so im thinkin about getting a 60 gal tank and well ive never had salt tanks, so im curious will i need a protein skimmer and/or a uv steralizer if im not going to have a reef tank. i just want fish and some piles of rocks. just something bright and cool. so please help me. thanks
-acer-

my LFS sells huge pieces of dead coral... they have a tank on display with dead SPS corals stocked with angels and tangs... it's a gorgeous tank... but again... it doesn't have live rock, and there is no coraline algae... so to me it's pretty much fail/aids...

but it does catch the eye...

ok but my lfs told me that live rock is better for the filtration part due to the fact you dont have to change it or rinse it like you would if you had balls or stars, so because of that reason i would need atleast a uv ster to stop the bad bateria. is he right or is it a waste of money?

ive actually heard that UV's can be detrimental to a tank if used to early in the start up, because they are very good at removing bacterias, therefor can kill needed bacterias as well , lol hense the name sterilizer right??................a sterilizer should probably not be used on a tank less than a year old and then has to be specifically sized to the tank or it's pretty much usless as well

now IMO a protien skimmer is a must .................i'm useing a small HOB Redsea Prizm on my tank and it does a wonderful job - - i also just have fish and verts with live rock, mild PC lights and no corals, but the protien skimmer is a must for me ....................because I'm anal about water clearity and the skimmer just takes it that litle step farther...............

get the biggest damn monster filter you can afford..........like 5 times the capabilty of your tank and put a few good power heads in there {i LOVE hydor korialas, and others here like em too} and you will have a wonderful beautiful tank

Good luck ................welcome to the salt side

Boss

Current Satilite - - is a good middle of the road affordable PC {power compact} light set up ......they have all kinds of sizes with LED moonlights, white and actinic, you don't really need lots of wattage for a fish only tank, but, the actinic {the blue bulbs} make everything pop really nicely, and the colors of the fish will be amazing - figure 200-300 for your lights..............

saltwater for the first few months is an ongoing maintenence monster, no matter what size the tank is, water changes, testing, cleaning etc etc - you need to have a place to keep water that is "curing" {premixed for watrer changes} storage of RO water and just basic equipment..............i like to have back up equipment on hand................maybe not the same quality or size............for example, on my tank i have a 110 gpm HOB {hang on back} filter.........down in the basement in a box i have a couple 30 GPM filters, if i lose the 110 i can at least keep some filtration running until i can repair or replace the large one...............you can not leave a tank for days with out a filter and if you need to order one when one dies.........it's to late ............see what i'm saying??

i use walmart plastic containers to mix salt water, store bulk salt, store old power heads filters, hoses, nets and all the other little what nots that get accumulated and always have a 20% salt mix ready to go if i need to do reg maint. or an emergency change {20% of the volume of my tank}

So.............when figureing the space the tank will take up remember to figure twice that area somewhere else for all the gear ..............basement are awsome, lol

please feel free to ask specific questions about specific things, there is so much involved and ten different ways to do each thing ..........you will get overwhelmed

oh yeah - - - - big notebook - - start a diary of sorts, from questions to info to water tests to maint cycles etc etc etc - - i have 2 large notebooks full over the past year and can tell you what the temp and parameters where six months ago on what date and what was going on in the tank at the time - - -has come in VERY handy

Boss

a grand is a reasonable amount to budget - - -but you'll have to shop pretty frugal for things . . .don't go cheap, but the most expensive dosn't mean the best, i have about 1500 in a 20 gallon long tank . . . . . . and it's not anything crazy for sure

my advise knowing what i know now would be to start collecting stuff, when your ready for a filter make a post with what you want it to do and let the masses suggest different kinds and sizes, from there make an informed choice and then buy - - then move on to the next piece of equipment

bare bones ...........
tank with some sort of stand, bought or built
lights
filter / filters
skimmer
heater
powerheads
substrate
rock of some sort


then............
RO water
salt mix
hydrometer
test kit
buckets
cleaning gear
custumizing - -hoods, stands, pipeing, aquascaping etc etc

then ................
fishies
verts
inverts

it's a very rewarding hobby but you must be dedicated to it to be successful .............otherwise it can be a heart ache


good thing is....you are starting with a larger tank..........."nano" tanks, like mine are harder to keep because the parameters can swing so violently fast in such small volumes of water - - -I.E. if something goes wrong in your 60 gallon tank in 3 days time it will happen in one day in my tank .........{thats an example people not the gospel, lol}

nano = generally accepted definition is any tank under 30 gallons
pico = {Boss's definition} under 8 gallons


its a great time really ......................Boss