saltwater aquariums

[Smokey McPot]

I went to my local saltwater store and looked at nice all glass aquariums. I found a 65 gallon with a nice stand and canopy all for $318 brand new. I think i will spend somewhere around $1700 just getting the tank started. I cant fucken wait to get it. I plan on gettin blazed and just workin on my fish tank as a newhobby.

Smokey McPot Reviewed by Smokey McPot on 08-16-2005. saltwater aquariums Does anyone here have one? let me know if you do. I wanna talk about em Rating: 5

[unmeg]

b-4 you buy tank you should realy think bout your fitration.filtration is 10x more important than tank.Is the tank pre drilled or are you stuck with a hanging filter(evan a nice hanging wet/dry not gonna be enogh)what kind of lights are you gonna use flour or HID,s either way you have to have the right lights,dont think you are gonna get away with just cheap flors(blue attinic run ya 45 bucks p lus you need a 50/50 bulb 40 bucks )at the least.not trying to shoot ya down just want to make sure you KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GETTING YOURSELF INTO.I hope you have done lots of homework,qietion for what is the proper salt leval (dissolved salt in water)?
If you have the money to spend make sure you have someone that knows whats up,dont listen to guy selling ya tank.

[Fengzi]

Yep, I agree with unmeg, don't listen to the guy selling you the tank. From what I've seen there are two types. 1-The ones who don't know shit but try to convince you they do. And 2-The ones who do know what they're doing but will still fill your head with shit to make a sale.

If you're going to set up a reef invest in a few good books. The Reef Aquarium Vol. 1 and 2 (Delbeck and Sprung) and Aquarium Corals (Borneman) are good choices. They'll give you a ton of info.

One other thing, I see you mentioned the tank you're interested in having a stand and a canopy. Unless the canopy is custom made for a reef tank it will probably be worthless. Lights for reef tanks put out a ton of heat (think pot grow lights) so you'll need a canopy that allows the lights to be at least 3-4" (more if your using metal halides) over the water and you'll need some ventelation like computer fans. Otherwise you'll have problems keeping your tank cool enough.

[unmeg]

Hey Fengzi,Have you seen the new halogen lights?
as far as hood you are right,salt has a may of working into every crevious and expanding.Most canopy's are pressed wood bad for saly water.
The books Fengzi mentioned are great books & you should pick 1 up cause we are just tapping what you need to know.
I'm sure we all will answer any ?'s you mite have,but what about the ?'s you dont know to ask?

[Smokey McPot]

My cousin who has a tank and knows alot about aquariums works at the store im talking about. He is showin me the kind of stuff to get. Hes not trying to make sales he just trying to get me good equipment. Ill have to check about the canopy. Im not getting metal halides due to the price. Im getting PC florecent which i was told can grow some types of reefs. I got the book Saltwater Aquariums for Dummies which seems to be a good guide. Ill have to check into those other books also.

[unmeg]

Glad to see you have some help & are not just jumping into this.
i have seen lots of people jump in to a reef set up and just be disapointed when the fail.Yea they lihgts will work but try to get 3or 4 tubes,ya know cover the canopy.you dont have to buy them all at once just work them into the design.look forward to hear bout your experiance & good luck McPot..peace

[Smokey McPot]

If i get 4 tubes of CP florecent will i be able to grow alota reef? Some one told me you need metal halides to grow coral.

[unmeg]

yea if you get 4 you will be able to grow plenty,just try to replace bulbs evey 6 months if you can.Are you talking bout compacts or tubes b-4 i make any more suggestions,lol

[unmeg]

zoozanthellae,Do You know anything about this?
If not need to,if so what do you know?

[Smokey McPot]

Im talkin about tubes. Now that i think about it if i buy the 65 gal tank, i will blow alot of money of course so i may only buy like a 30 gallon and that will save me money on some of the equipment i figure. The other thing though is that the smaller the tank, the more frequent the water quality can change. So in other words bigger tanks are better for beginners. Man i need some help figuring all this shit out.