I would like to buy a salt water fish tank for my app What do i need to get started Essentials Price

My dog destroyed my appartment, so I had to leave her at my mothers house. I would still like a pet, so I've decided to get a saltwater fish tank. I went to a pet shop yesterday and they weren''t too helpful. I'm turning to the world for some helpful advice. How much should I put aside to get started? I think a 30 to 40 Gallon tank is a good size. I guess what I really want is to build a nice ecosystem for about 5 to 6 fish, some anemonies, and a coral shrimp or two. Is 30 to 40 too much?

Wow, you made life easier by saying what you want in the tank. Anemones require bright light and good water movement but they can be kept with florescent lights rather then high output or metal halide. The trick is to replace the bulbs every six months (one florescent at least 10,000K and one actinic). You would also need a filter with biowheel (and skimmer would be nice too) that moves 450 to 600 gallons per hour depending on wether you go with a thirty of forty gallon. If your filter has no skimmer, you should invest in one. You will also need a marine test kit, hydrometer, heater, salt, a good supply of RO water (tap won't suffice for a marine tank), three inches of aragonite, and thirty to forty pounds of live rock. Your tank needs to cycle for a while before you can add any fish, invertibrate or anemones. Anemones are notoriously short lived in tanks so I would reccomend you wait for a least six months for your tank to mature a bit before buying any (this actually takes up to two years although it is hard to make anyone understand this until after they have had their tanks for two years). I cannot give you exact prices as I have no idea where you live, but I think this info will give you the ability to go to the local stores and price them out yourself. You could also scan the net for used established tanks as marine enthusiasts are always moving up in tank size but cannot afford to own more then one tank.