Questions on starting a reef tank!

[chrisr3]

I have a 72 gallon tank and was wanting to start a reef tank and my questions were how many fish could I have, what kind of lighting would be best and how much would it cost. Also what kind of clean up crew would be best and how much would they cost. Thank you for your help.

 

[teresaq]

Hi, and welcome. As far as how many fish, general rule is 1 inch of fish per 5 gal. so if your fish is 10 inch , then only about 6 or 7 fish.but also remember, that once you get rock in there you really dont have 75 gal of water. ( i may be off a little too) how long is your tank 4 ft.?? as far as lights, it all depends on what type of corals you want. I have a 4 ft tank, and have a 265 wtt power compact fixture and can keep all soft corals. as far as cost, search the net, there are several places that sell them at differant prices.

 

[chrisr3]

Hello, and thanks for the info. Yes my tank is 4 ft long. I don't know exactly how much rock I want but I guess i'll have to make that soon so i can start up my tank. How much was your Light setup? and do you have lr in your tank, if so how much? Thanks again for your help.

 

[poop_head]

do some searches about like and different corals. Lighting will cost anywere from $200-300 depending on what you get? Do you also have a protien skimmer? Those cost like $150-250 live rock goes anywere from $4-8 per lb. Just make sure you do plenty of research before jumping in like i did would have saved me a lot of pain/money.

 

[chrisr3]

Thank you for your input. Yes, we have a protien skimmer. And I will have to see about what coral I want, the lighting seems expensive but if I didn't have any coral what do you think would work best and how much would that cost?