If You Are New to Reef Central, Introduce Yourself Here! - Page 167

natebedwell06 · 05/12/2011, 04:41 PM

Hey guys im new here at reef central, my name is Nathan Bedwell, I am from Rockville, Indiana. I work at inland aquatics in Terre Haute. I currently upgraded fish tanks from a 90 to a 150 a couple of months ago. I also have a 30 gallon bow front tank. Ill list what I have in the tanks below

150-Large Volitan Lionfish around 10"
Blue Hippo Tang
Desjardini Sailfin Tang
Foxface Rabbitfish
Christmas Wrasse
2 Chromis, had 7 rest were eaten
Teddy Bear Crab
Sally Lightfoot Crab
Huge Red Starfish
Blue marine Lobster
and a Very large Abalone Snail and about 20 Hermit Crabs
about 275 pounds of liverock

Its ran off of a 30 gallon cpr sump, algae turf scrubber, 2 1400 gph koralia powerheads, cpr overflow, 1500 gph return pump, and a 600 gph maxi jet for my scrubber

30 gallon tank

Black Angler fish-about 4 inches-coolest fish i own
Six Line wrasse
Starry Blenny
Small Starfish cant remember what kind
Purple Reef Lobster
About 12 Hermits
a few tonga nasarius snails
about 40 pounds of liverock

Its ran off of a cpr skimmer-really overrated for that tank

Feel Free to chime in on anything I have

KyleKitchen · 05/13/2011, 09:52 AM

Herro errrrrbody!

I'm Kyle and I'm from Murrieta, CA.
I've been doing saltwater tanks for about 2 years and have been trolling this forum for about.......... 2 years, so I decided it was time to finally join. haha
I'm still a n00b at pretty much everything so expect a lot of question threads.

I got started when I won one of those crappy half dead goldfish from a party and I was hooked immediately.

I've had a 10 gallon tank, 25 gallon and 35 gallon tank in the past with nothing special in it.

I currently have a 75 gallon tank with:
Livestock:

1 Hippo Tang
1 False Percula
1 Lawn Mower Blenny
1 Royal Gamma
1 Peppermint Shrimp
1 Emerald Crab
Random Mushrooms and Polyps

Set Up:

Coralife Aqualight 48" 2x54w
Current USA Nova Extreme 48" 4x54w
10 gallon basic sump =/
Random powerheads

Today will actually be my last day with this set up because tonight I'm picking up a 135 gallon reef ready tank with the stand and canopy included and 2 elbow drains on each side. For a pretty damn good deal.
WITH:

200 lbs of live rock.
Mushrooms, Colt, Large Toadstool, Polyps and Zoos
Clown hosting with anemone
Purple pseudo
Black 2 spot domino damsel
Blue hippo tang
40 gallon sump with 3 sections.
AquaC EV 180 protein skimmer with mag pump
2 sea swirl 3/4 returns
5ft 2x250w de metal halide with 2x96w pc actinics. Hamilton black box.
Quiet One HH 4000 return pump

I'll post pics when I finish setting it up!

silly400 · 05/14/2011, 07:01 AM

Well hello all. I'm new to Reef Central. My name is Robert and I live in Taylor, Michigan. I do metal finishing and treatments for a living and have a 7 month old daughter that just loves to stare at my tank and try to grab the fish through the glass. I started the hobby about 2 years ago doing freshwater tanks. A 55 gallon African Cichlid community tank. A friend of mine talked me into trying out saltwater so I sold off my 55 gallon and bought me a 150 gallon. It's been running for about 6 months and decided it was time to try out corals. I'm glad I came across this site because I have a ton of questions and there seems to be many people on here with the answers I need. As of now I have 2 Percula tank raised Clowns, a Sailfin, and 4 Blue-Green Chromis. For coral I have a Green Bubble Tip, 3 Blue Tub Zoa polyps, a Bleeding Heart Zoa Colony, Neon Tetra Trees (I think that's what they are called), and a colony of some common green Zoas. The tank looks empty but I'm going to take it slow ask a lot of questions and do it right the first time. Here's a pic so everyone can see what I'm working with.

