Bodai
New member
Hello all,
I just joined this forum to get some help with my first "fish only with live rock" + maybe some corals when I am ready... hehe
(actually tried to post this but looks like it was waiting for a moderator, but it looks like it vanished instead, apologies if it shows up twice...)
About me...
I am an aquarium veteran, have been keeping freshwater fish off and on for the last 30 or so years, I worked in pet stores for 9 years when I was a teenager, and I did some aquaculture work as well. My favorites are Cichlids and Loaches, and I have only dabbled in salt water fish once many years ago, back when undergravel filters were a thing to give you an idea.
So, here is the story why I am here...
I have always stayed away from salt water and reef because it is expensive, complex, and historically I did not approve of the habitat destruction. My wife has asked me to do a salt water setup several times, and these were the arguments I used to talk her out of it. She works as a banker, and is a real miser, so I did not want to listen to the complaints about the costs.
So, I was getting ready to build the mother-of-all African Cichlid tanks, and she finally said the magic words: "I don't care how much it costs, I want saltwater fish"... you all here probably felt a disturbance in the force...
Also:
- The tech has gotten better, such as LEDs vs. Halides
- Captive-bred fish are much more prominent
- I am more financially secure now
Here are my goals:
- Make the wife happy (HW = HL)
- Mentor my kids in the hobby (two boys, 5 and 7)
- Build a "best of the best" / spare-no-expense system - I keep fish partially to reduce stress, as I am sure many of you do, so any technology I can use to improve success and reduce labor / water changes / etc. I am interested.
Here is what I have so far: (pictures in my profile...)
- 135G Oceanic, RR + black back + Starphire glass
- Oceanic solid oak stand I bought used and re-furbished
- Four Kessil A160WE Tuna Blue's
- LifeReef LF2 W/D filter
- Iwaki WMD55RLT main pump
- Lifeguard mechanical, chemical, and 25W UV
- 500W blue line titanium heater with controller
- Titanium grounding probe
- I have a plastics fabricator building me a custom ABS canopy to add to aesthetics and cut down on light wash into the room
- I am working with an aquarium pro in New Hampshire, but I am here because he can only answer but so many questions, and I want to educate myself as much as possible.
- He is going to get me 135lbs of live rock and sand, and "cure" it for me and remove various bad things...
- We are right now working on changing the filters and plumbing from the African Cichlid idea to this idea
- Backup power - I have solar panels, so I might get a battery so that I would have backup power
Here is what I am currently planning to add:
- Protein skimmer (I will post about this in the equipment forum)
- Two Ecotech VorTech MP40 power heads
- Work with LifeReef to convert the W/D to a sump / refugium
- Thinking of adding another Kessil to sump and doing Chaetomorpha
- Test kits (chemical and electronic), need to research
- Automatic top off system, need to research
- Calcium reactor, probably will wait on this, need to research
- Nitrate reactor (vodka fed), debating this, need to research
- Vat / setup for mixing water change water
- I have a Kinetico water softener and K5 RO for drinking water, I might be able to use this for top-off, but I may get a separate RO/DI for water changes, although I am going to test my tap for Nitrate and Phosphate to see how necessary this is, it would be great if I could use tap water
- Hospital tank, I would actually rather do without this, but looks like I may need to get one
- There are so many wires, I may need to get a separate cabinet to put next to the tank to hold it all + supplies
Questions:
- Any good links to saltwater / reef beginner guides that you all might swear by would be appreciated, there are sooo many out there
- Any specific comments / suggestions on what I have so far, and what I may be missing.
Thanks very much in advance
-Bodai
I just joined this forum to get some help with my first "fish only with live rock" + maybe some corals when I am ready... hehe
(actually tried to post this but looks like it was waiting for a moderator, but it looks like it vanished instead, apologies if it shows up twice...)
About me...
I am an aquarium veteran, have been keeping freshwater fish off and on for the last 30 or so years, I worked in pet stores for 9 years when I was a teenager, and I did some aquaculture work as well. My favorites are Cichlids and Loaches, and I have only dabbled in salt water fish once many years ago, back when undergravel filters were a thing to give you an idea.
So, here is the story why I am here...
I have always stayed away from salt water and reef because it is expensive, complex, and historically I did not approve of the habitat destruction. My wife has asked me to do a salt water setup several times, and these were the arguments I used to talk her out of it. She works as a banker, and is a real miser, so I did not want to listen to the complaints about the costs.
So, I was getting ready to build the mother-of-all African Cichlid tanks, and she finally said the magic words: "I don't care how much it costs, I want saltwater fish"... you all here probably felt a disturbance in the force...
Also:
- The tech has gotten better, such as LEDs vs. Halides
- Captive-bred fish are much more prominent
- I am more financially secure now
Here are my goals:
- Make the wife happy (HW = HL)
- Mentor my kids in the hobby (two boys, 5 and 7)
- Build a "best of the best" / spare-no-expense system - I keep fish partially to reduce stress, as I am sure many of you do, so any technology I can use to improve success and reduce labor / water changes / etc. I am interested.
Here is what I have so far: (pictures in my profile...)
- 135G Oceanic, RR + black back + Starphire glass
- Oceanic solid oak stand I bought used and re-furbished
- Four Kessil A160WE Tuna Blue's
- LifeReef LF2 W/D filter
- Iwaki WMD55RLT main pump
- Lifeguard mechanical, chemical, and 25W UV
- 500W blue line titanium heater with controller
- Titanium grounding probe
- I have a plastics fabricator building me a custom ABS canopy to add to aesthetics and cut down on light wash into the room
- I am working with an aquarium pro in New Hampshire, but I am here because he can only answer but so many questions, and I want to educate myself as much as possible.
- He is going to get me 135lbs of live rock and sand, and "cure" it for me and remove various bad things...
- We are right now working on changing the filters and plumbing from the African Cichlid idea to this idea
- Backup power - I have solar panels, so I might get a battery so that I would have backup power
Here is what I am currently planning to add:
- Protein skimmer (I will post about this in the equipment forum)
- Two Ecotech VorTech MP40 power heads
- Work with LifeReef to convert the W/D to a sump / refugium
- Thinking of adding another Kessil to sump and doing Chaetomorpha
- Test kits (chemical and electronic), need to research
- Automatic top off system, need to research
- Calcium reactor, probably will wait on this, need to research
- Nitrate reactor (vodka fed), debating this, need to research
- Vat / setup for mixing water change water
- I have a Kinetico water softener and K5 RO for drinking water, I might be able to use this for top-off, but I may get a separate RO/DI for water changes, although I am going to test my tap for Nitrate and Phosphate to see how necessary this is, it would be great if I could use tap water
- Hospital tank, I would actually rather do without this, but looks like I may need to get one
- There are so many wires, I may need to get a separate cabinet to put next to the tank to hold it all + supplies
Questions:
- Any good links to saltwater / reef beginner guides that you all might swear by would be appreciated, there are sooo many out there
- Any specific comments / suggestions on what I have so far, and what I may be missing.
Thanks very much in advance
-Bodai
