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

Hello, My name is Chris, I'm from Cleveland, OH. I bought my brother-in-laws set-up. Its a 55 gallon reef tank, with live rock and sand, 6 corals, and 4 fish, along with the clean up crew. I've always loved aquariums, and finaly have the chance to have my own!!!
 
Finally Found a Forum

Finally Found a Forum

Hello. I have a 30g all in one that just cycled. I have a bunch of questions, so I'll thank the members in advance. Looking forward to learning from everyone.
 
hey my names kyle im 16 im very new to the hobby do not have any kind of setup yet just looking around for information a friend rrecommended this site to me i think aquariums are amazing and beautiful thats mostly what caught my attention and made me more interested in this hobby looking forward to learing more about the hobby
thanks
 
*waves*

*waves*

Hi yall :)
I have had a 75 gallon tank for about 6 years. I still feel like a complete newb! I must be a slow learner, lol. I kept my tank stocked real light so most of my problems were due to lack of proper lighting and filtration. I just bought a 120 or 125 gallon tank, I forgot which :p
It is sitting empty in my living room ready for me to tackle it. I came here hoping to avoid some of the pitfalls I had with the 75 (and still having) I kept it and moved it to my bedroom. I look forward to getting to know yall :)
 
Anyone have advice on what i can do with a giant clam shell? its huge and very heavy , im female and can"t even lift the darn thing
 
New to the reef community. I must say that i have fallen in love with this hobby and its amazing features! I have owned a few fresh water tanks in the past but always wanted a saltwater tank. I lucked out and a buddy of mine sold me what he had in his tank for $700! I then found another tank that was reef ready with refugium, skimmer, halides, t5's, leds and pump for another $700! I have invested about a total of about $1600 and it seems to be going great. All my levels are awesome with the exception of still raising my salinity to 1.025. It is currently at 1.021 so i am on my way. Please ck out my photo album and let me know what you think! all tips are welcome as i am a novice. I am learning everyday and luckily i have a few friends that are experts in the saltwater hobby to help me. Thank you and i look forward to seeing all you guys/gals pics and posts! Have a great one!
 
Hello, I am new Reef Central and to the saltwater game. I currently have an operating 75 gallon freshwater tank w/ cichlids (Midas, Jack Dempsy, Tiger Oscar, Green Terror and Clown Pleco). They are all pretty humble...
Anyways, I just inherited a 150 gallon saltwater READY system (Less the sand and living animals) from my Mother in-law's boss (Dentist)!! I'm so excited! I've always wanted to have a saltwater tank, but I've always heard that it takes so much time and work to maintain one... Until I found out otherwise from my favorite local fish store and a few people I know who have them! I had actually begun thinking about switching my current 75 gal tank over to saltwater.. but now I have everything I need to another tank (I love fish in general, so the more tanks the better).... I just have to modify an area of my house to accommodate such a large tank before I can begin setting it up. I'll probably post all of the before and after pics for folks to see. I just need some help... I don't even know what most of the stuff is for or where it goes... so if someone could PLEASE send me some pics and info on the different things needed for a setup of this size that I could use to compare the stuff I already have with, that would be AWESOME!!
PLEASE HELP ME OUT! I'm looking forward to this new challenge and to hearing from all ye experienced saltwater people!
 
Greetings ReefCentral,
Been lurking for the past two years and figured it was time to register as I'm in the process of upgrading from my 29gal Bio Cube HQI to a 57G or possibly 90G. Looking forward to getting some advice as I progress.
 
Hey everyone, new to RC but not reefing. I have a 65G drilled reef tank with sump under. Have an overkill skimmer Coralife 150g. About 60lbs of sand and another 140+/- live rock. I have learned lots of lessons along the way and consider myself to be somewhat resourceful now. I was referred by fragyoureef, who I came into contact with because I was selling my T5, I upgraded to SOL LED. Looking to become a good part of this community and help along the way, as well as get help!
 
