Well, this is my blog on setting up a Saltwater reef system. Let me begin by saying that in roughly April 2006 I started researching saltwater reef systems. I read such sites as www.reefcentral.com www.nano-reef.com plus many others. I had a firm grasp on what I had to do and how. So what did I do? I wussed out and went w/ a 75 gallon freshwater setup for a single Oscar. I got invaluable information on them from www.oscarfish.com I wussed out for 2 reasons, cost, and just fear of saltwater. My Oscar, Chester Cheeto, got his tank setup in 2007 and he's a growing fish.
Well, I started thinking about fish tanks again recently and went and reread the sites above plus www.njreefers.com I spent hours upon hours, days upon days reading everything I can, making lists of what i'd need, pricing every item on 10+ websites, etc. Finally I decided that the only way to really know what I'm doing is to just dive on it. So that's what I'm doing.
A week ago I (6/12/09) I went to Home Depot, purchased some 2x4's and screws, went to Petsmart and purchased a 28 gallon bow front tank. I than went to 3 local fish stores, Pet's Plus, Allquatics, and The Hidden Reef. As expected the quality and variety were better at the two fish specific stores. I than went and joined the NJ Reefers society, asked questions of a few users on nano-reef and njreefers site, and purchased a HoB (hang on back) skimmer for a good price from a member. Last night (6/18/09) I placed my order for the items needed to set this tank up plus a few spare parts for a 20 gallon long that I'd like to setup soon as well.
From researching saltwater tanks / reef systems the general consensus was that the hobby is addicting. That purchasing cheaper crappier products is not the way to go because in the long run you will want to / need to upgrade and than you are stuck w/ useless products. Because of this the upfront cost for "doing it right" is a bit higher however certain products are a one time purchase and will make setting up future tanks alot easier and cheaper. Some of the higher end electrical devices also use alot less electricity so will save on power bills.
My products for the tank were purchased from 4 sources, www.thefilterguys.biz , www.premiumaquatics.com , www.marinedepot.com , and www.aquabuys.com I will list what I bought from each site and the quality of shipping, communication, etc. For my liverock, sand, food for the tank, and most likely my fish / corals I will be purchasing from allquatics in Hamilton. My clean up crew for the tank (snails, hermits) will probably be purchased from The Hidden Reef in Levittown. Salt will also most likely be allquatics as it's a few minutes from my house.
This past week I started on framing the stands however I quickly realized that my technique was not working, the stand was not level at all. I spoke w/ my father and he suggested a few ways to make it level. As you can guess I have no past woodworking experience, few electrical tools and no real workshop so I'm working on the carpet in my game room trying to not get sawdust everywhere. Fortunatly I didn't get very far so little wood was wasted, hoping this weekend to get the 2x4's done so I can pick out some wood to skin it. I also hope to get the back of the tank painted. I will be trying to post pictures of my progress as I go along.
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