[hulljam]

I am wanting to start a salt water tank for the first time and was loking at the aquapod 24 gallon tank. Is this a good tank and what do I ned to do to get started?

[dfurbee]

The main thing you need to get started with is "patience", with this hobby it takes a lot of this, and of course $$$$ Best of luck

[blind1993]

also why dont u get the biocube. also u need to buy a good protein skimmer. i would recomend the lifereef skimmer so that if u upgrade u dont have to buy a new one and this is an amazing skimmer.

[emothman]

I am new too. Here is what I have learned researching this topic.

All-in-one tanks come with everything, but what they come with is usually less then what you need for a reef tank. It depends on what you want to do with them, but if you want a standard reef with coral and stuff you need to at least upgrade the lights in them which can be somewhat expensive.

Here is a site with a lot of custom stuff for nanos. If you want to use the 24 I would factor in a DIY retro kit for it. This site sells already upgraded tanks that would be the easier option.

Nanocustoms.com - nanocustoms

That might be the way to go. The main absolutely necessary equipment expense is lighting. The most basic lighting guideline is that you need at least 4 watts/gallon of water, but the type of lighting and depth of tank factor into this too.

After looking at everything I decided to create a tank out of a cheap 10 gallon aquarium. If I could afford it right now I would have definitely gone bigger. Hope I have helped.

[ReefKing24]

go to Drs fostersmith.com they have a 24 or 48 gallon cube with metal halides for as good of a price as you will find. My only advice is start out with as large of a tank as you can afford!!!! seriously otherwise you will upgrade within a few years, and be kicking yourself because you will have to upgrade everything. Spend the money the first time and you will save in the long run.

[swinginbeef]

I'm looking more and more at the Aquapod 12gal since this is my first tank and I want to make sure that this is a hobby I'd like to become involved in. I started out looking for an AP24 but the upgraded lighting gets expensive. The AP12 comes standard with 54watts of lighting (4.5watts/gal) compared with the AP24 which comes standard with 64watts (2.67watts/gal). 4.5wats/gal 'should' be enough to grow about everything except the corals with the highest lighting needs.

I'm also pretty limited on space at our current house and will be movin on up within the next year or two. If I decide that this is the hobby for me, I'll put together a nice setup then and keep the AP12 as a quarantine or a small side display.

Plus, since this is just a 'tester' to see if I like the hobby, I figure I can fill the smaller tank with plenty of color and movement for ~$500 total and the livestock can be transplanted into the larger future tank when/if I get to that point.

[glampka]

Aquapod 12 is a good choice. I have one & really like it. Much better than the JBJ 12 gal.

[blind1993]

i think taht u are chossing a good choise and if i was aloud to get another aquarium iw ould get it.