Starting a new marine aquarium

[davudvl]

I am new to the marine hobby. I am going to set up a 124 gallon tank. It will be a fish only system with live rock.
1. I live in Los Angeles, CA and my local dealer recommended a cooler. It runs about $750. Do I really need one?
2. What is an overflow box and is it necessary?
3. What are some of the best acrylic tank manufacturers?
4. Lastly, these are the fish that I eventually plan to have in this tank:

1. Lionfish ( Volitans or Zebra)
2. Trigger ( Picasso or Niger)
3. Scribbled Angel
4. Purple or yellow Tang. ( I am worried though that they catch ich easily).
5. Snowflake Morray.

Please give your opinions as to anything you would add or subtract from this community of fish.

P.S.
I read that a lot of people advise to set up a quarrantine tank. I have no room for one. Can I get away without having the quarrantine tank?
Your feedback is greately appreciated.

 

[Navarre]

I dont live in such a hot climate but if you cannot keep the temperature of the tank below 82 and stable then you will run into trouble.
Marine tanks tend to have more powerheads and pumps than a freshwater so the heat given off by these head will increase the temperature of the tank. You can use fans to over the water surface to lower teh temperature but this does increase the evaporation of watrer in the tank considerably.

An overflow box is used mainly for tanks that have a sump and are not drilled. Rather than drilling holesin the tank to feed the sump you can get overflow boxes to help with the syphoning. They can be tempermental and tricky to set up. If you can get a tank drilled then its a better option.

As im based in the UK i cannot answer your question about Acrylic.

The fish seem pretty well balanced. I have an Emperor Tang (purple) and they are very hardy. Both the Yellow and the purple are very similar in habits and requirements and are very hrdy once they have settled in. I had a whitespot outbreak when it was first introduced but within a few dyas it cleared up and it has never got it back since.

The Niger Trigger is beautiful, i had one. They do grow very large though so be aware of this. With a tank your size though it should not be too much trouble.

 

[Great Lakes]

As far as Acrylic, Tenecor and Seaclear seem to be a couple that I hear best comments on.

GL

 

[davudvl]

Thank you for the replies.
Pardon my ignorance, but what is a sump?

Also will a Comet be compatible with the other fish, or is it too shy?

Thank you

 

[Navarre]

A sump is a tank or other device for holding water. Usually placed under the main tak, this is usually connected via pipework. A pump in the sump pumps water up into the main tank, the tank will overflow (usually through the holes drilled or with an overflow box) and the overflowing water will flow back down into the sump. Fiting a sump gives many advantages.
Extra water capacity, this helps keep the water more stable and allows great volume of fish. Heaters and protien skimmers can be fitted here where they are out of sight. Sumps can be used for filtration, Deep sand baeds, mineral mud systems, live rock sytems, macro algea systems etc. All this can beplaced in the sump without cluttering up the mian tank.

Here are a few piccys to help sho you

Macro algea to help with nutrient extraction

Mangroves to also help with nutrient extraction.

Simple design showing a sump with an external skimmer fitted

A view of the tank with no background. You can see the white pipework behind the back glass. If you follow the pipe diagonally up to the top right corner you can see one of the drilled holes where the water flows into and into the sump.

Hope this helps.

 

[Navarre]

A comet? you mean a Marine Betta?
Hm... they dont grow very large, perhaps 7 inches at max. You lion fish might gorw large enough to swallow it. The only other issue that might come up is that a picasso might fin nip. I dont think a niger would though.