300 gallon reef

[Duncans n' Dendros]

Well i was totally in the dark when I started and I regret doing a few things. One was buying a freshwater tank(non drilled, with a canister filter) It works but just dont feel I have the filtration that could potentially be there. The other is, I wish I would have painted the back of my tank(my choice would be black) The last thing would be that I went custom, but there have been many changes in what kind of tank I want so maybe thats personal(I think everyone goes through stages in thos hobby). It can be very frustrating dealing with everything from ick to cyano to bubble algae to aptasia. It can also be very rewarding with the beauty of it all. Patience is key and yes get ready to open your wallet. There are ways of saving money though. Dont be cheap on lights or skimming. Keep your eye out for deals in the classifieds and kijiji. Good luck and have fun.

[shanks]

Originally Posted by Duncans n' Dendros

Well i was totally in the dark when I started and I regret doing a few things. One was buying a freshwater tank(non drilled, with a canister filter) It works but just dont feel I have the filtration that could potentially be there. The other is, I wish I would have painted the back of my tank(my choice would be black) The last thing would be that I went custom, but there have been many changes in what kind of tank I want so maybe thats personal(I think everyone goes through stages in thos hobby). It can be very frustrating dealing with everything from ick to cyano to bubble algae to aptasia. It can also be very rewarding with the beauty of it all. Patience is key and yes get ready to open your wallet. There are ways of saving money though. Dont be cheap on lights or skimming. Keep your eye out for deals in the classifieds and kijiji. Good luck and have fun.

Yeah I have a stainless steel mirror the length of the tank. It is drilled but will prob. Go canister. And thanks a lot for your input.

[e46er]

Don't use a canister just sump skimmer LR carbon GFO

[kien]

More pics!! And speaking of which..

1. Get yourself an account on flickr.com or photobucket.com if you haven't already done so. Both sites have smartphone apps if you're taking tank pics with your smart phone.

2. upload your picks to one of those photo hosting sites mentioned above.

3. When you post a topic/reply, the editor has a bunch of icons at the top. One of those icons is a yellow square that has what might look like mountains on it. That's the image link icon. Click it. you'll be given a dialog box to past the URL (address to where your image is hosted on the photo hosting website).

[SanguinesDream]

Get ready to be patient. And then wait some more. There is nothing instant about saltwater comparatively to freshwater.

I grow and breed discus and angels (well not ME literally, but rather the beautiful scaly creatures) in planted tanks and that is a piece of cake compared to aging and maintaining a saltwater unit.

Invest in liverock if you can afford it. It is amazing and the capacities of bioload increase dramatically. As for sand, I tried a DSB but prefer a BBT for controlling silicate/algae exposure.

+1 to the lights, skimmer and sump for filtration.

[shanks]

Thanks for the input but do not understand a lot of abbreviations.

[e46er]

Originally Posted by shanks

Thanks for the input but do not understand a lot of abbreviations.

DSB- deep sand bed
BBT - bare bottom tank
LR live rock
GFO - granular ferric oxide - removes phosphate