Newbie tank help

I am new to the hobby and I am going to buy a 75 gallon tank and stand tomorrow for 125. I have done alot of research and I know about conditioning and the ph and all the levels. What I need to know is if you guys could give me some links to the filter and lighting system I need. I dont really know what I need as far as equipment I need thats why I need link to products online to buy. And another question I have is I have city water can I fill it with that? Because I really cant afford 75 gallons of distilled water.


Thanks for the help,
Rick

 

Filtration will be mostly biological. You can use powerheads such as koralia to keep water circulating. Lighting will be dependent on what you wan to keep. T5 and LEDs tend to be pretty popular and energy efficient. I would not use city water. I get water from my lfs for about .50 cents a gallon

 

Thank you for the help but how am I suppose to transport that much water? And I'm going to have clown fish and fish they are compatible with and a few soft corals what kind of lighting would you suggest? Led?

 

I would look into an RO/DI system as tap water is really not a good option. Filtration all depends on the stocking of the system. As for filtration and lighting, I would just say that now is a good time to get what is at the top of your spending limit, not that you should blow all your money right away, but its cheaper to get the right stuff now than it is to upgrade to it later. And we all get the itch to upgrade and usually sooner than later.

Jake

 

Welcome to the reef Rick. As far as your filtration goes it really depends on your set-up. As stated earlier the live rock will be your major Biological filtration. But you will still need mechanical filtration, a skimmer. This best ones for cost in my opinion will be Reef Octopus, coming in both in sump and Hang On Back (HOB) versions. And it is always recommended to buy a skimmer slightly larger than your tank. For a 75g tank I would recommend something rated for at least 100g, I personally use a 320g rated skimmer for a 240g tank. As far as water goes, most Local Fish Stores (LFS) will transport it to you for the first time you set it up and then they should sell 5g jugs too. Also, as stated earlier use Reverse Osmosis De-Ionized (RODI) water, for both top offs of evaporated water and mixing your own salt water. Mixing your own salt water is also recommended if you live in an area where you are unable to purchase real ocean water.

As far as water pumps go they cost a lot more but I recommend EcoTech's Vortech pumps and with your size tank one MP20 would be enough to start. If your willing to spend a little more than go with a MP40.

For lights it depends on how plan to stock the tank. Cheapest fixtures work fine for a Fish only tank. LEDs are the most cost effective but, the debate on those are still going as they are new to the hobby as well. For a tank with any corals I recommend Metal Halide (MH) and T5s.

But skimmer is really the only you should need to worry about. Then Lights and water pumps. And Patience is the key, so be willing to buy the tank and wait until you can afford everything you need to at least get it up and running. Don't set-up and then realize you have to buy more stuff because something bad happened.

 

Biofreak says alot of great things but I have to disagree on a point. Don't go out and spend 2k to get started. This is ridiculous if you don't know how much you will even like it. Get a koralia (50 bucks) to move water, a good quality heater, 100lbs of rock which i would recommend getting from reefcleaners (seed with a couple lbs from your lfs), 1-2 inchs of sand and either transports the water of have your lfs do it for you. I have 2 7 gallon containers i bought at cabelas for 12 bucks that work excellent for water transport. The LFS will probably let you borrow a few of his which would make the total trips needed down to just a couple. This would get you set up and cycling. Not to mention, this layout would handle the bioload of a couple of clownfish even without s skimmer (which you will want to buy somewhere down the road). With a 75 gallon tank, I would think about drilling it for an overflow before you set it up. Your lfs might be able to help with this or you can youtube it. It's pretty cheap to drill and allows you to add a sump where you can place all of you heaters etc (so the display tank looks better) and also grow macro algae etc. Lighting is like buying a car, so many options out there and any one of them can be right for you. You don;t need to worry about anything fancy to start with but once you start keep corals you will need to upgrade (probably at least 300 bucks). I would focus on the cycled and basic husbandry prior to even considering corals. I hope this helps, there is alot of great information here. I would highly recommend reading some build threads, these are aquarist who are going through the same steps you are.

 

Koralia pumps are great but I have owned multiple ones and they usually break after a year of use. They are mid range cost pumps and have to be replaced way to often for the cost, that is the only reason I don't recommend them any more. And I never said anything about spending 2k I believe what I said was: