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

[Mrtgman]

Just want to introduce myself. I am setting up my 36 gal bowfront for the third time. First two times it was wiped out by three hurricanes and two week power outages in the aftermath when I lived in S. Florida. Got discouraged after losing $$$ in fish and corals. I am going to give it another try here in the Carolinas. I love all the advancements in the hobby over the past few years. Especially Biospira and skipping the whole two week cycle process!

[shookfarm]

Hello all i am new to the hobby of wanting to keep corals

[kckinwa]

Hello reefers, long time reader first time poster here. I am happy to finally be part of this amazing community. I have been out of the hobby for about 6-7 years and I see a few changes in the hobby though nothing to drastic. I am prepping for a new setup and I had a few questions. I suppose that I should post them in the correct threads, until then hello all.

[wetoctopus]

Well Hello everyone,

I believe I signed up for reef central years ago, but lost password and username of course. Too many passwords to keep up with and I sold off the tank and live stock and got out of the hobby for awhile. However, I believe once this hobby gets in your blood you can never get out of it. Anyway, I have had fish and tanks since I was a little kid. Have always loved little critters and pets. Last tank 3 years ago was a 120 reef ready show, it was beautiful. I was just really getting into it and then had to sell due to moving and job changes and all that good stuff. I have always had some knowledge of keeping reef tanks, but some of the things I read on here, I am like what? LOL It is a great site and I am glad to be back on.

I recently had to go through even more job changes and more moving, but I was able to do this and that and I ended up with my dream tank. I just picked up a 210 reef ready Aqueon tank, 2 36 inch LED's (not sure brand, was told could support corals easily) cost over $500 and pump. The stand was junk and I watched youtube and decided that I could build my own stand and canopy for way cheaper and much nicer. Have yet to build it yet, but next step.

I am moving into a house in 2 weeks and will hopefully be there for awhile, so no more moving, plus I am old now and this tank is way too heavy, LOL. I was able to keep an ASM G1 protein skimmer with pump from an old tank. I know this is not big enough, but not sure whether to run 2 protein skimmers or get a new larger one? Ive been told either or? Anyway, its going to be a month or two before I am up and running, but figured I would get logged back in, introduce myself and meet some people.

Unfortunately my last name is not Gates or Rockafeller, so building my tank quickly is not possible, that's a good thing in this hobby, plus I have so many other hobbies and pets too! But again, glad to be back in it and look forward to speaking with some of you experts out there.

[ebrown2291]

Hello, my name is Eric. New to the "lifestyle" setting up a 120g, with DIY rock and want to do a real DSB (6"+). I have no clue where to find sand in the recommended .05 to .1mm range, but I'm trying. LOL

[SammieT]

Hi all. My name is Sam. Very new to the hobby. I've always admired having a tank and finally got a excuse to purchase one. I'm located in San Diego california and hoping to learn whatever I can. I currently have a 20 gal freshwater tank and debating on the purchase of a salt water tank

[CC WaterGuy]

Hi All, my name is Jeff. I just got back into this hobby a few months ago with a 50 gal. 2 week as ago I was given a beautiful 110 gal with stand, so I had to start over. 30 gal sump is on it's way. Using a CPR BAK PAK skimmer and refugium, Fluval C4 filter, and 1 small Tetra PAC. Aqua clear 70 power head. I'm gonna need to upgrade.

[tricities55mix]

nameds eddie ive been into saltwater for about 6 months now. started with a 29gallon tall with dual t5 lighting. now transferred into a 55 gallon long with 2 D2120 evergrow led lights, 60lbs of live rock, 70lbs of live sand, frag of green star polyps, as well as about 5 hitch hiker mushrooms on a 10lb rock. also have a coral beauty angel, sailfin tang, blue chromis, 6 line wrasse, and a scooter blenny. bout a dozen red legs and a dozen blue leg hermits, 15 snails, and a couple slugs that hitch hiked in. running a fluval canister filter, with a ps 270 Zoo Med rotating powerhead.

[Naveen]

Hello,

I've been thinking about getting back into the hobby for about 6 months now. I was big into fresh water about 20 years ago. I've just started my "intense research" phase that I do before I jump into anything big.

I did 2 posts today, 1 about a type of tank I'm interested in and 1 asking someone who is selling a tank how to contact them (since you can't communicate with anyone until you've done 10 messages) both said waiting for moderation but they seem to have both disappeared so no idea if this one will even go through...

