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

[metalmike415]

Hello everyone!! I am getting into the Reef keeping hobby and have a lot to learn. I came upon RC in my google surfing sessions and love all info here the folks have taken the time to post. Looking forward to learning about Reef keeping.

Cheers

[annanymous]

Hello everyone! i'm getting back into the hobby after being out for about 7-8 years. used to have a 90gal mixed tank and have been missing it a lot. After skimming thru some of the sticky posts for beginners I feel like a total newb again. LEDs??? Back when... LEDs were used mostly for moonlighting...lol. much has changed and i am trying to catch up and design my 75gal primarily SPS reef at the same time. Any input and advice will be much appreciated

[isbjorn]

Hi all.
My name is Alican and i'm from Turkey. I am new to the hobby. I started 10 months ago but restore 3 times my tank for some reasons. Some of my living friends are 9 months old. Some informations about my tank and system equipments:

Tank: 60x60x45h - 126 litres absolute water
Sump: 40x35x40h - 40 litres asolute water
PS: Deltec MCE 600
Pump: Eheim 1260
Circulation motors: Tunze 6015, Tunze 6045
Light: Ati Sunpower Dimmable 8x24W
Rocks: Fiji branches %15, live rock %15, ceramic rocks %70
Sand: %70 Reeflowers pearl white, %30 natural aragonite

I have some soft, lps and sps.

I hope i will learn lots of things here. It's nice to be here with you.

Regards

[niMij]

Hello All~ new to RC, names' James and been into saltwater off and on since i was a kid (and my fathers failed attempts at recreating reefs back in the 80's... one generation must outdo the next, so i set up my first reef in my teens ran it for 3 yrs, left for college and found that everything was dead on my first vaca back... didn't return until my mid 20's.... with a WHOLE TANK corals, anemones, various predator fish, eels, some tangs, and a seahorse.... all living harmoniously in 200 gallons of captivity for about 4 years, until the week long power outage hit the northeastern quadrant, still remember the sloooooow death, with random breaks of furious activity, while sitting there soaking it in.
i couldn't even LOOK at another tank for a while after that.

Well i'm back with 2 10 gal tanks inter-connected with a 30 gallon sump (until i finish buying my house this year, then it's UPGRADE time) one of the 10 gal's is separated via screen with 1/8" holes, one side being refugium, and the other side (or 3/5 of the tank really) a home to 3 dwarf sea horses with dozens of baby's, and the other 10 gallon a home to a 3/4" sized button coral, 2 green crabs, 2 false perc's....

looking for a green "kyrptonite" BTA which is how i found RC! still searching for the GBTA!

i have 2 son's now, 1 and 2 yo's (just shy o' irish twins), who are FACINATED bythe Dwarfs.... of course i had to go the nemo route for the wife and kids, hehe...

well i'll be checking in here and there! awesome to know all this knowledge is available to us newbies, and of course, we can never stop learning! see everyone around!

[annanymous]

Great to see fellow Metro NYC reefer. Welcome back to the hobby!

Originally Posted by niMij

Hello All~ new to RC, names' James and been into saltwater off and on since i was a kid (and my fathers failed attempts at recreating reefs back in the 80's... one generation must outdo the next, so i set up my first reef in my teens ran it for 3 yrs, left for college and found that everything was dead on my first vaca back... didn't return until my mid 20's.... with a WHOLE TANK corals, anemones, various predator fish, eels, some tangs, and a seahorse.... all living harmoniously in 200 gallons of captivity for about 4 years, until the week long power outage hit the northeastern quadrant, still remember the sloooooow death, with random breaks of furious activity, while sitting there soaking it in.
i couldn't even LOOK at another tank for a while after that.

Well i'm back with 2 10 gal tanks inter-connected with a 30 gallon sump (until i finish buying my house this year, then it's UPGRADE time) one of the 10 gal's is separated via screen with 1/8" holes, one side being refugium, and the other side (or 3/5 of the tank really) a home to 3 dwarf sea horses with dozens of baby's, and the other 10 gallon a home to a 3/4" sized button coral, 2 green crabs, 2 false perc's....

looking for a green "kyrptonite" BTA which is how i found RC! still searching for the GBTA!

i have 2 son's now, 1 and 2 yo's (just shy o' irish twins), who are FACINATED bythe Dwarfs.... of course i had to go the nemo route for the wife and kids, hehe...

well i'll be checking in here and there! awesome to know all this knowledge is available to us newbies, and of course, we can never stop learning! see everyone around!

