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New Reefer Needs Suggestions

njtiger24 aquariums

njtiger24 aquariums

Officer Emeritus
Article Contributor
Welcome to the club and the hobby. You will find out there are 1,000s of ways to do something and at least one person will tell you that your doing it wrong. What it comes down to is your fish and corals are happy and healthy.

As many mentioned above take your time and do your research. The best is to first try and decided with path you want to go. Do you want to do fish only or do you want to get into corals? Fish only are simpler systems but corals are nice. If you are doing corals then you need to figure out if you want to do softies, LPS, SPS, or mix. Once you have a game plan then start researching who can go together. Like if you do corals then you can't get fish that nip at corals.

As you do your research don't be scare to ask questions. I have found the folks on this site are open and helpful. I seen many sites where people belittled a newbie for dumb questions. Don't let people like that get you down in this hobby.
 
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Mike615reef

DT looks great. Basement setup is the way I believe I am going to go. From the research I am doing, I really enjoy the look of soft corals in the tank. That and anemones. I am reading that a good clean up crew is a must for any reef tank. My guess is anywhere from 100-125 hermits, snails , shrimp or crabs? Is that right? I want 10-15 reef safe fish if that is not too crowded?

As for corals and anemones I like the following:

Corals:

Strawberry Tree Coral, Toad Stool Coral, Finger Leather Coral, neon blue hairy rhodactis, purple bullseye rhodactis mushroom, lavender mushroom, green rhodactis, rainbow rhodactis

Anemones:

Inferno Bubble Tip, Bluetip Sebae, Red Bubble Tip

Now I know I can't have everything I like in the DT and I also know each item has to go in very slowly. But that being said...what type of 1st floor DT and basement sump setup would you recommend?


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Lostinthedark

Lostinthedark

NJRC Member
There is a tremendous amount of information and opinions on these message boards. Sometimes too much. I found it helpful to get a couple of good books to sit and read. I have several that have been very helpful. They may be a little outdated and not up to date on the latest and greatest ways to spend your money but the basics are still the same.
I found The Reef Aquarium by Julian Sprung very good at explaining the basics. I'm sure there a more out there that others could suggest. The one issue a lot of beginners have starting up is that everyone has a different way of getting to the end result, which is to mimic the ocean with light and chemistry. Having a book in front of you to explain "why" lets you help make your own choices on how to get there.
 
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Mike615reef

Lostinthedark said:
There is a tremendous amount of information and opinions on these message boards. Sometimes too much. I found it helpful to get a couple of good books to sit and read. I have several that have been very helpful. They may be a little outdated and not up to date on the latest and greatest ways to spend your money but the basics are still the same.
I found The Reef Aquarium by Julian Sprung very good at explaining the basics. I'm sure there a more out there that others could suggest. The one issue a lot of beginners have starting up is that everyone has a different way of getting to the end result, which is to mimic the ocean with light and chemistry. Having a book in front of you to explain "why" lets you help make your own choices on how to get there.
Click to expand...

Thank you Lost. I have been reading on the internet for weeks now and will absolutely pick up and read any recommended reading to increase the chances for success. I plan on taking the better part of the next month reading before I take any next steps. That being said, I do have an idea of what I want in the tank so now I really am looking for experienced people to recommend what they believe is the best equipment for the job.


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trivan

trivan

Start by deciding the size tank you want. Long and short or wide and tall. This will limit you to the manufacturer. Rimless, braced or eurobrace. Stock ones are good but I haven't looked at them in a while. Sump can be a simple tank with baffles or a prefab one for a few hundred. Go as large as you can with the sump. I recently saw the new Geo sumps and was empressed. Mine was from Elite aquatics.
 
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Mike615reef

I am going to visit some fish stores this week and start to look at their larger reef setups. Since I will be running the sump, refugium, QT and everything else out of my basement, their setups should be similar. Once I have an idea of either 120 or 150, I will post dimensions. Thanks Mike, your advice is already helping me and I appreciate it.


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D

DaveK

Mike615reef said:
I am going to visit some fish stores this week and start to look at their larger reef setups. Since I will be running the sump, refugium, QT and everything else out of my basement, their setups should be similar. Once I have an idea of either 120 or 150, I will post dimensions. Thanks Mike, your advice is already helping me and I appreciate it.


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Click to expand...

Before you do anything else, stop and consider what you want to keep in the system. Livestock selection can often drive the equipment selection. For example, if you want soft corals, your lighting requirements will be lower. You need not figure out every fish and coral and invert you want, but do have some idea of where you want to go. Note that "choosing" a "mixed reef with corals an fish" means you put no thought at all into this key area. (grin)

While a lot of good information is available on the net, it is a massive amount to go through, and much of it may not be applicable to what you want to keep. There is also a lot of obsolete, misleading, and just incorrect information out there, giving you a lot of potential pitfalls in setting up your system.

I highly recommend getting a few good books on the subject. They make a good place to start. Here are two I like to recommend to beginners -

The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert Fenner
The New Marine Aquarium by Michael Paleta <---This book has an especially good section on fish suited to someone starting off in the hobby.

A note on the books. You can often find used copies at much lower prices at places like Amazon. In most cases these are going to be as good as new copies, especially when your first learning.

Now that you have a good idea about what your going to need, figure out what this is going to cost you. SW system can get extremely expensive very quickly. For a very quick estimate/guess, using new equipment, I usually figure the cost is going to run between $35 - $50 per gallon of water in the main display tank by the time you have it setup. In other words, that 120 or 150 gal tank, fully set up is likely to cost you about $4200 to about $7500. You can save quite a bit by looking for used equipment, or DIY projects. For example, you can usually construct a sump for a lot less than you can buy one ready made. You can also spend a lot more than this quick estimate, especially if you like a lot of the exotic gear available. (grin)

On putting everything else but the display tank in the basement. Generally this is a great idea to keep noise down and not be limited by the space under the tank. However there are some considerations. One thing you'll find is that your return pump must be carefully selected. You need one that will move water up 10 to 15 feet, without too much loss, and also not consuming a lot of electricity. A modest power head type pump or some of the DC controllable pumps would not be up to the task. Another factor is that this can mean many trips up and down the stairs when something needs to be adjusted.
 
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