A very WARM WELCOME to MASA JH! Hope you enjoy your stay with us! Thanks for joining MASA.
Where did you hear of us?
Please have a VERY good read on our other "New Members" forums, as well as in our MASAPedia (about starting a new marine tank).
Please feel free to ask as many questions as it might take for you to become a successful reefer.
The only stupid questions are the questions not asked......
Also - please let us know what you would like to be keeping? Short term? Long term?
What equipment do you already have? What do you envisage purchasing?
Please come and ask on MASA BEFORE you purchase anything. And also give our sponsors a try - you might be surprised.
We have found that sometimes LFS's need more educating than many reefers....
So - don't ALWAYS believe what they say.... without checking with us first.
Here are some terms and subjects that you NEED to read up on, before starting out:
- what tank? Size? water volume? do you have space in your house for this size tank?
think of total weight and floor carrying capacity....
- what stand? metal? wood? what cladding? think of salt creep due to spray.... think of waterproofing wood and metal (remember - salt water is WAY worse than fresh water in corrosion)....
- think of filtration: sump? (design? size?) - skimmer (size - the biggest decent skimmer that you can afford - think of the following brands: ReefTek, ReefOctopus, Deltec, Bubble Master, Bubble King, Bubble Magus, maybe Red Sea Prizm..... none of the other skimmer brands ARE REALLY REALLY worth the money......) - DSB (deep sand bed) - live rock - mechanical filtration - chemical filtration - biological filtration
- lighting: think of T5 High output fluorescents, Metal Halides: depending on what you want to keep - corals and anemone's require VERY high output lighting (wattage) - fish not so much.....
- water flow inside the tank: think of the following power-heads: SEIO, ReSun Waver, Boyu Waver, Tunze - none of the other power-heads are really good for a marine environment..... for corals you require a very high water flow (erratic/chaotic/turbulent) inside the tank..... not directional.....
- think of testing kits
- think of fish compatibility, coral compatibilty (not all marine fish can be kept together - not all marine fish can be kept with corals - not all marine fish can be kept in smaller aquariums, not all corals can be kept together, etc.....)
- think of which are good start fish/corals, and which not
- think of sustainable life of life stock
etc...
This should be enough to start you off with right now....
Please do not hesitate to ask questions...
Good luck with this new lifestyle called "reefkeeping/keeping marines"..... this is an addiction, and a journey in it's own right....
Enjoy it - AND BE PATIENT!