[Rogueaccount]

I'm new to RC and saltwater in general, but have kept freshwater for some years now.

I have a 46 gallon bowfront that I plan to convert to saltwater as soon as I get the current tenants new home put together. Maybe a reef with some lps and soft corals. Going to be a long process as I'm still in the initial planning and research stages. Hoping to be ready to put water in the tank by the end of this year. I've been reading a ton, but will invariably have quite a few newbie questions.

Current tanks are:
75 gallon FW, Axolotls
55 gallon FW, Oscar
46 gallon Bowfront, FW, Senegal Bichir/Rainbows
20 gallon tall FW community tank

[christianl]

Hello World! I'm new this hobby. I have a 55 gallon tank and I've started the water cycle. So far I have a clean up crew in the tank and everything is running. I need assistance with hooking up my skimmer and getting more insights on how to manage my tank.

[babynapoleon]

Hi one and all, wow loads to learn about this Marine lark it seems

[Blach]

Hi there from down under.

I am Robert and are new to reef keeping, I have had several aquariums before but never a saltwater one, boy is there a lot to learn, but I love it, am at the moment cycling the tank for the first time with 150 pounds of live rock, patience seems to be the key here, so it's great to look at this forum in the waiting period, I have learned a lot from all the post's, very helpful site.
I am sure that I will have some questions shortly, cheers guys.

[Bobbyv12]

What's up everyone I also a newb to reefing but been in the fresh water game for a few, I started with a small 10 gallon fowler back in February and decided to try out a new tank with something more than just fish. As of right now I have a biocube 29 with 40 pounds of sand 35 pounds of live rock and a few other basics i.e. skimmer media racks fuge all that good stuff, I ain't my third week of cycling and I'm glad to have come across this site it's awesome and very informative! I also ran into a link for my fellow New Yorkers called New York reef club they are a cool bunch and so far so good it's always nice to have some locals who can help out and aren't too far! Anyway happy reefing all!

[Spencer88]

New member, been into freshwater fish and aquariums for years and have a 60gl african cichlid aquarium. Thought I would get into saltwater stuff now and plan on setting up a nano reef aquarium.

[Brea4tuna]

about my live rock flourishing with corals in the 36 gal tank I received for my big 30th birthday. This is my first endeavor into the reefing hobby, and I am so very glad that I found this resource! I have so many questions and am overwhelmed by the different options for maintaining a healthy tank. I just dropped the live rock into the tank yesterday, so the cycling is just beginning.

My biggest concern after reading through the forums here is with regard to the RO/DI. I don't have one. Is it absolutely crucial to the health of the tank? Why does "Instant Ocean" offer a water conditioner then? I'm sure an RO/DI is the best option, but I thought I'd throw this thought out there. I'm sure you veterans are rolling your eyes right now, but we newbies have to start somewhere, right?

Also, please lend your thoughts, if you're so inclined, as to the best filter set up for a 36 gal tank. I have the basic "Aqueon" power filter that came with the tank. I want to add soft corals and fish after the tank cycles, but I definitely want the proper filtration set up prior to doing so.

Thank you in advance for fielding questions from a novice!

[SweetCoralline1]

Hey guys and girls,

I am Annie...been on RC for a little bit, but have mainly been around asking questions about everything that piques my curiosity! I am currently building the tank of my dreams...some photos of my livestock are on my profile...still trying to upload the rest.

Talk to you all soon...

[bloodypeasant]

Hey everyone,

Names Evan from upstate NY. I have kept a semi-aquatic turtle for about seven years now. I am putting him up for adoption and am going to start my own saltwater tank (first one ever). Thinking about becoming a reefer rather than FO or FOWLR. I have a 46 Gal bowfront which is being converted to SW as we speak. I have a 30 gal sump tank (overkill maybe? lol) which I just set up myself. I have an overflow box ready (non-drilled tank), and all the pluming squared away. Waiting for my new lighting system to come in, which will be a 36" 4xT-5, 39w with 4 moonlight leds. Should be enough for starting my tank. Other than that I will have a squared 55 gal tall tank which will be for keeping my FW puffers. I'm excited to start this tank and hope you will all bear with me during this learning curve. My other interests include:

Fly fishing/Fly tying
Mechanical work
anything DIY
Monty Python (if you didn't understand my username)
Good Beer
Basically anything to keep me busy and out of trouble.

Great to meet you all and I hope to learn a lot while I'm here.