MSreef · 05/14/2011, 08:54 AM

I am new at this. was told that filters are over rated and some people only use protein skimers. I have no idea if this works just thought i would ask I have 55 gal glass tank and have it set up with live rock. going pretty good so far. if you have any info on this let me know. thanks

ericauch · 05/14/2011, 08:57 PM

hey everyone my name is eric. New to Reef Club Central. I'm in the Hampton rhoads area virginia beach virginia. I do alot of Diving. I Have been in saltwater for abour 3 years now. Freshwater sence i was 15. Anyways. I have a standard 125. Working on my fuge right now. Have a place set up under my tank in the stand. Gonna put a 20gallon long down there. I'm navy stationed in little creek. anyways. My tank is lookin good right now got a awesome colony of blue voo-doo and a great green cap. alot of pallys i cant control, and some fire and ice zoas along with dragons breath zoas. I got a sweet condylactis hosting a clown. few other random birds nests. anyways ill quit boring everyone lol. I heard reef central was the place to be. So i'm here now =) thanks guys.

J2T · 05/15/2011, 08:46 PM

My name is Jared, been registered for a bit but have been doing a lot of reading. I was given a 35 hex tank by some friends with just two damsels and some inverts. Moved them to a 29 tall and have added a clown and pajama cardinal (had to get rid of one aggressive damsel). Wife decided she would like some corals so I am in the process of getting a 75g going. Gonna start a build thread as I am building a stand and have tons of questions. Thanks

Cod Fish · 05/15/2011, 09:18 PM

Hello, my name is James and I live in Portland Oregon. I have been in the hobby for 3 great years. I started with nano tanks including an awesome 3G sps dominated drilled led lit pico tank. My current tank is a 90 gallon AGA mixed reef tank with 25 gallon sump.

Equipment:
2x 250 watt hqi metal halides Hamilton
2x T5 actinics
Reef octopus 160 skimmer
Coralife calcium reactor
ATO
Combination vortech/ tunze power heads
Reefkeeper lite controller

Cod Fish · 05/15/2011, 10:21 PM

This is a picture of my tank

Cod Fish · 05/15/2011, 10:22 PM

This is a picture of my tank, hopefully I put the right link code on

reef.saltwater · 05/16/2011, 11:49 AM

Hi All. I am Anurag. I have 220gal mixed reef with 3 lumatek ballast, 4 mp40s, 250,400,250 watts Radium with vertex alfa 250.
Tank is 2 months old.

AlexS95 · 05/16/2011, 03:33 PM

I have a 5 gallon with a Mantis Shrimp and a 65 gallon with a bunch of fish and inverts. I'm setting up a 225 gallon right now. I don't think it is exciting enough for a build... xD

Jessie Gray · 05/16/2011, 08:14 PM

Hello I'm Jessie gray live in Miami Texas. had a 50g reaf a few years ago and decided I wanted to get back into it. wish I had found this site the first time its great. working on putting together a 240g and just came across a 180 for a great price so will probably get it too.

joeytart · 05/16/2011, 10:00 PM

hello my name is Joe I have been looking at this forum for advice for the past 2 months now. I just set up my 40 gal breeder, I am currently cycling my tank with a few damsel fish right now everything seems to be perfect. just one question its been about 1 week now since i have life in my tank and i have been noticing a couple of worms. Im 95% sure that they are bristle worms by comparing them to some pics, does this mean something good or bad being that its only been a week and already worms are growing. Or is it because i bought live sand?... thnaks for the helps guys and girls

beginnersluckpg · 05/16/2011, 10:18 PM

Names is Shaun from northern BC Canada. Knave had aquariums on and off all my life. This is first go at a live reef tank and have had some helpmfrom some friends with well established tanks, such a help. I'm here to learn and try to make this work. Have had the tank up once and a bout with hair algae later it's try number two.

