Starting back up slowly after long hiatus

Phoric · 06/25/2006, 02:26 PM

Hello! I'm a former 'reefer' from back in the early-mid 90's, and have been mostly lurking here for a couple of years now, slowly re-addicting myself and developing plans to jump back into the hobby.

It's interesting to watch the ever-developing and changing theories on reef keeping techniques, even the changes that happen within the past 2+ years of lurking here. Back when I had my tanks, I was only a kid and didn't have much money to put into it beyond the initial investment my parents assisted with, so I was kinda stuck with what I had.

My first tank at age 11 (about 1990-91) was a 10 gallon freshwater, which was immediately stocked with all kinds of fish from day one. I'm really surprised it lasted as long as it did.

Shortly thereafter I had my parents convinced that a large reef system was the way to go. We purchased a 100 gallon setup, complete with (then very stylish) wet-dry filtration, crushed coral substrate, Skilter filter, an additional home-made standup skimmer (which never really worked right), and several strips of normal-output fluorescent lighting. Haha, we had the total newbie system. About 100 pounds of live rock from the LFS topped things off. Looking back, the mistakes we made were abundant. The room was too hot for the tank, no RO/DI water, insufficient lighting, insufficient skimming, not enough rock, crushed coral (which was later removed when I started reading more and went bare-bottom)... need I go on? Towards the end, uncontrollable, thick green-slime algae and some kinda barnacle-like creatures had completely taken over the tank. The hurricanes of 1996 (hurricane Bertha and Fran, one right after the other) spelled the final doom of my reef tank, since Bertha turned off the power for several days, then Fran created chaos and disrupted the power for almost 3 weeks (we lived right near the ocean). My other 30 gallon FOWLR 'predator tank' survived on to about 1999 when I sold all my equipment for next to nothing and moved to Montana.

Well, now I'm all grown up (well sorta) and am slowly collecting the things I need to start up again. A few months ago I took a free 30gal glass tank off the hands of a co-worker. I just ordered a nice RO/DI, as I figure that's a piece of equipment I'll always need for any tank, no matter what. I'm saving up for a skimmer (probably a Deltec HOB) and lighting now, and plan to build the stand myself. Since this is my first tank in a while, I'm keeping it real simple, and will likely stock it with no more than 2 small creatures plus the live rock.

Real excited to be starting up again, but since I don't know how long I'm staying in my current apartment I may have to hold off a few months before things get started.

Thanks for the great community!

Marinemom · 06/25/2006, 05:57 PM

Welcome back to reef keeping and welcome to reef central. Going slow is the best thing and the best advice I can give is research everything that you want for your reef before you actually purchase it. Figure out what you want and than come back to reef central and get some feedback. Enjoy your stay.

Marinemom

06/25/2006, 02:26 PM	#1
Phoric Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Bellevue, WA Posts: 118	Starting back up slowly after long hiatus Hello! I'm a former 'reefer' from back in the early-mid 90's, and have been mostly lurking here for a couple of years now, slowly re-addicting myself and developing plans to jump back into the hobby. It's interesting to watch the ever-developing and changing theories on reef keeping techniques, even the changes that happen within the past 2+ years of lurking here. Back when I had my tanks, I was only a kid and didn't have much money to put into it beyond the initial investment my parents assisted with, so I was kinda stuck with what I had. My first tank at age 11 (about 1990-91) was a 10 gallon freshwater, which was immediately stocked with all kinds of fish from day one. I'm really surprised it lasted as long as it did. Shortly thereafter I had my parents convinced that a large reef system was the way to go. We purchased a 100 gallon setup, complete with (then very stylish) wet-dry filtration, crushed coral substrate, Skilter filter, an additional home-made standup skimmer (which never really worked right), and several strips of normal-output fluorescent lighting. Haha, we had the total newbie system. About 100 pounds of live rock from the LFS topped things off. Looking back, the mistakes we made were abundant. The room was too hot for the tank, no RO/DI water, insufficient lighting, insufficient skimming, not enough rock, crushed coral (which was later removed when I started reading more and went bare-bottom)... need I go on? Towards the end, uncontrollable, thick green-slime algae and some kinda barnacle-like creatures had completely taken over the tank. The hurricanes of 1996 (hurricane Bertha and Fran, one right after the other) spelled the final doom of my reef tank, since Bertha turned off the power for several days, then Fran created chaos and disrupted the power for almost 3 weeks (we lived right near the ocean). My other 30 gallon FOWLR 'predator tank' survived on to about 1999 when I sold all my equipment for next to nothing and moved to Montana. Well, now I'm all grown up (well sorta) and am slowly collecting the things I need to start up again. A few months ago I took a free 30gal glass tank off the hands of a co-worker. I just ordered a nice RO/DI, as I figure that's a piece of equipment I'll always need for any tank, no matter what. I'm saving up for a skimmer (probably a Deltec HOB) and lighting now, and plan to build the stand myself. Since this is my first tank in a while, I'm keeping it real simple, and will likely stock it with no more than 2 small creatures plus the live rock. Real excited to be starting up again, but since I don't know how long I'm staying in my current apartment I may have to hold off a few months before things get started. Thanks for the great community! __________________ [phoric] Current Tank Info: 29gal nano sumpless reef, 2x65w PC, Deltec MCE300

06/25/2006, 05:57 PM	#2
Marinemom Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 534	Welcome back to reef keeping and welcome to reef central. Going slow is the best thing and the best advice I can give is research everything that you want for your reef before you actually purchase it. Figure out what you want and than come back to reef central and get some feedback. Enjoy your stay. Marinemom