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

[Terran]

Just took the plunge and purchased a CAD Light 100G Artisan II Open System:

100G Artisan Walnut cabinet
100G Artisan Multi chamber sump
TIA-1350 Conic Protein Skimmer
BR-1 Conic Bio-Pellet Reactor
Dual 30W Multi-Chip LED

This is my first reef tank and wanted a system I can grow into. The fine folks over at CAD Light delivered and installed the system for me. Will try to get the tank prep this week.

 

[adam1111]

Hey my name is Adam and I just started my 1st SW tank. Its a new learning experience so I'll probably be asking a lot of newby questions so thanks in advance! 1st question...what should I put in my refugium 1st? I have crushed coral as the sandbed but what's next?:hmm2:
40 gallon acrylic
20 DIY refugium

 

[Coral72]

New to Saltwater

New to Saltwater

Hello, I live near Cleveland, Ohio. I've had fish for a number of years but only 6 months on my saltwater tank. I've got 2 chromis damsels and a maroon clownfish. Cleanup crew of an emerald crab, turbo snails and a number of blue legged hermits.

Live sand base and some live rock with feather dusters on them. At night I see a high population of what appears to be anthropods.

Have a nice day.

John

 

[salman01]

hello rc my name is sal. I am currently settjng up a 90 gal corner flow. I hope I can do it right. my biggest problem right now is that my water is draining so fast that and filter sock I have overfills and I can see it bubbling up and the water pouring out. any sugessions.

 

[Platos Atlantis]

I just discovered this hobby and I'm in the gathering info/convincing the wife stage of my adventure. I've got the wife pretty close to yes so I'm mainly focused on turning my mind into a sponge (yuk yuk) and absorbing everything I can. Since I'm new, I'm going to get a Red Sea Max all in one setup to make things easier on me. I have some genuine war wounds that limit me physically so I need the absolute easiest route even if it's pricier. Thanks for reading.

 

[postshawn]

___

 

[postshawn]

New to saltwater tanks and excited to learn

New to saltwater tanks and excited to learn

I've been into freshwater fish keeping for years. Have had 2 tanks for about 3 years now, Goldfish and FW Tropicals. The wife bought me a 12g Nanocube for my birthday and we decided to give Saltwater a try. We've had it up and running for a couple months. It's mostly doing well. A few trial and errors here and there. But overall I think I've got the hang of it as a beginner so far. So now we are looking to upgrade. Luckily being in Los Angeles there are many complete setups minus rock, sand, water and fish for $500 or so and some even include all those for a bit more. But I'm looking at 50-100g tanks now. I'm actually going to get rid of my 29g FW Tropicals and downsize my Goldfish. Well I can't downsize them per say but they take a lot of maintenance since they are overstocked in a tank. So half of them will be traded in at my LFS. Then I'll lower the overall maintenance in my household and can properly care for a larger SW tank. I will keep the 12g as a great little quarantine or frag tank.

Personally I've always been interested in the smaller fish and critters. I have never been into the big freshwater fish that many keep. I'd rather have a school of 10 small fish then one large fish. So I think I'm going to carry that over to my saltwater adventures to start. I'd love to get a tank going and still only keep fish that don't "need" the whole space but give them more room anyway. I currently have a Clownfish and Green Mandarin. I am completely content with keeping in the fish that don't grow larger then 4-5" range. I'd probably want one or two fish that get 4-5" as the sort of center piece or just to kind of give the feel of a full range but then I'd love to do the rest with 2-3" fish and even a few smaller ones if I have the proper hiding places and such. I also love all the other critters from the cleanup crew to the smallest of them that come in the rock, as long as they aren't the harmful ones of course.

Corals are a whole other thing to me. I have a few small things in my current tank but I'm still learning a lot about them and have a lot to go. I'd like to get some hardy corals, mostly soft ones and see where that takes me. I do like the colors they add and they sort of have personalities just like the fish. You can see what they are doing in different times of the day or light cycles.

So overall I'm excited to be joining all of you in this hobby. I will be drooling over some of the bigger tanks for now in hopes that a few years down the road when I move to a bigger house I can try my hand at one of those larger tanks (thinking 150g-300g). But for now I'm going to love the tank I have and whatever I pickup next. I will have to anyway because it's seriously going to be about all the space my current small house can give up to aquatic inhabitants.

Thanks.
-Shawn

 

[kinkylizard]

My Name is Michael and I am relatively new to the saltwater hobby, I have a 29 gallon freshwater planted aquarium that has been up and running for around 15 years, and just a couple of months ago, my wife gave me a 14 gallon Biocube for my birthday. I now have plans of doing saltwater.

 

[ReefRaider7243]

Hello all, My name is Ed and I'm new to salt and reefing but so far I'm having a blast. My tank has been up for 1 month now and so far everything is running smoothly. I started with a 75gal tank and I will post pics shortly. Currently I have 2 clarkii's, 2 yellow tail damsels, a condy anemone, and my favorite is my Hawkfish. That's most likely it for fish as this is to be a reef tank. My corals are Green star polyps and a Kenya tree but I will be adding more this week so suggestions are most welcome.
This is a great beginners thread as it has answered most of the questions I have atm, especially about my Kenya tree (whew, thought he was dead)and lighting.

I will post pictures soon.