Reefer_77 · 05/16/2011, 10:32 PM

Hey, I am Reefer_77 out of Jacksonville NC. Been in an out of the saltwater keeping and growing addiction for 9 plus years. Have a 29 biocube currently and will move forward once I retire in Sept 2012. Always willing to help and always willing to learn about this ever changing hobby.

N+D frags · 05/17/2011, 12:41 PM

hi im new to this site i have a 110 extra high

saltysailor2329 · 05/17/2011, 01:27 PM

My name is Geoff and I'm new to Reef Central and to the saltwater hobby/life.

I have always been intrigued by saltwater tanks and even lived in Hawaii and on the southern coast of Spain. I have sailed around the world two full times and absolutely love being out to sea. I have seen some very amazing underwater areas of the world to include Hawaii, Fiji, Pago Pago, Australia, etc.

However, I have never been in a position to fully enjoy a saltwater aquarium...so stupid me, I didn't invest money or time to learn about it so I would be prepared when I was in a position to fully enjoy it.

Now, I'm finally in a position to fully enjoy it and I know nothing or at least little to nothing.

I am waiting for my first ever saltwater set-up to arrive any day now, which is a Red Sea Max 130d. Now I know that there are going to be people that say I should have built my own system and that I overpaid for what I got, but I felt more comfortable getting a start with an all-in-one system. Once I learn the basics and have some experience behind me, then maybe I will look to upgrade.

I have also purchased some LR and LS that is waiting for me in a tank currently.

I look forward to learning from everyone about this great hobby.

Thanks,

Geoff

Bran357r · 05/18/2011, 01:24 AM

Hello All,

My Name is Brandon. I first started with fish as a young kid. My dad had a fairly large freshwater setup for breeding. Customer built live bearer breeding tanks and many other tanks for isolating different species or breeding pairs. I know that we bred Fancy Tailed guppies, Zebra’s, Tiger Barbs, Angles, and many others but it has been awhile so can’t remember all the others. From there I over the years have dabbled in some fresh water breeding myself.

I at one point had a 55 Salt setup that was a mainly a FOLR, but did have some feather dusters and tube anemones. This tank had a customer built acrylic sump. The majority of the filter equipment came from people I know, and so with that some of it did not work quite right (Namely the protein skimmer). Then had a huge problem and the glue joint of the sump cracked and flooded my room. I used a bin box as a quick solution to get the tank running again. Unfortunately this was many years ago and so I was not able to make a new sump myself. With that I had issues from there with water quality and so ended up shutting that system down. All of the previous happened at least 8-15 years ago.

Next I helped to install a 1000 Gallon aquarium in a private residence, and more recently a 300 system in another. The 1000 system is controlled by aquadyne octopus, and is a mixed reef/fish tank. Has a 200 gallon sump. With multiple quarantine tanks in the room that was built behind the tank.

Then my girlfriend decided that she wanted a salt tank and so we found at the LFS a 100 gallon bowfront and stand for a cheap price. I designed a custom sump for this tank using two 15 gallon glass tanks( had to spilt to two tanks so as to keep it in the stand as GF was kinda a pain). This tank has been running for a few years now.

Just recently, I finally deiced to start a tank for me.

I plan for it to be a predominately mini reef. I started with a Nano Cube 28G LED and used a 15 tall for a sump (I know it’s an all-in-one but I want better filtration and more water).

Equipment List:
• Lifegard FB300 Fluid Bed
• Coralife TurboTwist 3X UV Sterilizer
• Eshopps PSK 75H Protien Skimmer.

