Newbie Getting Into Hobby

mr.bigglesworth

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 22, 2012
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By SF, Farther Inland, NorCal
My parents are planning on getting a show reef tank. I am looking for an 'if you could sum up the entire saltwater hobby including need-to-knows, do's and don't, common misconceptions, and beginner guidelines' to aide with the research I'm doing.

So if I understand correctly, lps is beginner, sps is advanced, for coral actinic lights are an absolute necessity. Fish in coral tanks need to be reef compatible, no open water fish like (can't think of any examples). Some corals are not photosynthetic (like sun corals which is carnivorous?), clownfish breed in anenomes. Anenomes are for begginers. Need to have a skimmer. Sumps are the best. Invertz have next to nothing (in terms of bioload). Nano tanks are under 30g, pico under 3g. Small tanks are incredibly difficult to keep stable. Don't add saltwater to replace evaporation, only do it when physically changing the water. Otherwise just freshwater. Prime is the best dechlor. Cheato refugiums and deep sand beds are very effective at reducing nitrates. Their is such a thing as a saltwater planted tank (not talking about coral here). Bamboo sharks need minimum 180g. Blue tangs need minimum 75g. Clownfish need minimum 10g. Their is something called a mantis shrimp (or some name along those lines) that will kill any and everything in the tank and must be kept singly. SW puffers are MUCH more peaceful and not poisonous compared to fresh. Some SW puffers (like the dogface) can blink their eyes and have eye lids. Saw a video on that. Lionfish get big and are poisonous, labeled as 'caution' for reef compatibility. Moray eels are specialist and not for begginers.
 

Cichlaholics Anonymous

Polypterus
MFK Member
May 23, 2006
8,159
14
92
Miami, Florida
I keep plenty of eels. If you privide adequate room, most of the common species are very easy to keep...they for the most part don't get sick and are eat most offerings. most don't fit in most setups due to predation..but in a FOWLR with other big non-nippy fish, they are extremely hardy.
 

joe jaskot

Dovii
MFK Member
Sep 16, 2011
3,864
390
107
Clifton, NJ
Best advice is to get some books on marine aquariums and reef keeping and read them. Learn all you can before delving into saltwater. Mistakes can be expensive. You may want to start out with a FOWLR (fish only with live rock) tank to learn the basics before getting into corals.
 

Pharaoh

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
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Feb 18, 2008
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Indianapolis
Yep. Research everything before you buy it.
 

CanadianKeeper

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Apr 25, 2012
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66
Ontario
research like a maw tucka before you jump into a full out reef tank... Maybe test out a nice community fowlr tank before you get the lights and corals... nothing like finishing your masterpeice and it crashing.
 

Otherone

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 2, 2009
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Lancaster,PA USA
LPS is less demanding than SPS but neither are good for ppl with no knowledge or experience with reefs goes to controlling water quality and specific amounts of elementals in the water. - start with mushrooms.
Anemones are not for beginners - clownfish don't need nems to breed - API dechlor is cheaper and use less same results but tap water is terrible for reefs use RO/DI and no worries - 120+ for large tangs - the rest is true save for puffers cause I know nothing about them.
 

cichlid_king

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 14, 2011
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Fond du lac, Wisconsin
Frogspawn is a more demanding beginner coral but still a beginner coral. Its not part of the mushroom family though. There all a few types of mushroom... Watermelon, red and blue are just a couple types/color

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