I've been thinking of setting upa saltwater tank. I have never had a saltwater tank before. I would like to setup a reef tank with some dangerous/venomous predator fish. Any advice on setting something like this up? I'm thinking about a 100 to 150 gallon minimum tank.

Insanity,

I haven't been on much due to the snow storms we are getting hit with and all the OT.

Give me a day or so and I will get you some info. If you are thinking about a Lionfish in a reef not sure thats a good idea. They tend to knock corals over. Sit down and figure out what kind of corals you want to keep and what fish. I can help you from there as to what you will need and will the corals and fish go together.

Burgh

burgh wrote:Insanity,

I haven't been on much due to the snow storms we are getting hit with and all the OT.

Give me a day or so and I will get you some info. If you are thinking about a Lionfish in a reef not sure thats a good idea. They tend to knock corals over. Sit down and figure out what kind of corals you want to keep and what fish. I can help you from there as to what you will need and will the corals and fish go together.

Burgh

I Want to get some soft coral something real colourful, some anemomes, zoanthids, clams, Large Polyp Stony Corals.

For fish I'm thinking Volitans lionfish, foxface rabbitfish, Stonefish, eel, clown fish, possibly a gouper.

Well, I won't say you can't do the list above. But, I myself wouldn't try it.
The V. Lion is a amazing fish and is the biggest in the lion species. Down side thou is the V. lion can knock your corals over, will eat the clown (ambush), produce alot of bio-load, and might try to eat the stone fish if it thinks it can fit it in its mouth. Fox face is a cool fish also and will hold its own, most fish know to leave it alone due to the poison it can inject from its top fin. Some eels could work, have to be careful because they can get out of most tanks and will also knock over your corals. Grouper is a whole different story. They will try to eat ANYTHING, grow fast, produce as much if not more bio-load than the lion. You could do a semi reef with the lion, grouper,foxface, and a eel. As long as the sizes are big enough. Small lion and grouper to start. Probably a eel little bigger so he won't try to eat the other two and a medium foxface.

You will also need a very good skimmer that is rated for around double your tank volume and designed for heavy bio-loads. Don't forget the Live Rock atleast 1lbs per gallon. This should give you an idea of what you are getting into.Theres alot more, but like I said this is just a taste.

If you get good equipement from the start it will pay off in the long run and you will enjoy it alot more.

If I was setting this tank up I would probably look into a MXS Skimmer.
One thing to keep in mind is a skimmer hardly ever does what it is rated for so you want to go bigger. A skimmer is almost the heart of your system. Bigger and stronger it is the more waste it will pull out of the water and help keep your water perm inline.

I have the MXS 200 and its a beast and easy to use. You also want to look into a good RODI unit and Live Rock. These are going to be probably the bulk of your cost. Powerheads for water movement, return pumps, sump aren't to bad.The only other large fee you will have is the lights. They can be price up there. MH's are the best right now, T5's are second and than VHO's. Power compacts aren't that great for corals,but good for fish and lr setups.

I think when I setup a saltewater tank, i'm going to do a drilled tank with a sump tank setup. likely be a 125 gal sump tank plus a refugium. Now with the skimmer do i have take into account the size of the sump aswell? For saltwater would i be able to declorinate tap water mix salt and go? or do i have to get a RO filter and fill pales that way to do water changes? My tap water PH is 8.2

You don't have to go with a sump that big, But it won't hurt either. I usually use a sump around half of my display tank. But there is nuthing wrong with bigger. As for the skimmer question, yes and no. If you plan on putting your skimmer in the sump than yes, you should pick out your skimmer first and pick you sump than. This way you don't have a sump and now you might be limited as to what skimmer will fit in it. If you go with a skimmer that can sit beside your sump than no. All depends on what you want.

RO water is the way to go if you are going reef, you can use tap water if you go fish and LR, but better of with RO either way. It will save you alot of headaches in the long run. If you have room you could get 55 gallon plastic drums or garbage cans. Use one for just RO water and another to have premixed saltwater onhand. It sounds like alot, but once you get it all in place and setup it makes life easier.

Whats a Semi reef? the live rocks only go half way up tank instead of all the way up to the top of the tank?

No, by semi reef I ment very little corals or the very easy corals to keep. Like mushrooms, leathers, colts stuff along that line that aren't as light demanding and almost 100% perfect water parm. If you want to keep clams, acro's, acans, ect you'll probably have a harder time to due water quality
and the heavy bio-load.

Is there a website or an online store that would have pictures of different corals and saltwater fish for aquariums?

You can look athttp://www.petsolutions.com/Saltwater-Corals+C76.aspx and http://www.liveaquaria.com/

To be honest with you thou, you might want to check out reef central. It one of the biggest marine forums.