Help A Beginner Plz!

[hermitkrab]

:help:
I was wandering if some could tell me in plain English what all do I need to start and aquarium and if I plain on having fish, crabs, shrimp, coral, & anemones. I plained on getting about a 30 gallon tank and getting some ocellaris clownfish or a true perula clown fish, porcelain anemone crab, maybe blue star linkia, cleaner shrimp, electric blue hermit crabs, and psy and(or) mandarin gobies. I know I need the tank (still not quite sure on the size), live sand, live rock, and the sea life but I am not 100% on what filters, heaters, etc, to get or even the exact food beside live brine. Someone please help me get my aquarium started. Oh ya I wouldn't mind it if my sea life spawned. :happyfish
Thanks!

 

[vtecbro007]

Okay first of all since u want corals ull need a good 120 watts of lighting a good 30 lbs of lr and ls if u want that gobie u need more lr and u hav to let ur tank mature so u hav pods that those gobies feed on. I would suggest u get a sump if possible because u increase ur water volume n can add more stuff while keeping it hiden such as heater n skimmer. you'll need some sorta of filter if u get more than 50 lbs of live i dont think ull need a bio filter u can juss do with a nice skimmer. Skimmers r either HOB (hang on back) which hang on to ur tank or in sump which r placed in the sump. sump skimmers works more effiecintly from wat i hear. as for a heater ull need a good 100 watt heater. i would reccomend u get one or two maxi-jet 900 for water circulation btw those are powerheads. and with ur tank try not to go over board on fish pick out the fish u want find out there adult size and add it up u cant hav more than 6'' of FISH in ur tank. as for food fish eat greans, frozen dried krill, more not fatty seafood, marine flakes n pellets. ur shrimp will eat the uneaten food from the fish and so will ur other inverts hope this helped cus im new too

 

[hermitkrab]

Thanks for helping me.

 

[birdy]

A couple things I suggest you change, a 29gallon tank is just too small for a mandarin, they need to be in a tank with at least 100lbs of LR so that thier food source (pods) can reproduce without all being eaten up.
The second thing you should reconsider is an anemone, these can be very difficult to keep in captivity, if you must have one, get a RBTA clone (this is a when a rose bubble tip anemone splits for reproduction) and be sure your tank is very mature (around a year old) and you have proper lighting IMO MH lighting.
The third thing you should reconsider is the blue linka starfish, they are almost impossible to keep in captivity unless you have a huge tank and tons and tons of LR, even then they don't acclimate well and most die in the first few months from being shipped. If you want a starfish, look at fromia or brittle starfish.
If you want to be able to keep most types of corals, I would suggest one 175w MH light (with a good spider reflector), if you get a bulb in the 14k or 20k range you won't need additional actinic supplementation.
Other than that, Get around 30-40lbs of LR, a live sandbed, several poweheads for water circulation, a good skimmer (for HOB look at remoras), and possibly a cannister filter for running carbon or things like that.

 

[sw65galma]

Take a lesson from this beginner.
You'll *WANT* everything, but soon find out it's like asking for a mansion with 1000 acres of land in Hawaii for a few bucks...
Not gonna happen.
Best thing to do is work your way up.
Figure 6 months from now you can start adding real Nice stuff and also have some experience under your belt.
Start off with a few hardy fish, and keep mocing towards your goal.
You wouldn't want your family living in a house with just the frame up would you?
Star Fish are hard to keep, do tons of research before getting them.
They are hard to acclimate, i've seen tons of people on here who kill them during acclimation. Some CANNOT come out of the water for even a second. Or you take chance of them dieing.
Blue Linckia are probably one of the most diffiuclt to keep
I have 7 Stars so trust me.
the Best advice anyone can give you on this board is
BE Patient!
Good Luck Have fun!

 

[otfurball]

some advice I can give is
take your time - nothing kills your tank like moving too quickly
don't move stuff around - put it in it's place and leave it alone. movement disrupts.
LIVE SAND - super important to keep it healthy
don't over clean - do not sweat if the water gets cloudy during the cycling process.
Do not use additives without researching first. Sometimes it is just better to let minor issues work themselves out.
Enjoy your new hobby - it is hard to keep that in mind sometimes.