Argh, Too Many Choices!

[mrspasty]

My research continues, but I'm making no progress. Sure I'm learning more and more as I keep reading which is no bad thing, but I'm making no ground in terms of making a decision about what to do. If I could even just pick a tank / setup I could then just research in that area, but I still have at least three options to choose from and it's not helping.

My options are:

Option One - Chromis all in one
35g, fairly basic to set up and cheaper than option two, but not much room for learning or growth.

Option Two - Tank and sump setup
50g tank and cabinet deal at LFS which looks good, tank ready drilled etc. Looks complicated as I'd have to set it all up myself which is scary but also would be a challenge and allow for learning and development into stuff like corals etc., later on. Larger capacity is a bonus but am very scared of the mechanics of it all. Expensive.

Option Three - Go for a smaller version of option two, only benefit is saving £.


I thought I'd try to decide what I want to do with the tank as that might help me decide, and basically I know I don't want to spend an absolute fortune to start out with in case I'm crap at fishkeeping, kill everything all the time and lose interest and money (!). However I do want some room for manouevre if I turn out to love it as much as I think I will. If I go for more expensive options I'll have to wait longer to get going, and I'm patient, but not that patient. What I need to find is a reasonably priced and fairly easy to install start up option just to get me going. If it's reasonably priced enough I can afford to do it now, then upgrade in a couple of years time when I have more dosh.

I want to start out FOWLR, then later on introduce corals, then later on I'd love to keep nems.

So, what do we think people, any words of wisdom for a confused noob?

 

[SkiFletch]

Heh, before wisdom come the questions

Do you rent or own your living space? How much space do you have for tanks? Enough for one or two small ones, big ones, etc? And most importantly, do you plan to remain living in your current house/condo/apartment for at least 2 years?

Reason I ask is that if you're gonna stay there, I'd lean towards the larger tank. If you know you're gonna move within say a year or less for sure I'd lean towards with a smaller tank option 1 or 2. And if you're not sure if you're staying put, well, toss a coin

If I may suggest, have a read through Matthew5664's original journal and note how things went for him. Used a moderately sized tank and went slow, even building up his LR slowly. Today he's got a beautiful tank and is looking to upgrade to a larger system. This might be a path you'd want to take yourself.

One last thought, as daunting as the mechanics of a sump may seem, once you really start understanding one and having experience with one, you'll be GLAD you have it. The ability to dose there and have an in-sump skimmer that if it overflows, no big deal, it just overflows back into the sump. There's lots of benefits there that someone as seemingly intelligent as yourself should have no trouble mastering.

 

[mrspasty]

Thanks SkiFletch, glad to see you're not bored of answering all my questions yet

We own our own home and will definitely be here for a minimum of another couple of years, most likely several more given house prices these days I'd like the tank in the lounge, there's a gap of about 5ft x 2ft where it would go.

Soooo, I'll give serious consideration to taking the (literal!) plunge and going the sump route. It's given some focus back to my research rather than wandering aimlessly around the net reading anything and everything I can get my hands on. In fact, I saved to favourites a link from the other day about how a sump works etc., so starting with that I'll try and get my head round the sump idea. To be honest I think the thing that scares me most is the need for DIY, which isn't my strong point

I think I might take a trip to my not-so-LFS tomorrow and pick the brains of the guy there some more. He'll be sick of the sight of me soon, but he seems to really know his stuff, so it's really his fault that I keep going back to him!!

I sat for about an hour yesterday evening reading through Matt's thread after seeing a link on another thread. Fantastic reading and really inspirational, although did increase my fears of inadequate DIY abilities!