[SweetCoralline1]

Hey Evan! Welcome...and by the way, one can never have too large of a sump in my opinion

[bloodypeasant]

Originally Posted by SweetCoralline1

Hey Evan! Welcome...and by the way, one can never have too large of a sump in my opinion

Thanks!

And yea, that's basically what I figured as well. Just had a spare 30 gal kicking around so I had some 1/8th acrylic cut and just separated the tank up. Just tested the flow in my sump today and I'm really happy with the way it came out. Should make it a bit easier to get my water parameters right I suppose, since I'll have the volume of a 70ish gallon.

[Miss Piggy]

Hi! Like to introduce myself. I have a rsm 130. Got it for christmas (used). Btw is their an app for android? Im kinda confused.... is this forum the same as the uk 1? Cuz when i type in reefcentral on google play it comes up with a result except it says uk.

[Built347]

Hey just saw this thread.. im Devon ive been a lurker here for a while. Figured id say hi.. I have a 750 gallon system, 400g Dt primarily sps on 150g sump/fuge big ft and 2 40b fowlr tanks hooked in.. having tons of fun with it. Happy reefing.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

[SweetCoralline1]

bloodypeasant--My sump is about 1/2 of my tank size...and I'm thinking about adding on a hang on refugium as well...to help with my pod population! What are you stocking your tank with?

[fairladyZ]

Purchased a used tank and got it up and running, added live rock and live sand and just have it cycling for the last 5 days, first came a diatom bloom and now this.



not sure what it is i'm guessing/hoping a snail

[Frank L]

Hello readers, my name is Frank, from Columbia Tn, originally from Mich 23 yrs ago. Sure am loving Tn, don't think I could move back to the snow. Married to my wife, Laura and 3 grown children. Sales associate at Petsmart, retired from Gm. I've had many aquariums, mostly fresh water, my first I still remember, I was about 6,,,, a 5 gallon from my aunt and uncle, with gold fish,,,, that's when it all started. The feeling I get when I set up,,,, am around,,,, or go to an aquarium shop, or visit one of the city aquariums, like Chattanooga's aquarium. It's hard to explain, sort of like a drug, some of y'all know what I mean. I haven't had a system set up since 1996,,, a very long time since I experienced that feeling of,,,,,,, creation, sort of, lol. I went from many fresh waters, to a 55 salt, which I learned alot about salt systems then, trial and error. Then I decided to set up a big tank, not sure what I was going to do, fresh water, salt, fish, or coral. So when I finally decided to do a coral reef system, I read a couple books, researched, read, visited, and researched more. It took me 3 months of reading and searching for info, researching, and of coures the best way to go, which was it?, I guess I got it right,,, it worked well for me. I decided to set up a 180 gal Oceanic reef tank. I can honestly say, I really enjoyed the process of learning, purchasing, setting up, and being patient with stocking the tank. The investment was high, but so was the pleasure of, "my creation". This is one of the books I read,
The Reef Aquarium: A Comprehensive Guide to the Identification and Care of Tropical Marine Invertebrates, by Charles Delbeek and Julian Sprung. A very good book for back then. Was wondering what's out there now for reading and researching?. I'm really looking for a book that starts from ground up on building a reef system, with updated info, or alternate ways that might work well also. I do have a short video loading to youtube, if it ever does, sure taking a long time. I'll post the link to it later. Thanks for reading, and thank you for allowing me to join Reef Central. Frank L

[bloodypeasant]

Originally Posted by SweetCoralline1

bloodypeasant--My sump is about 1/2 of my tank size...and I'm thinking about adding on a hang on refugium as well...to help with my pod population! What are you stocking your tank with?

No clue yet. I still need to read about all the species of soft coral and reef safe fish before i decide. At this point im just waiting for my lighting canopy, then ill transfer my freshwater fish to their new tank, and finally ill buy some salt, sand, and LR to begin establishing my tank. Im still a far ways away from stocking.

[Frank L]

Here's a link to my tank, the video pauses in a couple of spots, but does resume.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COKHC...ature=youtu.be

[rossy]

Hello everyone, I am completely new to this and have joined before I have made my purchase so I have a better chance of getting it right. I am mainly interested in nano reefs an plan to eventually have about 5-8 in different rooms in the house ( any where from 5-30 gallons). I may start off with a fluval spec as I like the tanks that are long but shallow (no more that 12- 18 inches high).

I will be asking tons of questions so I hope I don't annoy too many people.

Thanks everyone

[Arnaldo24]

hi RC im new in this site i been a reefer for 3 years and i have a 72 mix reef with a refugium ai sol blue leds and a few other goodies