what should i do?

[MikeP 734]

So this will be my first salt water tank and have a little but no idea what to get. I was looking at the oceanic bio cube 29 and 14 gallon. Any advice on what i need to get started? i want a nice tank, but not to complicated.

[poppin_fresh]

I would personally go for the 29. I had a 14 and its nice, but really small. At least with the 29 you could keep a couple small fish along with a decent amount of corals when you are ready. The 14 should really only contain inverts and coral, there isn't much room for fish once its got the LR in it.

JMO

[KAN]

Go for the 29. Bigger is better.

[KAN]

O and I forgot. to TR

For us to give you more then help on tank size. We need to know what you want to do with it, keep just fish, coral or both?

[MikeP 734]

I would like to keep fish and coral...

[keith p]

Mike,
Bigger is better

I have an Aquapod 12 gallon (my first SW tank too) and I wish I had started with a bigger tank. Smaller tanks are MORE work.

[KAN]

let me make a small list and others can fill in what they think.

1. a tank (the bigger the better)
2. Salt any kind is good ( reef salt has more ca )
3. sand ( I like DSB of aragonite sand )
4. RO/DI ( you could go out and get premixed water )
5. power head ( Koralia power heads are really nice )
6. heater
7. skimmer ( CPR, Tunze, Remora )
8. 1-2lb live rock per gal ( uncured, cured it's like the same )
9. last a light ( stock or no light. You don't need a light to cycle your tank. when you get your stocking list together. Then think about a light )

Now are you going to have a sump?

A sump is just another tank like a 5 or 10gal. What ever you have room for. That most people put there heater, skimmer, and more rock in. The reason for a sump is to add more water volume and filtration.

[CarmieJo]

Hello Mike and to TR.

I agree that bigger is better! Add various dedicated buckets, siphon hose and a turkey baster to Kan's list and I think you have a pretty good start.

[MikeP 734]

thanks man, i was wondering if you could set me up with like a complete list of things i would need for a 60 gallon tank to get started. like brands and the accesories. but i do not want to spend to much, but also dont want my fish to die. And letting everyone know, i will find out how everything works before i actually start one.

[PhotoJohn]

for a 60g you need:
-the tank
-a good skimmer rated for your total water volume or more(more is better) and a pump to power it
-a refugium/sump (20g or larger)
-drain holes & an overflow for the drains in the 60 gallon (stay away from overflow boxes that use a siphon and not drain holes)
-pipes to connect the drains to the sump
-a pump to pump the water back from the sump to the 60g
- 2 heaters in case 1dies
-60-120 lbs of live rock (you could use 50lbs of live rock and another 50-75lbs of cheap base rock it will become live rock in a month or two)
-I would use a DSB so 4-6 inchs of sand
-A bucket or bag of salt Something called reef salt if you want corals (higher Ca)
-lighting which depends on the needs of your system. Sps=high light soft corals=medium light (in general) Lighting may be the most expensive part of the system
-powerheads Hydor Korelia pumps are low watts and high flow very nice
-time to listen to all the back episodes of TR

I would recommend yo listen to the old EPs of TR. The information there is invaluable. I learner more from TR than any other source.

oh and dont believe what the LFS says, they are often ill informed or just want to make money.

[KAN]

Originally Posted by PhotoJohn

-a good skimmer rated for your total water volume or more(more is better) and a pump to power it

Well I wouldn't go to much more. But if you skim allot you might want to do a water change more often like 1 time every week around 5-10gal. I don't know to much in the felled of bigger tank. But the rest sound good. Thx John.