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New Tank - New to the Hobby - I Need Your Input.

Diogenes

Diogenes

So far the only item I have is a DeepBlue Edge 80g (48x24x16), and I will be building the stand myself to save some money ,hopefully. Because I'll be building up this tank slowly, due to budget issues, I wanted to see if I could get the input of the forum on the order of the items I should buy, and maybe even opinions on the items themselves since I have 0 experience with them. By knowing which items I should get first, I can start some of the necessary processes, saving some of the time that I will waste waiting for the money to come in. IE: curing, cycling and other things that I may not yet know I'll have to do.

While money is an issue for me, I'm still aiming at good quality items. I rather wait longer and buy it right once, then regretting it in the future and having to upgrade it.
I'm also thinking of purchasing most of the necessary items as if I was building a much larger tank, just in case I ever decide to upgrade in the future.(not sure if this is a good idea though)

Just wanted to point out that I will be building this in my basement where its mostly empty, so space isn't an issue.

Thank you for taking your time and reading this.

(I'm sorry if I'm not being too clear on this post or any other future one. Communication isn't my forte)
 
njtiger24 aquariums

njtiger24 aquariums

Officer Emeritus
Article Contributor
@Diogenes7 welcome to the club and the hobby. I learned quickly in this hobby there are 1,000s of ways to do something at at least one person will tell you that your doing it wrong. I have found this club to be a welcoming/understanding club. I am still learning as I go (my tank been running about 1.5 years now) but I will try and answer any questions I can.

My first question and this will help with everything:

Do you know what you plan on keeping? Are you doing fish only? Corals? Softies/LPS/SPS/Mix?
 
njtiger24 aquariums

njtiger24 aquariums

Officer Emeritus
Article Contributor
ok then with a mix tank one of the most expense equipment but a key equipment is lighting. Now everyone has their own views on lights. Many people go the MH route, some do T5, some do LEDs, and some do a mix. Personally I went LED starting out. I like the lights I use on my mix tank but I can only speak for those lights (have not tried anything else to compare them to). I am running one Kessil A360WE w/ Kessil controller plus two Kessil A150we Deep Ocean Blues.
 
kschweer

kschweer

Administrator
Staff member
Officer Emeritus
Moderator
I would suggest looking through some build threads on here and seeing what tanks you like and would like your tank to look like. Then take some cues from what the person has done. I would say the 2 biggest things not to "skimp" on are lights and a skimmer. Welcome to the club and best of luck!!!
 
njtiger24 aquariums

njtiger24 aquariums

Officer Emeritus
Article Contributor
kschweer said:
I would suggest looking through some build threads on here and seeing what tanks you like and would like your tank to look like. Then take some cues from what the person has done. I would say the 2 biggest things not to "skimp" on are lights and a skimmer. Welcome to the club and best of luck!!!
Click to expand...
That is great advice Kevin.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Welcome @Diogenes7 . I'm in agreement with above statements, but since we don't have this tank on a stand, lets start with the stand. You have a choice of using 1 by lumber, 3/4 ply or dimensional lumber, skinned with whatever floats your boat. (You can also go metal, but I was never a metal person.) I went the way of the dimensional lumber stand using this template:



The rule with this plan is up to a four foot tank, all 2x4's; over four feet, the top boards need to be 2x6's.


I'll also link you to my builds....the one on NJRC HERE, and the Reader's Digest version over on R2R HERE. I'd suggest the R2R read since it's considerably shorter, but has all the good stuff in it.


And finally, I'd suggest you start a "Tale of the Tank" and document your build. It's great going back after a few years and seeing what you've done.

Again, welcome.
 
dastrader

dastrader

Welcome.

I built the exact stand that redfishbluefish has shown. As njTiger24 stated, there are a million ways to go. I like to keep it simple and cost effective personally. I see so many people end up leaving this hobby for a couple of reasons (1) Money, which ultimately is a concern for almost everyone to some degree, 2) Moving too fast and or running into problems (crashes) that they aren't prepared for).

