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

[LReefer]

How about your CUC? Do you QT them as well for 4 weeks prior to transferring over to your DT? Also, I'm purchasing ocean water from my LFS. Is this a okay?

Thanks again for your input.

[FilAm]

Hello. My name is Al. I am new at actually implementing what I've learned from friends, books and this forum. I have a Nano reef set up and it is 1 month old and thriving. It's the Fluval 13.5; modded the back filtration and a custom diy glass lid; added macro algae; using an old canister eheim as a reactor with live rock rubble, purigen and carbon. Seeded with live copepod's during initial cycle. I plan for this tank to be very basic with carpeting corals and my short team goal.

Current stock is 2 Clowns, peppermit shrimp, emerald crab and a good cleaning crew. Just added 2 coral frags last week; a purple tip branching hammerhead and a dragon soul favia. I'm waiting for the next Reef Expo in NJ in June to add more corals but I'll get that itch and probably get some blood red mushrooms or more favias.

My past aquarium experience was a 90 gallon mbuna cichlid tank and 20 gallon aquascape. I DIYed everything from stand, overflow, sump, trickle filter, algae scrubber, even a simple protein skimmer and the system ran ultra low maintenancestors for years. Sadly that tank was town down 4 years ago cause of a job relocation. Young members of my church started getting info taking aquariums so I started getting some of my old equipment out of my stor age unit. I couldn't stand it anymore and by early December I started this tank.

I'm so glad I did. Now, I just need control this urge to upgrade. My neighbor got word of what I was doing and gave me a 29 gallon tank. I'll fix it up and make it reef ready with eurobracing and probably sell it once the weather gets warmer.

I also have a small aquaponics system using a BritaMax water filter and I'm growing mint and basil with the help of one Betta.

I'm excited to help out and learn in this forum. Happy reefing.

[MarineBiased]

Hello, I am new to the community as I am coming back to the hobby after a false almost-start some years back.

I am in need of any advice on large start up tanks. What I need to be aware of ... look for ... and with a view to lessening my work load at a later date I will need a few small tanks in the cupboard underneath the tank I am hoping to get so as to do this right. I am getting my tank in a few months time after a relocation and just want to gather advice first.

Just when I think I understand part of all this, I read something which makes me rethink and I just know when I start out I will make mistakes.

Sage advice welcome. Pm me or reply but humbly requesting your help.

[Snyder1456]

Hello everyone. Just registered and I'm trying to set up my first reef tank. 75 gal I plan to drill it in a couple of days. Got a prefabbed sump, protein skimmer, return pump, dry rock (75lbs) , and just the cheap LEDs that came with the tank. My biggest frustration right now is picking out what powerheads I need. Anyone have any suggestions for me to just get the tank started? I really like the idea of an Apex controller, so I'm thinking I should get a powerhead or two that will be compatible but the more I read and research, the more undecided I get as to what will be good to start with. What did some of you begin with?????

Thanks in advance!!

[Barbnot1]

Hi all,
I had a tank a few years ago. Life happens, but I'm now I'm jumping back in. I'm in the process of researching and equipment buying. Probably be a few months before I'm ready for water, unless I hit the lottery which I would have to buy a ticket first and since that would take from the fish fund probably not happening. So...Just bought a used 90 gallon long DT predrilled, it came with a stand and canopy. Also came with 40 gal sump, it does have a return pump says (mak4 magnetic Drive pump model A40LX max flow 19.7 gpm) and a skimmer (sealife systems cap 1800, L/HE 1800) both look rough and I haven't really checked them out other that making sure the skimmer pump works. Both may need replaced I'm not familiar with either brand.
It came with a dual pfo ballast and 2-175w 12,000k metal halides. It would need 1 lamp cord. I know the company is out of business. I have found one for $30 they do work. My question is would 2-175w metal halides be sufficient for lps in this size tank? Or should I trash the lights and get leds? Also any info or opinions on ten return pump and skimmer is appreciated. I'm not sure if I should run them (skimmer and pump) and eventuality replace or just wait and replace them before I start running. Thanks all and I absolutely love the starting a new tank thread especially the dirt-simple chemistry must knows for new tank. I went and read everything I could find by Sk8r. Good stuff there!

