Starting New saltwater tank

[ccondie]

Hey iam new to the site. and iam looking for a little advice on starting a salt water tank. I have a 55G tank right now. Does any one have any recomendations of what kind of filter/ pump i should get? Also iam looking for a reliable company or a reliable source in the kansas city area that knowes what they are taking about. let me know if you know of any please. What kind of heater should i look at getting and also what kind of $$$ iam i looking at spending getting this set up? Is it a good idea to have a perfessional come set up your tank for you the first time and do monthly maintenance?

 

[f14peter]

I'm a fellow FNG, so I can't offer too much sound advice, but here's a good thread to read . . .
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=235658
A good "What do I need?" read.
Also advisable to pick up some good paper reading material such as The Conscientious Marine Aquarist (Fenner) and maybe The Simple Guide to Marine Aquariums (Kurtz), both available from this site. While Fenner's book is considered the "Bible", I believe it's a few years old and a lot of the (Very good I might add) advice you'll get here may be in contridiction . . . so many different approaches, I've found there's few real "Silver bullets" when it comes to what to do.
As for cost, there's no getting around that this is an expensive hobby, although there are ways to mitigate cost with DIY techniques, and judicious shopping. As an example, so far I've acquired a 90g AGA tank (w/overflows, stand and basic cover), a MegaFlow 3 sump filter, four heaters (two for the tank, one for the quarantine tank, one for mixing saltwater), a pump for sump, a couple of powerheads, and a Coralife PC light system that will allow for some inverts in the future . . . hit to the wallet has been around $1200 (Including tax). That's all after a lot of shopping around and I feel I've gotten pretty much the better deals around, and that's not even counting the few hundred I spent just today to have quad grounded outlets installed by my tank (Our older house has an ungrounded electric system and figured the heavy power load might strain the system, not to mention the significant safety issue to us, the tank, and the house itself). Once the cost of live rock, a skimmer, testing kits, and an RO/DI water unit, and some other odds-and-ends are added, I'm looking at around another grand I figure.

 

[jebar777]

be verry careful with "professionals" comming to set up your tank. i am in alot of peoples houses per my work and i see alot of "professional" setup that were very expensive and looked like science experments gone bad. dont be afraid to order online. there are alot of good online stores that are very reputable. you should look to see if there is a non profeit org. in your area. i am in mass and i have bostonreefers.org. if you can find one of these in your area you will be in heaven.. it is ok to get info from someone across the u.s. but it is a lot better to get info from someone that you can go look at what they did and make a decision if you want to beleive what they have to tell you about your tank.
also you dont need to buy everything all at once...all you really need to get going is rocks sand water and salt. and probably a couple maxijets 1200's. get a skimmer whan you can afford it(aqua-c remora with mj1200). add coral and fish and voila you have a reef in a glass case.....lol