How to Start?

[brianjfinn]

Here's another cube if you decide that's the way you want to go:

 

[brianjfinn]

http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?p=583481#post583481">http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?p=583481#post583481</a>

This is a great deal too! It's a little bigger, but you won't need much else to get it up and running!


BTW, you got PM.

 

[hiimsean]

petstore.com is having a sale on mr aqua rimless tanks. use the promo code "firstofmany" and it takes 10% off plus you get free shipping. i ordered mine yesterday, 25g 18x18x18 rimless for $72.xx shipped

 

[ralph atl]

morganatlanta;583303 wrote: i just started a year ago, so i can't give you the wisdom of years of experience, but i can give you the perspective of someone who just went through the startup learning curve. So, being conscious that i am ignorant...

Read "the new marine aquarium" by michael paletta and follow his advice.

Read the forums here regularly.

Avoid anything overly complicated (various reactors, ultra-low nutrient systems, etc).

Buy everything used for your first system. That way, if you change your mind about something you can sell it here and probably get most of your money back. If you buy new and change your mind, you'll probably only get 50% back.

Buy mature live rock from a member here for roughly $2-$2.50/lb, including some rocks covered with polyps. That will give you a head start on having a mature-looking tank and give you some immediate gratification.

Stock fish lightly.

Don't buy api test kits.

People on this board will ask you "what are your goals for your tank"? My opinion is that you probably don't know enough to really have specific, reasonable goals for your tank, or to be able to make appropriate trade offs, so your real goal should be to get some experience and to have fun assembling, maintaining and playing with a tank-- without mis-spending a ton of money, or not putting together a naturally stable system and having it crash on you, or giving up before getting through the "new tank syndrome" stage.

Personally, if i had to do it again, knowing what i know now (which still ain't that much), i would buy a complete 50-75 gallon system used from this site, including tank, stand, lights, skimmer, pumps, sump, plumbing, etc. Then i'd buy live rock with some zoas and palys. Buy some colt, leather and kenya tree (all less than $20 on here), hermits and snails (10 for $10) and some easy fish like grammas and watchman gobies. All in i'd be around $1000, have a really nice "starter" setup, and be able to get most of my money back if i wanted to. Note when i say "starter" setup, i mean that relative to the members' tanks here-- the casual non-fish person who sees the tank will be like "wow! That's cool!". I'd run that for a while and then start tweaking and adding as i learned some things and wanted to try other things.

+2

 

[markl]

I say go with a bicube or some other all in one. I had a 7 gallon minibow for my first set up for almost 3 years. I now have a 200 + gallon system but still play with nanos. Im about to put a biocube 14 at my desk at work. Just change out a gallon or 2 of salt water once a week and your good .

 

[cr500_af]

You mentioned clownfish (good beginner choice) and an anemone (not so good beginner choice). Anemones need stable conditions and fairly strong lighting... and the former is not likely to happen with a new hobbyist in a nano (besides tbe lighting adding to the cost of equipment and potentially</em> making you need a chiller).

The clown doesn't need an anemone to be happy (in fact, it may never host an anemone at all even if you do have one).

A dead anemone can nuke a small tank pretty fast. My personal advice would be to hold off on the anemone until you get some experience and the tank matures a little. You'll have a much better chance of success with it.

 

[angiegreenwell]

I'm a noob too. I spent a lot of time researching. I put together a system that I thought could handle most anything given the size constraints I had. Then I had time on my hands while my tank was being built which is a good thing.

I went to every local fish store and talked with the people there. Started making a fish list and coral list. Read about the fish and coral on forums and other online resources. Revisited the LFS with a bit more knowledge, ask more questions. Revise fish / coral lists. Looked at every tank of the month I could get my hands on. Revised my list again.

We'll see if it pays off. I haven't put any livestock in the tank yet but I know if I had started 3 months ago my tank would have looked a lot different than it is going to look.

 

[bruce 1]

I have a 8 gal Cube for sale. I was going to set it up, but I got a 14 gal that I am going to use now. It is $100.00 OBO. I love the look of the Bio Cubes. You will get many different kinds of advice. It is all good. Read, read, and research. Plan for something simple to start out with. (the bio cubes are that) There are many Fish stores that will tell you anything just so they can sell it to you. And there are some that will tell you right.