[Woodneers]

Hello all,
My family and I have decided to join in the fun. We have gathered up a 70 gallon tank and a free 40 gallon sump from a local store that was doing some rearranging. I think we have plenty of room for anything and everything in the sump. We plan on doing a refugium somewhere in there. My son is currently scrubbing the sump in the bath tub after a overnight vinegar bath. The plan is to locate the tank as a sort of built in addition in the basement living room. I then plan to locate the sump about 5 feet away in the utility room. I've settled on a skimmer and am now looking for a good return pump. I'm also debating drilling the tank. Any suggestions on pumps or anything else would be greatly appreciated.

What are we going to need to get this puppy cycling? I'm not an incredibly rich man so I plan on buying all the equipment a little at a time.

[Bpmiller]

Hello people new to The Forum would just like to say hey and hope to learn a lot I have a 10 gallon nano reef with all soft Coral a clownfish and a sebae anemone. And I am constantly upgrading so I am looking forward to learning from you all as I go.

[ldcain]

Hello,

I am new to the Hobby. I have a 32 gallon biocube with chemippure and purigen filtration. I have life sand and live rock. The tank is 4 months old.

I have 2 clown fish, a coral beauty,a sandsifter star fish, and corals. Will attach picture. I am dedicated to trying to make it in the hobby and to provide a nice home for the members of my tank. I need help and a community to talk to. My first question is My brain coral has been in the tank for a month and never opens.It seems fine. I have never seen tentacles. I have posted a picture. Does it look ok? It looks exacly like it looked when I brought it.

Also what do you think about poly fiber filtration? The one that changes color according to what agent it removes.

Last question is Kent Marine Microvert and Zooplanktos-M by Brightwell Aquatics sufficient coral food?



Please let me know what you think about my tank so far.

[kingfish22]

hello, I am new to reef central and I'm currently keeping a 29 and 36 mixed reef tank and just thought I should say hi.

[aussiemantis]

very very impressive setup. i applaud you sir. I was never into looking at the corals. well actually thats a lie. i started this hobby because i just loved the look of a nano reef. the vibrant corals contrasted with the deep purple colour of the live rock was like an orgasm for my eyes. i needed it, i wanted it!

i now realise that i have more of an interest in observing natural behaviours of my livestock. watching my mantis fascinates me. he built a palace using coral rubble and hair algae.....how. i simply must know.

im now into using my skills in reefing to earn me a living or at least some extra dough by breeding rare fish and expensive crustaceans. I have successfully reared over 75% of Lysmata debelius larvae to settlement and a saleable size. now that i have mastered the once very tricky Lysmata debelius i want to have a go at Hymenocera picta (harlequin shrimp). this is my ultimate goal. i know a lot of you guys have failed in the breeding of cleaner shrimp apart from the peppermint shrimp and that is understandable because it is hard, but it can be done and in large quantities like i have. There is infact a secret to cue the settlement. in fact there are 2 secrets in the industry.

[ant123mon]

Hello everyone glad to be part of this forum. Not nec new to the site, many years ago I was into discus (freshwater) I retired from the Discus and have started a Nano 32 gallon, and now also have a 140 gallon frag tank. I currently am trying to learn more about water flow, and programming apex. I look forward to getting to know everyone on here. And also look forward to this new and exciting hobby.
Anthony

[bk_reefnoob]

Hello All !! New to the forum and saltwater hobby. Planning on setting up a 60 Gallon Low Tech Tank due to the considerations in my parts of the country. Looking forward to learning lots of new information and passing whatever knowledge I have (which is probably NIL :\ )

Thanks !!

[pinesandnines]

Hello! I've never had any kind of reef before, and I'm looking to start up a small hexagonal tank that I have laying around. Looking for any advice from anyone who's ever had a small tank before.

[MyHouseIsAZoo]

Hi all! I am very new to the reef world. We had fresh water for years, until we got too busy to combat a never ending algae problem and lost fish to a carniverous pleco. We set up a 29 gallon tropical tank last year. Yesterday we came home with a 14 gallon BioCube that is now cycling. We have no experience with saltwater or reef, but a giant reef tank is our ultimate dream. We plan vacations around aquariums! My husband is a total shark nerd and dreams of one day diving with great whites. Our 10 year anniversary was this past December, instead of hitting the clubs like many people, we went and saw every fish tank we could (including a behind the scenes tour of Tanked). I'm looking foward to learning more and growing our zoo.

