Hey Everyone,
Let me begin by thanking you for taking the time and checking out this post!
I have several questions that I need answered and where is better to find answers then fellow fish lovers.
This weekend I am going to begin my very first Salt Water Fish Tank!!! I am thrilled and excited to be honest. I wanted your thought and opinions on the issues I will be facing as a first timer.

First of all where do I need to start and what do I need to purchase in setting up a Salt Water tank. The tank I am buying is a 55 Gallon.
I have a budget of $400 to spend this weekend to start Excluding Lighting, Stand, Tank,fish,corals. What should I start with. Remember its a small tank 55 Gallon only!! I will be able to put another $500 in the tank in 2 weeks. But I want to start now!

Please help me putting a great tank together.

Please tell me what everything I need to start and prices if you have any off hands and or where to buy them would be great!

Everything in the tank will be live.
I would really appreciate any help I can get!



Thank You

I am also available on AIM

wow man sounds like youre pretty pumped about this whole thing.. well first off ill introduce my self my name is michael, you will find that compared to reef central this forum is tiny. We have consistently about 10-15 ppl that post of saltwater and ill be glad to share with you whatever knowledge i have of the subject. I must warn you that my tank has been set up for 8 months, i have dropped 2500$ into it, going the cheap way that is, i did research for about a year before i got the tank and i havent regretted any of it.
Now for some information....
ok forget about fish and corals for about 3 months, maybe more and forget about inverts for at least another 2 months AFTER you get your water, sand , and rock in the tank. It must cycle. First of all is the 400$ after you have bought the tank or before?? If you are wanting to get corals and make a reef, your system will do ALOT better with >5-6 watts per gallon so you might want to start looking on craigslist and ebay for your light. You will also need some pretty stiff filtration as well as a good skimmer. I would highly suggest you set up a sump for your skimmer w/ a refugium.. if you dont know what the terms i am using are just ask and ill explain. I made the mistake of not having room for a sump or a fuge and i am competing with high nitrate levels. At your lfs ( local fish store) do they sell live rock? how good of shape is it in and how much is it per lb if they sell it? DONT buy live sand, you will do find buying dry sand or sand that has a little water in the bag and setting live rock on it , the rock will seed the sand. As far as a filter im not sure what i would reccommend but what i wouldnt reccommend is a canister filter, very hard to maintain.... plus theyre expensive, mine retails for 399.99.

A few websites to get you started is fostersmith.com , liveaquaria.com, marinedepot.com , jus kind of start looking at things and getting a feel for what is out there one the market...

Note: IT IS A VERY WISE IDEA TO CONSULT PPL ON HERE BEFORE YOU BUY ANYTHING...

PLEASE TAKE YOUR TIME.... those who dont pay the price later.... trust me....

How old are you btw, jus curious?

Good luck....

ok find out about the rock...
To adequately grow corals since most of them depend on algae that grows in them ( i think) , they need a high amount of light. In this fish industry this is measured by approx how many watts per gallon you have. I use a 250 watt metal halide, 2 X 65 watt pc combo to not only get more watts per gallon but to take advantage of a different spectrum of light. My tank is 70 gallons and my fixture is 380 watts so im at like 5.5 watts per gallon which is right at what i need to be to grow healthy corals... i would not reccommend getting corals if you have less than 3 watts per gallon... definately not sps or lps ( small polyp stony and large polyp stony)
In the case of a sump, a sump is basiaclly another aquarium most likely put under the tank that water from hte display is pumped into that can contain a refugium ( which is a tank, sometimes placed in hte sump, that you put live rock, sand and macroalgae in to use as another biological filter for your water, That type of algae reduces nitrate levels as well as phosphate i believe, they are very useful) anyway you use your sump to set your protein skimmer in if you do not have a hang on the back skimmer like i do, basically what ia sump is is a place wheere you can put equipment so that you dont have a whole bunch of equipment hanging around your display tank.
As for filtration, you DO NOT want to get a filter rated for say 75 galloons if you have a 55 gallon tank. My tank is 70 gallons and i have a filter rated for a 400 gallon tank so im pushing out like almost 6 times the volume of my tank.. you dont need that much i go overboard iwth everything, you need to find a filter that pushes out like idk im guessing like 600 gallons per hour?? something like that i suppose, maybe a little less, ask some of the other people on that one.

ok let me clarify things.. a sump is no more than a box of water that has a pump going from your main tank to the sump and from the sump back to the tank... some people choose to also incoorporate a refugium but most of hte time sumps are used as a house for a skimmer... you MUST have a skimmer, what a skimmer does it remove metals and proteins from the water. Ok say u have a filter that is too small for your tank, not only will it not properly filter your water but it will no oxygenate the water either, not good enough at least... moving water oxygenates it btw... but my filter pushes 940 gph which means if there was a pool full of 940 gallons of water, it could pump all of it out in one hour, that is kind of like hte horsepower rating on a car, or kind of like a cars 0-60 time. Using high power bulbs alone will not give you a badass tank, you must have a good fixture... metal halide is a good start.... look some of the stuff up on wikipedia and go to liveaquaria.com or fostersmith.com n go to hte bottom and there should be guides to doing all of this.

good deal, you do understand you will put more than 1500$ into that tank dont you?? most likely that is...

Hey everyone I have been spending a lot of time, money and research, and yes u were right, ive spent close to 1200 so far, so forget about the 400 i thought lol.. I will upload pictures if anyone wants to see what im working with so far!