Beginner needs your help

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by Stab_Master_Arson

What I did was read and google...google google google.

My first tank was a 20 gal with 2 damsels. Over the course of a year and a few months, I slowly upgraded. It has now been 3 years since I started and I can safely say I am about 1 percent knowledgeable in the saltwater hobby. I am not exaggerating when I say there will ALWAYS be something to learn.

One piece of advice I can give you that "beginners articles" usually won't is: don't be cheap.

If you get the smallest and cheapest this and that, you will want to upgrade shortly (and I mean shortly) after that and the money will be spent in vain. the problem comes into play when you say "I was a 10 gallon system" and you buy a filter, skimmer, lighting all around this. 2 months down the road, you learn more and you want..more. Now you are upgrading to a 70 gallon system and you wasted 600 bucks on nano reef equipment. Be very SURE that you will be satisfied for a while with your initial purchase. I know I wasn't. I upgraded everything several times.

Trust me, you will enter the phase of "i want a _____" and it will not fit in your current tank even if you crammed it in with a plunger. You will find yourself blowing twice as much as you had to to get that "______".

I couldn't agree more. I started with a 60g and a 15g shortly after that. Upgraded to a 120g and a 30g cube. Then went to a 230g and I just set up a 28g. Now I want to add 300g, which hopefully will happen by Christmas .

Ultimately I don't think I'd be happy until I had a tank that was at least 1000g, but until I find a way to make more money I'll have to sick with what I got.