My suggestion would be to read as many different build threads as you can (here and on other sights) and listen to everyones opinions to start to form yours (again, you will get MANY contradicting ones). Then once you have some ideas, ask more specific questions on specific topics. (IE. I am thinking of going LED and am trying to choose between the AI Hydra 26 and the Kessil 360).

So much of this stuff has been asked and answered again and again. So just google and read. (One last time though, there are NO exact right answers. This is an art form as much as a science).

You are already on the right track as far as going slow.
 
trivan

trivan

Patience.
Patience.
Oh and patience. Oh and that is the only right answer

Be prepared for new tank "syndrome". It will generally take 6-9 months even before you can consider your tank stable. Lot of people (self included) jump in and buy/get frags too soon and end up with dead coral. You can save a ton of money by just being patient. In my tank, I battled algea for 6 months, then in 3 weeks disappeared. Its another reason so many people get out of this hobby around the 10-12 month time frame.
 
Diogenes

Diogenes

I appreciate all the replies, all the info provided and advice, I really do. I do plan on taking things slow, not that I have a choice lol. I followed the advice of a fellow member and went out today and got a 40g tank from Petco at $1 per gal for my sump, also got a 20g tank to use as a Quarantine/Hospital tank. Not sure if the 40g is too big to use as a sump or not but I figured since I'm new and all if something went wrong, it would hold a lot more water in case water syphoned down. Also the extra room would allow me to consider equipment of different sizes. What do you guys think? (Btw sale is until the end of the month if anyone needs an extra tank)
 
Trio91

Trio91

Administrator
Staff member
Moderator
Diogenes7 said:
I appreciate all the replies, all the info provided and advice, I really do. I do plan on taking things slow, not that I have a choice lol. I followed the advice of a fellow member and went out today and got a 40g tank from Petco at $1 per gal for my sump, also got a 20g tank to use as a Quarantine/Hospital tank. Not sure if the 40g is too big to use as a sump or not but I figured since I'm new and all if something went wrong, it would hold a lot more water in case water syphoned down. Also the extra room would allow me to consider equipment of different sizes. What do you guys think? (Btw sale is until the end of the month if anyone needs an extra tank)
Click to expand...
Are you considering setting up a refugium in your sump? May wanna DIY some baffles. Also drilling that tank may be something to consider as well so that you can potentially avoid any accidents. From experience, I have had the worst luck with HOB overflows. But like mentioned in prior posts, nothing is mandatory, it's all about good "hundandry" and redundancy and it is an art form
 
Diogenes

Diogenes

trio91 said:
Are you considering setting up a refugium in your sump? May wanna DIY some baffles. Also drilling that tank may be something to consider as well so that you can potentially avoid any accidents. From experience, I have had the worst luck with HOB overflows. But like mentioned in prior posts, nothing is mandatory, it's all about good "hundandry" and redundancy and it is an art form
Click to expand...
Um, yes I was considering a refugium, unless there are better set ups for what I want to do that I'm not aware of. As far as drilling, I think you are talking about the main tank? It's a reef ready 80g, so it's already drilled. If you meant the 40g I got today, than I'm completely lost as to y I would have to drill.
 
njtiger24 aquariums

njtiger24 aquariums

Officer Emeritus
Article Contributor
I believe a large sump isn't a bad thing. A larger sump will increase your total water volume which in turn will help you out (I have headed and learned more water volume you have the more forgiving the system can be when you make a minor mistake.) Just note it also a double edge blade cause if there is an issue then the harder it is to get under control lol.

My understanding baffles will help prevent micro bubbles and also allow you to create "compartments" for your refugium without your skimmer or return pump getting clog.
 
Trio91

Trio91

Administrator
Staff member
Moderator
Sorry, I was confused, <--my bad

For the baffels, it will allow you to have chambers for all your fixings (skimmer, return pump filter Sox etc

In its simplest form, it will allow u to separate your items (there are others who can chime in if I'm missing something)
 
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