TW wrote:
Tom

You do not need everything in the begining. First off , until your tank
is setup, cycled and more mature you don't need all the bells and
whistles. I would start with the desired tank, lights, circulation
pumps, good quality skimmer(spend some money here it will pay dividends
for a long time to come) , heaters,DSB, good quality LR, a set of test
kits and good quality salt. I would pass on the deep six hydrometer.
They are not very accurate. Buy a good quality hydrometrer, they are
more accurate.Take your time and add things one at a time as you need
them. You do not need the rest in the begining if ever. Many of the
toys are only needed when you have a more complicated setup with more
demanding or delicate pets. You may soon want a R/O / DI water filter.
It gets to be a pain running to a water store to buy good quality water
all the time. You will need lots of water in this hobby. Good water
makes a big difference
You especially don't need a calc reactor yet. Second off find a new
store. Whoever you are talking about and I have a good guess ( don't
stick your hand in the shark tank) is obvously only interested in making
a sale. There are lots of good sites to get info from on the net.
If you are near Oakville you can try the Oakville reef gallery on Kerr
St. Ask for Tom or Flavio.
I also have had good luck with Big Als in Stoney Creek for fish and dry
goods though most of the staff does not know much about reefs. Larry is
the guy to talk to. Most staff at Big Als in Mississauga have not been
very helpful. There is pretty good store next door called Dragon
Aquarium in the chinese plaza. They often have nice coral but are
generally not the best at giving advice.
As others have pointed out shop on the net before you shop in a store.
There is lots of variation in prices out there.

Good luck and welcome to the hobby

Todd




Thanks for the great tip. I'd already been in the Dragon store, but
found it exactly as you described.
I went into the Oakville store today and spent over an hour with Tom.
Great guy, good advice, nice place, PLUS- it's so close to me that I
could almost carry a fish in my hand from the store to my house! (-;

I'm still digesting all the information but I think I'm going to go with
a 90 or 120 gall tank, refugium/sump that will have all those plants and
little critters living in it, a halide/VHO lighting system, R/O filter
with auto top up and bulk filtered water reservoir, and a high quality
skimmer. No calcium reactor until the demand warrants it. I'm going to
get the tank going without anything live in it and see what my
temperature fluctuations are, then I'll get a heater or chiller
depending on what I need. I figure that since the indoor temperature of
my house is relatively stable, I should only need one or the other.

Does this sound like a good starting point?

Thanks again to all who have helped me out so far.

Cheers