marine?

[this guy]

Hi,

I have been taking care of tropical fish for a year and a half and have become an expert at it

I have taken care of a 15 gal community tank

And many many bettas

I have purchased with the money from my summer job a 45 gallon Rena 120.

It comes with good lighting supplied by Rena

A Rena external filter

A 200 W heater

-

what other equipments would I need to make it marine

I am earning about 100 a month now
and have 500 leftafter buying the tank.

I have always wanted a marine and feel it is time for the plunge

I have been reading alot

Please help

s. Is the tank size (45 gallons) too small?

How many fish cud be in there
Thank you very much

Chris

 

[chris777]

You will need a Better light,protein skimmer, live rock, Live sand/Crushed Coral there is some stuff i left out cause dont need it for seting it up. If this is your first saltwater i would suggest going with bigger but that will be fine you will just have to keep a eye on it a little more. As far as how many fish it totaly depends on what type a fish.

Now as far as price wise.

The light can run you around $200 up depending where you live plus what kind of light you get.

A protein Skimmer will run you about $100 up and the cheap ones just remeber you will be paying for what you get. So you want to buy a good one.

Live rock will run you 7-12 dollars a lb it may be cheaper where u live. Also the rule of thumb for how much you need is a 1 to 1 1/2 lb per gallon. You could also buy it from someone that is breaking down there tank for some reason you should be able to get it cheap from them. Ive got live rock at a 1.50 a lb.

The live sand/ crushed coral whichever one you use will be the cheapest part you will probley spend about $30-50 dollars on that

 

[ste2k3]

Done know if your in the UK or not but if you are the market is totaly diferent to the states so if you are, I'd go for a deltec mc500 internal skimmer or a deltec mce600 (hang-on skimmer) they range from around £190-220 but lookround for second hand ones. I'd start off with 20kg of live rock to start with and a couple of powerheads (such as maxijet 1200's) for circulation. in the external, I'd use carbon (2-3 days at the start of every month) and rowaphos (constantly)

as for lighting, if you go for a reef tank I don't think you can beat a halide such as a single 150watt will do fine to get you started. if you don't mind how it looks, try lowbays. if fish only, then the lighting you have will be fine.

ste