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

[wabooth555]

Hi - New Member here. I've read RC for a while, but new to posting. In fact, I haven't figured out how to start a new post, but I'll find it eventually. I have a 29G Oceanic BioCube. After some reading, I plan on upgrading my lights to LEDs, getting an inTank Media Basket. I have some mushrooms and polyps right now, but plan to have LPS one day.

Thanks -Wayne

[Zeus30]

Hello to all, new RC member here from Wisconsin. My name is Jesse and hope to learn alot more about this hobby.

[Beepster1353]

Hey everybody. my names ryan, i live in prescott arizona. my tank is a 90 gallon saltwater with just fish and about 100 lbs of live rock. argonite deep sand bed, tek elite 6 bulb t5 fixture, fluval fx5 filter, deltec mce600 skimmer. having a custom sump and fuge being built by jeff at lifereef. i had a freshwater tank for about 9 years, and decided to take the jump to saltwater about two years ago, and have never looked back, i love it!! i had a 75 gallon and just upgraded to the 90 gallon three weeks ago.

[Cymonous]

Hi Everyone. I registered a couple days ago on these great forums. My name is Kris and I live in the Baltimore area of Maryland. I am new to the Saltwater tank world, but have about 5 years of freshwater experience. I am starting out small with Saltwater. I have a 14 Gallon Biocube with a 50w heater, the filtration system that came with the Biocube, live sand and crushed coral for my bedding, (2) live rocks approx 7lbs each, two false percula clowns and 1 sand sifting starfish.

I have been reading through the newbie posts and have gained a lot of knowledge about saltwater tanks so far.

[saliva911]

have questions but dont have friends or group

[wackeeash]

Welcome to RC all

[SeargentSlice]

Hey guys just wanted to give a quick shout to everyone! Ive bin out of the hobby for 15 years now and just got bit by the bug again lol. I am currently setting up a 55gal that will be a quarantine tank for a future 90gal show tank. I have alot of my dead live rock still from my last reef a 125gal. Im going to seed my old rock and cure it in the 55. Alot has changed in the hobby and cant wait to try out the new LED lighting. Well thats an earfull for now but look forward to the board and will posting the equipment I plan on using for my show tank
Thx

[Leyth]

Hey guys my name is Leyth and I am in the process of doing research in hopes of having a nice successful salt water fish tank for my living room. I am hoping for something around 50-60 gallons with a sump setup and LED lighting.

[uhl78]

Just wanted to say hello to everyone on here, I havent had a reef tank in over 10 years and now my 10 yr old is really interested. So I picked up a 115 from a friend for free, and low and behold we are on our way. I truly want him to see the tank come alive from scratch, and watch the eco-system come alive...I do believe he will truly enjoy this process, right now we just have put the sand, dry rock and water in the tank and already he can't stop staring at it. He has had a small eclipse fw tank in his room for over a year and has done a great job of keeping it up, reminds me of me at his age. So this journey for him with a saltwater tank will be a blast. ...and it hasnt got any cheaper...HAHA

[Louis81050]

Hi Louis from Colorado. Started a 125 gal salt tank. Enjoy reading through the posts and searching for colorful additions to my reef tank.

[cmabrey75]

Hello all, Chuck from Kentucky. Getting back into reef aquariums after a about 6 years. Great information here love looking at everyones tanks. Great sorce of information.

[mandarin_goby]

I've kept freshwater tanks for 20+ years. I currently have a 55 planted community tank and a 13.3 planted tank with cherry shrimp. I just started my 1st mini reef - a 12 gallon long Mr. Aqua tank and I LOVE it Glad to have found this forum!

[chansman]

Hey everyone. My name is Jamey from central South Carolina and I'm about to start my first sw aquarium. Right now I'm collecting all of the equipment but for now I have a 75g with built in over flow, Icecap 660 lighting, Aqua-c EV120 skimmer, and a diy 20l sump. Still shopping for my return pumps. Many questions to come...lol

[Marko333]

Aloha from hawaii. Just about a year in the saltwater hobby and I just acquired my 4 tank biggest and everything that came w it is new to me. 120g live reef (red and hairy green mushrooms, toadstool, zenias, zoas, some tigertail slugs, brittle star, 2 banded shrimp, and other great animals) 2x 175w 12k, 4x 46Vho hood lights, overflow, skimmer, 2 power heads, sump. So far I've added 3 yellow tang, 2 tomato clowns, 2 sebae clowns, 1 fire fish, 1 coral beauty who just lips at the algae on glass and not the reef.

I've been running it best I know for 2 months now. It is an outside tank and I do not have the VHOs running cause I don't have a clue how to run electricity correctly. I recently put a blue tarp on the sunny side to cool it down to 75-80 degrees and keep the algae down. This is a quick description oh what's going on w the new tank. I will have lots of questions. Thanks fellow RCres!

[ArrecifeJunkie]

I've been in the hobby for about 3 months after contemplating it for years. I have a 65g in wall and a 29g that I am in the process of making for my wife. She wanted to put sunken ships and such in my reef tank and that's just not part of my vision. I have had FW tanks in the past but all of the living organisms that are visible and observing the changes that happen every day just makes SW so much more interesting in my opinion. I guess my biggest challenge right now is getting the aquascape how I like it and still have no dead spots.

[hackney]

Name's Adam. Been in the hobby for a little over a year. 55 reef

[Led Bizkit]

Hello everyone,

I'm Bizkit I have been doing saltwater for 20 plus yrs and then took a ten year break but now I'm back.

Funny how so many things have changed and how many things have stayed the same, but it feels good to be back.

