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

[LCKevin]

howdy everyone!

howdy everyone!

I've been snoopin' around for a while, so I guess it's time I introduce myself. My name is Kevin. I live between Houston and Galveston Texas. I've been keeping freshwater tanks for most of the last 20 years since I was about 10 or so. Mostly cichlid types. At one point I had 2 55s, a 29, a 15, and my wifes 10g goldfish tank going all at once, till the wife said it was a bit too much. So now we are down to a 55 cichlid (large Oscar, breeding pair of Jack Dempseys, Black Convict, an African, and 2 Plecos).
I finally got the wife convinced to let me setup a marine! So I've got my standard 120g (48x24x24). I plan to build my own sump. And will probably be piecing my lights together and would like to try building my own skimmer. I plan to have a mixed reef with live sand/rock and some fish.
Will probably be a slow build, as we are planning to move soon, and with working 75 hrs a week, 4 kids, a guinea pig, and wifes new Chinchilla, things go pretty slow with us. Sometimes you gotta speak up pretty loud to remind everyone else that you have projects too! Hahaha

See you guys 'round!

 

[Floridagirl66]

Hey my name is Trish and I am brand new to the hobby and the site!! I have a TON to learn and I hear this is a great place to hang out!
Trish

 

[dcefiacsjr]

Hi, my name is Chris, I was given a 30 gallon tank with some live rock and small coral. Currently have a few damsels, a clownfish, a goby, a purple lobster, and an emerald crab. The water was transported and I am currently trying to get the nitrates down and ph up. Look forward to learning as I go, if anyone knows of a good store in the northen tampa bay area, let me know. I found a store in Spring Hill where I live called Get Tanked, they seem to have a good reputation and have a pretty nice assortment of fish, rocks and corals.

 

[Aquarist007]

I've been snoopin' around for a while, so I guess it's time I introduce myself. My name is Kevin. I live between Houston and Galveston Texas. I've been keeping freshwater tanks for most of the last 20 years since I was about 10 or so. Mostly cichlid types. At one point I had 2 55s, a 29, a 15, and my wifes 10g goldfish tank going all at once, till the wife said it was a bit too much. So now we are down to a 55 cichlid (large Oscar, breeding pair of Jack Dempseys, Black Convict, an African, and 2 Plecos).
I finally got the wife convinced to let me setup a marine! So I've got my standard 120g (48x24x24). I plan to build my own sump. And will probably be piecing my lights together and would like to try building my own skimmer. I plan to have a mixed reef with live sand/rock and some fish.
Will probably be a slow build, as we are planning to move soon, and with working 75 hrs a week, 4 kids, a guinea pig, and wifes new Chinchilla, things go pretty slow with us. Sometimes you gotta speak up pretty loud to remind everyone else that you have projects too! Hahaha

See you guys 'round!

Your bottom line is so true. I think that you will find that the interest will peak with a saltwater tank esp with the kids. Once that happens then you will have more support for your tank build

[welcome]

 

[Aquarist007]

Hey my name is Trish and I am brand new to the hobby and the site!! I have a TON to learn and I hear this is a great place to hang out!
Trish

Yeah I have to admit its a pretty cool place to hang out
[welcome]

 

[Aquarist007]

Hi, my name is Chris, I was given a 30 gallon tank with some live rock and small coral. Currently have a few damsels, a clownfish, a goby, a purple lobster, and an emerald crab. The water was transported and I am currently trying to get the nitrates down and ph up. Look forward to learning as I go, if anyone knows of a good store in the northen tampa bay area, let me know. I found a store in Spring Hill where I live called Get Tanked, they seem to have a good reputation and have a pretty nice assortment of fish, rocks and corals.

check the reef clubs forum Chris---you can probably get support from a local reef club there.

[welcome]

 

[drstratton]

Hi, I'm Rene'. I've wanted to set up a saltwater tank since the first time I went scuba diving, that was about 23 years ago. Life gets busy and things get set on the back burner. My husband and I just went to Maui for our 25th wedding anniversary and the bug has bit again. This time I am going to get my tank. My son has a 29 gallon tank we bought for him several years ago. He has since upgraded to a 55 gallon tank to put his bass in. I am very excited to learn all that I can and of course being who I am I will go full bore and build a reef tank in the basement where our family room is. I hope to put in at least a 75 gallon reef tank upstairs in my living room later on. Well see.

 

[Joshnlaura]

We are new to this but having fun so far....

We are new to this but having fun so far....

