not sure what to do

[malmom]

Hello all i am very very new to the hobby. I hope everyone can help me understand everything a little better. I read magazines and books but still am not sure of really what to do....I am thinking about converting my 150 freshwater tank to a saltwater but I do not know where to start. All have at this point is all the stuff for my freshwater tank (heater, two bio-wheel filters and fluorescent lights). I know I need a different type of filter and a protein skimmer and other things but do not know where to start. And where is the best place to get live rock and sand???? I would eventually like to have fish, corals and all the cool stuff but do not know where to start....

PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!

 

[Reefergeorge]

WELCOME TO RF,
Start reading there is a lot of information out there. I switched from a chiclid tank to sw and haven't looked back it's very rewarding, but I had books and about a years worth of reading before I bought my first fish. If you jump in and rush things it only leads to problems and a lot of money down the drain. Good luck and keep us posted

 

[mmkeeper]

Welcome to RF. One of the first things you need to do is decide what type of saltwater tank you want. Fish only, fowler ( fish only with live rock) or a reef tank. If a reef tank do you want a SPS reef,Lps reef, Softies or mixed. This will help you plan on what things you will need. Mainly lighting.

 

[mmkeeper]

One major word of advice is no matter what you decided is go slow, very slow, you cannot rush a saltwater system like you can a freshwater tank. Read the sticky above.

 

[plack]

Welcome to reef frontiers!

Some questions first:

"I would eventually like to have fish, corals and all the cool stuff but do not know where to start"

Well what is the cool stuff to you..what type or types of corals and fish.?

"I hope everyone can help me understand everything a little better"

Excellent ask a specific question and we can try to help then.

If you want us to give advice on all the equipment for the 150 tank you have and converting that into a mixed reef bare bottom on a real tight budget. We gotta know thats what you want.

And keep in mind this is not a cheap hobby. That does not mean it cant be done on a tight budget, but if you want a matching furniture grade lighting canopy it will cost more than just a Do It Yourself made one. If you are a DIY person then your budget will be able to be stretched further.

If you just want the best we would be happy to reccomend that as well.



Paul

 

[roblou]

Hi & welcome to RF!

IMHO, if you do not already own one, I would start by getting a good RO/DI (Reverse Osmosis/De-Ionizing) water purifying unit. IME, you will save yourself a lot of future algae problems if you start out only using pure water. Look to spend anywhere between $100-250 for a nice new RO/DI.

You mentioned protein skimmer, which would probably be my next recommendation on equipment to buy. A good skimmer for a 150 will not be cheap, but will go a long ways to making your reef tank inhabitents (corals, fish) happy.

I don't think you can go wrong by getting the 2 pieces of equipment above regardless of what type of SW tank you want to set up. With lighting, you should 1st consider what type of livestock you want to keep, then research to find the types of lighting available that will meet those needs.

Other considerations you'll need to start thinking about (and doing research on) is what type of flow do you want (closed loop vs powerheads), are you going to hook up a sump or go sumpless, what type of sandbed (or barebottom), etc.

Hope this helps to give you a little direction & some things to think about. Posting here is actually a very, very good start!

rob

 

[malmom]

Well in response to every ones questions. I am aware of the cost of going with saltwater. I have been reading and doing research for about a year now but there are so many options. I will have a sand bottom if that is what everyone suggests. I would like to start with a fish only for beginners then would like to slowly advance to corals anemones so on, but that is in the far future. Hopefully that is enough info for any suggestion anyone may have. Any suggestions on any brand or type of skimmer would be appreciated....Thanx for all the help.....

 

[Damsel13]

Hi, Welcome!
hehe seems like practically nobody agrees on the substrate (sand, bare bottom issue). Sounds like you have alot fun things to do.

 

[fiddyreef]

Hello Im new to this hobby as well and some times those that have been on this forum for a long time have a habit of abbreviating things that us newbies have no idea what you are talikn about! It can be very frustrating. such as SPS reef,Lps reef I feel like we should have a decoder ring before we can read some of these threads! Please be a little more aware of this! I know in the end I will get all the abbreviations. But sometimes my guess is so far off from what you are talking about.
Thanks in advance!

 

[Krish]

Welcome to RF guys! I've seen you've gotten some great feedback so far. Just ask ask ask away and we will do our best to help. As for acronyms to alot of terms used here, here's a link that should help

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3260&highlight=acronyms/url

 

[fiddyreef]

Thank you! YEAH the decoder ring!!!!!!

 

[ReefferMan]

YOu will want to get the Big 4...
1. RODI to have the best water starting out.
2. Skimmer, so that your Fish and inhabitants are not swimming in there own Poop!
3. Good source of flow, POwerheads, Closed loop if your tank is drilled (IS IT?) or Tunze units (Oh yeah) What ever you do dont make the mistake i made by using RIO power heads! ONe Blew up in my dispay and wiped out everything.
4. Lights Look towards the future! its commin! you will want to upgrade. VHO or T5 and 400MH is the way to go with a deep tank. and you can have just about everything.

If i had to do it all over again i would start with all the best equip i could get rather then spending more $$$$ on upgrading, but it seems like everyone does this exact thing. Best of luck to ya and welcome to RF!

Reefferman!

 

[Scooterman]

First I'd ask have you ever treated your tank with any copper treatments? This isn't safe for a marine tank, any marine tank to begin with!!

 

[plack]

Excellent point Scooterman!!! I might clarify that if the tank was treated just once since it was made it will give a small trace amount of copper back into the saltwater. Even if you scrubbed it clean I don't belive you could get it out of the silicone ever you could only test for it as it can damage corals.

Maybe you could get a local fish store to test for it for you if you don't know!

 

[plack]

I know you want to start BUT we Really still need to know more specifically. I belive you should take a look at fellow olympia reefers tanks and see how they plump there system. And why they chose that way, then maybe you will get a firm idea of what you want.

Reef tanks are like custom bikes allot are similar but no 2 are 100% alike. and Many change thing rearange thing's until they get what they really wanted the first time around!!


You need in my opinion :

1) a sump ( there are so many options here I could go on and on and on on just this alone)

2)A skimmer ( basically it's choose a style. Needlewheel's are popular so are becketts then there is downdrafts and countercurrents and wich is better comes down to pro's and cons again there are many many options)

3) a plan for flow inside the tank ( do you mind staring at powerheads, Do you think you could risk the gamble of drilling the back wall of a glass tank for installing a closed loop.?)
Many many options of flow and this is very very important!!!

4) Lighting ( I belive for that tank two 250 watt metal halides and some kind of acitinic lighting via VHO's or T-5's.

5) if possable a place where you can keep a small 15 gallon tank settup all the time with just a heater maybe the biowheels you have and a piece of pvc pipe and a compact light over it for a sick tank would be awesome (most people dont have the space for it or are on a tight buget and cant afford it)

I hope this shows you the many options available and to pursue the options list and narrow it down a bit as this is my intent and not to be a downer!!!!!!!

I know of a few reefers in the tacoma olympia area you could pm and ask to see if thats what you want to do next?



Paul

 

[plack]

Or how about this? I just thought of this ! You might like it better!!

Set up a 20 gallon nano tank just to see what it's like ? If you decide to go forward to upgrade the 150 you could use it for a sump or quarintine/sick tank!



Paul