Help on some hardware decisions

[mseepman]

I would recommend both J&L and OA as excellent places to get items online. As for you "get what you pay for"...I agree to a point. Many of us DIY (Do It Yourself) which results in a low price and decent results. I think sometimes the Odyssea stuff can be a good starting point for a beginner but you must realize that this "Saltwater habit" is exactly that...a habit and an expensive one. We all end up wanting to go bigger and better so in the end we replace our cheaper equipment with better stuff.

I would stay away from a cannister filter...that's what I started out with and quickly found out what a mistake that was.

If you are looking at skimmers...Bubble Magus is a very low cost brand that has been given very good reviews. I have a nano version and I'm solidly impressed with it. Again...cheap with amazing results.

Make sure your tank has good flow and that you check here before you buy anything so that you can get some advice. The people here are amazing and have some of the most beautiful tanks around. Many of those tanks are in Edmonton so maybe you'll have a chance to see some of them sometime.