What do I need next?

Hi all, I am about to start a saltwater tank, and I need everything except the tank. :/

I don't want to make any wrong purchases and regret it later, so I am hoping you can steer me in the right direction.

My tank is a 95 gallon L-shaped acrylic tank. It came with a stand, but nothing else. I have plans to have someone build a canopy for me, but before I do that, I need to know which light to purchase.

Then I need to know which filter I should get and so on.

I am fully prepared to go about this very slowly, and not rush things, so can you all give me any advice about getting started? We have had a 50 gallon SW tank in the past, but it came with everything and I didn't have too purchase any sand or rocks. I just want to make sure I am doing everything right the first time.

 

What do you plan to keep in the tank? This will determine what kind of lights you need (and just about everything else, really).

Live rock and sand will be needed to host bacteria for the biofilter, and as far as other filtration goes, there are a ton of options available. I recommend searching this site for protein skimmers, algae turf scrubbers, different media (i.e. carbon, GFO, biopellets), reactors and refugiums to get a sense for what others are doing and what the benefits and limitations of each are.

There are tons of threads with questions and answers about these things, DIY options and all kinds of other good stuff.

Read read read..... Good luck and welcome.

--EW

 

Agreed, we need to know what your plans are for the tank. But the following list is the most common equipment for your average reef tank:

RO/DI system for mixing salt water and for topping off evaporation
Live Rock / Dry Rock mix
Substrate
Lighting (depends on corals & type)
Sump to house all equipment (will require the tank to be drilled if not already or an overflow box)
Protein Skimmer (rated for 150-200 gallons)
Reactor(s) (for carbon, GFO, bio-pellets, etc)
Refugium (can be integrated in the sump, separate tank, HOB, etc)
Refugium light
Heater(s)
Return pump
Powerheads (# and flow will depend on what you want to keep)
Auto Top Off (ATO) - automatically refills your sump with RO/DI water
Controller - Can control temperature, ATO, lighting, wavemaker for powerheads, monitor pH, etc)

Some of these items may not be needed depending on what you are looking to do. Hope this gives you a good idea though!

 

Good list above but the basics are

Sand
Live rock
Heater
Protein skimmer
Lights
powerheads
RO/DI
lots of buckets with lids

 

Test kits
Refractometer
Net
Acclimation box or equiv

 

yea, refractometer is a good one, your going to need that and not a hydrometer. As far as recomendations for live rocks look online at Marcos rocks. Much cheaper to buy your rock dry (and also you can sculpt it before you put it in the tank) then wet. For Heater ebo-jaguar, for pumps- if you dont mind spending $$$ mp40, if you do koralias.

 

the absolute necessities are:

sand, live rock, saltwater, powerheads, your choice of lighting

good luck and welcome

 

Actually the best thing to do would be, " reading those sticky" up on top. It basically provides you with pretty much everything. Specially this:
http://www.3reef.com/forums/new-hobby/whats-important-successful-tank-108699.html

And also, watch alot of videos on youtube. Search "How to setup saltwater tank." There are a lot of them (channels), from BRS tv, Vivid Aquarium, Mr. Saltwater, LAFishguy, etc. They will help you A LOT.


Good luck and Welcome.

 

T5 lighting is a good all around choice most things do well with them and the are not as expensive to run as halides.

 

LED Lighting all the way. No Heat and Low Costs.. Derrrr..