Hello, I am new Reef Central and to the saltwater game. I currently have an operating 75 gallon freshwater tank w/ cichlids (Midas, Jack Dempsy, Tiger Oscar, Green Terror and Clown Pleco). They are all pretty humble...
Anyways, I just inherited a 150 gallon saltwater READY system (Less the sand and living animals) from my Mother in-law's boss (Dentist)!! I'm so excited! I've always wanted to have a saltwater tank, but I've always heard that it takes so much time and work to maintain one... Until I found out otherwise from my favorite local fish store and a few people I know who have them! I had actually begun thinking about switching my current 75 gal tank over to saltwater.. but now I have everything I need to another tank (I love fish in general, so the more tanks the better).... I just have to modify an area of my house to accommodate such a large tank before I can begin setting it up. I'll probably post all of the before and after pics for folks to see. I just need some help... I don't even know what most of the stuff is for or where it goes... so if someone could PLEASE send me some pics and info on the different things needed for a setup of this size that I could use to compare the stuff I already have with, that would be AWESOME!!
PLEASE HELP ME OUT! I'm looking forward to this new challenge and to hearing from all ye experienced saltwater people!

150G is a great size! Once you get it stabilized and going maintenance will be less then a tank of a smaller size, like mine. I'm going for the 150-200G+ size next year. Your equipment will depend a lot on what kind of tank you are wanting, i.e. reef tank, fish only tank?
Lighting will need to be more for a 150G if you want reef. Metal Halides would be cheaper but put out big heat, T5's would be up there in price and LED would be up there as well.
You would need a sump, return pump, power heads, skimmer, live rock. Start a different thread and I'm sure myself along with other can help guide you!
 
My name is Chris. I have been a member of rc for a few years. I have done a lot Of reading not so much posting. I purchased an oceanic 120 about 4 years ago. It has been sitting in the basement that I finished (empty). I have not done anything with it. We do not use the basement as often as I intended. I am in the process of building a stand and purchasing equipment to get it running in my den. My goal is to have fish by the summer and coral by next winter. My 3 kids are excited as I am.
 
Howdy, my names Bryce I have a 180 and a 55G freshwater tanks but want to get into salt water. I intern at a local aquarium and am basically researching as much as I can so when I have money to spend I do it on the right equip.
 
3 months into my tank.
Im a beginner with this, i've had alot of help with friends who have well established reef systems and are pretty experience. I have a 20 gallon long, inside i have my coral beauty,ive had him in here for about 2 weeks and he's been a great asset to my tank. Then i just got a goby a few days ago, i got him a with a pistol shrimp. I've also got 3 shrimp; peppermint, the pistol, and a anemone shrimp. Corals include multiple mushrooms, polyps, zoanthins, green tip hammer coral, plate coral that i got from a friend-favorite piece in tank, and other hitchhikers.
sean49er
 
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Thanks for the info RtReef.... I actually think I have all of that already. The tank came with everything they had.... I have boxes full of things.
By SUMP, do you mean the 10-20 gal tank underneath the tank??
The rocks were live, but have now been out of water for over a week... can these still be used as live rock or would I need to trade it for live rock?
Is a power head, the current blower looking thingys that get attached near the top of the tank??
And I know that I have a return pump... I'm just not sure which thing it is/what it looks like.
And by skimmer, are you talking about the protein skimmer??
I'm not sure of the brand names of all the items I have... I do know that some of the stuff is a little old, but the person I got it from is a chemist and her husband is a dentist... so money is not a big deal to them and I know for sure that everything when purchased by them originally was top of the line.

As for the lights, I have 4 of the long lights (not LED... unfortunately), 2 are blue and 2 are regular and there is also, moon lighting.

And for the type of tank I want... I want some soft corals, NO hard corals (I've heard that they are expensive and you have to have super bright lights to grow them), and fish.

Sorry for all the questions, I just need a lot of answers.
I'm hoping to take some pics of all my stuff tomorrow and i'll try and post them so you can see and tell me what I have.
I think I'm also going to go to my local pet store tomorrow too... NOT a chain store like PetSmart.

