[josesod]

Hello, I am new to the Salt water tank / reef building hobby and I wanted to see if I can get some help and suggestion on what type of hardware that I need to get started. I know the tank is a 92gal corner glass tank that is reef ready. I am doing tons of research on different types of filter units, SUMPS.etc..What would be the best for someone starting out...reef type? live rock? live sand? you see where I am going. Please help! Thanks!

Joe

[dfurbee]

Welocme Joseph, As far as live rock, you will need about 100#, Live sand, at least 90# (you don't need all of it live). If I was starting out again, I would go with a sump/refugium. You are also going to need a skimmer, and of course a heater, and power heads to pump your water to at least 10 times the tank size. Other will be along with lots of good advice, I too am new to reefing. This is an expensive hobby, but well worth it. Oh, and one of the most important things will be a RO/DI water filter; you do not want to use tap water (lots of algae problems). Hope this helps, Deb

[e_baer]

Welcome to RB.

Now to answer your question.

You may want to consider getting a DSB (deep sand bed)

I will wait for someone to give the link that explains why DSB's are good.

DFurbee was correct that you should have at least 100 lbs of LR.

as for sumps/fuge's go.

I would get a sump/fuge as large as possible.

the more water, the better.

as for lights, it depends on what corals, if any, you want.

hope this helps.

[josesod]

Thanks for your response!!! I would def want some corals in the tank. I have about a $2500 budget for the hardware+. From what I have been reeding, there are 3 types of coral/reef tanks..all requiring different filter systems with different lighting. Any suggestions on which would be the best to start with as well as most enjoyable. Thanks again!

Joe

[DoLceNBeLLa]

I really love seeing corals. Acropora is beautiful and brances out into the open where the fish will then swim all around it and in it.

What you can do is buy the best lighting and filtration you can get and work slowly from FOWLR to easy corals all the way to the larger corals.

Metal halides are great, T5's are great, check out the other threads and you'll get some good ideas

[glampka]

Tank is reef ready - BIG +
Go with a sump/refugium. It gives you someplace to keep your equipment out of site & someplace to grow pods/macro algae.
As stated above - put the $$$ into your skimmer & lights. They are your most important pieces of equipment.

JV - pay attention here - someone else for you to help spend his money!!!

[josesod]

I ran into a slight issue that I hoping that you guys and gals cna help me out with. Unfortunatly, The only place I can put my new tank is in my 3rd floor office. Just in case you are wondering, yes..it can hold the weight. Anyway, everything was fine until I started to think about the water supply and filtration. If these filters only product 50gal of water a day in opt conditions, I will have to leave the thing running for about a few days just to fill my tank for the first time...and I cant just leave a 50gal drum sitting on my second floor. lol. Easiest way I could think of is to do 5 gal at a time as this would be the most to carry up 1 flight of stairs....but this presents a challenge for the monthly water change as I need to do 20gal per month and it would take me about 4 days to product that water..5gal at a time. Has anyone come acrosse this kind of issue?

Let me know if any of that makes any sense..lol

Thanks!
Joe