# Whats the Essential Equipment needed



## spamvicious (Oct 15, 2007)

Sorry if this is a question thats been asked repeatedly but although I have read a lot, including the basics thread, i'm still a bit confused. From what I can gather so far...For a fish only marine tank i'd need

Lighting
A filter
A heater
A protein skimmer

Rock, Sand (not the live kind just yet)

Someone said something about power heads? I've also heard something about a sump, is this essential? Theres protein skimmers going for £30 but i'm guessing they wont work properly?


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## Betta1 (Jan 5, 2007)

Well I don't know much about saltwater but I do know the basics cause thats what I've got. You don't Need a protien skimmer.

Lighting depends on what you want, fish only, live rock or reef. any light for the first, better for only live rock and much better for reef (theres alot of options here) I have a 65w power compact bulb over my 29g for basic low light corals.

Live rock and live sand are basically a necessity, you can go without rock though I don't know how it's done without cause live rock is a big part of your filtration.

Filtration: theres a few options wet/dry refugum etc but I simply have a standard hob filter.

heater: standard 76-78 is where I try keep all my tanks

powerhead is a good idea but other then some corals liking water flow I really couldn't tell you why, I've got one small one blowing water across the front of my tank in front of the rocks. I think water flow helps keep algae down in any tank as well.

Definatley get live rock and sand though! I used 1lb per gallon of live rock and I put 1 lb of live sand per gallon (20lb live sand 10lb non-live coral chips)


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

Skimmers do a lot of good. But not the cheapo's... get a trusted brand such as corallife, turbofloater, ect. Definately helps with overall stability and Sustainability of your system. 

Powerheads are needed a lot more in salt than fresh as saltwater carries less Oxygen, and flow keeps algae down, picks up debris and allows your skimmer to take it out, powerheads are the heart of a saltwater setup... don't skimp on these.

Liverock is essential. Livesand... not so much as dead sand becomes livesand with the addition of liverock


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## Ice (Sep 25, 2006)

A protein skimmer is a must. Skip on the filter - the live rock is your natural biological filtration. Definitely get live sand or aragonite sand. A sump is also good to have. A refugium is optional but not necessary. Powerheads - get 2 -one on each side if the tank. Just don't get the powersweep types. PC lighting with lunars is a good start for beginner - can work with most beginner corals (zoos, leathers, shrooms, etc ...)


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

The very first thing you absolutely need is a BOOK on the subject.

Live rock is a filter, but an expensive one, and not one typically up to the challenge of cleaning a tank owned by the typical owner of a first saltwater tank. By that I mean beginners in saltwater have a strong tendency to try to treat their tanks as they would freshwater ones in the area of stocking, adding far too many fish. Fish-only tanks need filters, and big ones. So, then, my advice is to skip the liverock and livesand and instead spend that money on a big skimmer and good filter. If you went with the rock & sand, then you'd need the big expensive lighting required to keep the liverock alive, and by then you might as well just build a reeftank anyway.

Again, a good book on the subject can tell you in detail almost everything you need to know to get started, and we can fill in the rest.

all-glass tank
salt mix
hydrometer
books
filter
heater
skimmer
lighting shielded from saltspray

Those are the true essentials, and there are many other things you can add to make your life a lot easier.


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## spamvicious (Oct 15, 2007)

yeah I'm currently looking for books, I went to the local library and they offered me a lovely book on a mariner boat..so i'm going to the bigger library to check it out.

I was getting confused about the live rock/sand. I thought you could keep them under the normal lighting and only needed specalist lighting for reef? Good place to make the mistakes here rather than in a tank.

I also learned my lesson in the fw tank and only plan to have 2 or 3 fish and some invertebrates.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Sure, you can keep live rock under normal lighting. It just won't stay very lively. Considering how expensive it is, you'd probably wish to keep it in good shape, though, so the correct lighting would be required. The vast majority of reef life is NOT large corals, but this under-appreciated majority needs the same light. 
The cheap ugly "base rock" you can buy is once-live rock which was kept under poor lighting until it withered away to nearly nothing. Only the bacteria within its pores flourishes anymore, which is a shame. It's fine for use in a sump for strict denitrification purposes, though, or as a base upon which you can place your much better rock and finally corals, but it otherwise has no real use in a fish-only tank, being mostly a hindrance at every turn in such a system.


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## leveldrummer (May 27, 2005)

TheOldSalt said:


> Sure, you can keep live rock under normal lighting. It just won't stay very lively. Considering how expensive it is, you'd probably wish to keep it in good shape, though, so the correct lighting would be required. The vast majority of reef life is NOT large corals, but this under-appreciated majority needs the same light.
> The cheap ugly "base rock" you can buy is once-live rock which was kept under poor lighting until it withered away to nearly nothing. Only the bacteria within its pores flourishes anymore, which is a shame. It's fine for use in a sump for strict denitrification purposes, though, or as a base upon which you can place your much better rock and finally corals, but it otherwise has no real use in a fish-only tank, being mostly a hindrance at every turn in such a system.


just wanna clear this up, you told me this same stuff when i set up a tank, and im still confused on this, what exactly on live rock needs light? i know coraline and any hitchiker corals, but besides that? i thought live rock was beneficial just because the bacteria and the micro fauna, i know there could be some algaes on there that would be nice, but most ive ran across are nuisance. so what exactly do you need light for in a fish only with live rock?


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

You know, this is my fault. I keep forgetting that most people use cheap, crappy rock, and don't even know what good rock IS. The rock we use around here is what rock is supposed to be, and one glance at it would immediately answer your question. It hasn't been kept under poor conditions in a holding area and then shipped halfway across the planet and then cured. ( no need for curing, usually, since there's nothing wrong with it. )
For example, have a look at www.floridaliverock.com. Browse around a bit and you'll see what I mean. That rock is it's own little ecosystem, pretty much, and just like any other, it's driven by light. The microfauna you mentioned needs microflora to support it, after all, and good rock has good algaes on it to keep away the nuisance stuff.
Liverock used without coral is mostly either used as decoration in itself or in a sump as a filter. Ugly sump rock needs no light, of course, but decorator rock certainly needs it if you don't want it to go "bald" in only several months. I guess I was assuming that if someone wanted to make a FOWLR tank, they'd probably want rock that was at least as nice to look at as the fishes.


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## vvolfe1 (Oct 9, 2006)

you really just need a tank, lights, a heater, pump, sand and rock. If you do fish only NO lights will work. If you want a reef then better lighting would be required. Other things that will help are a protien skimmer, an overflow and sump. And a refugium in the sump.


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## jasno999 (Oct 16, 2006)

If you don't plan to do coral then you need not spend a lot of money on lights....

Also you may want to get a UV filter...


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