Ok guys and girls...

a quick question or two...

I am picking my first 6ft tank up today

Would you go marine or tropical with it... and if I went marine and went for live rock to set it up... where would be the best place to get live rock from and how do you calculate how much live rock you need.

Do you introduce fish like you do in tropical..... and can you speed the cycling up....
I will check water parameters and so, and where's the best place to get salt from? grin

I will be cleaning it thoroughly, then possibly resealing it on the inside to avoid any disasters..lol...

Then I need to find a cabinet maker/joiner to make the cabinet or stand for it, have you any recommendations on people handy with joinery who will not rip us off...

Any help you can give would be appreciated..

LJ

i would go for tropical.

marines are on my to do list but they are a bit of a learning curve.

Pretty sure there is no "quick cycle" for marine. From what iv read and been told the liverock, fish and critters are very sensitive. Can take a month of liverock cycling before tank is ready for fish. Tropical is much easier and cheaper lol. IMO go for a planted discus setup. Very beautiful rewarding fish

i have heard that live rock takes months to get ready, hence why people buy pre-livened rocked. apparently it takes about 6 months for a rock to go from a rock to live rock.

i am def going to try my hand at it one day but it will be when i have plenty of spare coin so i can set it up right with a chiller/heater, big lights and serious equipment. cant afford that at the moment

No expert here but Ill put in my two cents anyway .........
If you decide to go saltwater...
Put in your substrate and water then throw in a kg or so of some seafood marina mix and leave it in for about a week. The variety of stuff in there will give you a variety of organisms that develop. Let the tank cycle for another week. The tank should be pretty close to cycled. My tank took about ten days, Do your tests and make sure the tanks spiked, when the levels return to normal.......

Now put your live rock in. This way the tank is pretty much cycled instead of the live rock critters dieing to cycle the tank. Most of my live critters on the live rock seemed ok. You can get some cool hitchhikers on the live rock, just get rid of any crabs you may find.
Another week and you should be ready to start introducing tank mates. Start small dont put all your fish in at once and initially test the water every few days. After the first fish are in check your levels if ok, add more weekly. After a few weeks you can reduce your testing to weekly and eventually even fortnightly. Research the fish, most of em will eat each other if they could, put the shy fish in first. Stay away from pseudochromis and damsels, one of my tiny damsels killed heaps of fish 3 - 4 times its size by lining em up and headbutting them. Only keep em if your other fish are tough or heaps bigger.

Whatever you do research it properly read heaps first then make a decision from a variety of sources. Im a novice at best and what worked for me may not be right for everyone. Take your time.
Pretty cool once established.

Forgot its been a while, even in a fish tank the live rock needs decent lighting.
I would start with t5's as a minimum.

You can get away with less but I dont think its worth it.

gl and merry christmas