Tank Questions

[kiharaconn]

Hi guys,
As I said before I had a tank several years ago and things have changed quite a bit since then. I am in the process of trying to buy a house and don't want to set up a big tank until then. Also thinking that will give me time to buy items along the way and not have such a huge expense at one time. But I'm getting anxious to have something. I was looking in Dr. Foster Smith catalog last night and saw a 12 gallon nano tank. It has a 3 stage wet/dry filtration in the hood and 24 watt fluorescent lighting. The submersible pump does 106 gph. Do you think this sounds ok for alittle lr, 1 shrimp and maybe a crab and a couple of snails. I was thinking this would hold me over until I could set up a larger tank and then use this one to quartine. So whats your ideas on this.
Also I would like any ideas of what I should put on my wish list for my larger tank. I'm thinking:
55-75 gal tank
AquaClear Pro Series wet/dry filtration w/prefilter
300 watt heater?
Power sweep power head - 125 gph?
Any suggestions will be welcomed.
As I said my knowledge is very outdated.
Thanks
con

 

[lion_crazz]

Nano cubes are very nice little set-ups. They make for a nice tank for shrimp/crabs, and maybe one fish. Smaller saltwater tanks are harder to maintain, but if you are only are planning to keep a few small inverts, you will be fine.
For your bigger tank, I would definitely recommend going the 20 extra gallons and getting the 75. It makes for a huge difference in what you can put in the tank. It is a little more money, but it is definitely worth it. For the things to add to your wishlist, I would recommend:
-75 gallon tank
-wet/dry filtration
-50 to 75 lbs. of live rock
-300 watt titanium heater
-AquaClear or MaxiJet powerhead(s) -- No powersweeps (they are cheap)
-protein skimmer (as good as you can get)
-bucket of salt (I like Crystal Sea. It dechlorinates your water for you, and the buckets which make 150 gallons of saltwater only cost $20.)

 

[kiharaconn]

Thanks for the reply. I'll add those to my list now. What about light. I plan on starting out with a FOWLR to begin with then moving on to reef as time and money allow.
My old tank(years ago) was a 65 and I loved it. Never had any problems other than a leak half way down the side.

My brother has a 55g that he has said he will give me w/stand but he used copper in it probably 3-5 years ago. I had thought about getting it and filling it with water then testing for copper after it has run for awhile.
But am leaning towards a bigger tank.
On the power heads should I get one or two for a 75g tank?
My friend just bought a bakpak for her tank. Is that a good brand. The wet/dry that I was looking at has a built in skimmer before the bio media. Is this type set up ok?
Thanks

 

[lion_crazz]

That sucks that your 65 leaked. That's not a bad size either, but I like 75's still. The 55 would probably be fine, but if you are just getting into it, I think you would have much more space with the 75.
As to your powerhead question, one or two is fine. You can never have enough flow, but personally, I only think one is needed. That is how many I have on my FOWLR tank. The Bak-Paks are okay, but for a 75 I would recommend getting something that would skim a little better. The wet/dry set-up you were looking at would probably be fine. Who is the maker of it?

 

[kiharaconn]

I saw it in Dr Foster Smith's catalog. Its made by Aquaclear. I was just thinking that it would be better to have something that was already fitted to work together. Way back when I had my first tank we didn't have skimmers. I even had a undergravel filter and a hob filter. Never had any problems with the tank. More troubles with the lfs selling me fish that ended up eating each other or my shrimps. I learned early on not to trust them. But now with computer and sites like this I can learn all I need to know and not even ask them. Thanks for the info.

 

[kiharaconn]

opps just noticed that you are with a fish store. No harm intended. Its just that at the time most of the people who waited on me were either high school or college students and just wanted to make sales.
Sorry.

 

[lion_crazz]

No, don't worry about it. I agree with mostly everybody on here in that fish store employees do not know very much at all and do just look to make sales. No harm done.
As to the wet/dry, the one you are looking at looks very good. I went on their website, and checked it out and I don't see anything wrong with it.