1stPhantom
Active Member
Well tbh it’s depends on what your looking to do and lengths your willing to go to acquire equipment you want don’t be too hung up on named brand equipment I mainly go based on customer reviews also question like do you want a Hang on the back filter a canister filter (I use) or if your trying to do a sump (i wanna do) but at the same time it depends on if the tank is drilled or you want a HOB overflow also if it got a overflow chamber or if you even want one but the main parts of what you need is a decent light you could go used off of marketplace or offer up I use these to get cheap equipment or new as long as it meets the requirements for coral to grow unless you want fish only then light don’t matter too much obviously your sand water and rock work you can get simple test kits I personally wouldn’t go with API personally though you’ll need these to test water to make sure it’s good to add things for the start up once you figure out your filtration style get a bottle of Insta start tank or similar products that help start your nitrogen cycle or old school style put a shrimp in the tank let it disintegrate and wait about 1 month to 2 which is in the safe range the recommended time is 6 months but most people don’t wait that long also don’t turn on the lights it’s not needed yet now you can add copepods early which help establish the tank for good marine life but you would have to feed them something like phyoto live or something similar daily for them to eat and grow population or wait until the cycle ends and then do that for me personally I did after cycle completed you really don’t need the lights on during this process it could do more harm than good unless your trying to see what’s going on in the tank but you’ll more likely to develop bad actors like Dino or cyno bacterial which could be detrimental to some fish and coral now you will still go through an ugly faze but it will fizzle out with time and care I personally don’t turn lights on till coral are ready for the tank parameters now a larger tank yes financially, depending on how you do it if you wanna go an RODI system in your house and run your own salt water in the long run it would be cheaper but starting at a small size there’s a lot more room for errors which could cost you more money if not done right and make you want to quit the hobby it’s more about finding deals that you’re willing to go for whether it’s new or used just go based off of how you feel the tank should be And Yes I was a bullhead full dive into reefer I’ve lasted 5 years so far and have made some of the simplest mistakes and some of the dumbest decisions have had 3 tank crashes in the 1st year n half because I didn’t listen and thought I was doing things correctly based off what I thought was good for the tank lost a good amount of different types of coral and anemones but through that learning what works n don’t and I say learning because even after 5 years and 3 years of running my reef tank beautifully even from my fight with byropsis and hair algae to aptasia to finding out the instant salt water is too inconsistent for the sometimes high parameters depending on what you deem in there ranges and that making your own salt water even if you go to a local pet store or LPS and get the RODI water and salt and make it at home maybe a 100 dollar upfront cost but that gets you at least 25-30 gallons of RODI water and depending on which salt you choose that is near the parameters you have and the salt amount you get can easily make 170-200 gallons of water you need, the price could easily cut down to 50-70 dollars for the same thing it took me 4 years to realize that because I thought it might be to hard or too much work when in retrospective I’d he paying 15 dollars at my LPS just for 4.4 gallons of premade saltwater that might not be the right parameters for my tank while Every 5 gallons of RODI water I get from my LPS runs only $2.50 and the salt I personally run for my tank is RedSea Coral Pro Black Buckets at my LPS that runs me 70 dollars after taxes now let’s go with a 20% water change which would be about 10 gallons for pre packaged water that’s about 37 dollars after taxes because you have to get a small one as well to make the difference now compared to me making it my self in materials 5 dollars in water and if you percentage the salt price to much your putting in there is maybe 70-80 cents so max 6 dollars ? And you don’t run that risk you’d be saving hundreds if not thousands depending on your setup and tank size, it all depends on how you do things in this hobby that going to effect the long run don’t be like me and throw thousands at it thinking yea I’m good i know they said one thing but what if and take a year and a half to get back on course correctly I hope it doesn’t happen to you and stay winning and I’m more than willing to show it if asked
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#Beginner
#BeginnerGuide
#Advice
#StayReefing
#Startup
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