Lots of questions for a new guy

ok, I'm confused, you're in college and you have money?? .....anyway, I think a biocube with all built in would be a great start for you and your dorm....there was a really cool one on here posted by someone that had everything including lighting.....it was called some sort of ray - manta ray ?? I remember that because I thought the post was about a sea ray......get some live rock and dry rock and live sand - only about an inch - 2 inch max on sand....you only need one piece of live rock and that can seed the dry rock - that way you don't end up with bad hitchhiker critters...

once you can go onto a bigger tank - if I knew then what I know now, I would do much better husbandry (water changes, filter cleaning) and I would have invested in a quality skimmer and would have a sump....

 

yeah I knew I had to find a forum after i talked to the guy at the LFS... that guy was more lost than me lol.

Well I have a few ways of making money online so I dont have to have a real job and my parents pay for school so I have money lol one of the few kids on the campus that does.

But anyways what skimmer do you recommend for a tank that is only 29 gallons??

Does the average bag of salt that u can buy from a fish store tell you how much to mix

 

It will give you an approximate guestimate....Get yourself a refractometer and measure periodically when you are mixing. Mix some in, wait 24 hours and test.

 

It depends on whether you're going to have a sump or not.....I really think you're all in one biocube would be a great starter for you especially since you have money .....I have a reef octopus 1000 hang on because I don't have a sump but that would be too big for a 29....beyond that, I'm not good at skimmer recommendations....I know some people have liked the remora (?) - if you go biocube size (which I guess a 29 is), you can post for more info. in that forum....

 

i would get a 40 breeder from petco as your display, and get a 20 long from them as the sump. get an over flow kit from glass holes dot com, and or if you have a glass place near you have them cut you up a BeAn coast to coast over flow. for lights i would get 2 Ai sol VEGAs, for a skimmer i would get either reef octopus sss1000, OR an in-80 vertex skimmer. i wouldnt bother with a refugium, since itll onle be up for 2-3 years you said. get a simple mag 3 return pump. i started out will all dry rock/sand. i got all my rock and sand from marcorocks.com they are pretty cheap and ships fast. i would get 60lbs of fine sand (wont make a stand storm youll be fine) and 50 lbs of dry rock from them too. then i would just get 10 lbs of Live rock rubble from your LFS (make sure its covered in pink/purple coraline) and space that through out your dryrock. youll need heaters, i recommend gettin 2 smaller heaters rather than one big heater. as for slow, youll want to get 2 ecotech MP10's. one on each side of the tank, for the best flow. i would get all this stuff from BulkReefSupply, since tehy have a rewards program, and everything in this hobby comes with a recurring bill, so that helps.

tanks (40/20) - $60
lights - $1000
skimmer- $320
powerheads- $600
return pump- $75
heaters- $80
50lbs rock dry $110
60lbs sand $60
10 rubble LR $70
pvc/plubling $100
salt/testkits $120

so for $2,600.00 (+/- $200) youll be all set. and a 40 B is going to give you a lot more options as far as aquascaping and what you can keep for fish and inverts and what not. And everyone will tell you the more total water volume you have , the better it is. easier to keep everything stable.

 

+1 on the biocube. I started small. Water changes are important at that size but it is great to throw dry rock in with some live sand and start watching.

 

I am thinking biocube I just dont want to get in over my head to fast and my first one I want that I think. I just think to spend $2600 before I even get into it is kinda crazy now my next tank...by all means lol

 

dont get me wrong you can do some crazy stuff with a biocube, but yould have to heavily mod the mess out of it to get it to grown sps and thrive the way you want it too, spending more than the set up i described.

 

Why? At least with my JBJ the only "mods" are a skimmer, two powerheads in the tank, a controller and will soon be replacing the lighting. All things needed for any reef tank. I think an AIO nano would be a great starting point personally. The sump is already built in, which can be half the cost when setting up a new tank. All you need is a heater, skimmer, more flow (if needed), a controller (highly recommended), and maybe new lighting depending on which model you get.

Check out this thread to check out some more AIO nanos. Should give you some help and inspiration

 

thanks man I appreciate that. Yeah I just want to make sure I like it and have the room for it before I go all in on it. what kind of lights do you recommend for a biocube. I really am wanting just some coral, 3-5 clownfish and some other minor stuff