Getting back in - Maybe

H

Hlothran

New member
I have been out of the hobby for some time (2005) and I am considering getting back in. I have only been in the Pittsburgh area for a few years so know nothing about the reef stores in the area. I live near Wet Pets which seems decent...

Anyway, I am looking to possibly get back in to the hobby. Startup costs are a little concern so I am looking for any thoughts or stuff anyone may be selling to help this process along. Right now I have...

nothing...

:)

Previously I had a 50G fish and 100G reef, had mixed success with both but loved the hobby and I am considering a restart.

Thanks,

Hlothran
 
Welcome back. Several people are getting out of the hobby so you may be able to find alot of used equipment on here.
 
I got back in 16 months ago from a 12 year hiatus and it's been a lot of fun. All my stuff is in my new shop and I've got 6 tanks running and I'm also the current chairman of the Indiana (PA) Reef Club .......... LOL

There are a lot in the PMAS club willing to help and most of all have fun!
 
Thoughts on getting started

Thoughts on getting started

When I got my setup going 3 years ago, my major costs were lighting and live rock. As soon as you make the decision that it's a "go", my recommendation would be to use the resources locally to procure as much live rock as you need as well as get some live sand going. If you run all of this together in a tub of sorts, you can quickly get the expensive basics done.

If I were to do this again, I'd get most of my rock dry from a place like Marco Rocks (http://www.marcorocks.com/) and "seed" it with some rock and sand that you get locally. That way your rock cost is closer to $2/lb rather than the $7-8/lb. Huge savings.

Lucky for you, you're in a hobby where people are always getting the "upgrade bug", and there are a lot of people that are trying to sell lights. You can get expensive LEDs, or you can buy gently used T5 fixtures from people that are upgrading to expensive LEDs. I am in the latter camp.

My last suggestion would be to plan plan plan. If you can plan your dream setup well, then you won't be hurting to change pumps and rethink your sump configuration, which all cost a lot of money and time. I got everything second hand off of craigslist. I planned extensively, and have been able to keep a system with very minimal maintenance. I do water changes of 20 gallons ever 3-6 months (I know, there are probably a lot of people here with objections to this), scrape coraline algae off with a razor and empty chaeto every 3-4 weeks, top off with RO/DI water weekly, and feed daily. I think I'm at the far end of the spectrum as far as upkeep goes, but I have had no crashes or issues.

Good luck with the hobby. Many of the preconceptions of it being very expensive and requiring a lot of time for upkeep aren't necessarily true for all of us, and there are several of us that can help you out to get the type of system you want.
 
I will give you a hell of a deal on a complete 75 gallon setup, including tank, stand, light, sump, skimmer, pumps, etc... and probably a fair amount of rock.
 
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