need advice on saltwater

I have had a freshwater tank for about 9 yrs or so, and now i want a saltwater tank. My friend has one so I know its a lot of work, but I need some advice on what equipment i should get. I think i want a sump so i dont have stuff hanging off the back. *I was looking at a 75g at my LFS. Any advice on lighting, filters, protein skimmer, there is so much to choose from. Some one told me to go with metal hydride (spelling) lights. I have no idea what to go with, and i dont want to get stuff which is not that great that ill need to change it no time. Any advice?? ??? ???
thanks
johnmac

[colesea]

Hmm...well I would start with purchasing:

-You and Your Aquarium- by **** Mills, Alfred A. Knopf publishing.  Thus far of all the books I've read, this one has the best basic information on starting a saltwater tank as well as mechanics behind aquarium equipment.
-Aquarium for Dummies- is an okay book as well, but when I saw they labled discus as a brackish water fish, I had to take their advice with a grain of salt.

There are plenty of good books out there for marine start-up information. Stay away from anything that has big pictures and big font, those books are bound to lack a whole lot of information.  Pruse the pages carefully, and invest a whole lot of time to reading product information websites.

~~Colesea

[colesea]

Um..more advice? I wish I could give you some, but you're asking for an awful lot of information in one setting. You do want a 75 gallon tank still? Do you want inverts or no inverts...what type of fish do you like? Let's break it down.  

Filtration:
You said you wanted a sump. Well, that involves an awful lot things:
1) A drilled tank, those can be costly
2) A sump, most people use any old glass tank, although I've seen plastic sweater boxes do just as well. the volume size is up to you.
3) bioballs or some other sort of media. Do you want a wet/dry trickle or are you just going to run conventional filtration on the sump?
4) powerheads and calculating flow rates so you don't overflow your tank or your sump.
5) Plumbing, that could be large guage tubing or PVC pipes or lots of things

How to put it all together? Damned if I know, I'm not that technically inclined. Personally, I don't mind stuff hanging off the back of my tanks, and a good canopy can hide it (they have nice matching stand/canopy sets at my shop, one of them in beautiful cherrywood). If I had my own 75 gallon fish only marine aquarium I would set filtraton up thus:

UGF flitration with two reverse flow powerheads in the back corners, I forgot the brand name, Aqua something or other.
Two AquaClear 300's, one on each side for suspended macropartical pick up, boxes stuffed with angel hair (filter floss).
Two Fluval 203s, one on each side, sealed with bio-media
A Prizem Protien skimmer to run for a couple of hours each day.

Metal hylide lights are really only reccommended for coral reef tanks (the salt water equivalent of a thriving dutch style 120 gallon planted freshwater aquarium). If you are just doing fish, I wouldn't bother about metal hylides, they're costly enough as it is.

There is -so- much information, and so many different ways to do a marine aquarium, you have to pick what is best for your skill level and budget. A friend of mine used to have a five gallon UGF marine aquarium with two damsels in it that was beautiful. I myself have kept large local water marine systems on UGF alone. Other people like the gizmos and gagets and R/O units and inverts and stuff. Narrow down what you wish to invest in the tank so you can better determine what advice you need.
~~Colesea

[dattack]

Here's an old post.


http://www.myfishtank.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=saltwater&action=display&num =1001468733&start=2

If you only plan to keep fishes, shrimps, snails, hermit crabs without any corals you can just use any lighting you want.  You can use the same lighting for freshwater tanks.

If you keep corals (soft and some LPS) you will need at least VHO or Metal Halides.

If you keep hard corals such as SPS or clams, you will probably need some MH.

Lighting is going to be very expensive and you have to determine before hand what you want before you fork our the money.

These are the basics I think you should have for any system.

1.  A deep sand bed using aragonite sand.  If you live in the east coast, the sell aragonite sand $4 for 50lbs because the LFS sells it for like $50 for 50lbs.  Otherwise you can use any sand from HD/Lowes if it's sugar sized grain.  The deep sand bed acts as a biological filtration.  
2.  Skimmer.  Do not skimp on this especially when you are a beginner.  You may not need a skimmer when your tank matures.  For a 75 Gallon, try a Aquamedic Turbofloater, Aqua C EV, etc.  
3.  Lighting.  Normal fluorescent for fish only.  VHO/PC/Metal Halides for corals.
4.  Live Rock. 1-1.5 lb/gallon.
5.  Powerheads.  Get maxijet 1200 for circulation.  Usually cost $19 each.
6.  Heater.
7.  Tank.  Try to get a 75 Gallon which has a builtin overflow.  This will make your life much simpler.  You can put a sump underneath to hide your skimmer, heater, return pump.
8.  Return pump.  Mag pump/Dolphin/Iwaki.

For this setup, you will not need any mechanical filtration like HOB, canisters, or wet/drys.  The rock and sand does all your filtration for you.

Before you do anything, read up more because otherwise you will lose a lot of time and money if you set it up improperly.

Go to saltwater sites like www.reefcentral.com or check out online stores and look at some of the products.
www.marinedepot.com
www.premiumaquatics.com

[cokeboy672]

The best thing that I would suggest is stop and take a few moments and dimes to invest in a couple of books. Even going online and ready product reviews for items can make buing items a great deal easier. I made the mistake of ready books after starting my 20 gal saltwater tank, realizing all the mistakes I had made. Also I would highly suggest (if you are planning on a fish only aquarium) to never buy painted coral. You would be better off for you and your fish if you bought some live rock and sand. okay GOOD LUCK

Thanks so much for all the info. I have just started the interest in saltwater. I know I do want to have snails, shrimp, and things like feather dusters and (not sure what they are called but..) the anomines that the clowns always hang out in...can someone tell me what they are called?? I want to have that type of set up... so should I spring for the metal halides or will the standard lighting do??
Johnmac