Yay! Finally!

Well, I'm finally on my way to setting up my reef aquarium. My Mom bought me a really nice stand yesterday from Petsmart (holds up to 800 pounds and cost only $200) and I put it together all by myself that day! It took me quite a while, but it was something to do! So today I'm going to clean out the aquarium and get it on the stand. Then the next step is buying another filter (I have a Fluval 204, but need to 104 as well) and getting some aragonite for the substrate! I do have a question though, does it matter if I put the water in and get the filters going before I add the substrate? Or should it be the other way around? I'm so excited about my tank! Wow... that's a little pathetic, getting excited about starting an aquarium. Oh well, I like it.

 

nobody can blame you, its the best part besides adding the fish is decorating the tank!!

 

Very true, the cost of everything is scarying me a bit though. At least my parents are willing to help me out, some people dont even have that luxury!

 

lol i had that untill my 3rd fish. they went OK THATS ENOUGH!! and my mom stoped funding. though im lucky my dad loves fish. i went from 3 to 15 then 2 had babys and now im at 40 fish!

 

Wow, 40 fish, that's a lot. What kind of aquarium do you have? (size, salt/fresh, etc?)

 

3 neon tetras
2 painted tetras
2 placos
2 red wagtail platy
1 Freshwater Angelfish
6 mickey mouse platys
20 and up tuxedo platys (27 and up fry)
24 gallon fishtank
5 gallon bucket that looks like a fishtank <- my dad couldnt (didnt want to) buy a fishtank

 

what kind of fish are you hoping to get for your aquarium?

 

It's a 67 gallon aquarium. I plan on getting:
3 pecula clownfish (with anemones)
1 coral beauty
1 royal gamma basslet
some kind of wrasse
maybe a yellow tang
Anthias if I can find a store that sells them

 

You didn't mention a protein skimmer, you will need one. Substrate goes first. I know that my local petsmart doesn't carry salt fishes or substrate. Make sure and go to a reputable saltwater shop that has displays of their work. A shop should have a tank or two with displays that are not for sale. These displays are a good indicator of how your tank will look. If the shop just has fishes for sale in empty tanks, then don't buy from there.
Good luck!

 

Yes, I know that I need a protein skimmer. There's only 1 saltwater shop in my city, it's Aquarium Illusions. They have a website if you want to check it out. They've got a really big freshwater tank on display, along with a big tank of rays and a REALLY big reef tank (this thing is seriously 10 feet long!) And they sell quite a variety of fish, live rock, and inverts. So it looks good, and the people there really know what they're doing.