# starting a reef aquarium



## jb92 (Mar 11, 2007)

i have no idea about marine aquariums but i want to start one , i want to have a reef with fish such as damsel fish , clownfish and tangs, i need a list of everything i will need to get including what size aquarium , i want to have about 25 fish.


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## usmc121581 (Jul 31, 2006)

First for the corals you need to decide what lighting you want to buy. All types of corals need different lighting needs. Next as for the fish no damsels they are very mean and shouldnt be in a reef enviroment. Also do you have any ideas on the type of fish beside the tangs and clowns. I would suggest nothing less then a 150gal for the number of fish you want. As for the equipment you will need a sump either buy one or use a smaller tank, return pump, power heads, protien skimmer.


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## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

well 25 fish you will need a pretty big tank, somewhere in the hundreds could fit about 7-10 so you may need like 300 gallons + to fit 25 fish. But then again it all matters on size

well i dont know much about saltwater tanks from experiance and im worried the information will be wrong there are some things to follow

You litterally get what you pay, cheap stuff in the hobby will not work so you have to spend a good lot of money to get something to work. 

Reef tanks need really strong lighting, for a 500 gallon tank you would probably need 4000-5000 watts of MH light with a high lumen lighting (lumens is how well the light matches the sun, incandecent doesnt match the sun at all so they have low lumens and metal halide lighting is very similar so they have high lumens, i think thats what lumen means :? )

1 inch per gallon is not marine tanks just as a heads up, its something like 2 inch per 10 gallons (.2 inch per gallon) of fish but this rule isnt that good since you have to worry about territorial disputes



Ok just as a heads up, dont get the Simple Guide to Marine Aquariums book since it tells you what to buy, but doesnt say much on how to take care of the tank so its not a good book.


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## jb92 (Mar 11, 2007)

thanks maybe i wont get that many fish lol


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## trreherd (Aug 7, 2006)

lumen-the unit of luminous flux, equal to the luminous flux emitted in a unit solid angle by a point source of one candle intensity. Abbreviation: lm(dictionary.com  ) 
simply put, you werent very close musho.


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## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

trreherd said:


> lumen-the unit of luminous flux, equal to the luminous flux emitted in a unit solid angle by a point source of one candle intensity. Abbreviation: lm(dictionary.com  )
> simply put, you werent very close musho.


ohh, then what does luminous flux? And how does the equal emitted in a unit solid angle by a point source of one candle intensity got to do with reef tanks :? :? :?  

but i guess what i was saying was something else that was true since i do know that incandescent wont have much of a use but MH will actually work.


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