Starting Tank (need Help Along The Way)

[tehauthority]

Input would be excellent, heres my situation right now,

-Currently have a 30g setup with 2 oscars, a pleco, and a freshwater moray eel,

now,,, everyone has already told me way to big of fish for the tank, as they are all babies still its besides the point I know....

anyway should I take this down (basically give my fish away and startover with saltwater) or should I buy a new tank and start saltwater...

Basically tomorrow I get paid and will have quite a bit of cash on me and plan on starting a saltwater if possible. I currently have a 30g, like I said.. I want to do a nano reef (couple clowns, some cool anemonies, and maybe a snowflake eel if possible) tomorrow I will be going to my LFS and PetsMart as much as I hate that place,, they have teenagers running the place. but anyway...... what do I need to start I've been doing a lot of reading and noticed how long everythings going to take. but as i expect and some of u all know is its worth it in the long run...
.
Right now I have...

-30g Tank
-Hood (not used for saltwater I'm guessing?)
-Filter,,,, just a standard Whisper 60,,, (dont know if I can use this)
-Heater

Obviously I need everything pretty much,,, now is the whole SKIMMER pretty much the filter of saltwater?

Ok well, I have about 150-200$ to spend tomorrow,,, so I don't know where to start basically is my question what should I buy and how do I start tomorrow? I'm really excited and very anxious.

 

[tropicalwaters]

If you are using your old tank make sure that you never used any copper based meds, because they are lethal to most SW inverts. If thats good, then clean the tank well.

- before you do anything, try reading some of the pinned threads, they are helpful and will give you alot of info on starting up.

for supplies you will need:

- salt
-hydrometer ( measures specific gravity)
-heater
-powerheads- this gives good water flow- aim for 15X turnover- mooe if you want corals
- skimmer- its great but IMO not absolutely nessesary unless you have a bigger tank
-a bucket, spare powerhead and heater to mix your saltwater
- RO unit- for water- or you can buy distilled or RO water from lfs.
- a good test kit ( very important)


once you set up your tank with good Sp SW and everything is good, add your substrate. you have a choice of crushed coral, etc. Research this and find out what you want. I have sugar sand and a coarser live sand mix. You dont need to buy all live sand, you can buy the sand that comes in the bag ( forget the name) and seed with live.

after this settles ( takes a couple of days- it depends). you can order your live rock. THis is your primary bio filter, so dont skimp on it. I spent over $200 on mine, thats 30 pounds. You can also buy base rock, and seed with live. This takes a little longer but its cheaper. Again, research what you want your tank to look like, therese tonga, fiji, boulder, slab, etc....

Now, you wait for your tank to cycle- depends on quality of live rock. My tank cycled in 1 week. test for ammonia, when thats gone for nitrite anf finally for nitrate. When this is around 20 ppm, do a good water change to get it down. I would wait uutil its below 10 to add a cleanup crew. Again research, theres crabs, hermits, snails, stars, cucumbers....

** your tank is unstable and may swing, get a feel on how to take care of the tank before you spend alot of money on fish. Your tank is immature, but when you get a feel on regular water changes, testing etc, you may risk and add some hardy fish ( ex yellow tail damsels). I would wait ( personally) atleast 3 months before adding corals, buu thats your call.

Im sure i forgot something, but thats a rough overview. I would recommend getting some good books on the hobby, theres recomendations on the pinned threads. Do ALOT of research, having a SW tank requires commitment. Good luck!

 

[tehauthority]

what about lighting ive seen a lot that like clip on to both sides of tank and go across the whole thing, those look pretty nice imo,, but i found a couple the other day butttt they're like 500$,,,, thats pretty crazy... anything cheap??? links would be great =]