I am seriously considering ordering the Apex Elite controller. I know that it is over kill for this tank but I need something for the lighting and for a feed timer. I could make one or buy some timers but I also like the monitoring and alarm capabilities of the apex.

rossco_argus · 05/18/2011, 01:48 AM

Hello all.
My name is Rossco, I work on Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays and now reside on the mainland. My missus bought me a 2nd hand 4ft bare tank for Xmas, and since then have discovered just how time and financially demanding the hobby can be, I have been fortunate to befriend some commercial harvesters on the GBR in my line of work, and once my tank has finished stabilizing plan to stock it with trachys and scollys with some acans and zoas, currently stocked with a collection of Hydnophora, staghorns, cup coral, open and red brain coral, few candy canes, the softies I am yet to identify. these were removed as marine growth from a pontoon that I had to repair (one of my perks of work)

live stock so far 5 bared rock cod who devours all and an estuarine stone fish these were introduced due to their hardiness and that they could survive in a tank been cycled, the tank is now brimming with varieties of inverts my favorites are the skeleton shrimp and harlequin shrimps

the tank has been running now for over 4 months with many additions, which no longer resembles the original system, just awaiting for the green light from the missus to add a propagation tank and second sump to be used as a fuge.
day 1
http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/a...reaquarium.jpg
last month
http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/a.../IMG_13312.jpg

The information I have found here has been fantastic such as waterkeepers articles and hope to one day to be able to pass on such advice.

I look forward to sharing my progress and learning all that I can from everyone

TheTerminatrix7 · 05/18/2011, 09:53 AM

Hey everyone! I'm Nicole from NY I'm 25 and I'm VERY new to the hobby. Only a few days into it, wish me luck! I'm sure you'll see me lurking and asking all sorts of questions!
I probably did the dumbest thing for a beginner and started a pico tank, but now that I have it, I'm determined to take great care of it. I'm excited to see it evolve

BIG_KAHUNA · 05/18/2011, 02:43 PM

Hello all! I'm Scott and somewhat new to the saltwater hobby. I have recently put up a drilled Oceanic 57G. I wasn't planning on going for the full reef setup but after exploring the hobby I have found myself quite addicted and must have one for myself. So Ill be around the forums asking plenty of questions and looking for many opinions. Cant wait to meet everyone!

Kichara · 05/18/2011, 02:46 PM

Hello all!

I have been keeping Fresh water for about 15 years and have done all varieties of set ups so I decided it was time to give Salt a try! Took down my 65 African chiclid tank and 20 community so I could switch them over ( the 20 is my QT tank) about 4.5 months ago. So far I'm loving the corals - if it were up to me I probably still would have no fish just coral , but my husband didnt like that idea LOL!

Im always open to suggestions and ideas and look forward to getting to know the people here!!

Captainfester · 05/18/2011, 06:18 PM

Two friends of mine are hooking me up with a 55 gallon setup for salt. Should be fun. Will post results and questions galore!

Rjstubby · 05/18/2011, 09:13 PM

Hey Y'all! My name's Rachel and I'm a full time student at East Carolina University. Go pirates! I'm so new to SW that I don't even have a tank set up yet. I've currently got a very plain 55gal fresh water tank. I'd love to switch over to salt water though! I'm thinking of something nice and hardy so I won't kill it on my first try

Love to hear any advice you guys are willing to give.

asid61 · 05/18/2011, 09:49 PM

Hello! My name is Anand and I live in Cupertino, CA. I am keeping a 29 gallon at school with 35 lbs of live rock. I'll try to get pics soon.
I keep the tank at school because the fish I like are all carnivorous, and my mom won't allow me to feed anyhting but flake food and gel cyclop-eeze to fish. And my mom won't even allow snails!