Thanks for all the help!
 
3 months into my tank.
Im a beginner with this, i've had alot of help with friends who have well established reef systems and are pretty experience. I have a 20 gallon long, inside i have my coral beauty,ive had him in here for about 2 weeks and he's been a great asset to my tank. Then i just got a goby a few days ago, i got him a with a pistol shrimp. I've also got 3 shrimp; peppermint, the pistol, and a anemone shrimp. Corals include multiple mushrooms, polyps, zoanthins, green tip hammer coral, plate coral that i got from a friend-favorite piece in tank, and other hitchhikers.
sean49er

[welcome]

It sounds like you have a grasp on the situation. Keep at this pace you will need to upgrade to a bigger tank very soon.
 
Thanks for the info RtReef.... I actually think I have all of that already. The tank came with everything they had.... I have boxes full of things.
[welcome]

By SUMP, do you mean the 10-20 gal tank underneath the tank??
Yes, pretty much all the serious reefers have some sort of tank undernieth the main display to store all the unsightly equipment such as the protien skimmer, various reactors, macro algae, microfauna, etc. it allows for more water displacement which means more solution for dilution to decrease pollution (or the coined phrase, "The solution to pollution is dilution".

The rocks were live, but have now been out of water for over a week... can these still be used as live rock or would I need to trade it for live rock?

If the rocks were moved out of the water for as long as you had them out they are no longer considered "live" and what "live" means is the bacteria that colonize on the rock that take in the harmful ammonia and eventually convert it into into the less harmful nitrates. (side note: the big misconception of live rock is that it pertains to all the microfauna and coralline algae that grow in and on the rock, that's simply not true) You definitely don't have to trade the rock in because it's not hard to take what was once live rock and make it live again. all you need is time, and patients. put the rock in a container with salt water and a heater, and water flow (using a power head) and feed the tank with some source of ammonia (I like raw uncooked, unseasoned shrimp from the super market) and give it 3-6 weeks for the cycle to complete (watch for ammonia-nitrites-nitrates)

Is a power head, the current blower looking thingys that get attached near the top of the tank??
Yes that's exactly what it is, depending on what you have in the tank the more water flow the better.

And I know that I have a return pump... I'm just not sure which thing it is/what it looks like.
The return pump is the water pump that returns the water that has drained into the sump and returns it to the display tank.

And by skimmer, are you talking about the protein skimmer??
Yes

I'm not sure of the brand names of all the items I have... I do know that some of the stuff is a little old, but the person I got it from is a chemist and her husband is a dentist... so money is not a big deal to them and I know for sure that everything when purchased by them originally was top of the line.
If that's true then you have a great foundation to start with.

As for the lights, I have 4 of the long lights (not LED... unfortunately), 2 are blue and 2 are regular and there is also, moon lighting.
without seeing them I would venture to guess that they are T5's which many reefers use as well. the other guess would be compact fluorescence and if that's the case then an upgrade is necessary if you choose to keep light demanding corals in your tank.

And for the type of tank I want... I want some soft corals, NO hard corals (I've heard that they are expensive and you have to have super bright lights to grow them), and fish.
Hard corals (LPS and SPS) are not expensive in the fact of getting them but they can get expensive if you don't have the right foundation in the means of a tank that can support their growth. They are meant for a more experienced reefer once they get the hang of keeping fish and tried their hand with zoanthids, mushrooms and other softies.

I don't want to discuourage you but there is a lot to know about them but after understanding what they need and how to keep a tank stable enough for them they are easy to take care of.

Sorry for all the questions, I just need a lot of answers.
I'm hoping to take some pics of all my stuff tomorrow and i'll try and post them so you can see and tell me what I have.
I think I'm also going to go to my local pet store tomorrow too... NOT a chain store like PetSmart.

Thanks for all the help!
No problem, that is what this forum is here for, I wish you luck and hope this becomes a hobby you truly enjoy
 
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