New to the game!

[Michael1989]

Hi guys,

First time keeping a reef tank; so looking for any advice possible...

I knew a guy who was selling his cube; and figured since I've always wanted to give it a go; as good a time as any!

Only problem was he sold off most of the pieces of his tank, so it is mainly just the shell of the tank, and about 6kg of live rock that came with it.

I currently have the live rock in a spare tank submerged with saltwater and the heater and wave-maker in, keeping the rock 'ticking over'.

.....

So, the tank is a 120l cube, and I will not be running this with a sump (mainly to space restrictions) so the tank will be a standalone unit.

I'm currently updating my shopping list (albeit there isn't much on it) so any input would be much appreciated.

Currently got the basics;

8kg dry sand
150w heater - Suitable for tanks of 130l
2000L/H wavemaker

My only issue is; the misses isn't to happy with starting this and when doing my tropical tank I just kept adding and adding and might have spent more on it than I lead he to believe (woops).. So I've been given my warning that I need to be as budget friendly with this as possible!

Can you guys please help me with suggestions for lighting? Do I need a skimmer? Anything else would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Michael =]

[homer1475]

So roughly 34G(American here so need the conversion )

I would think a tank of this size can certainly be done without a skimmer, but I wouldn't. The aquamaxx HOB 1 is a really good skimmer for HOB equipment, but certainly not budget friendly IMO.

Budget friendly lights - Mars Aqua on ebay. one of the 165W units would be plenty of light for anything you want to grow.

165w Mars Aqua on Fleabay

[jiminy_crime]

You can get by without a protein skimmer with regular water changes...every 3 to 4 days or weekly is most common. Use some Polyfilter and you will have a nice tank.

A protein skimmer will prolong the time between water changes so it is more convenient and the preferred method by most aquarists.

If you decide on getting a protein skimmer, go with something like a HOB reef octopus (very good HOB and quiet for the misses) or an Eshopps-75H is quiet and sleek and less costly.

If you want to do corals, you will need more powerful lighting. If you just want to keep FISH ONLY WITH LIVE ROCK (FOWLR) you can use any lighting that is appealing to your eye. If you are thinking corals, hit up the Used sell or trade forum and buy some used quality lights from someone getting out of the hobby. These usually end up being very good at half the cost. You can go with LEDs(more expensive), MH similar to LED but higher on the electricity, T5 (usually considered the best because they end up being the best all the way up to the most sensitive SPS corals...have to change bulbs annually though...LEDs are the new rave and becoming the most common)

Buy some powerheads..usually 10-20 times the size of the tank in gallons per hour (ex. 60g tank would need 600-1200gph in the tank...mostly determined by corals you keep. If you do soft corals, go with lower flow. SPS corals need higher flow.

So to sum it up...determine what you want to keep...then buy your lights and powerheads....if you want to spend another $150-200 and get a skimmer, it will be well worth it.

Oh and lastly, if you want to do saltwater on the cheap, stay away from corals...unless you are part of a local club that donates frags, you will spend yourself into oblivion on corals. Just a tip.






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[bshow24]

Originally Posted by jiminy_crime

You can get by without a protein skimmer with regular water changes...every 3 to 4 days or weekly is most common. Use some Polyfilter and you will have a nice tank.

A protein skimmer will prolong the time between water changes so it is more convenient and the preferred method by most aquarists.

If you decide on getting a protein skimmer, go with something like a HOB reef octopus (very good HOB and quiet for the misses) or an Eshopps-75H is quiet and sleek and less costly.

If you want to do corals, you will need more powerful lighting. If you just want to keep FISH ONLY WITH LIVE ROCK (FOWLR) you can use any lighting that is appealing to your eye. If you are thinking corals, hit up the Used sell or trade forum and buy some used quality lights from someone getting out of the hobby. These usually end up being very good at half the cost. You can go with LEDs(more expensive), MH similar to LED but higher on the electricity, T5 (usually considered the best because they end up being the best all the way up to the most sensitive SPS corals...have to change bulbs annually though...LEDs are the new rave and becoming the most common)

Buy some powerheads..usually 10-20 times the size of the tank in gallons per hour (ex. 60g tank would need 600-1200gph in the tank...mostly determined by corals you keep. If you do soft corals, go with lower flow. SPS corals need higher flow.

So to sum it up...determine what you want to keep...then buy your lights and powerheads....if you want to spend another $150-200 and get a skimmer, it will be well worth it.

Oh and lastly, if you want to do saltwater on the cheap, stay away from corals...unless you are part of a local club that donates frags, you will spend yourself into oblivion on corals. Just a tip.

Jiminy gave you some good information. Only thing I would change is if you want to keep SPS corals, you'll need closer to 30-50x tank volume being pushed through powerhead/returns.

On this topic though, I'd avoid corals for a few months. Get to know and understand your tank, learn how to control parameters and what goes on, then add some corals in later. They can be costly and do add up, but there's something about watching a little stick grow in a glass box.

[CorbinSawyer]

I have a reef octopus HOB on my 20G that's working pretty well. I didn't pay much for it. I just had to run some tubing from the collection cup to a bottle or I had to empty it pretty often.

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