05/12/2011, 04:41 PM	#4151
natebedwell06 Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Sullivan, Indiana Posts: 265	New to reef central Hey guys im new here at reef central, my name is Nathan Bedwell, I am from Rockville, Indiana. I work at inland aquatics in Terre Haute. I currently upgraded fish tanks from a 90 to a 150 a couple of months ago. I also have a 30 gallon bow front tank. Ill list what I have in the tanks below 150-Large Volitan Lionfish around 10" Blue Hippo Tang Desjardini Sailfin Tang Foxface Rabbitfish Christmas Wrasse 2 Chromis, had 7 rest were eaten Teddy Bear Crab Sally Lightfoot Crab Huge Red Starfish Blue marine Lobster and a Very large Abalone Snail and about 20 Hermit Crabs about 275 pounds of liverock Its ran off of a 30 gallon cpr sump, algae turf scrubber, 2 1400 gph koralia powerheads, cpr overflow, 1500 gph return pump, and a 600 gph maxi jet for my scrubber 30 gallon tank Black Angler fish-about 4 inches-coolest fish i own Six Line wrasse Starry Blenny Small Starfish cant remember what kind Purple Reef Lobster About 12 Hermits a few tonga nasarius snails about 40 pounds of liverock Its ran off of a cpr skimmer-really overrated for that tank Feel Free to chime in on anything I have

05/13/2011, 09:52 AM	#4152
KyleKitchen Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Murrieta, CA Posts: 1	Herro errrrrbody! I'm Kyle and I'm from Murrieta, CA. I've been doing saltwater tanks for about 2 years and have been trolling this forum for about.......... 2 years, so I decided it was time to finally join. haha I'm still a n00b at pretty much everything so expect a lot of question threads. I got started when I won one of those crappy half dead goldfish from a party and I was hooked immediately. I've had a 10 gallon tank, 25 gallon and 35 gallon tank in the past with nothing special in it. I currently have a 75 gallon tank with: Livestock: 1 Hippo Tang 1 False Percula 1 Lawn Mower Blenny 1 Royal Gamma 1 Peppermint Shrimp 1 Emerald Crab Random Mushrooms and Polyps Set Up: Coralife Aqualight 48" 2x54w Current USA Nova Extreme 48" 4x54w 10 gallon basic sump =/ Random powerheads Today will actually be my last day with this set up because tonight I'm picking up a 135 gallon reef ready tank with the stand and canopy included and 2 elbow drains on each side. For a pretty damn good deal. WITH: 200 lbs of live rock. Mushrooms, Colt, Large Toadstool, Polyps and Zoos Clown hosting with anemone Purple pseudo Black 2 spot domino damsel Blue hippo tang 40 gallon sump with 3 sections. AquaC EV 180 protein skimmer with mag pump 2 sea swirl 3/4 returns 5ft 2x250w de metal halide with 2x96w pc actinics. Hamilton black box. Quiet One HH 4000 return pump I'll post pics when I finish setting it up!

05/14/2011, 07:01 AM	#4153
silly400 Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Michigan Posts: 10	Hello All Well hello all. I'm new to Reef Central. My name is Robert and I live in Taylor, Michigan. I do metal finishing and treatments for a living and have a 7 month old daughter that just loves to stare at my tank and try to grab the fish through the glass. I started the hobby about 2 years ago doing freshwater tanks. A 55 gallon African Cichlid community tank. A friend of mine talked me into trying out saltwater so I sold off my 55 gallon and bought me a 150 gallon. It's been running for about 6 months and decided it was time to try out corals. I'm glad I came across this site because I have a ton of questions and there seems to be many people on here with the answers I need. As of now I have 2 Percula tank raised Clowns, a Sailfin, and 4 Blue-Green Chromis. For coral I have a Green Bubble Tip, 3 Blue Tub Zoa polyps, a Bleeding Heart Zoa Colony, Neon Tetra Trees (I think that's what they are called), and a colony of some common green Zoas. The tank looks empty but I'm going to take it slow ask a lot of questions and do it right the first time. Here's a pic so everyone can see what I'm working with.

