Back from the LFS AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[imfsub12]

Ok went to our LFS and found out some great advice want to share and get some more...
1. Then told me that a 14 G isn't' the best for my self a newbie.. as i will have to put in lots of daily maint... (adding water, making sure levels are perfect no room for error, if you go away for a vacation)
2. It would be best for my first tank to be about a 32 G one.. They recommended A Geosystem Kit cost around $419 Canadian. As if the water evaporates the levels wont' go all wonky on you like a 14 G would.. (so i won't screw up the levels)
GEOsystem Kit 80: | #13275
Includes
• 31 U.S. Gal. (118 L) all-glass aquarium
(80 x 35 x 45 cm) (31.5 X 13.8 x 17.7 in.)
• Black Aquarium Cabinet
• Double Fluorescent Canopy
• 2 x Life Glo 24", 20 Watt Fluorescent Bulbs
• Fluval 204 External Power Filter
• AquaClear Submersible Aquarium Heater, 150 Watt
• Marina Digital Thermometer
• Nutrafin Max Complete Flake Food, 26 g (0.92 oz)
• Nutrafin Cycle, 30 ml (1 fl oz)
• Nutrafin Aqua Plus, 30 ml (1 fl oz)
• Nutrafin Waste Control, 30 ml (1 fl oz)
• GEOsystem Aquarium Guide
3. They said i would need a power head $20 / cdn
4. I could start out with say about 5-10lbs Live rock.. $15 a lbs for i think FIJI rocks i think?
if i just wanted our livestock to be 2 fish and some cleaners (if i wanted to add more fish later need more LR)
5. For the cycle stage he recommended that i put in about 3 mollies in the tank.. so i least have some fish,. ast they only about $3 each.. instead of having a shrimp in there and they will hide most of the time...
6. If i wanted to get more LR later i could get Lace Rock and let it grow or buy more LR but for a price...
7. And they said for the LS it hard to find out in halifax.. so they did recommend running crushed rock on the bottom as you don't need to stir it like if you get the crushed coral.. as the (I THINK) you will get ammonia pockets if you don't' stir the crushed coral... ( but crushed coral looks more pretty)
Well the sales guy we were talking to knew his stuff as he was running 5 SW tanks.. the first dude there we were talking to 0 so we went to the one that knew what he was talking about..
Any more advice would be great..
:help: oh an my GF fav :cheer: oh and this one to

oh this one just made her laugh

and this is how i feel

 

[cherish life.]

he is very right. if you get a too small of a tank the water paramaters are extremely hard to take care of, and any fluctuation in these water paramaters might kill something. in a small tank like that if 1 things dies all things will die.

 

[cherish life.]

also with a tank that small you can only get 1 very small fish. i know you want more than 1 but more than 1 will end up in disaster. i dont know were you live but that is an outrageous price per pound of live rock, were i live its just about 5.00$ a pound for the best rock i can find. just take my words into consideration.

 

[gnorman]

looks good, but that LR is kinda pricey..... 15 dollars for fiji???....where do u live, it must be that expensive for a reason... one of my LFS sells fiji for 4 dollars a pound...and its pretty nice LR too. i guess its b.c of the area i live in.. southern california. anyways, if u want to save some money on the LR look around on the internet... im sure you could save a buck or too.
again, your plan looks good from what i can tell.... im just a newbie

 

[imfsub12]

Well i'm from Halifax Nova Scotia Canada.. not sure but it might be due to the fact of DUTY PRICE at the boader.. but that was at one LFS will go look at other ones... but can you ship LR across the boarder for myself would it be cheep??

 

[nygel]

Originally Posted by Cherish life.
also with a tank that small you can only get 1 very small fish. i know you want more than 1 but more than 1 will end up in disaster. i dont know were you live but that is an outrageous price per pound of live rock, were i live its just about 5.00$ a pound for the best rock i can find. just take my words into consideration.
a 14g can hold more than 1 small fish...... I started out small (10g) and they are really quite easy, I had 3 fish at one point in my 10 until moving up to a 29g. As long as you pay attention a nano is awesome.

