NEW TO SALT. im sure u get this alot lol

A good place "links" wise is www.wetwebmedia.com

These guys have a great compilation of information. Other than that here is a quick and dirty.

You will need appropriate substrate and tank deco, which in your case is going to be live rock. I recommend caribsea's reef grade aragonite. I also recommend high end live rock, a good source is www.liveaquaria.com . There is actually a way to buy it directly from THEIR wholesaler...but I forget the name, my brother did it once though.

You need to have lights strong enough to grow corals...a good cheap light source is www.aquatraders.com

You will need some form of filtration. I would recommend being able to sump your tank. If you are planning on a small tank this may be more of hassle than it is worth however...in which case you might want to look elsewhere. All I can say is that I endorse the use of a protein skimmer, for a variety of reasons. HOB is usually not used, but some people do on VERY simple systems, and I have seen it work.

You will need a heater, and powerheads. I recommend koralia powerheads. www.marinedepot.com is having a 20% off sale on them right now I believe.

Maintenance is different from system to system. The only way to know is to test your water quality enough till your tank is completely settled and you know exactly what it needs and when. I feed my corals whenver I have some food left over, they have good color and are growing fast enough that I dont really spot feed. I do have a micro coral food that I add to my system about once a week.

Hope that basically covers everything...let me know.

Its more intensity and spread. A lot of different things work for different people. What are the dimensions of the tank you want to have? Edit: Its a 55g...sorry.

What kind of lighting do you want to have? This will determine the next step. You can have Powercompact, T5, Metal Halide, or LED. Do some research and we can go forward from there...or just post another question.

Got a laugh out of your status btw...

sd760;4273333; said:

i need help i have years of freshwater experience and wanna make the switch with my 55 gallon. i was thinking smaller fish with lots of live rock and corals. but dont really even know where to start lol.

NEEDS-
LIGHTING
t5 lighting works well and also coralife has a aqualunar lighting that works at nght too
FILTRATION
make a sump best plan
SUBSTRATE
Caribean sea argonite is good and like a sand substrate
IM ASSUMING A POWER HEAD OF SOME KIND WAVE MAKER
Koralia makes good powerheads

ideas for fauna
Mini Duncanopsammia
Bird of Paradise
hammer coral
mushroom coral

shrimp of some kind maintenance and maybe snails
need help with possible fish thank you
A cleaning crew you can buy in a group package

For your protein skimmer I suggest octopus skimmers they are high quality and well worth the price

You can get some blennies or gobbies both dont work good together some kaudern cardinals, and a clown or to and if you don;t like the cardinals blue green chromis are nice, and also firefish are cool! GL

I have no clue about protein skimmers uv sterilizers etc. sorry i know this is a hassle to explain everything and its individual significance but i would really appreciate it. also im in no hurry to convert my fresh water it will be with in the next 3 months. i know clowns are popular but i wouldnt mind haveing a couple of them and then lots of live rocks and corals. but what are the feeding regimens for corals and live rock. for example schedule and maintenance the more the better links. self experiences. and PICS PLEASE

Click to expand...

Some of my opinions but you can choose wether to use or not its cool

Micelanious you'll need get a refractometer(very useful and way better then the hydrometers), you'll need a test kit, and here is a good dosing plan for the corals(http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php#4), also you'll need to feed the corals some kind of pods! Also here is a coral I really like its a softy http://www.douglasillustration.com/sun%20corals%20sm2.jpg.

i think if you are just startimg salt water u should make a fowlr and then once u get more experinced you can slowy convert the tank into a reef.
i mean u dont wanna go spend all kind of money on corals and a week or two later they all die .
take this from me i learned the hardway.

Reef keeping really isnt that hard, if you start at the bottom and work your way up. Its more attention to detail and equipment oriented then a fowlr, but if your not in a rush, you can stack up the cash and take your time to get good deals on great equipment.

And while you are doing that, read read read, lots of good information on the net, as well as here.

+1 to everything heath and fishy said.

That lighting fixture is going to be a little on the "lite" end I think. I would go with more. My friend had their t5 fixture that was $120...works well with plants built in timer ect...didnt have much luck coral-wise, but I think thats just because of poor husbandry on his part. Light penetration wasnt the greatest either, but part of that is just t5. I recommend halides or leds for serious reefers.

My first salt tank was a "reef"...I was twelve. I think you can start there, but reading up and going slow is the wise way to do things. I started out mainly with softies and worked my way up. (Beware that softies are hard to get OUT of your tank once established. I treat most mushrooms at this point like a harder to eradicate version of aptasia.)