05/14/2011, 08:54 AM	#4154
MSreef Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Mississippi, Carrollton Posts: 3	filters I am new at this. was told that filters are over rated and some people only use protein skimers. I have no idea if this works just thought i would ask I have 55 gal glass tank and have it set up with live rock. going pretty good so far. if you have any info on this let me know. thanks

05/14/2011, 08:57 PM	#4155
ericauch Registered Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 65	Eric` hey everyone my name is eric. New to Reef Club Central. I'm in the Hampton rhoads area virginia beach virginia. I do alot of Diving. I Have been in saltwater for abour 3 years now. Freshwater sence i was 15. Anyways. I have a standard 125. Working on my fuge right now. Have a place set up under my tank in the stand. Gonna put a 20gallon long down there. I'm navy stationed in little creek. anyways. My tank is lookin good right now got a awesome colony of blue voo-doo and a great green cap. alot of pallys i cant control, and some fire and ice zoas along with dragons breath zoas. I got a sweet condylactis hosting a clown. few other random birds nests. anyways ill quit boring everyone lol. I heard reef central was the place to be. So i'm here now =) thanks guys.

05/15/2011, 08:46 PM	#4156
J2T Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 952	My name is Jared, been registered for a bit but have been doing a lot of reading. I was given a 35 hex tank by some friends with just two damsels and some inverts. Moved them to a 29 tall and have added a clown and pajama cardinal (had to get rid of one aggressive damsel). Wife decided she would like some corals so I am in the process of getting a 75g going. Gonna start a build thread as I am building a stand and have tons of questions. Thanks

05/15/2011, 09:18 PM	#4157
Cod Fish Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Portland Oregon Posts: 146	Hello, New Member Hello, my name is James and I live in Portland Oregon. I have been in the hobby for 3 great years. I started with nano tanks including an awesome 3G sps dominated drilled led lit pico tank. My current tank is a 90 gallon AGA mixed reef tank with 25 gallon sump. Equipment: 2x 250 watt hqi metal halides Hamilton 2x T5 actinics Reef octopus 160 skimmer Coralife calcium reactor ATO Combination vortech/ tunze power heads Reefkeeper lite controller

05/15/2011, 10:21 PM	#4158
Cod Fish Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Portland Oregon Posts: 146	This is a picture of my tank

05/15/2011, 10:22 PM	#4159
Cod Fish Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Portland Oregon Posts: 146	This is a picture of my tank, hopefully I put the right link code on

05/16/2011, 11:49 AM	#4160
reef.saltwater Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: MN Posts: 73	Hi All. I am Anurag. I have 220gal mixed reef with 3 lumatek ballast, 4 mp40s, 250,400,250 watts Radium with vertex alfa 250. Tank is 2 months old. __________________ [B]In preparation of building 250gal DD mixed reef, 120 gal sump. Current Tank Info: Look at my signature Last edited by reef.saltwater; 05/16/2011 at 11:58 AM.

05/16/2011, 03:33 PM	#4161
AlexS95 Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Brandon, FL Posts: 1,065	I have a 5 gallon with a Mantis Shrimp and a 65 gallon with a bunch of fish and inverts. I'm setting up a 225 gallon right now. I don't think it is exciting enough for a build... xD

05/16/2011, 08:14 PM	#4162
Jessie Gray Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Miami Tx Posts: 23	Hello I'm Jessie gray live in Miami Texas. had a 50g reaf a few years ago and decided I wanted to get back into it. wish I had found this site the first time its great. working on putting together a 240g and just came across a 180 for a great price so will probably get it too. __________________ They cant get your goat if ya dont tell them where ya keep it. Current Tank Info: putting together a 240g reaf tank with large sump and fuge, 4 250w mh 8 t5s, 4 dwylite 4 actanic, 16 moonlite led's

05/16/2011, 10:00 PM	#4163
joeytart Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: brookyln Posts: 1	hello my name is Joe I have been looking at this forum for advice for the past 2 months now. I just set up my 40 gal breeder, I am currently cycling my tank with a few damsel fish right now everything seems to be perfect. just one question its been about 1 week now since i have life in my tank and i have been noticing a couple of worms. Im 95% sure that they are bristle worms by comparing them to some pics, does this mean something good or bad being that its only been a week and already worms are growing. Or is it because i bought live sand?... thnaks for the helps guys and girls

05/16/2011, 10:18 PM	#4164
beginnersluckpg Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Prince George bc canada Posts: 29	Here goes Names is Shaun from northern BC Canada. Knave had aquariums on and off all my life. This is first go at a live reef tank and have had some helpmfrom some friends with well established tanks, such a help. I'm here to learn and try to make this work. Have had the tank up once and a bout with hair algae later it's try number two.

