setting up a tank

[starfish123]

hello reefers,

I am new to the hobby but on tight budget. Can anyone help me answer the folloing questions?

1]what is the cost of the entire setup?[12gallon]

2]What is the average monthly maintenace fee?

Sump

Is a sump necessary and how do i get one?

3]Tank

Can anyone recomend me a 12gallon nano tank? What is the price of it and where do i get one?

4]skimmer

Is a skimmer necessary? If it is, can anyone recomend me one and where to get it?

[preferably below $50]

5]Chiller

Is a chiller reqired or is there a cheaper alternative? If so, where do i get either of them?

[tunicate]

Hi starfish123.

Let me be the 1st to extend a warm welcome to you in reefing hobby. Let me say that reefing is not a cheap hobby to begin with, nevertheless still just a hobby. For most of us reefers, there're other priorities in life. You can get an indication of this from the decommission sales in our Pasar Malam forum. I encourage you to use the search function in this forum to find the answers to the questions you posted as many have asked the similar questions before you. In the process, you'll likely find other treasures of knowledge about this fascinating hobby.

All the best

[Oprime]

Mine is about 16 gallons so its pretty close - hope you find the article below useful.

This article is intended for those who are starting out small i.e. tanks up to 60 litres and thereabouts.

You need a hang on back protein skimmer in which case you don't need a sump; ( you will need a chiller, assuming you don't have 24 hr air-conditioning (you need a pump to direct water through it). You don't need an external filter which many of us use for our fresh water tanks so 1 of the expenses cancels the other out. Now we come to the lights. Are T5's good enough? 2 white and 2 actinic tubes? It's cheap and it works BUT T 5's generate more heat as opposed to LEDs and they are not as bright, Halides are the hottest. I'm not a Halide fan. If you want your tank to look spectacular then go for LEDs. Will cost you a couple of hundred more.

Next we come to the blood and soul of the tank. The salt water and live rock. On the water, there are mixed opinions. The safest bet is using a salt mix. Its not just salt but it has all the other important elements that your little tank needs. When preparing the mix don't add salt into the bucket before adding the water. Add the water first then add the salt. How do you mix it? The best way it to have a power head in there. A cheap one which draws water and pumps it out. A couple of hours and presto. You don't need to leave it overnight. Coming to the water. The best way to do it is to run your tap water through a DI/RO unit and after that add a little anti chlorine/anti chloramine liquid for good measure. IMO just adding the anti chlorine to tap water is not enough. You will need around 20 table spoons of salt for a standard sized bucket of water to bring up the SG to 1.0205. After a couple of hours test the SG using a Refractometer. It costs just 50 bucks and its accurate.

4. Next comes the live rock. Its BEST to use live rock which has been stripped of all external living matter. Sponges etc. It should not smell. There should be light purple splotches on it and thats your good algae. Coraline Algae. No need to boil it etc. How many KG will you need so that your tank doesn't look over crowded? 12 to 15kg should be more then enough. The live rock should go in on the initial set up.

5. Now what do we do? We wait for 3 weeks and then add snails and hermit crabs and after a couple of days we add fish. I'm not a fan of test kits. I've used the elaborate ones but IMO things take care of themselves. The live rock will take care of forming colonies of good bacteria and as long as your SG is between 1.0202 to 1.0205 your tank will be fine. Just do water top ups from time to time when you see that the water level has dropped.

6. Water changes? Small frequent partial water changes are the best. 10% every 3 or 4 days.

7. How much should all this cost brand new? Approximately $1030.00. Second hand about half the price. Approximate Break down as follows:-

Tank: $170 (you dont need a cabinet! Just put it on any old table)

Skimmer: $100

Wavemaker: $20

Refractometer: $50

Live Rock: $120

Chiller: $250

Salt Mix: $40

Pump: $50

Sand: $20

DI/RO: $100

T 5's x 4: $100

Anti Chlorine: $10

Voila!

(Fish & Coral Not included - how many fish to put in? 6 to 7 small ones)

P.S. Plug and play systems might cost less - my tank is a Juwel Rekord 600 (you may want to leave the built in bio filter inside and fill it with activated carbon media)

[kelvin_leeks]

Is a good info from Oprime, is relly up to u how much u willing to spend to set uo ur tank