If You Are New to Reef Central, Introduce Yourself Here!

[colodano]

Well, I might as well do an intro here, as I started posting a bit last week. Long post incoming...

Name is Dan, and I am 38. Got into fish as a kid, when my dad had a 20-30 gallon FW tank. When still living at home, I set up a 10 gallon FW tank in my room, and ran that for a few years before moving out on my own.

Fast forward a few years, and a few buddies start getting into fish, so I start up a 30 gallon chiclid tank. Moved it a couple of times, and acquired a 55 from a friend when he moved. Chiclids went in there.

Now that I had a spare 30 gallon tank, decided to try something more interesting, and a LFS had a good selection of baby Piranha come in, so 3 came home with me. That same week a friend picked up 5 from the same batch.

At some point over the next years, and move or 4, the Piranha were getting bigger and I was down to one Chiclid. They lived in the same tank for 6 months or so, and then the Chiclid went into a 30 hex front, and the Piranha were in the 55. My buddy gets tired of fishkeeping again, so I end up with his 5 Piranha, so now I have 7.

One day I was picking up feeders at my LFSA, and they have a 180 with sump and pump in the used area. Decided I wanted it, so that came home and got set up. Piranha went in there, and Chiclid back in the 55.

My GF at the time, now my wife, was babysitting for a family who wanted to sell their house. This means de-cluttering, and they have a 36 cube that needs to go, and it came home with me. Looking at it, decided that it was a perfect candidate to try a saltwater tank.....

That was I think 10 years ago now. Ran the 36 for a few years in Colorado, and moved it to Canada in 2008, keeping all of the fish and rock alive in buckets with heaters and bubblers for a 20 hour drive. Knowing how tough it would be, I did sell the Chiclids, and so I was down to 2 tanks to move, 1 being 180 gallons. Set them up in a rental for a year, and then moved again. That move went ok, or so I thought. All of the sand and rock was fine, but all of the saltwater fish I had in a bucket and they died overnight, all the water parameters checked out, so still not sure what happened. The Piranha trooped through, as they stayed in a spare tank at a friends house for a month.

So 2009, I have a tank with sand, LR, and it runs basically like that for a year or 2 before I put fish in again. At some point in there I switched from the canister filter I had been using, to a trickle sump, and added more LR. Added a couple of clowns, had a wrasse that decided to carpet surf, but kept it rather basic. Watched some corals grow slowly, and added an anemone that lived for about a year, but I think I needed to feed it more, and keep a better watch on my water.

After having them for 10 years and something like 8 moves, the Piranha in the 180 gallon start passing away, until that tank is empty, and I shut it down.

Come to 2016, and my wife gets a new job, across Canada from where we live. Time to move fish again.... so that was a 4 day drive with the important stuff in a bucket again.

This time I decide to change things up, and swap from the old 36 cube to a 55 acrylic tank I have carted around for years now, and where I had taken the sump setup from.

Currently the 2 clowns and around 10-15 lbs of live rock are living in a 10 gallon BB tank, and there are a few random corals, including a healthy growth of mushroom corals that have hosted the clowns.

The rest of the rock I had has been vinegar soaked, rinsed and cleaned, and sun dried, as well as the 20 or so lbs of sand from that tank. I added 40 lbs of live sand, and 14 lbs of new live rock, along with all of the cleaned "dry" rock and sand, and have that cycling in the 55, and will add the stuff from the other tank once the cycle is done.

From reading more on here, I have made the decision to use the larger 20 gallon sump I had from my 180, instead of the 8 gallon one from the 55, and use it as an empty sump, instead of a wet-dry with bioballs. I will move my HOB skimmer to the sump, as it will work there as well, and be more out of the way. Unfortunately I am still using a u-tube overflow box, but it has worked for many years now, and I keep on top of the maintenance.