Like my screenname says, our house is a zoo. We have 2 daughters, 2 (soon to be 3) large dogs (currently a rottweiler and a malamute, we plan to add another rottie in the spring/summer), 2 guinea pigs and fish (currently 7 in our 29 gallon freshwater). You never know when a new animal might appear in our house. We love it!

[ddckec6972]

hello all.

[ThePurple12]

Hello Reef Central! I am a beginner reefer. My tank is 30 gallons and I have two ocellaris clowns.

[Tjp93]

Hi everyone, I'm new to reefing and took on a 2nd hand aqua one 275l cube aquarium it came with everything including livestock. I have in there 1 clown, 1 yellow tang, 1 damsel,1 purple firefish, 2 peppermint shrimp, green star polyps and a ritteri anemone. I've had the tank about 3/4 months and my ritteri anemone had gradually got worse. I've been getting a lot of brown dusty like algae on the glass aswell not sure if that is part of the problem or not. I've had my water tested today at the LFS and the parameters were ok apart from small trace of ammonia which he said a water change should get rid of although I couldn't get the calcium or phosphate tested as they had run out of testing kits. I have a skimmer I have my lights on roughly 9 hours of sunlight and about 3 hours blue but the lighting unit is one where sunlight and blue light are both on at the same time you just slide the unit backwards and forwards to make it mainly the colour you want but I don't know how old the lights are. I've ordered 2 new sunlight bulbs today. I use RO water to do changes( roughly 20% every 2 weeks sometimes 10% weekly depending on the time I have ) and to top off in sump salinity is always at 1.026. I feed the livestock frozen mysis or brine shrimp cubes once every other day as much as they can eat in 5 minutes (I was told this is how much to feed them) I never really target fed the anemone but have been trying to a bit as of late. I also think that the clown that has hosted the anemone might be taking food from it's mouth, has anyone had this before. I think it might be too late to save the anemone the man at the LFS said I should take it out when I showed him the picture. It won't let me upload photos from my phone but the only way to explain it is that a lot of the tentacles are deflated and look all stringy and few are puffed right up more than they should be. I've also noticed a slight green colour on the tips which should be white and it's not opened up he's gone all small and the mouth is puffed out . Would appreciate some advice as I really liked the anemone and if it can be saved I will do my best to keep it alive I just don't know what I'm doing wrong.
Thanks*

[Redllama1]

Good morning! I am newish to the hobby. I bought my husband a 56 gal set-up 6 years ago, and he made literally, all of the mistakes. The tank was a mess. I took it over about a year ago, and got everything back in line. He never tested, didn’t do water changes, basically just added salt water and food. He had one fish.. domino damsel, which got freaking huge, and ate all his friends. I learned a lot on that tank- it was a standard tank. I had a canister filter system, one skimmer, and all kinds of reactors and crap all over it. It worked, fish were happy, but it was a visual nightmare. I’m an architect, so having a frankentank in my living room was not making me happy. For our anniversary, the hubby got me a new 120 gallon tank. I added an eshoppes sump and a ten gallon refugium (mostly for a home for my chocolate chip star who was eating all his friends). The tank is up and running and at about the 3 month mark, everything is acting as expected. Fighting a cyano outbreak right now. I’m shopping for new wave maker pumps now, mine are way undersized. Running 4 cheap fans and have multiple dead spots. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.


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[Redllama1]

Originally Posted by Redllama1

Good morning! I am newish to the hobby. I bought my husband a 56 gal set-up 6 years ago, and he made literally, all of the mistakes. The tank was a mess. I took it over about a year ago, and got everything back in line. He never tested, didn’t do water changes, basically just added salt water and food. He had one fish.. domino damsel, which got freaking huge, and ate all his friends. I learned a lot on that tank- it was a standard tank. I had a canister filter system, one skimmer, and all kinds of reactors and crap all over it. It worked, fish were happy, but it was a visual nightmare. I’m an architect, so having a frankentank in my living room was not making me happy. For our anniversary, the hubby got me a new 120 gallon tank. I added an eshoppes sump and a ten gallon refugium (mostly for a home for my chocolate chip star who was eating all his friends). The tank is up and running and at about the 3 month mark, everything is acting as expected. Fighting a cyano outbreak right now. I’m shopping for new wave maker pumps now, mine are way undersized. Running 4 cheap fans and have multiple dead spots. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.