 

[larryndana]

Nano's are not that hard to keep up. I've got a 24 aquapod, i don't have to top off with fresh water at all. I do normal water changes every other week. thats it....besides just watching my ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. :happyfish

 

[gharner]

i agree with the last two posts. i have a 12 gallon aquapod and it gives me no trouble at all. i hardly ever need to do top offs even in a tank that small. i have one fish now but am planning on getting a clown and a small watchman goby. this is my first saltwater set up and it is very easy so far.

 

[larryndana]

i should have said....
i've got a 10gal qt that needs topping off all the time.
i've got a gravity auto topoff that i'm about to put in today or tomorrow.

 

[imfsub12]

ok gettting a little confuesed at what ppl are telling me..
Some ppl say that 15G aren't that hard to keep or even a 20 G, but most say to go to a 32 G at least.. (damm hered 50 G).. Not sure what advice to take I know everyone is trying to help us out.. Any more help would be great...

 

[larryndana]

you may want to figure out what you want in the tank first. then decide the size. If you want some clowns and maybe a goby, then a smaller tank will do. But if you want a tang or a puffer, you will need a bigger tank. Bigger the tank the better. you will need to look at your budget aswell.

 

[anubisxero]

I know you were looking for a little advice and I'll be happy to put in my 2 cents. My first tank I started out with was a 29g long. Bad idea. Even though it's not quite as small as a 10 - 14g nano it's still tough to mantain proper levels and such and if anything goes wrong it becomes a problem rather soon. Especially if you're looking to do a reef. It's a bit easier with a fish only or fish only with live rock. After that, I decided to go with a 37g knowing it was a little bit larger and maybe a little bit easier..somewhat, but not entirely practical once again. I've been dying because in all this time i've spent and kind of wasted alot of money maintaining these small tanks when if I had purchased a larger tank in the first place 1. I would have had much more leeway in terms of stocking and water levels 2. it's much cheaper to maintain a larger tank. I've since purchased a 90g reef ready with stand a canopy for about 500US and have to piece everything together to start over yet again. So really, to save yourself the hassle get the largest tank you can afford or that you can see yourself maintaining. I'd say anything 55 or over to start out is the best you can do for yourself, i'm sure many would agree. I do hope you enjoy your delve into the hobby and have fun and always ask questions that you don't know, I and others will be happy to help!
Jason

 

[24#1]

i have a 12 gal aquapod i do my water changes ,check the water paramiter and i love it,do your water changes the same day every week this will give you a regular day to work from that way you have a set day,dont stray from that and thing will be fine.

 

[imfsub12]

Ok back from another LFS this one i think we would go with..
We can get a nice 29 G tank (read post above with other advice) with everything for $120 CDN...(heater, backmoutn filter, just would need to get a power head) plus a stand for about $105. And get some LR for $11.99 lbs.
We were talking about what our livestock wanted to be we just want to start out with like 2 clown fish and the normal cleaners.. We thinking of just getting about 5lbs of LR to start out with...
So if we wanted to get some more fish like 1 or 2 would we need a bigger tank? or do we just need to get some more LR???????
Next is the LIGHTING MATTER.. i know if you get a kit tank it comes with lighting. But will it be as bright as you think as when you look at the stores tanks are they stock light or do they put in high light so you get the best color coming out of the fish and the rock ect...
And if i wanted to get say a couple of coral later like in 8-12 months could the 29 G tank support it??? and also to some other things for the clown fish to swim in???
Oh again this is the biggest tank we can get due to space we live in a apt!!!!

 

[lbaskball]

It is true what he said about how pick you have to be with smaller tanks. I can honestly tell you that i am very frustarted with my 14gal. It is hard to keep everything without huge flucutations and also the space is a problem as well. Everything looks stuffed in my tank. I used to have a 24gal and it was plenty of space and I thought it was very easy to care for. There are some pros and cons of course. With smaller tanks you dont have to do 5 gallon water changes. I owuld recommend going with a 24gal nanocube. (which is basically comes down to about 20gals I think). Plenty of space. The paramaters dont fluctuate as bad. But if you dont care about doing huge water changes then go with the 32G. If I had space for a big tank and the time, i would of definetly have gone with a 32gallon.

