HELP!!! NEWBIE ALERT!!!
 

hello everyone, im totally new at this so here goes.....i just bought 2-90gallon aquariums to start my very first saltwater oasis or underwater paradise....ive got nothing...i need live rock,coral,(not expensive) and lots of tips!!! what coral will go good together, what fish can live together, etc,etc...If anyone out there feels me, HELP!

Welcome to Canreef.

2 90's, that should be a good volume to work with. This is a great place for tips and advice.

The best advice that I didn't follow and should have when I got into this hobby is try to be really patient. For instance, I wouldn't even really think about corals for a few months at the earliest. As for fish, add them slowly, and ask lots of questions.

What type of equipement are you running (lights, skimmer, power heads)?

I need to purchase a skimmer, i have a big sump and a pump...as for lights, i need advice

welcome to our addiction
 

The best advice I can give is take it slow and buy everything used if possible. It can be an overwhelming if you try to buy everything new. Also dont put fish in your tank that aren't in the long term plans. I had three four bar Damsels in my tank for cycling and when I wanted to catch them I had to remove every last peice of rock to catch them. over 250lbs (that was a fun day).

What do you have for equipment? you would be amazed at the equipment people have on this site collecting dust.

The biggest piece of advise I can give you is to plan ahead. What do you want for coral SPS, LPS, Softies and mixed reef. Do you want lots of fish or just a few. This will help you to decide lighting, skimmer ect.

All of that equipment sounds amazing? Do i need all of that?

Depends on what you want to keep and how easy you want your life to be :)
Skimmer helps clean water, frequent water changes do the same thing. skimmer is probably cheaper long term.
Lights grow corals, so your choice of coral type will determine what you need for light.
You may or may not need a lot of water movement (pumps/power heads) depending on the coral choice.
Fish also depend on this, as some fish eat some corals/clams/inverts.
As corals grow, they need calcium and associated chemistry. Water changes again, manual addition of supplements, dosing, reactors, all cover the need, so how easy do you want it to be?

Look through the tank journal forum, see what tanks you like and how the people set them up. Then ask more questions.

List all the potential livestock you want. Doesn't matter how many, eventually by your research and by asking you will weed out a lot and will be left with what will work with your tank. Corals are quite light demanding depending on what type you want so try to list the ones you want to. liveaquaria.net was the first site I found that had a good list of livestock that I looked into before.

thanks for the tip!!!

deionizer
 

Do you really need this?

RO/DI units. Kind of an iffy one. Some swear by it, others say they don't use it. Both seasoned and starters. The idea is to start with pure water so you actually know what you are adding to your tank, specially a lot of livestocks are sensitive to sertain chemicals or elements naturally found in most tap water and also some nutrients that promote nuisance growth, like algae, which you don't want in your tank.

Welcome to Canreef
check out under photo forum if you are not sure what kind of setup you interested in.
there is a big selection of setups.
do allot of reading on the ones you like under journals.
(which reminds me i need to make a journal of my own setup,lol)
do it slow as it will payoff with minimal over cost.

This is a research intensive hobby. Read, read and read.

This is an expensive hobby. Spend, spend and spend.

+1 on this advice. Take your time to read some of the documents by a few around here. Let your system take hold once you get your live rock placed in the tank. Depending which way you are going: Reef (takes longer) Fish Only (not as long).......but be careful and read about everything you add to your tank. Fish are something to research...once you get a couple...then you need to ensure you are adding compatable for your community. Have fun and look at the live rock closely when you start. Get a flashlight and watch the natural things found in live rock grow......you are at a very exciting time....don't let that hurry things too much. This is how people get into trouble. Ask any of us....PM if you like. This can help you very much. If you have any questions give someone on here a shout. Brad

for my 2 90 gallons, what start off lighting do you recommend? Tanks are 48 long...dont really want to upgrade often neither

Well, I would look into a 48" T5HO fixture, 6 bulb or 8 bulb or if you have around $3500 get a 48" LED fixture.

Now most new guys start with softies and LPS and zoos just because if you crash your tank most softies and LPS and zoos can survive through a crash if you are quick enough to stabalize your tank.

This all depends on what you're going to have in the tank. That is absolutely the first thing you need to decide.

I am also a newbie to salt and one thing that I have read is that it is good to follow the 12 month rule. You shouldnt add corals until the tank has been running for at least 12 months. Is this a general rule of thumb?

welcome to the board.
once you have done a bit of research into the hobby (by trial or fire) you will realize how general the questions you are asking are.

Many people here would love to help, but you need to so some basic research into this hobby and establish some expectations first...otherwise we can only offer advicebased on what our expectations are.

You don't need a dionizer. You might need a dehumidifier?