 

[Ccarroll57]

Taking the plunge

Taking the plunge

Hey everyone, my name is Colin. I'm new here and am getting ready to take the plunge into Saltwater. I have had several freshwater tanks over the years but have always wanted a saltwater. Doing lots of reading right now and probably going to start when I get back from vacation in a few weeks.

 

[Ambition]

Hey everyone, just joined. I have been lurking around here for some time now. Got into the hobby about 6 months ago when my cousin found that he didn't have time to take care of his 29 gallon bubble tip anemone tank. He knew I liked the tank as I would always be staring at it when I would go to his house.

Now I have a bigger tank in mind so I can keep all sorts of fish. I sold the 29 gallon to someone in love with BTAs so now I have a clean slate! My plan is to go up to a 180 because I love the dimensions. No big fish at all, I have seen half grown tangs and they look cramped in the tanks I have seen. Figured now would be the time to join so I can ask all of my questions that haven't been answered, or that I still don't get the answer to. I am getting excited!

 

[Sirthor1881]

Hello, I am Richard. I have had multiple FW setups over the years, and always wanted to set up a nice reef tank or SW tank with fish and corals. I have been reading and lurking around the site prior to joining. I want to read up a bit before I actually get into this too far so I know what is the best way to approach this so i get the setup I want.

Thanks.

 

[Box412]

Howdy

Howdy

Just saying hi
125 litre set up
18 kilo live rock
3000 litre newave power head
Some soft mushies that came on the rock
Kent marine skimmer
Set up for 10 days now all levels good (api test kit)

 

[fouadgillani]

Newbie planning on starting a 20 g tank

Newbie planning on starting a 20 g tank

Hi,
Complete newbie, have only kept freshwater before.
Now will start a 20 g tank with emphasis on corals with only 1-2 fishes.
Great site with loads of info, trust me I started reading up on saltwater 3 yrs ago and first tried hand on freshwater and was successful. The best site for saltwater period.

 

[LongIslandSound]

Hello!

Hello!

Hello! My name is Alex, I'm 25 years old. I have been following this website for a few months now. I just moved to West Haven, Connecticut about a month ago for a new job (which is going great so far). I grew up in northern-lower Michigan, graduated from college (Michigan Tech) two years ago, worked 4 jobs (1 full time but got laid off, 3 short term contracts) the last two years before I found this one.

Before this I was living in the metro Detroit area for the last year. Most of my family lives in Michigan. So far I am loving it here in Connecticut. West Haven is on Long Island Sound (hence my user name).

Once I get financially stable again in a month or two, I would like to setup a reef tank. It will be a slow process, buying a few items at a time. The only good LFS I have found near me is a Petco in Milford, CT. They had some good looking fish and inverts (clowns, yellow tangs, damsels, hermit crabs, cleaner shrimp, snails, anemones and live rock). I am thinking about getting a 29 gallon tank and maybe a 15-20 gallon sump. I may just start out with the 29 gallon and add the sump later. When I am ready I will have more questions about the setup/cycle process probably.

Can anyone recommend any good fish stores in the West Haven/New Haven/Milford area? Any fish/reef clubs around here? Thanks! :beachbum:

PS: I will also be getting a dog in the next 1-2 months. It is so great having an apartment that will let me have a dog. The dog will come before the fish tank.

 

[ed84g]

Hi, im Ed from Adelaide in Australia. ive been checking out a few forums online and this one looks like the best so thought i should join up

Ive been keeping coldwater fish for about 5 years and after moving in to a new house with my girlfriend about 3 months ago the first big purchase (after a bigger TV!) was an aquarium setup holding about 135 litres of water after all the rocks etc were put in.

Ive cycled the tank an now im hoping to establish something good with fish and corel so hopefully i can succeed!!

im on Twitter if anybody uses that and often post pics of what im trying to do www.twitter.com/eddjgex is me if you want to follow my attempted success!!!

 

[ed84g]

Hi, im Ed from Adelaide in Australia. ive been checking out a few forums online and this one looks like the best so thought i should join up

Ive been keeping coldwater fish for about 5 years and after moving in to a new house with my girlfriend about 3 months ago the first big purchase (after a bigger TV!) was an aquarium setup holding about 135 litres of water after all the rocks etc were put in.

Ive cycled the tank an now im hoping to establish something good with fish and corel so hopefully i can succeed!!

im on Twitter if anybody uses that and often post pics of what im trying to do www.twitter.com/eddjgex is me if you want to follow my attempted success!!!

 

[newyork_redneck]

Hi my name is Will and Im addicted to Saltwater aquarium and the thrill of spending money on it

lol

I have a 155 Gallon Bow front tank and so far I have spent as much money as that tank can hold but I love it.

 

[SeanGH]

Hello good people

I am not NEW to the hobby but i am NEW to the NEW stuff in other words i have recently got back into this though did it 20 years ago. Life is MUCH easier now isn't it!

I am in South Africa.

OH i posted a message yesterday in http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1783536&page=71 but it has STILL not been "approved" - so if there are any active mods etc please could you be so kind as to oblige me.

curent projects are an Arduino project (started) and LED project (NOT started yet). I have a 20ga Nano tank which has been running for about 2+ months now.

As far as the Arduino is concerned i have NO clue at all what i am doing! So obviously nothing works hahaha

 

[Awesome89]

Hey, New to here