New Starter

[stray66uk]

hi i,m a total beginner in reefkeeping, so much so that i,ve just arranged the bankloan to decorate the room :angry: and buy the set up :) this is the system i have come up with after reading 100,s of posts on the various sites. if i,m way off with anything please let me know as i have £1000 to spend on the initial set up (unless i can get away with a coat of emulsion ;) so i can,t realy afford any mistakes.
set up

4"/ 18 /2" high tank (drilled)

3"/15?15 sump

cabinet and hood (home made)

halide lighting (advice needed on size / power etc)

poss deltec skimmer

2 heaters

3/4 powerheads

return pump (advice needed)

deep sand base in refugium

1 box living rock (initially)

hydrometer/test kits etc

that will be it and a push at that unless i find some of the items second hand. any advice would be much appreciated and if i,m way off please tell me cheers rich

[MrFish]

I'll make a couple of general comments -

Don't be afraid to buy 2nd hand at first (keep an eye on this board) and keep it simple as you will learn it can get very expensive if you let it. There will also be a learning curve so simple is good at first.

On the topic of cost, you must remember that there is an ongoing cost associated with keeping a tank, the startup cost is just the beginning.

You havn't said what you plan to keep.

Doesn't the " sign mean inches, ' means feet, your gonna have a very small tank :P

When I first started, (only a year ago) i bought a complete setup so was a lot easier than doing it from scratch, not always possible but worth considering.

[kosh42]

:D Welcome!!! :D

Sounds like you've done our homework... Well done.

With regard to the skimmer, an Aquamedic 1000 multi would do the job. I'm impressed with mine, although it is a smaller system... Will also hang on the side of the sump, thus giving more room for the snad bed, etc... They're about £200 new of under £100 second hand. Mine was third hand and still works a treat...

With powerheads, I went for loads of Maxijets... They threw out a lot of heat and the water came out in narrow jet. You may want to consider Tunze Stream or closed loops. The can be expensive to start, but they are will worth the money...

Halides, I'll leave to someone else. Though I'd suggest you look into hydroponic lighting... I'd say 250W or 400W if you want light loving Acros...

Tim

[Frogfone]

Rich

If your any good with electrics or know someone who is it's quite easy (and cheap) to DIY MH lighting this will save you a packet.

I agree with kosh 1 tunze stream should do for this size tank and will cost the same as 4x maxijets but look better and do a better job.

Pump has got to be an ehiem 1060.

my main advise would be spend as much as possible on the tank/stand etc just now as everything else can be upgraded round it but changing tanks is a B****. If your homemaking your stand over-engineer it and take into account lateral forces Or get a local welder to build you a steel frame then cover it in conti-board.


One box of LR will not be enough for a 4' x 18" x 24" tank. If you want to save money buy relief rock but remember it will not contribute to your filtration for a long time.

To be honest I think £1000 is pushing it to setup this size tank with halides. Do you have any old ballasts icking about as you could setup the tank with them just now and add halides in 6 months time when you start to add LPS and SPS.


Ta

Roddy