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[Redllama1]

Originally Posted by Redllama1

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My corals are a bit ****y right now- they have been “in the dark” for the last 3 days.


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[Mack04]

hi to all!. im very new in this hobby. i have 110gal salt water tank.. im from canada and this thread is very helpful...

[Dsekula]

Hello!!!
My name is Danielle I am a 29 and an engineer/water operator/ entrepreneur. To explain in a bit of detail, I have a background in architectural engineering and my husband is a chemical engineer. We got sick of working in the corporate world so we partnered up to run a business as legally licensed water and wastewater plant operators where we design, build, maintain, and trouble shoot plants.
I have always kept aquariums. My first tank was a one gal pickle jar with a goldfish that my mother provided when I was under a year old. Today I have a good 300 gals of water in my house with various life and water storage and chem mixing in my basement. A bit over two years ago I took the dive into saltwater and have been hooked ever since.
I decided to setup this system a bit different than most people. I know myself well and understand that I collect tanks mostly due to finding a really awesome animal and then doing research and finding that it needs a species specific tank. I had four independent freshwater systems due to this when I decided to try my hand at salt water.
With this in mind I did about a year of research on the different animals I wanted to include in my system and what requirements would be considered to house them.
I built each individual tank for my system and did my best to size them in dimensions to fit the prospective occupants and the room I had available.
My current set up is roughly 120 gal across 7 separate tanks. 4 of these are set up as a sump only area and three are on display. The first tank is about 12 gal it is tall and slightly more narrow than placing a standard 10gal in a vertical confirmation. I would like this tank to potentially house some macros eventually but haven't got there yet right now it just breeds pods for the next tank. The 12gal over flows into a 45gal L shaped tank think of two 20+ gal long tanks joined together. This houses mostly LPS coral three rock/flower nems two bubble nems my ocelarious clowns, a shrimp gobie pair lawn mower blendy, ornamental wrasse, and mandarin. This tank over flows into the back of a 25gal shallow cube type tank where the water is run through a filter sock and a sea cyclone skimmer (simply because I got it free so why not ) then flows into the main tank that houses my long tentacle nem with pair of red/fire saddleback clowns with a few shrooms and palys scattered in the rocks. This tank is mostly left open for the long tentacle to take over and spread out. This water flows into the first sump tank where it is physically filtered. 2nd sump tank is a chato farm with feather worms pods etc. 3rd holds my skimmer (simplicity) and my looped phosphate reactor this is also where calcium and mag get dosed along with top off. 4th tank houses my return pump which has two whole house filters in line these are used for activated charcoal gfo and purogyn as needed. These four tanks are roughly 40gals. I am thinking of dropping a line down to the basement where I have a 45 that's just waiting to be turned into a pod chato/farm this would feed after the skimmer down to the 45 and back up to the L. I would have to split the flow off of the L tank so some bypasses the 25 right to the sump to do this though so it's still just a thought in the back of my mind .. the lighting on these is all led, mostly black box and the like. Guess I'll need to figure out how to post pics

[axthoxy]

Hey everyone

My name is Anthony. I'm a 28 year old cook. Ive been wanting a tank since my early 20s finally in a place where I can afford one. Started a build thread juat thought I'd pop in here for an introduction.

Best to all
Anthony

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[uhohhotdog]

I’m Ray. I’m from Maryland. I started a few months ago. I have a 13.5 gallon salt tank. And now I’m broke. 🤣


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[tletourneau]

Hello everyone, my name is Tom. My wife and I started with a Fluval Evo V that we picked up as an established reef from our LFS that is closing. We've decided to upgrade to a larger tank in the near future and are looking forward to the fun and challenges!

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