It isn't really a rule, but it does take a year for a tank to really mature. You can add corals on week two if you like, but as someone else suggested, if your tank crashes you could lose everything - and quickly. More important is the experience that comes with running the tank for a while. You would be surprised at how much there is to learn.

Some advice...

• Don't buy a chiller - use a fan for evaporative cooling
• Don't worry about Ozone or UV
• Consider biopellets or Zeovit, but not right away. Wait at least six months and read what the skeptics say before investing.
• Don't try to stock pile hardware - get the tank up and running and buy what you need.
• Don't under estimate the flow requirements
• Don't rely on your return pump for flow.
• Plan to experiment with a refegium, but not right away - it can wait.
• Buy what you really want now - don't plan to upgrade right away or you are just wasting your money on the first purchase.
• Big ticket items are the skimmer, lighting, live rock, live stock. This is where you will regret cutting corners.
• Be realistic about your budget.
• Google is your friend.

+1

Well, yes and no. I wouldn't suggest adding a $100 frag of acro, but certainly wouldn't shy away from some easier things. Assorted polyps, zoos, leathers, etc appear to be a bit more tolerant of mistakes. Even some of the LPS are reasonably tough. Once you have an idea of what you're doing, this time frame can be reduced drastically. My current tank was running for a couple of days before I fully stocked it with SPS, but I've killed enough of these in the past to have a good idea what to do and what to watch for. Certainly not something I'd recommend, but once your tank has been stable for a couple of months, you could start adding some easier corals. Again, this assumes your system is setup properly to support them (lighting, flow, skimming, etc)

Do you plan on running the 2 90's linked in one system? or are you planning something different for each tank?

Three pages of reply's and no one has said 'book'? :nono: Quite often when you ask a question online you'll get a lot of wildly differing opinions from people that might know less than you do. Books offer well researched advice with references to back up their claims.

Building a Proper Marine Aquarium Library
by Pro, Steven
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-01/tips/index.php

Remember to use the search engine too. I can almost guarantee that any question you have has already been asked and you'll find the answer by checking the older posts.

sump as main filter
 

I have a sump with four chambers, can i use this as my main filter and put pads in each chamber to filter the water til it arrives at the last???
And do i need charcoal at the last chamber, im so confused.....you have the best advice so far but everyone has been so great.Cant believe a site like this exists....thanks to everyone again!!!

You won't use filter pads in a reef. Carbon, probably. You still need to let us know what kind of critters you want to keep :)

do i really need to think about what livestock i want now? I thought getting the live rock and water stable was a first priority that could take months...

Figuring out what equipment you need depends on knowing what type of corals you plan to keep. To some degree, rockscaping does as well. Softie tank probably won't need the same level of skimmer, power heads and lighting. Internal flow and skimming is important for the initial water stability you're after. So no point buying gear at the wrong end of the spectrum.

I think it's pretty important up front to have some idea what you want to keep. You can always swap out gear later, but you're sure to lose money in the process.

The idea is to think of what you want to do while you are waiting for your tank to cycle so you don't end up getting into too much impulse buying or ending up buying livestock that are not compatible with each other. Besides there's not much to do to the tank while it is cycling so might as well plan the livestock.

understood....coral reefs, colorful fish, maybe some shrimp, snails,a seahorse for the wife and starfish in one aquarium, as for mine....octopus, eels, something cool, mancave style, i dont know....suggestions???

Err... why is this tread in the Buy/Sell/Trade forum?

Can a mod move this thread appropriately?

:)..moved

octopus
 

Does anybody know anything about octopus???

Usually don't live very long. I think a year or so? They can also escape through really really tiny holes. When you catch them down the hall, they can bite.

thanks buddy!!!

About the two tanks side by side - In my opinion this is a mistake.

What you should do is cut your loses and invest in an 8 foot tank. It would take up exactly the same amount of space. The total water in your system would remain the same, so all of the supporting equipment would cost exactly the same, but the possibilities would be so much greater. You could keep much more interesting fish in an 8 foot tank as opposed to two four footers.

The stand would be the same size and the room and everything would stay the same - just combine the two tanks into one big one.

Ask around for custom tank builders - I can recommend one if you like.

Sell your two 4 footers. You can probably sell them right here on Canreef. Add a little bit of your own money and get a big tank.

I bet that if you setup the two 4 footers, in a year you will wish you had one big tank.

re: two tanks
 

but one tank limits possibilities...if i want larger preditorial fish or coral, i cant have the smaller colorful fish, two tanks give me range,one side coral reef, other side,possible octopus, sea horse, crazy anemone etc, am i wrong???

Welcome to Canreef!

Don't put the octopus with the seahorse, the are not friends :(

or with anemones :confused: