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

[eutimio]

Ive got a 55G hex-25"x25"
30 pound live rock
2 bags aragalive substrate(2-3 inch deep sand bed)

Just set it up today.Have no place for a sump and im running a Fluval FX5 canister filter on it filled with ceramic rings and pads for mechanical filtration.Ive seen people recommending against canisters on marine setups.
What is the best option to run on this tank?
I understand 25% water changes per day can be beneficial during the cycle?
I dont have a RO/DI water unit.Am i safe using tap water mixed with salt til the cycle ends?Planning on buying RO water from my LFS for water changes after i get fish.
What other pieces of equipment are needed in order to keep optimal water parameters?for now all i got is a master test kit for marine and a hydrometer.
Thank you all for the help!

[SGTG]

Hi, am new to salt water fish but not new to the fish tank hobby. i have a 55g tank just set up the tank for salt water 3 weeks ago. the steps i took from the begining. added water and waited for the tempeture got up to 79f and hold there. added salt slowly untill i had a reading of 8.2ph and salinity at 31 and gravity at 1.023. waited 3 weeks. this saturday i added live sand and crushed coral and 6 damsels to help cycle the tank. my filter is an aqua clear that treats up tp 125g. at the moment in the filter i have the sponge and pura complete. i also have a power head 402 at its highest psi. my lightbulb is a sunglo. thats about it. its been 3 days since the fish where introduced and my questions are what else should i put in the filter to help maintain the water purity and how long from now should i add them in. my plans for the tank are, i want to have live rock corals amnenemis clown fish, lion fish hippo tangs shrimps eels and maybe someother things but i know i have to limit the amount of fish i add in there and i hear i need alot of light for the reefs. is there anything else i should be getting ready to buy or do in the mean time the tank is cycling. what else do i need to test for in the water besides nitrite nitrate ammonis ph? any advise will be greatly appreciated. thanks for your time. heres a pic of my tank at the moment.

[Midwestmade]

Thought I would post a little bit about my new tank build as I will probally have some questions along the way.

I currently have a 60 gallon FOWLER setup for about a year now. I have learned alot in the past year with my tank and now have the bug and am starting a new build.

I just got a 72" x 24" x30" tank and have been picking up parts and pieces for it along the way. Here is a list of what I am planning on using so far.

I will be aquascaping with 175#'s of live rock.

I will be getting into some corals in the new tank, mostly softies as thier colors are what I like.

-Sump I have a Aqueon Mega flow model 4 "what is the best use of the sump? obviously I will run a skimmer and return pump but whats the best use of the other chamber? more live rock?

-Lighting I have a 72" Prolife Aquatics T5 fixture that I plan on using.
I also picked up a dual bulb VHO and Dual 250W MH system from someone who made the change to LED. What setup would you run if it were your tank?

- Dual dosing system from BRS. This will be a learning experience as with my FOWLER I really didn't have to worry about my calcium levels.

- BRS GFO/Carbon reactor

-24W Turbo Twist UV steralizer

[thinker60]

Hello All,

Just getting into the forum and have recently began the saltwater hobby. I have a good friend locally that has been in the hobby for a few decades and he has helped me tremendously. Kinda of a jump start for me.

I actually purchased a setup from someone getting out of the hobby and moved it to our house. It is a 150G Oceanic half round tank. With it I moved all the live sand, live rock, and fish/critters. I also added more live rock 80lbs (already cured) and live sand (100lbs). In addition I did some major plumbing to move the sump out to my garage which required about 50ft runs of 1 1/2 " plastic for the pump feed to the tank and 2" plastic from the tank. Right now the sump is a 30G with a protein skimmer. I will give more details later and upload some pics of what has been going on. In a short time (relatively) the tank is in decent shape. I think in about another 4-5 months it will be more like what I want in the end (of course that is a moving target) .

So hopefully I can get a little help and provide some input to this forum as well.
So here is a first pick of the assembly after adding the sand and some water. Putting the rock in its place.

[Bpain05]

Hi I'm new to this site and Saltwater. I purchased a 12G JBJ Nano yesterday and I'm now in the process of setting it up for saltwater with the help of my "expert" buddy. I will take plenty of pics of the build and start a build thread in a few days.

[Rando1122]

First, and foremost, HELLO!

My wife and I recently ventured into the world of marine reef aquariums and would like to know about where we are in the cycling process.

We have a 40gal (36" X 18.5") tank with live sand and 50lbs live rock (cured).... Aqueon "Quiet Flow" 55 filter, 250gal/hr powerhead.

It's been setup for 3weeks now, and we just bought our water test kit today with the following results.

Temp: 78
PH: 8.3
Ammonia: +/- .25ppm (color matching somewhere between .5 and .25)
Nitrite: 0.00ppm
Nitrate: +/- 5ppm (color matching between 0.0 and 5.0)

We just bought the light today, so the only light the tank has seen is natural light during the day.


ANYONE....??

Thank you SO Much!

[Doomseed]

Yep name is Pav and I just started about 4 weeks ago. Bought a 28g Nano cube.
Been working with the guys at Alaska Coral Fanatics and they have directed me here to do further research into this addiction. Just wanted to say hi.

[Kayzie]

Hey there my name is Kaye and i'm very new to this hobby, (about 12 months) but with a few disappointing moments I am getting better, and learning as I go.

[Nikko3355]

Hi all,
I am new to the saltwater end of the hobby and am looking forward to growing my reef with this forum's help. I have a 72g freshwater planted that I have had for years and just purchased a 29g Biocube set up. I got the tank about 3 weeks ago and it was cycled and had about 20lbs of live rock that has coraline algae on it. I've since added about 10 more lbs. of dry live rock and one big piecce of texas holey rock I had laying around. I put three zebra hermits, a peppermint and cleaner shrimp and some snails in there. I plan on stocking it slowly and am not in a hurry. It is running 2 36w 50/50 10kK bulbs and things seem to be going ok. I have a couple pieces of coral in there now and they seem happy. Starting to get some purple/red algae on the sand through.
Anyway, happy to be here!

[2006ug]

Greetings to all.
My name is Adam, and I joined this forum a while ago because reef aquariums are freaking awesome. I've been doing a lot of reading, and plan to set up a ~200 gallon reef aquarium for my dad's business, with a minimum number of errors!

[nanotankdan]

Hi everyone,

My name is Dan and am a full time college student. I am new to the hobby and have had my tank set up for about a month and a half now. It is a 28 gallon bowfront tank. Has dual t5ho lighting, moonlight led, 2 powerheads, an aquaclear filter (soon to be adding a acqueon 50 filter, heater, thermometer, and UV sterilizer pump. I do %10 a week water changes with RO/DI water. I have about 30lbs of live rock, a pagoda cup coral, and a leather hand polyp. My livestock consists of an ocellaris clownfish, a pink-spotten goby paired with pistol shrimp, and a blue/green chromis fish. For cleaners I have about 10 nassarius snails, 3-4 hermit crabs, 2 turbo and 2 astrea snails. For substrate I am using about a half inch of sugar fine live sand mixed with crushed coral sand. So far everything is looking good with my water levels. I dose Iodine, Magnesium, and Calcium 2 times a week and feed my fish daily with mysis shrimp and flakes. The only issue I am having is my sand keeps getting brown growth on it, Im assuming detritus.

So yes, this is my tank and I will be posting pictures soon.

Thanks!

[FTDelta]

Originally Posted by eutimio

Ive got a 55G hex-25"x25"
30 pound live rock
2 bags aragalive substrate(2-3 inch deep sand bed)

Just set it up today.Have no place for a sump and im running a Fluval FX5 canister filter on it filled with ceramic rings and pads for mechanical filtration.Ive seen people recommending against canisters on marine setups.
What is the best option to run on this tank?
I understand 25% water changes per day can be beneficial during the cycle?
I dont have a RO/DI water unit.Am i safe using tap water mixed with salt til the cycle ends?Planning on buying RO water from my LFS for water changes after i get fish.
What other pieces of equipment are needed in order to keep optimal water parameters?for now all i got is a master test kit for marine and a hydrometer.
Thank you all for the help!

Tap water is NOT safe for reef tank due harmful metals in tap water.

[FTDelta]

Originally Posted by SGTG

Hi, am new to salt water fish but not new to the fish tank hobby. i have a 55g tank just set up the tank for salt water 3 weeks ago. the steps i took from the begining. added water and waited for the tempeture got up to 79f and hold there. added salt slowly untill i had a reading of 8.2ph and salinity at 31 and gravity at 1.023. waited 3 weeks. this saturday i added live sand and crushed coral and 6 damsels to help cycle the tank. my filter is an aqua clear that treats up tp 125g. at the moment in the filter i have the sponge and pura complete. i also have a power head 402 at its highest psi. my lightbulb is a sunglo. thats about it. its been 3 days since the fish where introduced and my questions are what else should i put in the filter to help maintain the water purity and how long from now should i add them in. my plans for the tank are, i want to have live rock corals amnenemis clown fish, lion fish hippo tangs shrimps eels and maybe someother things but i know i have to limit the amount of fish i add in there and i hear i need alot of light for the reefs. is there anything else i should be getting ready to buy or do in the mean time the tank is cycling. what else do i need to test for in the water besides nitrite nitrate ammonis ph? any advise will be greatly appreciated. thanks for your time. heres a pic of my tank at the moment.

You needn't to use damsels to cycle your tank.

Hippo Tangs need to be in tanks bigger than 55 gallons so no on that.

Lionfish and Eels are aggressive and will eat your clowns. Listed "caution for reef tank." Better off in FOWLR.

My advice for you is read and research everything about saltwater aquaria keeping to save yourself heartache and money should things take a dive towards a tank crash. I'm sure someone with more experience will guide you what you need to do.

[sagnik_85]

Hi I am Sagnik Bhattacharya from Kolkata, India. I started a 140g reef aquarium from July '12, currently I hold Two Yellow Tangs, Two Percula Clowns, Two Cleaner Shrimp, One Mushroom Coral and an Acropora. Thanks RC for letting me to witness such valuable discussions in this site. Hope to learn lot of things from this site.

Regards
Sagnik

[sagnik_85]

Hi I am Sagnik Bhattacharya from Kolkata, India. I started a 140g reef aquarium from July '12, currently I hold Two Yellow Tangs, Two Percula Clowns, Two Cleaner Shrimp, One Mushroom Coral and an Acropora. Thanks RC for letting me to witness such valuable discussions in this site. Hope to learn lot of things from this site.

Regards
Sagnik

[iceman14555]

Hello all, my name is Alex and I am entering week 2 of the reef and saltwater world, coming from about a year and a half to two years of freshwater experience. So far so good, just having problems with PH staying up even with a buffer, guessing it's from the cycle. Anyways, nice to have a place to get many answers and opinions. Check out my 1st post asking about powerhead placement in the lighting, filtration, and equipment forum.

BTW my tank is a Marineland 40H, with a Fluval 206 canister, 1 Koralia evo 750 poweread, and 1 Koralia evo 550 powerhead. Currently around 30 lbs. of live rock and bulding, 20 lbs. of live sand, 15 lbs. of FL crushed coral; with 3 hermit crabs, and 2 yellowtail damsels. there is a picture in my other post.

[maddreef]

I'm here to do alot of reading and hopefully learn alot for my next reef tank and make some good friends.

[herhuskalusk]

Hey everybody. My name is Taylor. I've been lurking around here for a while, but I thought I would introduce myself! I and had 100g FOWLR that I had to take down 4-5 years ago and I'm just now getting back into aquariums. I have a 20L that just finished cycling a couple weeks ago, and am taking it slow. The tank is currently stocked with a tiny ocellaris, a striped blenny, and a toadstool leather. Feels good to have a tank again!

[reefer fresh]

hello everyone I'm jeff from Philippines,as i was browsing the net researching because i want to start a new hobby. i came upon this very informative site. as i browse i really pick up a lot of new knowledge in starting this hobby. i just bought a 50 gallon tank yesterday and I'm very eager to start on this wonderful hobby

I hope i can new friends on this community

[whanieldang]

Hi. I'm new to saltwater aquarium. I have a 10g tank with 5lbs of dry work and just sand. I've had the water cycling for about 2 weeks now. thinking about just adding 2 clown fish once the cycle period is over. Hope you guys can help me out in the future once I get things going. Thanks!

[Stevodod]

Just back into the hobby after 17 years....pre-internet practically! Glad to have the resource, thanks ahead of time!!!

Stevo

[A New Guy]

Im Mike from WY, I think I posted in the wrong thread with my introduction. So here it is in the right thread.

Im am 99% new to marine tanks and set-ups.

I just bought a 90 Gal tank that I plan to set up very basic, live rock, a few fish and maybe a growable spreading coral of some kind. Its the first one so I thought I would test what I like to see vs. what im capaible of doing.

My biggest issue Im having is there are no good marine tank suppliers in the area, Casper, WY. Are there any rock sellers on the site, corals and fish? I would rather buy from a haoobiest then from a company.

Anyways, I will be reading alot of the posts, feel free to hit me up with advice and questions as I try and figure this all out.

Mike

[ssgadams]

well new here and my first tank for salt water. got most the equipment setup live rock and sand. trying to cycle the tank a bit.

[hayleigh21707]

hi my name is john im new to the reef hobby i have a 55g setup at the moment with 20g sump its been runing for around 8 months now seems to be doing ok i have a coral beauty a bangaii cardinal and a green clown goby at the moment also a horse shoe crab and a sand sifiting star couple cucumbers lots of snails and crabs 1 pink coco worm 2 pieces of gsp large rock of green zoas small one of mixed orange and blue zoas and small one of tricolor zoas 2 ricordias 3 heads of hammer head some anthelia some mushrooms a kenya tree leather toad stool and a purple condy hopefully getting a 125 g this evening if weather permitting

[TackleBox]

Hi everyone , im Dan . New to the saltwater hobby, but always wanted to get into it and my wife finally let me . I have been trolling the forums since May soaking up all the info i can . I began setting up my tank in june, and decided to start with a smaller setup untill i get the hang of things and then upgrade to a larger system. Currently have a 37g tall with with 15 lbs of Fiji LR and 35 lbs of Pukani dry rock (cured/cycled in tank for 4 months before stocking) and a 20g long sump/refugium with Chaeto. Lighting is a DIY LED using 12" Makersled fixture with 12 3W Cree CW and 12 RB on dimmable meanwell drivers and 4 moonlights on a separate driver. CPR overflow, Reef Octopus NW150, mag 7 return , and 1 Koralia 1050 for flow right now.
Began stocking in Oct and currently have 2 Ocellaris Clowns , 1 Fairy Wrasse, a small CUC of 4 red leg hermits, 4 blue leg hermits, and 4 turbo snails. Also got some branching Frogspawn and a small (1" when deflated clone) RBTA 2 weeks ago ( i know its alittle early but my water params have been good except for i have cyano and snot algae that im trying to get under control).
Now everything was going fine until last week my RBTA went into hiding and i know they will do that , but has been hiding since and last night i caught a glimpse of his mouth and it was gaping. previous to hiding i was able to feed it 2x some mysis witch it happily ate. Still has its color ,but is always deflated, and has now moved into a hole that i can no longer see it.

Water Paramaters:
PH 7.8 (i know its alittle low)
Temp 78f
SG 1.024
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 0 ppm
PO4 0 ppm
Alk Dkh 8-9
Ca 500
10% Wc/Week Using Reef Crystals and distilled water, and not dosing anything

Am i just freaking out about my Rbta or should i be worried?

Thank you for any suggestions n help