How Difficult For Complete Begginner

[festo]

Hi all
i find coral fascinating with all its bright colours and its movements underwater,
so my question is,
just how difficult would it be for a complete begginner to start a reef set up,
my perfect set up would include variouse brightly coloured coral in the tank
with maybe 4-6 fish and maybe some shrimp or crab.
could a complete novice achieve this?
all comments appreciated
thanks.

 

[seffieuk]

My sister did exactly this just over two years ago. I had fw exp and she had none, we both started a marine tank at the same time and loved every minute of it. We relied heavily on the guys here, which is one of the reasons I am now prepared to put so much time into this forum the people are great and new members come along all the time.

to the Salty side of life

So, to answer your question, yes it is possible.

What will you need:

A sense of humour
Patience
Willingness to ask questions and listen to the answers
More patience
Be ready to put in hours of reading journels/pinned threads etc
Enjoy the planning, it can be as much fun as the tank

Start by reading some of the journels = the ones you will want will be, the Orca 550, Rio 125 all the ones of approx 125 litres. I bumped my old one up yesterday, so it should be easy to find

Seffie x

 

[sorgan]

This is what I did beginning of this year, commen sense, this forum and much research served me well.

 

[demasonisrule]

The other thing you can't forget in planning for a reef is the cost...it costs a TON of money to keep one up and running.

 

[DigitalStorm]

I disagree, it does take a fair amount of money to get one up and running, but maintenance of one is not that expensive.

 

[Morri]

It does not cost Tons to keep it up and running it is more expensive than fresh water but also its more rewarding in my opionion

If you are starting out look at a 250L + tank this will give you better option in the long run most who start out with a nano are looking to upgrade within a few months.

Starting bigger will save you a lot in the long run

 

[xxBarneyxx]

It does not cost Tons to keep it up and running it is more expensive than fresh water but also its more rewarding in my opionion

If you are starting out look at a 250L + tank this will give you better option in the long run most who start out with a nano are looking to upgrade within a few months.

Starting bigger will save you a lot in the long run

Would agree with the size. If you can go bigger I would recommend it. Wont cost that much more to set up (if you buy stuff second hand) and its easier to keep and gives you more options.

Running costs I would say are fairly high tbh. Electric for one thing (ours easily costs at least £10-20 a week in electric). But other then that its just fish food and salt.

Do you have experience with FW fish? I would say its a good idea to keep FW first before marine as many of the principles are the same but FW is more forgiving. If you have experience with FW fish then there is not that much difference between a marine fish only tank and a reef tank. Just have to keep on top of water changes and need a bit more equipment.

 

[festo]

Thanks for all the info