Help with first tank

[taygolf]

Hey all,
I am wanting to start a salt water tank and i have decided to start with a 55 gallon long tank. 48" to be exact. My question is what is a good price for all the stuff I need. I have looked around and I know that i need the aquarium, fitler system, protein skimmer, heater, and lights. but how much does this stuff cost. I am not wanting to spend i ton of money but i am not trying to get away with the cheapest stuff either. I would like to have the middle of the road stuff. not to high not to cheap. Also how much does life rock and live sand cost and which why is the easiest for maintainance. I know this kind of depends on what type of tank i want to put together but I am looking for general information. I am thinking of doing a reef tank which I know is more expensive but I am thinking of doing a fish ony tank with fake rock in it or something like that. also fake rock on the bottom and live rock on top is an option I am concidering. please help me out with any information you can. IF you know of a good place to find these things online I would appreciate it as well.

 

[dmc888]

Well the only thing i bought local was my 55 tank and stand. Shipping would cost alot. Just check around your local fish stores and see what you like and compare prices. Try to look for a stand that has more space for a sump or wetdry.
A hang on back would work with very little fish in there. I couldn't wait to upgrade from my emperor 400. And the cartridges cost about 10-20 bucks a month. A filter pad roll for sump or wetdry would cost about 25 for the whole year.
If your are pretty handy i would make a sump/refugium for filtration. It is much better than a hang on filter. You would need 2 In my opinion for a 4ft 55. Consists of tank,return pump,overflow, dividers,filter,bioballs if you wanted,and refugium stuff.
Or you can get a complete running 125g wetdry for about 190 shipped at the famous auction site.
Thats where i shop mostly. Whats your email? I have another site also.
Live sand and lr will help you cycle faster. You can just wait longer and use dead sand to save money. Live rock can be added later along with base/dead rock.
I love my 260w 10k and actnic coralife fixture, My anemone was fine in there. About 200 shipped.
And for Powerheads Maxijet 1200 with 295 gph. Maybe 2 of them. About 20-30 bucks each

 

[taygolf]

sounds like a lot of stuff but not too bad. what I really want to do is have a shark or ray tank. the more i read about these creatures the more I am drawn to them. I am not going to start with that though because they are pretty hard to take care of and I want to know exactly what i am doing and getting into. you can email me at taygolf52@yahoo.com with any sites that you may have. Do anyone know if any stingray is good for captivity or do they all have problems ajusting? just curious. my first tank is probably going to be a 55 that is 4 foot with a lot of dead rock with some live on top and some colorful fish like damsels and clown fish. I think this will be a good starter tank with some hardy fish and with time can be a very bueatiful tank. I found a 55 with stand and canopy with filiters and everything with about 4 or 5 lbs of live rock and a clown already in it for $300. it is used but it seems like a hell of a deal and it is already set up so I would not have to worry about a lot of that stuff. Do you think that is a good deal?

 

[dmc888]

Yeah that sounds like a good deal.
The tank, stand,and canopy is around 2-300.
As long as everything looks and runs good.
Take a look for leaks, and water marks.
A 55 would be too small for a sting ray.
I have a 55g also.
Just don't plan to add larger size fish and alot more fish.
I had 8 small fish at one time in my 55g with no problems, but it would depend on the fishes and filtration.
I have a 125g proclear wetdry , with a 10g fuge. I also clean the filter pads often.
I had 2clowns,3g. chromis,bicolor blenny,sleeper goby,and yellow goby.
I had one g. chromis die from being picked on from another chromis, and the two gobies died from my anemone stinging them. Gobies are not good with anemonies.
I'm down to 6 now, i have a new sleeper i just got.