Newbie Marine Set Up, Buy As A Kit, Or Individually?

[youngfisher]

Wow.
Your really not waiting around!
Fair play to you.
If you have the funds then do it!
Keep us updated.

YF

 

[karigupi]

Wow.
Your really not waiting around!
Fair play to you.
If you have the funds then do it!
Keep us updated.

YF

Patience was never my strong point lol

Its all abit mind boggling thought isnt it, trying to figure out if I actually need a sump or not?

 

[youngfisher]

Many people recommend a sump.
If I had the room i'd have one!
If you have the room have one!
Im sure its werfit.
Especially if your not going for a plug and play like me.
Your doing the full works!
Wow!
Time to start clicking away on ebay me thinks.
I need to sell my xbox aswell for some money.
But there not going for hardly anything.

YF

 

[bagu]

hey =]

your list sounds good! and 170L is a fantastic tank size to start with!

i like your ideas! and like YF if you have the time to get a sump then go for it

 

[karigupi]

Hiya,

I think I may have to change my plans, after doing some virtual shopping this evening & totting up my totals, i'm well over £500, hubby would pass out! Decent lighting for a 52" tank is so expensive.

If I was to stick with my big tank, can I get away without a sump & skimmer? Are these things I could add at a later date if needed? I doubt that I will have much livestock, so it shouldnt get too messy in there. I'm looking mainly for the coral, shrimp & a few little hermits & snails, maybe 3 or 4 small fish.

Could I set up the tank with my filter, a couple of powerheads, lighting & heater, add some liverock (will keep the filter running) then add more live rock over months, until it is fully stocked with rock, then remove the filter?

 

[Trod]

Hiya,

I think I may have to change my plans, after doing some virtual shopping this evening & totting up my totals, i'm well over £500, hubby would pass out! Decent lighting for a 52" tank is so expensive.

If I was to stick with my big tank, can I get away without a sump & skimmer? Yes you can, a sump is a nice to have but not essential, also many tanks run without skimmers, as long as you keep up regular water changes you could add the skimmer later
Are these things I could add at a later date if needed? I doubt that I will have much livestock, so it shouldnt get too messy in there. I'm looking mainly for the coral, shrimp & a few little hermits & snails, maybe 3 or 4 small fish.

Could I set up the tank with my filter, a couple of powerheads, lighting & heater, add some liverock (will keep the filter running) then add more live rock over months, until it is fully stocked with rock, then remove the filter? The only problem with adding LR like this is you could have mini cycles each time you add more LR, this is ok if you have no livestock, but could cause problems once fish etc. are in there. Have a look on ebay and UR, you often find people breaking down their tanks and you can pick up LR for some bargain prices, Seffie got hers for £4 kg

 

[VictorMeldrew]

I have a skimmer for sale for £30, its the one i was using in my journal, i have picture there. it's not amazing but it will work really well in a tank in a tank that is slightly smaller than mine.

 

[karigupi]

Hiya,

I think I may have to change my plans, after doing some virtual shopping this evening & totting up my totals, i'm well over £500, hubby would pass out! Decent lighting for a 52" tank is so expensive.

If I was to stick with my big tank, can I get away without a sump & skimmer? Yes you can, a sump is a nice to have but not essential, also many tanks run without skimmers, as long as you keep up regular water changes you could add the skimmer later
Are these things I could add at a later date if needed? I doubt that I will have much livestock, so it shouldnt get too messy in there. I'm looking mainly for the coral, shrimp & a few little hermits & snails, maybe 3 or 4 small fish.

Could I set up the tank with my filter, a couple of powerheads, lighting & heater, add some liverock (will keep the filter running) then add more live rock over months, until it is fully stocked with rock, then remove the filter? The only problem with adding LR like this is you could have mini cycles each time you add more LR, this is ok if you have no livestock, but could cause problems once fish etc. are in there. Have a look on ebay and UR, you often find people breaking down their tanks and you can pick up LR for some bargain prices, Seffie got hers for £4 kg

Thank you, thats really helpful My two main expenses then for the tank would be the light & the rock.

I'm torn between a little nano tank I have found, which I could probably do all in for about £150, or revamping my 52" tank, lights will be around £100, LR£150, RO water£25 2x Powerheads £50. Already have a good heater, the coral sand seems to be fairly inexpensive. so about £350 to get set up.

I'm very tempted by the little nano tank, as I could set it up straight away, no searching for items & be all set up by next weekend, the other option, is more expensive & more time consuming & may take a couple of months(more likely 3-4) to sort, not good for someone as impatient as me.

Or there is option number 3, get the nano now & enjoy it & learn from it, make sure that I enjoy marine fishkeeping, whilst saving & buying the bits for the big tank, if i was to do this, I think I would save for the metal halide lights, skimmer & sump.

 

[karigupi]

Right, decision made, I have decided to go for option 2

Im far too impulsive, I tend to act first, think later, but doing lots of thinking, & I think I really should do this properly if I am going to do it.

Option 2 is to use birthday money to buy some lovely marine/coral books from LFS, move the tanks as planned & clean well, then buy lights & fix in place, write up a big list of what I need & start buying one thing at a time as I can afford them, leaving the LR till last, it will probably take me a few months, but it will be worth the wait, right?

Going to sort myself a new notebook & start a list & will probably spend far too much time mooching around my LFS adding to the list.

Thanks for all the input guys, I will make a journal when I get started

 

[BigC]

Confused dot com
What ever you decide I'm sure it will be fascinating, look forward to your journal
ATB
C

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Think you have made the right choice. I think most of us have started off with nano tanks and soon after wanted to upgrade to something bigger. This way you get more time to research what you want as well. Unfortunately rushing things doesn't work very well with marine tanks there is more to take into consideration then FW tanks and making a mistake at the start can end up costing you a lot more in the end.

Make sure you keep us updated as to how your going and there will always be someone around that can answer any questions you might have.

 

[Trod]

Yep I think you have made the right decision too But don't be surprised if you change your mind again I must be on Plan 'R' by now

 

[karigupi]

lol, I think its our right as women to change our minds as much as possible

 

[bagu]

plan R

i havent even got a plan A yet haha

 

[youngfisher]

Kari Kari Kari.
Dont worry about taking your time.
Im doing that aswell.
I purchased a notebook today, time to start righting.
Keep me updated if you find out anything you think woul help me.
And ill do the same.

YF