SC017
Community Member
As title suggests, had freshwater tank for few years now and moved recently meaning my 50G tank is now empty and thought it'd be an opportunity to try marine.
Initially interested by the Marine Comet and recently corals as well, so would like to try both (though I'm aware the former is both difficult to find and feed).
After doing my best at research, figured I'd try a more direct approach of asking, as I've never been very good at the google-fu.
The main difficulty I've been having is trying to understand the Equipment:
1. What equipment do I actually need? I've read posts from one spectrum that I need every piece of kit under the sun to those that say canister filters are actually a negative due to production of nitrates(?) and biological filtration can be done entirely by a Skimmer and well-circulated live rock.
2. Where and what of those should I buy. I'm aware I need a light to grow corals, but for a 100cmX40cm tank which I pick for good coverage? how do I know if its suitable for corals? (Do I even need to worry about that or does any light at the correct brightness work?) The same goes for pumps/wavemakers, what is suitable for my tank, creates low noise (Tank is in a bedroom) and how do I know if I have too much or too little current?
3. What is the list that I should be focussing on? I'm naturally limited by budget, so if a piece of gear can wait a month or two during the initial cycle period then that is useful information to know.
I am not able to have a sump, so am limited to things such as hang on back skimmers or canister filters. Initial budget currently is approximately £500 GBP, can go higher with time.
Was very interested by the idea of a tank only reliant on skimmer for filtration with live rock doing the rest, but it sounds like one of those "too good to be true" things like I'm missing a cache or big fat asterisk.
I planned on having live rock(the idea of all the unknown critters it brings sounds very interesting), but also unsure how or which to get, as I've heard many different types (I think?).
Also interested to know what water test kits people recommend, used to have strips for freshwater but they never felt accurate in the slightest to the point I believe they didnt work at all, would like to have something that's cheapish but functional.
Also interested in hearing some recommendations of good fish to start off with, I'm unfortunately cursed to be the most interested in fish that are difficult to care for. Liked the look of Marine Betta/Comet, Mandarins, Naoko Wrasses, Copperbanded Butterflies. All of which seem to have one or another significant issue that makes them unsuitable for a starter fish, lol.
Appreciations in advance for advices.
Initially interested by the Marine Comet and recently corals as well, so would like to try both (though I'm aware the former is both difficult to find and feed).
After doing my best at research, figured I'd try a more direct approach of asking, as I've never been very good at the google-fu.
The main difficulty I've been having is trying to understand the Equipment:
1. What equipment do I actually need? I've read posts from one spectrum that I need every piece of kit under the sun to those that say canister filters are actually a negative due to production of nitrates(?) and biological filtration can be done entirely by a Skimmer and well-circulated live rock.
2. Where and what of those should I buy. I'm aware I need a light to grow corals, but for a 100cmX40cm tank which I pick for good coverage? how do I know if its suitable for corals? (Do I even need to worry about that or does any light at the correct brightness work?) The same goes for pumps/wavemakers, what is suitable for my tank, creates low noise (Tank is in a bedroom) and how do I know if I have too much or too little current?
3. What is the list that I should be focussing on? I'm naturally limited by budget, so if a piece of gear can wait a month or two during the initial cycle period then that is useful information to know.
I am not able to have a sump, so am limited to things such as hang on back skimmers or canister filters. Initial budget currently is approximately £500 GBP, can go higher with time.
Was very interested by the idea of a tank only reliant on skimmer for filtration with live rock doing the rest, but it sounds like one of those "too good to be true" things like I'm missing a cache or big fat asterisk.
I planned on having live rock(the idea of all the unknown critters it brings sounds very interesting), but also unsure how or which to get, as I've heard many different types (I think?).
Also interested to know what water test kits people recommend, used to have strips for freshwater but they never felt accurate in the slightest to the point I believe they didnt work at all, would like to have something that's cheapish but functional.
Also interested in hearing some recommendations of good fish to start off with, I'm unfortunately cursed to be the most interested in fish that are difficult to care for. Liked the look of Marine Betta/Comet, Mandarins, Naoko Wrasses, Copperbanded Butterflies. All of which seem to have one or another significant issue that makes them unsuitable for a starter fish, lol.
Appreciations in advance for advices.
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