Where do I begin?

[chy??intheair]

I want to start a nice salt water fish aquairium, at first for show, but eventually I want to start breeding them. Where do I start, what should I buy in the beginning? Any useful information or links are appreciated, thank you in advance.
~Nick

 

[birdy]

Start here reading as many posts as you can,
Get a good book, like, The New Marine Aquarium, by Michael S. Paletta.
Take it slow, determine what size tank you want (I recommend at least a 55gal) and what you want to keep in it. Be vary careful of advise given at LFS (many do not know what they are talking about) and when you have more specific questions, ask away.

 

[cb]

The key is research, research ,research and then more research
WELCOME TO THE BOARD................................

 

[clownfish2]

I 2nd. the motion on that book. I bought it and it sure has been a life saver for me. Like Birdy said TAKE IT SLOW. It takes time to produce a quality tank. Months if not years. Far as a tank goes the bigger the better. IMO the first thing to ask yourself do I have the $ to do this. Second do I have the time to devote to the aquarium. Read and ask questions, You have a super forum right here for doing just so. Hope this helps you out and welcome to the board.

 

[thomas712]

http://www.reefcorner.com/reef%20keeping_101.htm
http://www.simplifiedreefkeeping.com/faq/faq.htm
I could also provide you with a list of books if you like that you can order, many may be available on this site in the dry goods button on the left of you screen.
Ah what the heck here they are.
Book of Coral Propagation, Volume 1: Reef Gardening for Aquarists - Anthony Rosario Calfo
Reef Fishes Volume 1 - Scott W. Michael
Corals: A Quick Reference Guide (Oceanographic Series) - Julian Sprung
The Conscientious Marine Aquarist: A Commonsense Handbook for Successful Saltwater Hobbyists - Robert M. Fenner
The New Marine Aquarium: Step-By-Step Setup & Stocking Guide - Michael S. Paletta
Aquarium Corals : Selection, Husbandry, and Natural History - Eric H. Borneman
Natural Reef Aquariums: Simplified Approaches to Creating Living Saltwater Microcosms - John H. Tullock
Aquarium Corals by Eric H. Borneman,
Natural Reef Aquariums by John H. Tullock, Martin A. Moe
The New Marine Aquarium by Michael S. Paletta,
Keep the questions coming, we will be here.
Thomas

 

[fishy88]

the bigger the better for tank size and imo a protien skimmer is a must have.

 

[wyldgunz]

Im fairly new to the marie aquariums as well but having a lot of luck with my starting tank. I felt that a 55 gallon was a good start. i did a lot of researching on this forum and got a lot of good books as well from the LFS and ----.
If your looking at corals id recomend "Corals A Quick Reference Guide" by julian Sprung.
I set my tank up with a casscade 700 canister filter although i think i am going to switch to a sump in the future when i buy my next tank.For lighting i got a JBJ formosa 1200 delux 65x4 with 2 10k daylights and 2 , 7k atinic lights, a 100 galon red sea protien skimmer and 2 Aqua Clear 802 power heads. I put in 40 lbs of Ls 50 lbs of argonite to make a nice DSB and added 60 lbs of cured live rock i picked up from the lfs right out of a set up tank and with lots of luck i skiped over the major cycle in the tank. within 2 weeks i had algae going all over and small dusters and a few polyps going all over the place along with pods running around. after testing and observing i added in my cleaner crew and a few weeks later got a few nice pieces of coral that are doing extremly well . its been about a month and a half and all my lvls are in the prime including calcium and the hippo tang and clown/anenome i added are doing their thing with no problems.
I did however make the mistake of buying a plate coral that didnt look up to par and had to go through the hassle of diping it in reef dip and isolating it for the time beeing. Lesson well learned, always inspect the coral for problems and by prime coral only you can kill your whole reef im hoping i get lucky.
Also it does take a lot of money to get it all going but maintianing doesn't, the LFS i have dealt with 90% of them dont know anything you want to know i had the best luck finding a hobbist who sells marine goods out of his garage and belongs to a local marine club. Thats the way to get quality advice and livestock IMO.
anyway its a very fun hobby to be into and me and my wife are having the time of our lives doing it. i hope the info i have helps a little.