Well your gonna need more than a fancy glass box if you're gonna be a REAL reefer! 
I just love mail like this:
Dear WaterKeeper,
I have a 55 with 50 lbs of LR and 100 lbs of LS.....My tank has been curing for two weeks. Can I put salt in the water now?
Sincerely,
A Newbie
Dear Newbie,
AHHHHHHH
Yours truly
WaterKeeper
There is a wealth of information for the Neophyte on RC. Sometimes you need to take a little time and read through some posts to gather it but it is there.
Over the couple of weeks I've been getting some PM's from Chicopee Phill out in Massachusetts. Phill is just starting out and has been asking for some tips on how to set up his first reef tank. Now Phill is a semi-old fossil (46) so he is not asking crazy questions like the one I referenced above. He has done some homework and knows some basics. He evidently found out that I'm the only one at RC who has spent time with the Gungans at their underwater city on the planet Naboo. Of course, having knowledge of the seas on Naboo is not easily passed on to earthbound reefers. The major component of their seawater is dilithium pergeumide and with a specific gravity of 2.238 lifting a five gallon bucket of salt water during a water change can cause a hernia.
Since Chicopee Phill is not the only one out there starting a new tank I though maybe we could follow his adventures and give Phill input on how to set things up. You comments are welcome although, if your thoughts differ with mine, you'll be pulling KP this weekend.
Now Phill has taken his first steps by first obtaining a tank. Tanks are good initial purchase unless you have a walk-in freezer and plan to keep inanimate cod in a 600 lb block of ice. Phill was initially going to start with a 75 but ended up buying a 110 instead.
Way to go Phill!! Those additional 35 gallons gave Phill a big more up. His tank went from a 4 foot to a 5 foot length. This will pay him back in the future if he plans to keep larger fish. Phill also added a 20 gallon sump has it plumbed and added "spring water" (oh-oh).
Let's catch our breath a second and look at some of the things we need before we get stocking that box of
water.
You notice I added emphasis to the word
WATER
There is a lot of debate on various issues at RC but the one thing we get unanimous agreement on is your tank needs
WATER!!!
Now I told Chicopee Phill that it would be a good time to purchase an RO/DI unit. With water being the key ingredient in any successful tank you should start off with the best quality from the start. Starting out with an RO/DI to produce that water is a good move from the get-go. That is why I was somewhat worried when Phill said he filled his tank with spring water. Mucho money is spent every year purifying water from springs. Why? Unless it is fed from a pristine glacier and you happen to collect it near the source, there is no telling what is in spring water. For all one knows the spring originates form an old abandoned mine's acid run-off.
Sure you can use a tap water purifier, bottle distilled or from one of those water purifier machines if you have a 1 gallon nano but with a 110 your going to spend far too much money. Even if you use natural seawater you will need the RO/DI to make your top-off water. Investing in an RO/DI at the start just makes sense for the most important ingredient in your tank.
Having a good water supply you are going to need to test it. An electronic TDS (total dissolved solid) meter will let you check the quality of the RO/DI and replace expended resin cartridges when needed. You will also be needing to check salinity. Here you have three options in order of accuracy-
[list=1][*]A temperature correcting refractometer[*]A float type hydrometer with temperature correction chart[*]A swing arm hydrometer[/list=1]
A lot of new reefers start out with the inexpensive swing arm type and move up to a refractometer as they acquire more exotic livestock. An inexpensive pH meter is also a very important item to have. True they sell various color test kits for measuring pH but those kits are not very accurate. For a serious reefer a meter is a required item.
Lastly, you will need some test kits to get you through the upcoming cycle. Ammonia, nitrate and nitrite test kits will let you know when your tank is over the cycle and ready to stock. If you start out with corals a calcium and perhaps a phosphate kit will serve you well.
These kits cost money but they keep you from guessing and in many cases worrying about what is happening in your tank. They also keep you from spending big bucks on additives you may or may not need.
Where you put your tank is also a major consideration for the new reefer. A 110, like Phill's, will weigh-in at over a half a ton when complete so it is not a easy matter to move it about unless you are G.I. Joe. You want to make sure the floor will support it. You also want it away from a window where it will be exposed to direct sunlight. Placing it near a heat vent or radiator will play havoc with your temperature control. High traffic areas tend to scare the fish and light sensitive inverts.
A good site must also have an ample supply of electricity. With a 110 your home 20 amp wiring will probably be enough. With tanks much larger you're probably going to need a separate service installed. If your running high intensity lighting it will quickly overwhelm the household service when setting up a large tank. If your tank can be run off your regular service a Ground Fault Interrupter, GFI, is a must. It can be a extension cord type, one that installs in place of the wall plug or on the breaker panel itself. No matter which it is you need to install it right from the start to have a safe tank installation. One word on the in the wall type GFI. I didn't know this till I put one in but
all plugs downstream on that circuit will become protected by the GFI. In most cases that doesn't make much difference but it is good to know if you have something critical plugged in near your tank.
A few other items you will need-
- Heaters (and/or chiller)
- Some large make-up water containers
- Powerheads
- Glass cleaner (for algae)
- A skimmer
For a 110 three 150 watt heaters are usually enough. I use one active heater in the sump of my 130 and one in the tank. The third heater is set a couple of degrees lower and serves as an emergency back up. I only use a little over two watts per gallon to keep my own 130 at 80º F. I find that the larger the tank the less watts it takes to heat it. Of course, it takes a lot longer to get it up to temperature when you first start out but, hopefully, you will not need to do that again on an established tank. Smaller tanks lose heat more rapidly than large tanks so you will need higher wattage per gallon if you have a nano. I usually find small tanks, 30 gallons or less need about 4-5 wpg to maintain a stable temperature.
Another place you will need a heater is for the second item on the list. Unless you have a huge RO/DI you are going to need somewhere to store top-off and water change salt mix. I keep three 30 gallon plastic trash bins full of R0/DI water handy at all times. A forth has premixed salt solution for water changes. I have a 150 watt heater in the salt mix container as well as one of the plain RO/DI containers. A powerhead serves to mix the salt and aerate the water change container. I should note here that a GFI should be used here as a safety measure on this system as well. A few extra powerheads are always a good idea. They can be used in a hospital tank or to provide additional circulation for a finicky coral.
Being a Damn Yankee, and a Yankee with AC
, I have never needed a chiller. If you think your tank will go much past about 85 it may be wise to look into getting one.
Old or new to the hobby, cleaning the glass is always a problem. You might as well get an algae scrapper right off as you will need it
real soon. The magnetic types are the most popular but a simple plastic putty trowel will work on a budget. Be real sure if you have an acrylic tank that the scrapper will not scratch it.
You notice I left a skimmer to last on the list. That is because there are many successful tanks out there that do not use skimmers. My own feeling is that they serve a useful purpose my removing proteins before they become ammonia and other nitrogen compounds. For a small tank the hang-on models will do. For a 110, like Chicopee Phill has, an in sump skimmer is best.
There are probably a dozen things I missed in this post that are also worthwhile for the new reefer to get. I hope that many of you will catch my oversights and add to this in the next few day. I'll add to this thread after that with info on setting up the initial tank and getting through the cycle.
I'm not going to get into sumps and refugiums very much as there is already a wealth of information out there on this subject. For those of you that haven't read them here are a series of articles by Greg Taylor on sumps that I'll leave you with-
Sumps #1
Sumps #2
Sumps #3