Ironman
Reef enthusiast
well its me again, the prefilter box is not a nessesity and can be bought later. the box is bulky and not attractive. the advantage is that it pulls the water to be skimmed from the surface of the tank where the proteins and crud like to congregate (laimens terms)!:mrgreen: thats why if you look at most tanks that arnt reef ready or dont have surface agitation there is a film on top of the water similar to a oil slick. in a nut shell the skimmer will be more efficient with the box on it. Ive also been told that the skimmer box cuts down on microbubbles entering the tank from the skimmer. but as said before you can always add it later. (I dont use one out of lazyness).
as for the live rock, Personally I would recommend ordering figi premium live rock from Liveaquaria.com. I have ordered it from them several times. once I got a bad order from them but there customer service is very good and they will make it right if you have a problem. the rock is cured and goes through alot of cleaning processes that most places dont do. however there will be alittle die off in shipping so you can expect a small amount of curing again. since you are starting from scrach I would recommend you get the skimmer and live rock running in the tank for awhile to cycle before adding anything living. the rock I think was around $2.50 lb. after shipping and was nice pourous stuff. you could buy some base rock locally to get a structure then buy a box of premium to get your final layer.
If your wanting to get some powerheads I have had the best success with maxijets. they are very universal for mounting and aplications. and ive yet to have one go bad on me. I also use a red sea wavemaster pro to cycle them on and off. the down side to maxijets and most powerheads is that they dirrect high current to small areas which can beat up whatever its pointed at, so it takes time to get them set where they work. If your willing to spend alittle more you can buy a couple seio pumps. they work really well because of the large amount of water they can move and disperse in a much wider pattern. you could also get some tunze streams but they break the bank. all this said start with what you can afford. it all can be made to work. I personally use maxijets, seios, seaswirls,aquafuge return, and main returns for my water flow. I like diversity.:mrgreen: keep the questions coming. and since I didnt give you my normal spill. dont ever take one persons ideas or opinions and use them. do your own research to because it your stuff that could die. and every tank is different and what works for mine problem wont work the same for yours. if we all work together though we can usually figure out whats going to work best for people. good luck
as for the live rock, Personally I would recommend ordering figi premium live rock from Liveaquaria.com. I have ordered it from them several times. once I got a bad order from them but there customer service is very good and they will make it right if you have a problem. the rock is cured and goes through alot of cleaning processes that most places dont do. however there will be alittle die off in shipping so you can expect a small amount of curing again. since you are starting from scrach I would recommend you get the skimmer and live rock running in the tank for awhile to cycle before adding anything living. the rock I think was around $2.50 lb. after shipping and was nice pourous stuff. you could buy some base rock locally to get a structure then buy a box of premium to get your final layer.
If your wanting to get some powerheads I have had the best success with maxijets. they are very universal for mounting and aplications. and ive yet to have one go bad on me. I also use a red sea wavemaster pro to cycle them on and off. the down side to maxijets and most powerheads is that they dirrect high current to small areas which can beat up whatever its pointed at, so it takes time to get them set where they work. If your willing to spend alittle more you can buy a couple seio pumps. they work really well because of the large amount of water they can move and disperse in a much wider pattern. you could also get some tunze streams but they break the bank. all this said start with what you can afford. it all can be made to work. I personally use maxijets, seios, seaswirls,aquafuge return, and main returns for my water flow. I like diversity.:mrgreen: keep the questions coming. and since I didnt give you my normal spill. dont ever take one persons ideas or opinions and use them. do your own research to because it your stuff that could die. and every tank is different and what works for mine problem wont work the same for yours. if we all work together though we can usually figure out whats going to work best for people. good luck