Maybe down the road I will invest in a new sump set up better for reefing, but this one will work for now to increase water capacity and flow with a big return pump, and give space to add live rock if desired. With more surface area, I expect to need more make-up water, so I may add an ATO to this once it is running completely. Currently I get my RO/DI and mixed saltwater from an LFS, may convince the wife that we need an RO/DI at the house soon.

For now the 180 and stand sit in the basement. I cleaned them before the 4000 mile move, and they made it safely, but I don't have the time to deal with that guy when we may move again in a year or two.

[simko]

Hi Everyone

been lurking for a bit, finally starting to plan out a tank. Looking at a used 115gallon tank that ive posted in the DIY forum about. Ideally I would like to have a basic, low(ish) maintenance reef tank.

Anyways, theres going to be a lot of questions from me, so brace yourselves

[Capiross1]

Hi guys, my name is Nick I've been in this hobby for roughly 10years.
I started with a 90gallon which had a lot of corals then moved everything to a 144 gallon half circle unfortunately 90% of my corals didn't make it which kinda bummed me out so for the last few years I haven't bought a whole lot of live stock. I still have two of my original tangs (yellow and scopis) and my current setup is a 93gallon cube which is packed full of love rock because of the larger tank I moved it from. Waiting to add a stock tank refugium because my sump is plumbed to the basement then I'll stick some of the rock down there. Thanks for having me and happy reefing!

[BummersReef]

Hello all. We had a 75 gallon relatively limited reef system about 10 years ago (a few corals, a few fish). But we are ready to do it again, as we have a new house and do not plan on ever moving until we die! After picking up both a used 90 gallon glass with stand and a used 120 acrylic with a gorgeous stand, we have decided we are going to go with the 120. So we are just starting and I'll will put up a thread with all my tons of questions in another thread.

But as far as intros ... my husband and I are in our early 50s. We have three (OMG) kids at home - 24, 22 and 13. They will be vocal parts of our new reef and they have way too many opinions. We live in the country and the nearest LFS is an hour drive round-trip. Bummer. So instead of running in there for quick questions I expect I'll pop on here!

[Ohellno]

Test...First post here

[ehoustman]

I guess you can call me a reef aquarist in the womb, as I have not made the jump yet. I've kept freshwater aquariums over many years, but I have always wanted a reef aquarium since I was a boy.

I'm hoping to learn everything I can before diving in, so I'll be observing and asking questions before I figure out what kind of setup I want. Thanks for sharing all of your wisdom on here.


Best,

ehoustman

[GARY666772]

hey everybody my name is Gary. i am new here and wanted to take the opportunity to introduce myself. i just started up a 90G tank about 5 months ago looking to get my reef going

[Simi105]

Greetings folks.

I'm 28 and live near Manchester, England. I'm looking forward to starting my first marine tank in the coming months, so I would appreciate people's input as I ask for your help along the way. Thanks in advance. Lets do this!

[Pogipoints]

Hello there!!!! I consider myself as novice in this hobby. I'm expecting my new tank Red Sea Max S 650, any thought?

[IsyssOT_7399]

Hi everybody! Started a 26 gal almost 2 weeks ago and can use all the help I can get. Looking forward to the day I can graduate to something much bigger and more advanced!

[2015GaTor]

Hello everyone. I have only been keeping fish for about a year and a half. It all started when my son won some goldfish at a carnival. We then immediately went out and got a 10 gallon tank. That lasted a week until both fish died....then bought more fish, neon tetras...and they are still kicking in my brother in laws tank. Started keeping African cichlids after that in a 55 gallon tank, which is what I currently have. I have been wanting a salt tank for a while. I am going to be starting a build on a 125 or 180 in the next week or so. Probably end up being the 125 since everything for the 180 seems to get a lot pricier. I am sure I will be asking questions as I go along. Should be a lot of fun.

[MrsReefK]

Originally Posted by GARY666772

hey everybody my name is Gary. i am new here and wanted to take the opportunity to introduce myself. i just started up a 90G tank about 5 months ago looking to get my reef going

Welcome aboard Gary!!