We bought about 30 lbs of live rock and I now have some green eggs (or at least thats what it looks like) growing on one of the rocks I got. I apoligize I dont have a picture yet to post but I was wondering if anyone knew what it was. I have been looking at some algea pics online trying to find it and I havnt yet. Any suggestions let me know....thx.

Hope to talk to you guys soon.

 

[kotu100]

Sounds like some typical bubble algae. Make sure u don't pop the bubbles or they'll spread.

 

[Michael]

yep definately bubble algae, if you can take out the rock and scrub the bubbles off, as mentioned by kotu they will spread if they burst, at this early stage its easy to remove them.

 

[reefme]

Get yourself some emerald crabs as well.

 

[monkeydad]

New biocube nano reefer

New biocube nano reefer

Hi all, I'm Erich

14g Bio Cube nano reef.

Hi all,

caution, long post...

This forum seems like a friendly place, so here I am, hoping to learn and share. I'm Erich, married with a 9mo son, live in Great Falls VA, and travel for a living. Other interests are flying, motorcycles, kayaking, camping , cooking and wine. Oh, and I'm the fastest diaper changer in the east...

Our setup:
Bio Cube 14 gal tank with stand. Standard lights.
Aux water pump-jet.
Fluval E series electronic heater (awesome-so worth the money).
Bio Cube protein skimmer (not so awesome-makes a lot of water, not much bubbles).
I have a piece of filter material matted on the tray where the protein skimmer dumps water into the bio-ball chamber to trap the "floaties".

We started with live sand, and live rock from Fiji from a small aquarium store in Centreville-great place, FANTASTIC live rock. It cycled very quickly, about ten days. In six weeks it is already getting encrusted with red and purple coralline algae. We have seen several worms tunneling through the rock as well and even one zoanthid polyp that is growing like crazy! I am amazed at how quickly this live rock has been transformed in the tank. We started with a cleanup crew, then invertebrates, corals, and finally fish. We took a week between additions to settle the tank and keep an eye on the water.

In order of appearance:
7 Hermits (down to 5, one was cannibalized, the murderer went back to the store-yeach).
1 Emerald crab (wife's favorite)
2 Blue knuckle hermits
2 tunneling snails
2 Nerite snails
Rust colored mushroom coral
Green Star Polyp
Cleaner shrimp, red/white, deceased after one day :-(
Peppermint shrimp (hides a lot)
Fire shrimp (also shy)
Feather duster
Stony coral (with long pink tentacles-cool)
Torch coral (green tips)
1 Yellow tailed blue damsel
1 Percula clown

Next Up:
More mushroom coral, more coral in general.
Purple lobster I've been pining for.
Replace ho-hum hermits with red and blue clawed ones, I'm thinking of reducing the number of hermits-they eat so much!

Any suggestions for what to have would be greatly appreciated!! We have a small tank, so each creature must be colorful or have a lot of character. Any suggestions from other bio cube owners would be great too.

 

[Joshnlaura]

Cleaning off bubble algea....WHAT A MESS

Cleaning off bubble algea....WHAT A MESS

Lets just say I hope the liquid in these little pustules we cleaned off last night are hazardous to human skin....cause we popped about 100 of them and it went everywhere. I think are best option is to get one of the Mythrax crabs to just eat the stuff. We did however find an abundance of brine shrimp that were hiding in the rock and found another snail as well. When they mean live rock they REALLY mean live rock. LOL

 

[drsonnya]

Hi! I'm excited about being a new member on your forum. I've been into fishkeeping and marine tanks my entire life---have had a few years here and there without tanks. About 4 months ago I set up my newest tank--150 gallon reef tank with 30 gallon refugium, protein skimmer, plenum, lots of water motion, 6 CF bulbs. Last weekend I set up a fish only marine tank in a 46 gallon bow front that we had lying around. Now all the mean fish that I've thrown in my sump have a home. My husband and I are both veterinarians and do Search and Rescue with our bloodhounds during our free time. We also like to garden, read, ham radio, etc. Thanks in advance for all of your help!

 

[Aquarist007]

Hi all, I'm Erich

14g Bio Cube nano reef.

Hi all,

caution, long post...

This forum seems like a friendly place, so here I am, hoping to learn and share. I'm Erich, married with a 9mo son, live in Great Falls VA, and travel for a living. Other interests are flying, motorcycles, kayaking, camping , cooking and wine. Oh, and I'm the fastest diaper changer in the east...

