(for an article) What do you need to buy to start a SW tank?

[mta_morrow]

The first thing you MUST buy is something nice for your wife!

 

[Pbh-reef]

Great idea for an article. I would add a bone cutter and coral glue as very nice to have. Being able to cut corals off their plugs and glue them is pretty important!

 

[GoVols]

Know test kits that you use like the back of your hand, research and a lot... of patients.

 

[MnFish1]

So, let me ask everyone here. What would be on your list? Answer as you see fit.

Let's divide into 2 categories, for the sake of discussion.

Under 30 gallon (without sump):

Must have: Money, a tank, a light, water, salt, a heater unless you're luck enough to live in FL.... and probably still. A filter - or something providing enough flow. Perhaps a Pump )(for flow). Rock (if you go live rock great if not rock + bacteria). Maybe a HOB skimmer. OH - and fish...

Nice to have: More money to buy a bigger tank....

Over 30 gallon (with sump)

Must have:Money, a tank, a light, water, salt, a heater unless you're luck enough to live in FL.... and probably still. A filter - or something providing enough flow. Perhaps a Pump )(for flow). Rock (if you go live rock great if not rock + bacteria). A skimmer in your sump.
Nice to have: A refugium. An algae reactor, an oxydator, Patience, common sense.

BTW Critical to both is a good place from which to purchase the stuff - and get advice (besides R2R of course). Test kits as well - though I use them less and less as time goes on.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Over 30 gallon (with sump)

Must have: Tank, Adequate and proper lighting, good water flow , reliable heater, test kits, seeded rock, patience and sump

Nice to have: tank cover, skimmer, dosing unit, refugium, controller system such as Apex

 

[Dan_P]

I've been wanting to write this article for a while, mainly because it's a question that is asked a lot to the search engines--and, yes, we check that.

I tried to get a couple of very experienced reefers to write this article, but no one wants to touch it.

So, let me ask everyone here. What would be on your list? Answer as you see fit.

Let's divide into 2 categories, for the sake of discussion.

Under 30 gallon (without sump):

Must have:

Nice to have:

Over 30 gallon (with sump)

Must have:

Nice to have:

Many, many books on this subject.

The difficulty in writing such an article is that you are really describing a decision tree not a most likely to be needed list of stuff. What you buy depends on what organisms you wish to keep. That decision heavily influences the designation of must vs nice-to-have’s equipment. Within each category is the consideration of budget and how much maintenance work one enjoys. Deciding on this might force a reconsideration of the the decision of what organisms to keep. It can be a very logical decision making process rather than a list, you know, “teach a man to fish” kinda thing. The difficulty you probably see already with this approach is the list of options (more decisions) to select for each decision.

Consider one of the first decisions made: plastic or glass aquarium. There are esthetic considerations, a weight consideration, cost, maintenance, etc. Many decisions to be made on just material of construction.

I can understand why no one wants to write this article. It requires a book to lay this out. Anything else might not be very useful. A list probably already exists in a book or equipment supplier website.

Good luck!

 

[LesPoissons]

I think your "must haves" depend on what you want to have. If you want a 30G sps tank- you must have high end lighting, live rock, heater, protein skimmer, +/- dosing pumps etc.. If you just want fish and no live rock- you need a filter, heater, 30$ light.

I think the most important take aways are- plan for what you want out of the tank. It's an expensive hobby. Trying to do it "cheap" usually ends up with you replacing all the things you bought to save money, with the things you wanted to buy in the first place.

 

[norfolkgarden]

Lol, reminds me of commodore 64 vs windows 3x vs Apple (lisa?)

Back in the day there were different programs with different strengths for each operating system.

Computers were still so new and still so Divergent that you had to pick the programs that you needed to work with and then choose the operating system they ran on.

 

[Paul B]

This is easy. You need a tank, gravel, heater, any kind of pump for circulation and a light, any kind of light depending on what you want to keep.

A thermometer would be nice as would water, I think thats All I had when I started my tank.

I didn't have test kits for many years and still don't. The LFS will test your water if you need something to do.

 

[WVNed]

I would buy a
40 gallon breeder
20L
2 100 watt heaters
Inkbird
a T-5 light
2 Jebao PP-8s
20 pounds of crushed coral
40 pounds of live rock
A Sicce return pump
A reef octo skimmer
Tunze ATO
5 gallon trashcan
RODI filter
2 Brute trashcans with wheels for water changes
a cheap pump for a pond from Harbour Freight
API test kits
I would drill the tank and get a bulkhead at Tractor supply and make a simple drain and return with PVC/vinyl from Home Depot. I would cut the aquarium top and put a bubble trap in the 20L

 

[Sailingeric]

Salt and Water

 

[Lissa1987]

Reef or FOWLR? That dictates a lot.

 

[Scotty Buttons]

Buy A financial advisor, to talk you out of it.

 

[Rilo]

Here's the reef tank checklist to get you started - https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/checklist-before-you-start-your-first-saltwater-aquarium.676/
And the Equipment article that tells you the must haves of reef tanks
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/what-equipment-do-you-need-to-start-a-reef-aquarium.671/

Personally, this is what I would do:

MUST HAVE
- 2 heaters (if one fails. The other is a backup + evenly distributes heat throughout the tank)
- powerhead(s) (I recommend jebao's on a budget)
- Dry rock
- LIGHT - personally I wouldn't skimp on this. Aesthetics wise you want to drop money on this. I like the kessil shimmer. But a AI prime HD is another nice one. The only two I've researched heavily.

NICE TO HAVE
- Aquaclear 30+ filter. Toss the sponge and use it for carbon, flow, etc. I have a crab in mine until I can figure out what to do with the little ****
- controller
- ATO
- second powerhead

 

[Katrina71]

Excedrin.

 

[Thaxxx]

1. You need to alway remember. Get a consensus of "experienced" reefers when gathering advise. No one on these boards is truly a expert.
2. Patience.
3. A fat wallet.

 

[Turtlesteve]

There are so many different opinions within the hobby. It's probably easier to write an article like this by keeping things as general as possible. In that regard, the split at 30 gallons seems arbitrary and a sump for larger tanks is not "must have". It would be more useful to separate systems based on purpose, e.g. fish only or reef. My opinion below:

Must have - there are only 4:

Water flow (and thus air exchange)
Suitable temperature
Substrate for biological filtration
Lighting (only must-have if keeping photosynthetic corals)

Nice to have is everything else:

Sump/return
Automatic topoff
Supplemental filtration/nutrient export (all types)
Additional automation
etc.