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[MrsReefK]

Originally Posted by Ohellno

Test...First post here

You passed


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[MrsReefK]

Originally Posted by BummersReef

Hello all. We had a 75 gallon relatively limited reef system about 10 years ago (a few corals, a few fish). But we are ready to do it again, as we have a new house and do not plan on ever moving until we die! After picking up both a used 90 gallon glass with stand and a used 120 acrylic with a gorgeous stand, we have decided we are going to go with the 120. So we are just starting and I'll will put up a thread with all my tons of questions in another thread.



But as far as intros ... my husband and I are in our early 50s. We have three (OMG) kids at home - 24, 22 and 13. They will be vocal parts of our new reef and they have way too many opinions. We live in the country and the nearest LFS is an hour drive round-trip. Bummer. So instead of running in there for quick questions I expect I'll pop on here!

Welcome aboard! 120 is a great size tank. So much has changed in the last 10 years in reefing, enjoy all of the new stuff! My husband and I were out of the hobby for about 8 years and can't believe the changes.

We are in the same boat as you, closest LFS is about 1.5 hours away. I live on here!



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[SR_Matthew]

I am new to this hobby. Had a freshwater tank for a few years in high school but no experience with saltwater tanks. I recently moved into a house and have space for a tank and would like to start one. Since I don't have an experience with saltwater tanks, I would love to visit those who are experienced to see how one is set up and maintained. I can be an extra set of hands to help with a water change, etc. I live in Santa Rosa but am in SF frequently. If you would like to mentor someone into the hobby, please contact me. Thank you.

Regards,
Matthew

[Bentwing]

Hi all, I'm new to your community, but a former salt water tank hobbyist from many years back. Getting ready to get back into the hobby for my children's sake, as well as mine!

Would love advice on all the new advancements in the hobby as it has been twenty years since my last tank.

[SaltySully]

Hi everyone, new here, but not to reefkeeping. I grew up in the tropical fish business, and still do it. It is not only my occupation, it is an obsession.

I also grow tropical fruit trees and veggies.

[Tripod1587]

hi everyone my names Randy im new to the saltwater tank always had freshwater i got a 90 gallon dt and a 29 gallon sump with three sections skimmer and sock in first refugium with miracle mud and sand layer in middle with some rubble and third is return 100lbs of live rock from already mature tank setup fish yellow tang, sailfin tang, orange clown, black clown, diamond goby, blue spotted puffer, blue jaw trigger, and a foxface tank bin up and running for a month now all levels fine forgot to mention a few snails and two 48" current orbit marine leds with ramp timers

[SharkB@it]

Hello everyone -

I am newly back to the hobby. I had a 46g fish only saltwater tank several years ago that was decommissioned after a move and finally replaced it 8 years later. Unfortunately, I've forgotten most of what I learned from that experience, so I am reeducating.

A few weeks ago I purchased a 125g existing reef set-up with:
(2) 175w metal halides
(2) VHOs
30g sump
Reef Octopus skimmer
LOTs of live rock (so much that some had to come out..)
Frogspawn LPS
Bubble Coral ( I literally just found out that's what it's actually called, I've been calling it "the bubble thing"... who knew!)
Button Polyp
Some other coral type thing that I think is alive, but I'm not really sure about...
Hippo Tang
Yellow Tang
Flame Angel
(2) clown fish
Engineer Goby

Challenges:
Having never had a sump / refugium, I'm having to learn all I can. It came with an LED strip light, a bag of de-nitrate, and a some white plastic crating(?) in the return end. I see conflicting info about the need for substrate and have yet to find anything definitive about what exactly should be in the sump and how it should be set up.

Lighting - Learned the hard way that while the VHOs make beautiful nightlights, they are not, in fact, nightlights.

Red slime algae - I suspect partially related to the nightlights providing a great environment for Cyano to thrive, I've been battling a pretty heavy red algae bloom for about 10 days. A couple cycles and ChemiClean and a couple days of lights out and I think it's turned a corner.