Bizkit

[anamarija]

Hi! My name is Anamarija. I specialize more into managing online donating in terms of taking care of the coral reefs that lives in the Pacific. I live in Fiji Islands by the way.

I make sure also that the proceeds will be on its better locations as such they can always wedge out some facts that would either make them a valuable asset in the long run.

Most of which will likely be in an extraordinary experience to everybody as they can rekindle everything to what these donations can do.

[Aqua firemedic]

Hello, new to RC but not to reefing. Been in the hobby for about 15 years......... Mostly nanos, thanks for having me!

[CodyStamper]

Hello all! I'm new to the site.. Have had fish my whole life. My sister started dating a guy with a 75g reef tank fell in love with it. So I set up one of my tanks 29g to salt loved it just a few fish. Then my sister married this guy, she made him sale the tank a 75g setup and all for only $300 I have had it fir 2 years now I recently moved. When I was moving I cracked the tank.. Bummer yes but luckly I had another 75g fresh water tank with turtles in it so I drained it let the turtles go and rushed it to the lfs so they could drill it.. So im here now..

[Robert_R]

hey everyone, my name is Robert,im 24 i live in nevada city, ca. i just started my first nano saltwater tank. ive had it up about a month now and everything seems to be going great. i decided to join this forum because i want to learn more about setting up a reef and keeping it healthy, as well as the creatures that live there.

so far i have an aqueon evolve8, with 1.5 inches of live sand and close to 5lbs of live rock. 3 hermit crabs, a small scooter blenny or dragonette. thats all so far. the tank has been running for a month now. no problems so far

[Angel85]

Hi to all the new members! Welcome

[ReeferinFL]

Hello,

Just making myself known in here. I just signed up this month. I'm looking forward to learning a lot about the marine hobby.

Mike

[Ted_C]

Hi All.

I'm Ted and i'm brand new to the hobby - at 40 years old. Just recently moved to near clearwater florida.

I'm in my buying stage at the moment after doing tons of research over the last month. Shopping list is at the bottom of the thread - welcome any suggestions / critiques.

Ive found trying to start the hobby in my section of Florida is a daunting task. After doing my research - i decided on an initial size of 120 gallon Acrylic - based on what I could fit in my house. I sent out requests to probably ten shops - asking for quotes. The replies I got: Doug Drysdale - very helpful and convinced me I probably wanted glass instead - but couldn't take my job (but provided a great recommendation to Fish and Other Ichthy Things in Oldsmar). Heard from Kenji at Aquarium Illusions - but when I told him I had already purchased a tank - communication broke down. One other shining star is Michael at Fin-n-Gills (former shop of Countryside Aquariums). Very helpful - very nice - and seems very reasonable.

So I now have a 120 gallon sitting on my dining room table - waiting for a custom stand, plumbing, sump and all the other neat things that go into this hobby.

I'm undecided on a few items - like the chiller - As I don't yet know how the temperature will fluctuate in the aquarium in my environment. Only thing I can do is set up the system and test it and see if I need one.

Purchased:

120 gallon acrylic aquarium 4’x2’x2’ - $321 (Done - Fish and Other Ichthy Things)

Refractometer – Ebay - $48.98

RO/DI - 150GPD 5-stage system with Booster Pump HM2 In-Line TDS meter and pressure gauge- $338 (from Melev's reef)

Holes (all measurements are exact center of holes) - $100 + $20 tip Fish and Other Ichthy Things:

3 Drains - 3” from left edge/ 6” from top, 3” from right edge/ 6” from top, 24” from left and right edge, 6” from top
2 Returns – 13.5” from left edge/3” from top, 13.5” from right edge/3” from top

Bulkheads – 5 x 1 ¾” = $30 Fish and Other Ichthy Things

On Order:

Stand 52" x 31" x 36" (lxwxh)

ToDo:

Sump – 48x24x16 95 gallon glass

Sand
Display - 240# Live sand (12 20# bags) ~ $25 / bag = $300 (CaribSea Arag-Alive Bahama Oolite Sand)

Sump – 48# (@ 12”x24”) ~ 1 40# + 2 5# = $76 (Caribsea Ocean Direct Live Sand Oolite)

Live Rock
Display – 150# - 3x52# ($480) = $480 (Fiji`s Best Saltwater Aquarium Live Rock)

Sump – 38# - 1x52# = $160 (Fiji`s Best Saltwater Aquarium Live Rock)

Salt - Red Sea Coral Pro Salt Mix 175gal – Bucket – $69.95

Skimmer – Reef Dynamics - INS180 Protein Skimmer w/ Ehiem Pump (13.5x11x24) - $649.95

Return Pump (min 600 gal/hr @ 4’) - Eheim Model 1262,898 gph – $179.99

Wavemaker - EcoTech Marine VorTech Propeller Pumps w/ Wireless EcoSmart Drivers (2xMP40W Units) + Battery Backup $1100

Heater - Eheim Jager TruTemp 300 Watt $28

Controller – Digital Aquatics ReefKeeper Lite Net - $379

Main Lights – Maxspect 27 Inch Razor R420R 10,000K LED Light Fixture = $489.99

Refugium Light LED?

Calcium Reactor?

Chiller ? JBJ Arctica Titanium Chiller DBE-200 1/4HP $780

Pump For Chiller - Eheim Model 1262,898 gph – $179.99

[MIAbyss]

Hey everyone. New to RC and the hobby. Just picked up a Deep Blue rimless 60 cube. I'll keep you posted on my progress. Thanks to all the posters in this forum. It's a great resource.