05/16/2011, 10:32 PM	#4165
Reefer_77 Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 3	Hey, I am Reefer_77 out of Jacksonville NC. Been in an out of the saltwater keeping and growing addiction for 9 plus years. Have a 29 biocube currently and will move forward once I retire in Sept 2012. Always willing to help and always willing to learn about this ever changing hobby.

05/17/2011, 12:41 PM	#4166
N+D frags Registered Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 57	my tank hi im new to this site i have a 110 extra high

05/17/2011, 01:27 PM	#4167
saltysailor2329 Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Frederick, CO Posts: 547	Hello All My name is Geoff and I'm new to Reef Central and to the saltwater hobby/life. I have always been intrigued by saltwater tanks and even lived in Hawaii and on the southern coast of Spain. I have sailed around the world two full times and absolutely love being out to sea. I have seen some very amazing underwater areas of the world to include Hawaii, Fiji, Pago Pago, Australia, etc. However, I have never been in a position to fully enjoy a saltwater aquarium...so stupid me, I didn't invest money or time to learn about it so I would be prepared when I was in a position to fully enjoy it. Now, I'm finally in a position to fully enjoy it and I know nothing or at least little to nothing. I am waiting for my first ever saltwater set-up to arrive any day now, which is a Red Sea Max 130d. Now I know that there are going to be people that say I should have built my own system and that I overpaid for what I got, but I felt more comfortable getting a start with an all-in-one system. Once I learn the basics and have some experience behind me, then maybe I will look to upgrade. I have also purchased some LR and LS that is waiting for me in a tank currently. I look forward to learning from everyone about this great hobby. Thanks, Geoff

05/18/2011, 01:24 AM	#4168
Bran357r Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 6	Hello All Hello All, My Name is Brandon. I first started with fish as a young kid. My dad had a fairly large freshwater setup for breeding. Customer built live bearer breeding tanks and many other tanks for isolating different species or breeding pairs. I know that we bred Fancy Tailed guppies, Zebra’s, Tiger Barbs, Angles, and many others but it has been awhile so can’t remember all the others. From there I over the years have dabbled in some fresh water breeding myself. I at one point had a 55 Salt setup that was a mainly a FOLR, but did have some feather dusters and tube anemones. This tank had a customer built acrylic sump. The majority of the filter equipment came from people I know, and so with that some of it did not work quite right (Namely the protein skimmer). Then had a huge problem and the glue joint of the sump cracked and flooded my room. I used a bin box as a quick solution to get the tank running again. Unfortunately this was many years ago and so I was not able to make a new sump myself. With that I had issues from there with water quality and so ended up shutting that system down. All of the previous happened at least 8-15 years ago. Next I helped to install a 1000 Gallon aquarium in a private residence, and more recently a 300 system in another. The 1000 system is controlled by aquadyne octopus, and is a mixed reef/fish tank. Has a 200 gallon sump. With multiple quarantine tanks in the room that was built behind the tank. Then my girlfriend decided that she wanted a salt tank and so we found at the LFS a 100 gallon bowfront and stand for a cheap price. I designed a custom sump for this tank using two 15 gallon glass tanks( had to spilt to two tanks so as to keep it in the stand as GF was kinda a pain). This tank has been running for a few years now. Just recently, I finally deiced to start a tank for me.I plan for it to be a predominately mini reef. I started with a Nano Cube 28G LED and used a 15 tall for a sump (I know it’s an all-in-one but I want better filtration and more water). Equipment List: • Lifegard FB300 Fluid Bed • Coralife TurboTwist 3X UV Sterilizer • Eshopps PSK 75H Protien Skimmer. I am seriously considering ordering the Apex Elite controller. I know that it is over kill for this tank but I need something for the lighting and for a feed timer. I could make one or buy some timers but I also like the monitoring and alarm capabilities of the apex.

