starting a tank

[redguppy]

Ok I have a freashwater tank (Had for about 3 months now and doing great:D ) but I have always whated to setup a marine aquarium(Whating one for nearly 2 years:( ) Have one major problem, money!!! Then I heard about nano reefs, so I looked on the web and found this site and many others. So I have been reading the threads on this forum and reading the articles on starting a nano reef for about a week now, plus lots of info on reef tanks. So I haved decided I what to build a nano reef. I have two good advantages, I can be patient and I'm in my house nearly all the time doing my education at home. So I have wrote out a list of stuff I think I need and here it is...

 

18*10*10 tank 7.5 US gal

Hood DIY

cover glass, etc...

 

50w heater

Maxijet MP 400 powerhead

 

ASL T5 Power Compact Lighting Unit 2*18w

2 50/50 18w tubes

or

1 50/50 18w tube

1 Actinic 18wTube

 

8lb of figi live rock

10lb of sand( not sure what to get)

 

Anything else except fo sea salt etc.. ?

[SLOreefer]

sounds like you are off to a good start..if i were you i would up the tank size a bit to make it easier on yourself. the 7.5 is fine but the more volume the tank the easier it will be to maintain. even a 10 gallon. your lighting is adequate for most corals and is a great choice. go with a single daylight and an actinic or the 2 50/50 bulbs unless you like the really blue look. dependsing on the density of the rock you may want to add a bit more. in my 10 gallon i have about 16-20 pounds in there. i iusually do about 1.5 pounds per gallon. use live sand if you can but if not definately get something like a fine grade aragonite sand..

[Twins Guy]

where you plan on getting the T5s? excuse me if i missed it, but its impossible to search for a two letter term. and do 1 actinic, 1 daylight. combined they'll have a really nice effect, plus then you can use the actinic as a dawn and dusk light.