Anyway.. howdy!

[reefdude011]

hi guys how do i start a question?

[monkey4life]

hey guys, I was given a (mostly) running BC14. Lookingforward to getting help here. This is my first saltwater tank, so I've been going crazy trying to figure out how to balance it back out.

When I received it it had: 11lbs live rock and 2 clowns and massive amounts of algae.

Now- 17 lbs live rock, 8 snails, a handfull of basic corals (xenia, GSP, paly's, and 4 different mushrooms) All corals were free to me, so I'm hoping I don't kill them
in the process of learning.

Still fighting algae, but I think I'm winning.

[marinebiotech]

Hello, totally new to saltwater aquariums. Somehow I landed a job maintaining five tanks, the smallest of which is 55 gallons, the largest is 75. Each has separate filters and pumps and a variety of native sea creatures--crabs, snails, and different fish. I have learned a lot in a month (and not killed anything yet!) but have a brown algae problem and constantly high nitrates. Hoping to get some ideas about how to address these problems and more about the tanks in general.

[saltynewbie904]

Good evening,

I am new to the hobby and just setup a 20gal tank. I have read sooooo many different opinions of dos and don't. I have had my tank up and running for three days now and it seems to be doing great. When I first bought everything, I was told to use harty fish like yellow tail damsels to start with. I followed the advice with the exception of adding a chocolate chip starfish and an anemone. Now, I have read mixed reports on the anemone and most of them STRESS not to add them until after 6-12 months. However, he has been in there two days and is doing great. He has found a place between two white coral rocks and his tentacles are full of color and waving all over the place. I tested the water levels tonight using an API master test kit and all are pretty close to perfect.

- Salinity was 1.028 which I know is a tad high. Should I try to get it to 1.026?

- Ammonia was yellow after 5min which the card said it was close to 0ppm.

- Nitrite was a baby blue which the card said it was close to 0ppm

- Ph level was somewhere between 8.2 - 8.4 on the card

- Nitrate was close to 5ppm - 10ppm which was a light orange on the card

- Water temp is around 76-78 degrees up from 72 since the addition of the tank heater tonight.

The LFS gave me a bottle of Spira something that is supposed to make the water safe for fish immediately. They recommended that I put in a third of the bottle per day for three days, which I did, and based on the results of the water test it has worked. I also have four white coral rocks and two live rocks in the tank, which they said will greatly help since the two live rocks came from a very mature tank.

• Creature List
• 3x Yellowtail Damsels
• 1x Geryish Black Bi-tone Damsel (Dunno Can't Find Type Anywhere)
• 1x Condylactis Anenome (Pinkish tips & purple at times)
• x1 Chocolate Chip Starfish (Which the kids named Hershey lol)
• x1 Baby hermit crab (1inch shell size)

[saltynewbie904]

To lower nitrate it is recommended that you do a water change of up to 20% from everything I have read. Of course 20% can be a lot of water, so it will depend on the nitrates ppm. Nitrate rises when there are too many fish or marine life in the tank. Another thing that can cause it to rise is feeding to often. There is also a API chemical called Stress Zyme that says it will lower nitrate. Hope this helps!

[DragonetFish]

Hi everyone !

My name is Sophie, I recently start my MINI reef aquarium. It's something I wanted to do for a long time ago. I'm starting so I decided to start something small, even if it's suppose to be more difficult in a little aquarium. My aquarium is now started since 2 months. It's 10 gallons and I have 10 BH. Anyway. If everythings go well for a couple of months i'm gonna buy something bigger cause for now IM IN LOVE whit the hobby. It's so nice and beautiful. So there was my situation. hihi


Sorry for my english i'm french so my text maybe contain some errors of syntax

Tanks !

[DragonetFish]

[paul87]

Hello all. I've read a lot of things on this forum before but never have joined. I have been in the hobby for about 3 years and own a 39 gallon reef tank. I plan to be upgrading sometime in the beginning of next year to a 65 gallon. Here is a recent picture of my tank.

[BigEasy9]

I'm relatively new to the hobby and definitely new to the forum. I just upgraded from my 40 gallon to a 150 gallon in wall setup. I'm still in the process of cycling my water and this site has been a huge help!

[IMG][/IMG]

[DaveRaz]

Hello RC! Sure glad I found this place. 3 weeks into my 90 gallon reef so far. I have learned a lot but find myself somewhat in brain over load and unsure on what exactly my next step should be.

My set up is as follows:
90 gal DT
30 gal sump
100lbs dry rock from reef cleaners
60lbs live sand
(3) 1200 gph power heads
900 gph return
Vertex 150 Skimmer
(2) Maxspect 20" R420R 160w
ATO

10 gal QT

So far I have added Stability and have some Matrix in the sump. Also have around 30lbs of crushed rock in the sump.

I did use some epoxy on the aquascape but I have found my skimmer is not functioning properly (excessive foaming) due to this so I am having to run some carbon a do a WC. I removed most of the epoxy but foaming remains.

Thanks!

Dave

[Brian0813]

Hey been looking around for a while. Never spoke up but let's make this simple. I have a 93g cube and here it is

[Arico]

Hello everyone. My name is Lee-Roy (yes, MAJOR spelling error, I know...). I'm a 23-year old young man from Belgium.

I'm a huge science and nature freak. I particalarily love biology in all its aspects, but also geology, chemistry and physics. I spent a big amount of my free time reading up on different subjects regarding those fields. Oh, and sports.

Anyways, I've had fish as kid, but it never worked out the way these things promised. I always thought of myself to be a freshwater fishtank-guy, but recently - thanks to youtube - I got so excited seeing all these reef scaped tanks with the awesome colors and fish, I decided I'd have to have one

Since I recently bought (aka inherited) a house and I'm currently in the middle of renovations, a reef tank is a too big of an investment now. However I am planning to take down part of the wall (with window) between my soon-to-be open kitch and dining room and transform it to a large reef tank (approximately 1300l) which can be viewed from both kitchen and dining room (as in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e09e...iPVq_&index=12 )

Regarding the scape, I'm not really sure what I want, let alone how to do it...two long columns with an elongated swimming area in the middle or more lagoon like? All options are open for now.
Corals however I AM pretty sure about what I want. I know as a future beginner Acropora and most SPS are a pain in the ***, but I'm really no fan of most soft corals. Color plays a major part too: blues, purples, few pinks...not like the complete paint color chart exploded in my tank, that's just awful. But like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIBz...RnOyIsBNgiPVq_

As for fish and inverts, I really like firefish. Would love to have more than 1 or 2, like a school. Achilles tang, powder brown tang, whitecheek surgeon, a pair of oscellaris ofcourse, a butterflyfish, chromis, striped dottyback, mandarin, neon goby, moorish idol.
Inverts: hermits (dwarf zebra), harlequin shrimp, cleaner shrimp, maybe a brittle sea star as part of CUC, clam.

Now I know this is most likely an impossible list for a beginner like me, but there you go, my wishlist

[ravenjred]

Hi,
My name is Ed and I am new to ReefCentral and new to saltwater. I am planning on purchasing a 60gallon cube tank and stand and I have a couple of questions that I would like some advice about:
1. For my protein skimmer I was told by someone to get the Reef Octopus 160-INT and then someone else told me it would be too strong for that tank, that I should get the 110. Any thoughts?
2. What type of powerbeads should I get? I have researched Koralia 600's, Vortech, an Tunze Nano stream. So confusing.
3. I am not sure whether to use a sump or a sump with a refugium. Someone told me that a a refugium for this size tank is just a marketing ploy and to just use a sump.
Any suggestions on any of the above or anything else would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your help.

[TexReefs]

Hey all!

New to the hobby but with the help of my brother picking it up very quickly! He was kind enough to give me a 55gal with lights and since then it's been full steam ahead. Looking forward to learning here!

[angelstar0204]

Hi, my name is Angel! I'm a graphic/web designer living in Phoenix, AZ. I recently inherited a 55 gallon fish only tank from my brother in law. I'm slowly learning that it has a whole long list of problems! Most of these come from using cheap filters, etc. and not doing enough water changes or ANY cleaning of CC substrate for about 4-5 years.

I've been reading posts on this site for a while trying to figure out how to get this mess under control so I decided it would be a great idea to join!

I am looking forward to learning from passionate hobbyists and building a great tank!

[txcareybear]

Hi all,

I'm new to ReefCentral, so I guess I'll introduce myself. I've got a 24g nano cube up and running for two years now. Liking the hobby enough that I just started a 180 build! The forums have been a lot of help. Thanks all!

Carey