Our setup:
Bio Cube 14 gal tank with stand. Standard lights.
Aux water pump-jet.
Fluval E series electronic heater (awesome-so worth the money).
Bio Cube protein skimmer (not so awesome-makes a lot of water, not much bubbles).
I have a piece of filter material matted on the tray where the protein skimmer dumps water into the bio-ball chamber to trap the "floaties".

We started with live sand, and live rock from Fiji from a small aquarium store in Centreville-great place, FANTASTIC live rock. It cycled very quickly, about ten days. In six weeks it is already getting encrusted with red and purple coralline algae. We have seen several worms tunneling through the rock as well and even one zoanthid polyp that is growing like crazy! I am amazed at how quickly this live rock has been transformed in the tank. We started with a cleanup crew, then invertebrates, corals, and finally fish. We took a week between additions to settle the tank and keep an eye on the water.

In order of appearance:
7 Hermits (down to 5, one was cannibalized, the murderer went back to the store-yeach).
1 Emerald crab (wife's favorite)
2 Blue knuckle hermits
2 tunneling snails
2 Nerite snails
Rust colored mushroom coral
Green Star Polyp
Cleaner shrimp, red/white, deceased after one day :-(
Peppermint shrimp (hides a lot)
Fire shrimp (also shy)
Feather duster
Stony coral (with long pink tentacles-cool)
Torch coral (green tips)
1 Yellow tailed blue damsel
1 Percula clown

Next Up:
More mushroom coral, more coral in general.
Purple lobster I've been pining for.
Replace ho-hum hermits with red and blue clawed ones, I'm thinking of reducing the number of hermits-they eat so much!

Any suggestions for what to have would be greatly appreciated!! We have a small tank, so each creature must be colorful or have a lot of character. Any suggestions from other bio cube owners would be great too.

As far as inverts coco worms would do great in your cube. You also might want a sand sifting star and a brittle star.

As far as fish you might want to add a fairy or carpenter wrasse--but not a six line.

Suggestions for coral: frogspawn, hammer coral, colt coral, xenia, open brain, zoas, gonipora come to mind

[welcome]

 

[Aquarist007]

Lets just say I hope the liquid in these little pustules we cleaned off last night are hazardous to human skin....cause we popped about 100 of them and it went everywhere. I think are best option is to get one of the Mythrax crabs to just eat the stuff. We did however find an abundance of brine shrimp that were hiding in the rock and found another snail as well. When they mean live rock they REALLY mean live rock. LOL

Relying on critters to solve a problem doesn't always work and they definetly don't follow specific orders from humans:rollface:

A good method for tackling bubble algae is to remove the rock and scrub it with a tooth brush, rinse it with ro water and place it back in the tank as soon as possible

 

[Aquarist007]

Hi! I'm excited about being a new member on your forum. I've been into fishkeeping and marine tanks my entire life---have had a few years here and there without tanks. About 4 months ago I set up my newest tank--150 gallon reef tank with 30 gallon refugium, protein skimmer, plenum, lots of water motion, 6 CF bulbs. Last weekend I set up a fish only marine tank in a 46 gallon bow front that we had lying around. Now all the mean fish that I've thrown in my sump have a home. My husband and I are both veterinarians and do Search and Rescue with our bloodhounds during our free time. We also like to garden, read, ham radio, etc. Thanks in advance for all of your help!

[welcome]

There are a number of veternarians on RC; I sure you will meet them eventually. I wish my vet was interested in reef keeping--I can't even put one of my tanks in his office:lol:

 

[monkeydad]

Thanks captn!

All is on hold, I had an amonia/nitrite/nitrate spike from overfeeding:sad2:

I've done two partial water changes yesterday, and am doing another this morning.

So far I see no adverse effects, except for the torch coral. One of its branches fully retracted and a second is looking unhappy as well.

I hope it bounces back.

 

[Steiner19er]

Newbie of the forum

Newbie of the forum

Hi my name is Tom Just joined have been observer for a month or so. Been with an aquarium for about 3.5 years. Mainly a fowlr it is a 75 gal. Recently have built my own backwall and am in process of starting up a 25 gal sump. Would like to start doing a reef. :rollface:

 

[bbandu]

New Guy

New Guy

Hello everyone, My name is Larry and have just entered the world of saltwater reef keeping.

I have been in the aquarium hobby for about 8 years now but most of my experience is in freshwater (mainly african cichlids).

Right now my current set up is a All Glass 90g, 30 gal sump, Euro Reef 80 Protein Skimmer, 2 Koralia 3, 4 bulb Current USA Nova Extreme T5 Aquarium Lighting Fixture Fixture

I also have a 20g QT and 4 freshwater tanks up and runing.