Just Starting

[crustymonk]

Hello all, I am just starting out on a saltwater tank and kinda jumped in pretty fast ( 1st mistake).
This is what I have...
80 gal tank
Fluval 405 filter
400 watt heater
airpump for 2 bubble rocks
Crushed coral
and a few fake rocks.
This all came together.
I would like to just be able to set up a fish only tank for now. Then maybe move to live rock??
I have done some reading and notice a lot of different opinions on some stuff....
like, crushed coral or sand?
or tap water or RO? Some books say that tap is ok to use.
Also setting up a sump tank??????whats that about?
Now that I have a tank, I think I am going to slow down and take it 1 step at a time.
Thanks for any feed back and sorry if I sound like a complete dumass.

 

[drf0524]

We were all there at one time!

First thing that I will have to agree with is to slow down. If you do not have patience with this hobby, then please pick a different hobby.
What type of lighting do you have? How long has everything running?
Just to answer some of your questions... I don't know about that bubble rocks.. I would take that out and put two power heads one towards the top of the tank to make some waves on the surface and the other around the middle of the tank. The water need's movement in the tank. The crushed coral is good. I would get some LR in the tank, and take out the fake rocks. LR will filter the tank as well. Everyone has there own opinion on filtration a system. I prefer a wet/dry filter. You are going to need protein skimmer. On the RO or Tap water question I would stay as far away from tap water. Use only RO water. You can get it at your LFS or you can buy it in gallons from you local supermarket and make the salt water yourself or you can buy a RO/DI system (this will pay off in the long run).
Please let us know if you will need any more info..

 

[crustymonk]

Thanks for the reply.
I just setup the tank last night so it has been running for 12 hours or so. I will take your advice and go with RO. I will post the exact details of my setup when I get home tonight.
Thanks again