starting a reef tank

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saltwaterulz

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 22, 2009
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LA, California
hello everyone. Well since my predator tank failed i decided il try a reef tank with my 80 gallon corner tank. I want my tank to look like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhkjVR7BC9c

I currently have $300 to spend between coral and a protein skimmer. Any suggestions on what skimmer i should get or what corals i should get would be appreciated.
I currently have a puffer (planning to take back for a refund cuz he is not reef safe, will put money towards skimmer and corals)
i will keep my sailfin and powder brown tang if they start to get along i was thinking about adding some more damsels maybe 2 clownfish some hermit crabs, some shrimp, a reef safe wrasee (maybe a 6 line). 1 or 2 carberryi anthias, a catalina goby, a citrinus goby. So any comments or suggestions will be very much appreciated. the tank is a corner tank and the demensions are 42Lx27hx24w
 
Id suggest ditching the damsels and sticking with the clowns. Clowns and damsels are of the same family and you will have some fighting problems in there. What you must focus on however is getting a good skimmer. Not just any skimmer, do your research... Getting something cheap will not have the best results. I might suggest sticking with a Fish Only setup at this time. You really want to get your hands wet and do it without a huge investment. Corals are going to require the right lighting, and we dont even know what kind of lighting you have now. This alone will propably run you more then 300 bucks because corner tanks are bit tricky to light. Usually a halide pendant with a smaller T5 light for supplemental actinic lighting. do you have a sump? whats your filtration?
 
i have a pretty good light that is good for corals i don't know the exact name of it because i never checked and currently on vacation. i do have a 25 gallon or so sump. with an extra filter that i put into the sump which i bought form low's and modified a bit to get rid of extra waste.
 
okay, so just to be clear your display tank is drilled and drains water into the tank under the cabinet correct? Not to insult or anything, i just want to make sure you have an official sump. The skimmer that I would get would be an insump skimmer. This will reduce bubbles, and skimmers that are insump are almost always much more efficient and remove more waste. Please get the name of the light for us as well.
 
Duplicate thread? Thats a shame because there was a lot of good info on the other one. +1 for everything pufferpunk and sweettang say...ones from wisconsin, and from conversations in the past, pufferpunk knows whats up. :D
 
Around me, soft corals that are loose can be bought for $5 - $10 each so that might be worth your time to ask about at your LFS. You can get a different vatiety for cheap then grow them up in your tank.
 
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