 

[lbaskball]

Originally Posted by imfsub12
Ok back from another LFS this one i think we would go with..
We can get a nice 29 G tank (read post above with other advice) with everything for $120 CDN...(heater, backmoutn filter, just would need to get a power head) plus a stand for about $105. And get some LR for $11.99 lbs.
We were talking about what our livestock wanted to be we just want to start out with like 2 clown fish and the normal cleaners.. We thinking of just getting about 5lbs of LR to start out with...
So if we wanted to get some more fish like 1 or 2 would we need a bigger tank? or do we just need to get some more LR???????
Next is the LIGHTING MATTER.. i know if you get a kit tank it comes with lighting. But will it be as bright as you think as when you look at the stores tanks are they stock light or do they put in high light so you get the best color coming out of the fish and the rock ect...
And if i wanted to get say a couple of coral later like in 8-12 months could the 29 G tank support it??? and also to some other things for the clown fish to swim in???
Oh again this is the biggest tank we can get due to space we live in a apt!!!!

You can get couple of corals later on. And I think you should be okay with say, at least 4 clownfish. (overtime of course)
You need a lot more of live rock to start out with. Get at least 15lbs of live rock. How much is a lb of live rock overthere? Out here in cali the good live rocks are about $4.99 -$6.99 per pound. Expensive but they are what keeps the system stable and great filtration.
Remember let the tank cycle, this will take some time. Then get the cleanup crew and last get the fish. Do not add fish before the cycle. I suggest you buy more live rock then just 5lbs for a 29gal

 

[anubisxero]

Originally Posted by imfsub12
Ok back from another LFS this one i think we would go with..
We can get a nice 29 G tank (read post above with other advice) with everything for $120 CDN...(heater, backmoutn filter, just would need to get a power head) plus a stand for about $105. And get some LR for $11.99 lbs.
We were talking about what our livestock wanted to be we just want to start out with like 2 clown fish and the normal cleaners.. We thinking of just getting about 5lbs of LR to start out with...
So if we wanted to get some more fish like 1 or 2 would we need a bigger tank? or do we just need to get some more LR???????
Next is the LIGHTING MATTER.. i know if you get a kit tank it comes with lighting. But will it be as bright as you think as when you look at the stores tanks are they stock light or do they put in high light so you get the best color coming out of the fish and the rock ect...
And if i wanted to get say a couple of coral later like in 8-12 months could the 29 G tank support it??? and also to some other things for the clown fish to swim in???
Oh again this is the biggest tank we can get due to space we live in a apt!!!!

Righton. I understand the constraints of an apartment. Lighting, you'll want to go with something that doesn't come with the kit. The kits come with standard flourescents and while they may be alright for a fish only setup, you'll need something with a little more pop for a setup with fish and LR as well as some corals down the road. On a tank like a 29g power compacts are a good choice, if you can spring for it, i'd say look into T-5 lighting, it seems to be the way the industry is going nowadays and well for the cost effectiveness and the par rating you can get out of each bulb with individual reflectors, you can't beat it. That and they run really cool and wont heat up your tank. As for the corals, you can definitely do that, especially if you stay with the clowns and maybe a shrimp and cleaning crew. it'll just be tougher to keep more fish in a tank that size.
Jason

 

[anubisxero]

I'd also say before you start out with anything i'd pick up a good book and read through it first. I just bought Bob Fenner's "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" and it's very informative. It will have answers for nearly any question you might have and also describes how to setup various types of Aquariums. I'd get that before you do anything!
Jason

 

[imfsub12]

ok great info but the cheepest LR we can get her runs 11.99 CDN a lbs so that about $10.50 US a lbs.. so i might go with 10 lbs or LR..
so with the lights i should be fine Till i want to start to get some coral.. do you need high lights to get the color out of your tank? or would the stock lights still do the trick?

 

[ci11337]

IMO, a 55 is perfect to start. It's not huge, but it's big enough to be stable. I'm not saying that it's the only way to go, i know lot's of people who started with nanos. Nanos really arn't that much harder, I started with a 55 and i'm now setting up a 2 and i've had less problems with the 2 than i did with the 55.(probably because i know what a cycle is now

) Anyway get whatever size you want, the difference in upkeep isn't bad enough that i'd discourage you from getting any paticular size.