fish or corals. Also is it really worth buying saltwater for water changes instead of making it in house? Lots more questions, and all information helps. Like I said I am very new to this and do not like to just jump into things without having a strong understanding of them. Thanks

jstack · 01/27/2016, 11:35 PM

read that huge sticky above on starting up has pretty much everything you need to know.
as far as cycling all you need is pumps/heater, ro/di, refractometer, rock,salt, carbon/phosphate remover. lights you can hold off on for a month I'm told and a good protein skimmer would be good to add before you have fish

thegrun · 01/27/2016, 11:37 PM

Hi Kasey and welcome to Reef Central! Sorry for the loss of your friend. There is a lot to learn before you set the first tank up. I would advise reading through all the article in the sticky at the top of this forum "Setting up: How to"
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1031074
There is a lot of information there and you may feel overwhelmed, preserver! You may actually want to read through the information there twice, then start asking specific questions about thing that you are unsure of. As to your questions, no you do not need a protein skimmer but they do reduce the amount of work you have to put into upkeep of a tank. If you make your own water it is important to use quality freshwater. That almost always requires that the water run through an RO/DI (reverse osmosis/ de-ionization) filter. There are very few cities that provide water pure enough that it does not need additional filtration or you will end up with algae issues.
Best of luck!

aquaticnewbie · 01/27/2016, 11:51 PM

Thanks for the replies and I will get to reading.

01/27/2016, 11:22 PM	#1
aquaticnewbie Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: South Carolina Posts: 2	New and need knowledge Hi, my name is Kasey. I recently had a very close friend pass who owned a couple tanks. He wanted to set them up but never had the time. So now I have them. I want to set one up for now until I get the hang of things. It is a 44 gallon pentagon tank, I have a bunch of rock, a couple circulation pumps, and some lighting that I think is too small for the tank. Can anyone help me with what else I need to get and any helpful hints along the way. Like do I really need a protein skimmer? Not really wanting to get into the real sensitive fish or corals. Also is it really worth buying saltwater for water changes instead of making it in house? Lots more questions, and all information helps. Like I said I am very new to this and do not like to just jump into things without having a strong understanding of them. Thanks

01/27/2016, 11:35 PM	#2
jstack Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: abq,nm Posts: 290	read that huge sticky above on starting up has pretty much everything you need to know. as far as cycling all you need is pumps/heater, ro/di, refractometer, rock,salt, carbon/phosphate remover. lights you can hold off on for a month I'm told and a good protein skimmer would be good to add before you have fish

01/27/2016, 11:37 PM	#3
thegrun Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Garden Grove, Ca Posts: 17,023	Hi Kasey and welcome to Reef Central! Sorry for the loss of your friend. There is a lot to learn before you set the first tank up. I would advise reading through all the article in the sticky at the top of this forum "Setting up: How to" http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1031074 There is a lot of information there and you may feel overwhelmed, preserver! You may actually want to read through the information there twice, then start asking specific questions about thing that you are unsure of. As to your questions, no you do not need a protein skimmer but they do reduce the amount of work you have to put into upkeep of a tank. If you make your own water it is important to use quality freshwater. That almost always requires that the water run through an RO/DI (reverse osmosis/ de-ionization) filter. There are very few cities that provide water pure enough that it does not need additional filtration or you will end up with algae issues. Best of luck!

01/27/2016, 11:51 PM	#4
aquaticnewbie Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: South Carolina Posts: 2	Thanks for the replies and I will get to reading.