shopping advice needed

[ddog1775]

I was just wondering before you get fish, other than the tank what might someone want to shop for first?
How much experience should one have before getting coral?
What are some good beginner plants for saltwater tanks about 55 gal.

[CarmieJo]

Hi ddog1775,

:welcome: to TR.

You are making the right first stop - gathering information! You will need pumps, a heater, skimmer, and live rock. You may want sand for a sandbed - or not. You probably don't want a wet/dry filter, cannister filter (except for perhaps occasional use as a water polisher) or bio-wheel filter. Shops that try to sell these to you as appropriate or "must have" for a saltwater set-up either are dealing with old information or just don't really know what they are talking about. I would avoid any chain pet store for advice and many lfs. Test whatever advice you get - ask questions, join a fish club, read good books - check out the TR Library in the Site Navigation pane, and visit TR often!

By plants do you mean macroalgae, usually used in a refugium, or decorative plants in a DT?

[ddog1775]

i'm not sure what you mean by decorative, but what i'm talking about is some live plants to add on to the habitat for the fish and general scenery of the tank.

[Small Fry]

she means like plastic plants one would find in a freshwater tank, you know, the cheap looking ones that serve no purpose other than looking pretty.

generally, the plants used are various Macroalgaes, caulerpa, etc.... Some people even use mangrove trees, which will eventually grow out of the tank.

Most saltwater aquarists prefer to keep corals in way of macroalgae, keep the macroalgae in their refugiums or sumps, for their filtering purposes. the reason for this being that as they filter out waste, they grow. And since waste s contantly produced, the macroalgaes constantly grow, sometimes even out of control, and to keep this from happening, they need to be groomed and/or harvested for feeding. Corals do not grow as fast and offer much more color.

Just my two cents, and i dont mean to be rude, i dont really know your exact intentions, but i would go for a freshwater tank if you want plants. For two reasons. 1- Plants come in a greater variety of size and color (at least where i am). And 2- Freshwater tanks CAN BE, and mostly are(depending on size etc..), Much easier to maintain than saltwater tanks; which require alot more care, research and husbandry.

Again, im not trying to be rude or steer you away from the hobby, im just making sure you know that this hobby is not a Fish+Aquarium+Water=happy type of situation, A good SW tank needs constant care, research, consideration, and money (!!!! on the money part, trust me :p) .

Hope this Helps

[CarmieJo]

I know one guy keeping a planted marine tank with sea grass and such but I don't know anything about keeping them. There are also some really pretty macroalgaes that might be kept in a display tank. That being said I agree with Josh in regards to corals providing the visual appeal of plants in a freshwater tank.

[ddog1775]

well, the main reason i want a saltwater tank is that when it comes to things that interest me i like a good challenge. When i actually get a tank and some fish i'm just going to start simple with some fish. i would still, if possible like to get an estimate on roughly how much experience is needed, or at least recommended for some coral. now when i say coral i don't mean a giant reef system, just sort of a "starter kit" for coral. at the moment i'm not even thinking about coral until i've had some fish for at least a couple months.
If anyone has any advice on shrimp or anything thats not fish, plants, or coral that would be great. just something that might be good for cleaning or something that wouldn't be too hard to maintain. btw don't worry about being rude, i've known some very rude people in my life.

[CarmieJo]

ddog,

Some corals are very easy - I have some button polyps on a piece of LR that survived being out of water for a few hours and then got put face down into the sand and even once their faces were out of the sand had to weather the sandstorm when I set my tank up.

[ddog1775]

does live rock continue to grow once it's in the tank. also is crushed rock, or whatever it's called basically just a replacement for sand or is it different. if they are the same is there any difference worth noting, like certain species of something needing one or the other. what saltwater fish might be good for a beginner

[Rob]

my first recommendation si to work through the podcast found here
you can get all the details in the FAQ section on how to download and subscribe..
you will fin the answerers to most of your questions in these shows
here is a link to the Podcast FAQ
http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/faq.php?faq=talkingreefsite

[CarmieJo]

LR won't grow as increase in volume but the life on it will continue to live and filter your tank. The podcasts will answer many of your questions, for example, episodes 27 & 28 are a series on substrates. BTW, there are lots of good "beginner" fish but you really need a stocking plan before you add any fish to your tank. A lfs might sell you a damsel as a beginner fish, they are cheap and hardy. Unfortunately, they are also apt to terrorize future inhabitants of your tank.