I'm sure there is more, but that's all I can think of at the moment. Any advice, criticism (preferably constructive), and encouragement will be appreciated!

WT

[Ziva]

Hello All, I am new to Saltwater, but not to fish keeping. I've had freshwater tanks for about
4 or five years now and never thought I' d get into saltwater. I've always admired the tanks but was intimidated by the amount of upkeep needed to maintain a nice tank. Mind you I had some beautiful planted tanks and in the end it became a nightmare. From following some of the threads I think once things are established it should be a fine. As with planted tanks patience and moving slowly seems to be the key. I currently have:
2 perculas in 29 gallon tank
Hob aqueon 30
Between 22 & 24 lbs of cured live rock
Cobalt 100w heater (most accurate heater I've encountered so far)
1 1/2 sand bed Carib sea
A hydro Koralia 425gph and plan on getting another for the other side of the tank
24" edge Led fixture
For now I'm going low tech and with only 2 clownfish I'm sure that's doable. The only other livestock I'll be adding will be a goby, cleaner shrimp and I think a tuxedo urchin.
Eventually if I decide to kick it up a notch I'm going with a Remora S skimmer. Don't think I'd ever go bigger than 75- 90 gallons but when I do it's the Nuevo fusion awesome look. And because I love the look of the shimmer Kessil all the way. Well there's my introduction. Have to say this site is really friendly and informative. Thanks to all for your input.

[ReeferK]

Hi everyone, I'm Nick. Like many, I've been lurking the forum for quite a while. Finally joined today. I've had too many pets to list throughout my life, but aquariums were always enjoyable to me (minus the one time the tank leaked 75%nback when I was in college and at class). Haven't ever maintained a reef, but have done fresh and brackish. Reef tank has always been fascinating to me and looked like a fun challenge. I am still in the planning stage of my build, but planning on either their Red Sea reefer 170 or the Red Sea e170. Looking forward to being part of conversations and learning from others!

[SeaTila]

Hi! I'm new and know enough to be dangerous but at least RC helps me solve the issues one by one. I moved an old 8 year old hobby 120g tank with 3 damsels, 1 clown and 3 brittlestars, lots of live rock with valonia green algae. I also moved all the tanks salt water made with tap water, and sand which hadnt been cleaned in a year. In a couple of months the tank is doing well. I'm now starting a 200g elos 160xl to move most of the tank inhabitants and will build a 60g+ also separate tank. The move to the 200g is to have less need for constant adjustments and monitoring. Ive got the tank and about to add live sand and live rock to new 200g. The 2nd 60g+ is a backup tank. I already have a QT and hospital tank. Removed the 3 damsels and 2 brittlestars and added tangs and clowns. Thanks for posting so much excellent info. I have been so lucky to get info here which helped keep everything alive and thriving.

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[krusieski]

New here lurking and reading lol. Got my first tank 90g. Going to be doing cycle soon and getting it all setup.

[Grimreaperz]

Hi Everyone, I am Dakota. Recently purchased a 36g Bowfront that I plan on making a FOWLR maybe Reef eventually. Just got everything starting to Cycle last night. I have 3.1 lbs of live rock so far but will be buying it all gradually during the Cycling process mainly to ease the load on my wallet. This seems like the place to be for accurate information so here I am!

[Kbel1969]

Originally Posted by Grimreaperz

Hi Everyone, I am Dakota. Recently purchased a 36g Bowfront that I plan on making a FOWLR maybe Reef eventually. Just got everything starting to Cycle last night. I have 3.1 lbs of live rock so far but will be buying it all gradually during the Cycling process mainly to ease the load on my wallet. This seems like the place to be for accurate information so here I am!

Hey Grimreaper, and welcome aboard! Just a tip, I would wait till you get all of your rock, and cycle at the same time, otherwise your cycle will be ongoing until you purchase your last pieces. Good luck with the tank