# Been Away Too Long...



## Laurence (Mar 2, 2013)

Its been a good 10 years since I've run a tank and am excited to be getting back into it. Much has changed in the past several years. Hopefully better and less expensive?

My question is this- with so many lighting options, I need help in deciding which way to approach my return to marine tank keeping. The tank I plan on using is 30" long, 16" wide and 18" deep (can't recall how many gallons). I am certainly not rolling in dough so cost is a major factor here. So with this info in mind, what might be my best starting point to light a new salt water aquarium? Maybe some coral, an invert or 2 and a few clowns- nothing crazy.

thanks in advance,

Laurence (in Port Moody)


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## TigerOscar (Sep 10, 2012)

Welcome to BCA
I was away from this for a while too and the stuff they have now compare to back then is amazing, you'll get lots of help from here.
I'm not a salty guy (yet) so I'll leave it to the experts.


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## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

Welcome to BCA  I am new a salty and yes there are way to many option, I am sure u will get answers soon from the experts here


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Hi Laurence, welcome to BCA.

Sorry, I had a reef tank for a while, but I just used the OEM lights that came with the setup as it was sufficient, so I'll need the pros to answer that one.

Cheers,
Chris


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## Chrisphungg (Oct 8, 2012)

To start off, the tank is about 37 gallons. For lighting, I think you should start off with a basic LED fixture. Nothing too crazy but enough to support corals. In the long run, T5HO and MH become very expensive (My new T5HO bulbs are about 100$ every 6 months). I would PM aQ.LED about some questions about the lighting fixture. He is also very knowledgeable when it comes to SW set ups.


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## albert_dao (May 28, 2012)

What? ...

I replace my bulbs once a year. Why are you changing them every six months?


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## Chrisphungg (Oct 8, 2012)

I was told to change them every 6 months :S


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## albert_dao (May 28, 2012)

Lol, sales pitch bro. Run them a year


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## JTang (Apr 21, 2010)

Hey welcome aboard!

I'm still using an old PC fixture plus MH on my 120g. Replacing the bulbs once a year. I used cheap MH bulbs off eBay for $15 a piece. Works great to my standard. Lol

LED... I will probably wait a while until the price has come down to around $300 for my 4' tank


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## PurpleMonkey (Nov 28, 2011)

Hi Lawrence, what kind of corals were you looking to keep?

LEDs can be done affordably if you are mildly handy with a screwdriver and a little solder using DIY kits.


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## Hydrocynus (Jan 26, 2011)

I say go a little bigger tank size if you can. There are some good used setups that can be had for cheap price. Or you can buy them slowly
main thing for salt:

1.Having a drilled tank with an overflow. Dont even bother with a siphon overflow they tend to leak if siphon brakes. I highly recommend getting a sump running. You dont need bioballs like the old days, you can put the skimmer, heater and other equipment in the sump
2. Decide what route you want to go to. Just Fish only tank, LPS or SPS tank. each tyoe have different light requirement. Of course Fish only tank will be cheaper in lights.
3. Try to keep everything simple. even with the dosing etc..
4.LED lights are starting to get cheap now especially if you go with DIY route. No bulb changes in a few years. You have to factor lightbulb change with T5 and metal halides both have to be replaced every year or else you get nuisance algae going once the color starts to shift to due to old age
5.Get a good skimmer.
6.Use Rodi water
7.wait for people selling live rocks that are getting out of the hobby most sell under $3-$4/lbs cheaper than lfs.Just common sense as well. If their tank looks dirty dont buy anything, usually its pest ridden and who knows what they did to the tank. Watch out for Aptasias, especially from LR you buy from people. It's easier to kill them when you dont have any livestock yet.
8. Start with LPS its lower light req than LPS and easier to take care off, Id go with Hammer , Torch, Frogspawn, and GSP these have "nice" looking factor to them.
You can get Xenia but sometimes they tend to be like weeds of the home reef if left uncheck and will overrun your tank, same with regular mushrooms.
I say go with this this rule. start with $5-$10 frags that have few heads/ polyps so you dont break the bank. There is another Canadian website dedicated to reef keeping. Their ad are good there as well.
9. There is nothing cheap in the SW hobby, prepare to spend more than what you think you would be spending


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