[f1504b4]

Hi Justin welcome,
Good post alot of good ?'s

[Small Fry]

What is most stressed in this hobby (more than anything IMO) is to take your time, and spend as much time as possible doing research before starting a tank, this sint like a play things by ear type of hobby. so you cant experiment with things and when that doesnt work, try something different. by the time stuff stops working, its too late and all your fish are dead.

So all in all, the best thing you can do for yourself is research before starting, i recommend listening to most (if not all) the podcasts, and then if you have any questions, look for the answers, and/or feel free to ask the question.

In truth, i dont really know where this decils advocate stuff is coming from, but i think its needed for all the newbies.

but yess, research research research

HTH

[ddog1775]

well, i've begun watching some of the podcasts and there is a lot of good info in the pods. kinda overwhelming with what to watch first. btw everything posted here has helped me thanks for the feedback, keep any advice coming, if you don't mind.
a moment of silence for the family cat who, after 16 years and about 2 months of life was put down today. he was in the family longer than i.
p.s. had tumor, heart probs., convulsions. but, death is just another part of life and by no means the end of a journey.

[CarmieJo]

Sorry to hear about your cat. It is always sad to lose a pet.

[ddog1775]

appreciate it, but it was best to just put him out of his misery. he was in terrible shape, he had already been blind for about 3-4 months and when my mom and sis took him to the vet today the doc said the back of his eyes were bleeding or something (i wasn't there).

[Small Fry]

aww, we dont like to hear depressing deatails like that here, we have pets too :'(

BTW i didnt mean to scare you off, feel free to ask any questions you wish.

[ddog1775]

if i did depress you than just watch some disney channel shows or something. no you did not scare me off, i'm actually getting a tank next friday when our lps is having a $1 a gallon sale so while i'm there i might get some other stuff like bulbs and such, but no fish quite yet. as far as acclimation goes do you pt anything in before tossing in your small shrimp. i watched the podcast ep. but it didn't say anything about that. he said about no livestock, does that include lr or ls or anything else other than fish, coral, shrimp, etc.

[gwen_o_lyn]

Sorry about your kitty. Miles, who is on my lap, wanted to express his condolences too. :( That's the best choice when they are suffering.

Yes go ahead and have the live rock in the tank. Actually the LR will start the process and you can skip the shrimp. The rock will have die-off and then the cycle goes.

[ddog1775]

thanks for the advice. everyone is probably going to get annoyed by next friday because i'm going to be overloading on info, and then again in about 5-6 weeks when i start looking for fish and such.

[NaClFinatic]

Hey ddog, Welcome to TR. The best advice I can give you is listen to at least the early podcasts. I would even roccommend just going in order. And browse the forums. And check out a few books. There is a good book list on this site somewhere. (Maybe someone can link to that?) Double and triple check any info you get from multiple sources. Most importantly take you time and don't rush into it.

I started researching for my tank almost a year ago. Since then, the more I learned, the more my plans changed. At this point I am fairly confident with my tank plan but still learning lots. Hopefully, it will get started in March but working a lot right now, so we'll see.

It is great to see someone local on here! I live in Shrewsbury. I have to ask you what is this LFS with $1 / gallon sale? I need to get a 30g for my sump tank. And since you are local I do have a couple books that gave me good intro if you wanted to borrow them awhile. I know there were no reef books in the SYC library, and I'm guessing in your library also, but never know so check out that avenue also. Remember as far as books go many are a bit dated in reefkeeping methods.

[ddog1775]

hey,NaCLFinatic, the sale is at superpetz in york. the sale is feb. 9-11. the flyer i got at the store only mentions 20, 29, 55, 75 gal. tanks. Also it's all galss tanks if that matters to you. if you need directions they have a website. that would be great to borrow some books, and i know most of the libraries around here aren't all that great for subjects like this one. btw if your wondering i live near the loganville fire company.