05/18/2011, 01:48 AM	#4169
rossco_argus Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: whitsundays Posts: 3	Curse the Bug Hello all. My name is Rossco, I work on Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays and now reside on the mainland. My missus bought me a 2nd hand 4ft bare tank for Xmas, and since then have discovered just how time and financially demanding the hobby can be, I have been fortunate to befriend some commercial harvesters on the GBR in my line of work, and once my tank has finished stabilizing plan to stock it with trachys and scollys with some acans and zoas, currently stocked with a collection of Hydnophora, staghorns, cup coral, open and red brain coral, few candy canes, the softies I am yet to identify. these were removed as marine growth from a pontoon that I had to repair (one of my perks of work) live stock so far 5 bared rock cod who devours all and an estuarine stone fish these were introduced due to their hardiness and that they could survive in a tank been cycled, the tank is now brimming with varieties of inverts my favorites are the skeleton shrimp and harlequin shrimps the tank has been running now for over 4 months with many additions, which no longer resembles the original system, just awaiting for the green light from the missus to add a propagation tank and second sump to be used as a fuge. day 1 http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/a...reaquarium.jpg last month http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/a.../IMG_13312.jpg The information I have found here has been fantastic such as waterkeepers articles and hope to one day to be able to pass on such advice. I look forward to sharing my progress and learning all that I can from everyone

05/18/2011, 09:53 AM	#4170
TheTerminatrix7 Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 1	Hey everyone! I'm Nicole from NY I'm 25 and I'm VERY new to the hobby. Only a few days into it, wish me luck! I'm sure you'll see me lurking and asking all sorts of questions! I probably did the dumbest thing for a beginner and started a pico tank, but now that I have it, I'm determined to take great care of it. I'm excited to see it evolve

05/18/2011, 02:43 PM	#4171
BIG_KAHUNA Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: 4.815 S 162.342 E Posts: 478	Hello all! I'm Scott and somewhat new to the saltwater hobby. I have recently put up a drilled Oceanic 57G. I wasn't planning on going for the full reef setup but after exploring the hobby I have found myself quite addicted and must have one for myself. So Ill be around the forums asking plenty of questions and looking for many opinions. Cant wait to meet everyone!

05/18/2011, 02:46 PM	#4172
Kichara Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Dallas Texas Posts: 4	Hello all! I have been keeping Fresh water for about 15 years and have done all varieties of set ups so I decided it was time to give Salt a try! Took down my 65 African chiclid tank and 20 community so I could switch them over ( the 20 is my QT tank) about 4.5 months ago. So far I'm loving the corals - if it were up to me I probably still would have no fish just coral , but my husband didnt like that idea LOL! Im always open to suggestions and ideas and look forward to getting to know the people here!! Last edited by Kichara; 05/18/2011 at 03:06 PM.

05/18/2011, 06:18 PM	#4173
Captainfester Master of the Sea Join Date: May 2011 Location: Meriden ct Posts: 1,482	New guy from ct Two friends of mine are hooking me up with a 55 gallon setup for salt. Should be fun. Will post results and questions galore!

05/18/2011, 09:13 PM	#4174
Rjstubby Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: NC Posts: 2	Hey Y'all! My name's Rachel and I'm a full time student at East Carolina University. Go pirates! I'm so new to SW that I don't even have a tank set up yet. I've currently got a very plain 55gal fresh water tank. I'd love to switch over to salt water though! I'm thinking of something nice and hardy so I won't kill it on my first try Love to hear any advice you guys are willing to give.

05/18/2011, 09:49 PM	#4175
asid61 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Cupertino, CA Posts: 1,111	Anand Hello! My name is Anand and I live in Cupertino, CA. I am keeping a 29 gallon at school with 35 lbs of live rock. I'll try to get pics soon. I keep the tank at school because the fish I like are all carnivorous, and my mom won't allow me to feed anyhting but flake food and gel cyclop-eeze to fish. And my mom won't even allow snails!