 

[SkiFletch]

Eh, DIY isn't that hard. At the risk of blowing him in on the subject, robbhp is pretty good at it too . Anyways, dunno if you have this link yet, but melevsreef.com is a fantastic resource for sumps. Melev does all his stuff by hand with acrylic, but if I were you I'd go to my local hardware store and have them cut you bubble walls out of glass and just slobber a bunch of silicone on them. Sure its not as clean and beautiful as melev's work, but its a sump hidden in a cabinet

 

[mrspasty]

Melev's site is another responsible for my sump-fear The tank I'm looking at does actually come with a sump (with in-built weir), and the tank comes ready-drilled, so with any luck I wouldn't have to actually make the tank itself. But it's all that cutting hoods to accommodate lighting and general drilling and DIY stuff that I find scary. Although I have just decorated the house single-handedly, so perhaps I'm improving with age I guess it's just a case of having the confidence. I'd be gutted if I cut something then found I'd done it wrong. My brother-in-law is also looking to go marine at the moment (they have a tropical tank at the mo) and he's really good with stuff like that, so I can always call on him I guess.

 

[Matthew5664]

Don't be afraid of the DIY its half the fun!

Anyway I've done lots of silly things with my diy on my tank. When I upgraded my sump I cracked the first one putting the baffles in!

Word of advise if you can use acrylic baffles then do, its alot more forgiving.

PS: if you want any acrylic then I could post you some in the new year I get mine free from the bin outside a local plastics wholesaler, and I'll post it through work so it won't cost me!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

i'd go or one of the sump options then.... probably the larger, yes it's more expensive and a little bit more maintenance, but the larger a body of water the more stable it is, so if you can go bigger you nearly always should. with a bigger tank you've much less chance of absolutely messing everything up so less chance of having wasted your money.

 

[SkiFletch]

PS: if you want any acrylic then I could post you some in the new year I get mine free from the bin outside a local plastics wholesaler, and I'll post it through work so it won't cost me!

*goes off to bring Matthew's employer to the forum*

 

[Matthew5664]

It's ok his my father -in-law

 

[mrspasty]

SOMEBODY STOP ME!!!!!!!!!

I went to the not-so-LFS today and spent over an hour chatting to the guy there, he's really helpful, knowledgeable and most importantly, patient Anyhoo, I think I may now look at getting a quote for a tank which is bigger again - 4ft x 2ft x 2ft for the main tank, plus cabinet and custom built sump. I'm getting far too carried away, but I kinda figure after all this research I may as well go the whole hog from the off, rather than get a teeny tiny tank then want to upgrade within 6 months. (Plus I'm not going to be doing this for a while yet, so I've still got more time still to research).

I think most of my questions were answered today and so far I think I'm looking at:

Main tank 4ft x 2ft x 2ft (approx 100 UKG capacity) with inbuilt weir and ready-drilled
Cabinet and sump included (sump will be a good size)
Sump pump - oceanrunner 2500
Live rock (Base and LR)
Powerheads (2 @ 20xper hour)
Turboflotor multi SL skimmer (£200)
Arcadia 70cm 250w MH with 18w blues and timer (£319)


Few questions - does this look adequate? What heating and additional filtration would you recommend? I'll also need to purchase piping and substrate - what substrate would you recommend? I'm planning on a deep sand bed for a section of the sump. I'll get a refractometer, testing kits, salt etc too.

How's the shopping list looking?

THANKS!!!

 

[mrspasty]

......and a huge THANKS to Matthew for the offer of acrylic, that is very much appreciated, and I may well give you a shout in the new year. Thank you.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

very good, i'm really excited for you! sounds like your well on your way.

 

[l337dave]

If you watch this auction it might give you some idea what complete set up go for on ebay

http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=110070139513

There do seem to be some great deals going on ebay and this one stands out as it's huge, new and you get all your sump stuff (including some really kewl stuff like the ORP controller, nitrate reactor and the ozone).

bargin!

As an aside you have a 1x250 halide in your list. I don't think that one halide will really give you enough coverage lengthwise for a 4foot tank, someone else who knows better can chime in on this one tho.




dave.

 

[mrspasty]

Wow, that's quite a setup for £700!!!! Bargain!!!! Will definitely keep my eyes peeled on ebay.

The guy in the shop reckoned the 1 halide would be OK as they have a 30cm spread, hence just listing one. He did say though that I could expand on the lighting.

 

[Matthew5664]

On my new 4ft set-up I'm having 2x250W MH's realy going to need two. With one you'll have to have it so high the light would spill out too much.