Hello all.
First let me say I'm quite happy to find what seems to be a strong Iowa reef contingency. I stopped at Petco the other day and saw the GIRS poster, it piqued my interest so here I am.
I'll give a little history for starters (boring as it may be). I came into reef keeping about 15 years ago. Needless to say reef keeping was just becoming mainstream then, I had to do a lot of leg work and reading to learn and there was obviously no web presence at all (what a difference it will make for me now!). I never kept large reefs, the largest being 29 gal. I was however brave enough to establish a micro reef when these were as yet fairly unheard of, 5 gal (I'll post some old pics later if anyone is interested). The 5 gal was much harder to handle than was the 29! My reading then was mostly Sprung, Tullock and Delbeek (I can barely remember these names), not sure if these guys are still at the forefront or not. After a few years we had our first child and I gave up the hobby as I had less time and less money.
Fast forward 12 years. My oldest is going on 13 and I'm itching to get a tank going again. I think he will be pretty interested also (which will relieve me of some of the work). Unfortunately I've forgotten pretty much everything I ever knew and will have to relearn it all (I can't even remember water temp, 72 sounds right though). I certainly don't remember anything about water chemistry!
What I had, not sure if any of this is still applicable today so I'm looking for suggestions:
- live rock reef, Florida I think
- glass bottom. I used a method that was very effective for me. PVC in the shape of a U going from the top rear corners down to the bottom rear corners and across the back bottom, drilled with holes, then power heads at the top shooting down. This created current and constantly pushed all detrius towards the front where it could be vacuumed.
- mostly soft corals, giant clams and a few small reef fish
- MH lighting, not sure what it was but it was 6500k (I think) pendant. Actinics for evening. I went with MH because fluorescents at the time could not produce a natural look (sunlight filtered look, shimmering).
- A skimmer, home built if I recall correctly
- kalkwasser drip
- Bio-wheel, worked great for me but not sure anymore
- Fluval canister with mechanical filtration only
That's all I can remember. I'm not set on anything at this point and plan on taking a long time to make decisions. I do have some rough ideas though:
- fairly large tank this time. I'd like the width of a 55 but with more height I think. I really prefer sqaureish to long and skinny though I know this allows for less surface area (not sure if this is still a big deal?).
- small reef presence, more water. I'd like to do a central reef mound with lots of empty space for swimmers (yellow tangs, etc).
- As compact as possible. I was never a wet-dry filter fan and hope they are not still the rage
Well, now that I've sealed my fate here as being long winded, I guess that's all.
Cheers.
First let me say I'm quite happy to find what seems to be a strong Iowa reef contingency. I stopped at Petco the other day and saw the GIRS poster, it piqued my interest so here I am.
I'll give a little history for starters (boring as it may be). I came into reef keeping about 15 years ago. Needless to say reef keeping was just becoming mainstream then, I had to do a lot of leg work and reading to learn and there was obviously no web presence at all (what a difference it will make for me now!). I never kept large reefs, the largest being 29 gal. I was however brave enough to establish a micro reef when these were as yet fairly unheard of, 5 gal (I'll post some old pics later if anyone is interested). The 5 gal was much harder to handle than was the 29! My reading then was mostly Sprung, Tullock and Delbeek (I can barely remember these names), not sure if these guys are still at the forefront or not. After a few years we had our first child and I gave up the hobby as I had less time and less money.
Fast forward 12 years. My oldest is going on 13 and I'm itching to get a tank going again. I think he will be pretty interested also (which will relieve me of some of the work). Unfortunately I've forgotten pretty much everything I ever knew and will have to relearn it all (I can't even remember water temp, 72 sounds right though). I certainly don't remember anything about water chemistry!
What I had, not sure if any of this is still applicable today so I'm looking for suggestions:
- live rock reef, Florida I think
- glass bottom. I used a method that was very effective for me. PVC in the shape of a U going from the top rear corners down to the bottom rear corners and across the back bottom, drilled with holes, then power heads at the top shooting down. This created current and constantly pushed all detrius towards the front where it could be vacuumed.
- mostly soft corals, giant clams and a few small reef fish
- MH lighting, not sure what it was but it was 6500k (I think) pendant. Actinics for evening. I went with MH because fluorescents at the time could not produce a natural look (sunlight filtered look, shimmering).
- A skimmer, home built if I recall correctly
- kalkwasser drip
- Bio-wheel, worked great for me but not sure anymore
- Fluval canister with mechanical filtration only
That's all I can remember. I'm not set on anything at this point and plan on taking a long time to make decisions. I do have some rough ideas though:
- fairly large tank this time. I'd like the width of a 55 but with more height I think. I really prefer sqaureish to long and skinny though I know this allows for less surface area (not sure if this is still a big deal?).
- small reef presence, more water. I'd like to do a central reef mound with lots of empty space for swimmers (yellow tangs, etc).
- As compact as possible. I was never a wet-dry filter fan and hope they are not still the rage
Well, now that I've sealed my fate here as being long winded, I guess that's all.
Cheers.
) after delving in and getting reacquainted.
