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

[chelseabrook]

Hi,
Im Chelsea. Been doing freshwater my whole life since i was little . Always wanted to try saltwater but always been scared off by people saying its a pain in the butt and too hard and from all the horror stories of all their expensive fish dying and stuff.
Finally deciding to try it out small scale and see how it goes. Trying not to spend a fortune in case it doesnt work out.
Starting with a 36 gallon bowfront. We have live sand , rock in there now and just filled it up last weekend with water. Enjoying looking at all the life that is just in the sand! When do we add fish and /or corals? and when will i know if we get an algae bloom or not? its been a week water is crystal clear. T5 lights should be coming here soon in the mail. And will be getting a skimmer soon as well. I have a hang on back filter and two powerheads the water seems to be moving around well everywhere , hopefully not too much. We will be adding coral frags or fish probably one at a time as they are expensive but excited to slowly grow our tank. We can take all the help we can get!

 

[NeilFox]

Hello I'm Neil

I'm not really new to the hobbybut it's been twenty years since I owned a reef. I actually had good success back in the day but things have changed alot. No more ordering from chemical supply houses, alot of amazing advances in marine chemistry! The lighting is even better. It was mostly trial and error.

At any rate, I am in the process of setting up a 500l (120 gal) reef tank. I am now permanently residing in Vietnam so alot of thinks are fairly inexpensive regarding fish and corals. I was going to get started a couple of years ago here but other commitments prevented me. I am happy to say that in just a couple years here in Vietnam the fish shops have taken a much more sustainable approach. One shop had baby sea turtles for sale! We bought them up and set them free. I found a couple nice places that are propagating some really nice specimens.

I plan on setting up a mixed reef but I wan't to use only local species found in the South China Sea. That will be easy around here. Just for personal reasons.

The current settup I have is as follows:
Lighting- 2 x 250w Ushio Bulbs I think. A guy made up the canopy for me. Also 4 x T5 actinic lamps and 6 led moon lamps. It's a little blue for my liking, I will experiment but I'll leave it alone for now.

Skimmer- Something called a Bubble-Magus Curve-7. It's a Chinese made thing but the guy at the shop seems to be having really good luck with it.

Chiller- It's pretty hot here year round so it seems as though a chiller is a good investment. I have a 1/2 hp unit, locally made. About $80.00 us.

I have a large sump that I plan on using as a fuge. There are quit a few macro algea that I have seen at the beach so I may try something with that. The same for the sand bed. I do a little bit of snorkling so the boy and I may have some fun and collect our own.

At the moment I just set the tank up yesterday so I have 60kg local cured live rock and natural seawater off the reef. I intend to do a complete water change in a weeks time. I purchased a bottle of something called Hyper Bacto, I never used anything like it before but it is supposed to cycle the tank almost imediatly? Has anyone tried this?

I plan on introducing some hardier thing first and see how it goes keeping a log. I is going to be hard to stop my wife from wanting to move quickly though. I also think a Ca reactor is in the future. In the past i found it difficult to keep calcium levels up using the old Kalkwater dosing.

I'm glad I found this forum. I anyone has any input on where I may be going wrong or what i might be missing out. Please let me know.

Regards

Neil

 

[ppark]

Hi I've been on RC for years but never introduced myself. I don't post much and mostly read as everyone usually has good questions and answers. I have a 24g nano cube that's been running for about 3.5 years with mostly Los and a couple true percs. hope to to upgrade soon.

 

[cy93]

Hello RC! Just like ppark mentioned above; I too have never really had to post, cuz all the questions I had were already answered previously when I searched the forum. I recently upgraded my tank to 240 gallons and hope to learn more and do my part for this hobby.

Regards,

Cy

 

[Robertstock]

I'm not new but i've been away form the forum for awhile, new career, new city but I'm back. Going to be doing some posting and getting to know everyone again, hello RC.

 

[philfry41]

Greetings all.

My 11 year old son and I have entered the hobby this last Christmas as I purchased a used 46 gal tank with sump. Thanks to lots of stuff I've read here and much helpful advice from the guy I bought it from, we're up and running well.

Tank didn't cycle at all over the month it's been running. All ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels still at zero. So we're slowly adding fish and corals. Great fun as a family!

 

[vansk8r]

Hi,im currently a 16 year old reefer and i'v been in this hobby for about 6 years and other than fish I love anything concerning biology. I also have a big love for photography,so soon im gonna try getting some pics up on my channel.

I currently have an empty 55gal(have plans for it),a 39 fresh and a 35 nano reef.

 

[vansk8r]

Greetings all.

My 11 year old son and I have entered the hobby this last Christmas as I purchased a used 46 gal tank with sump. Thanks to lots of stuff I've read here and much helpful advice from the guy I bought it from, we're up and running well.



A 46gal is an awesome tank to start with,you have much more freedom to do what you want,especially having the luxury of a sump!

 

[ferchb]

Just bought a 50 gallon existing tank setup off Craigslist last week. It has an old Fluval 403 canister filter and t5 lighting. Came with live rock, sand, and livestock. Inherited a 6" Hippo Tang which I'm trying to trade in to the LFS for credit. Figured the tang will be better off in a larger tank and that will allow me to get my own fish. Also inherited paired ocellaris, clarkii clownfish, lawnmower blenny, (3) striped damsels (which I hope to also trade in or rehome), and a blue damsel.

 

[Tigb27]

I am new to this Forum and have been reading alot..I see i am way behind... I have made some serious mistakes i see.. I have a custom 135. I have a serious Ich problem. Just a few questions. I have some corals and i was wondering will my corals make it if i drop my salinity to 1.08??? Seems like thats the only way to beat this stuff... Any help would greatly be appreciated. Bc my only other choice i tjhink is to start all over and not sure if thats the answer either.. looking forward to some help thanks a lot..

 

[Bergvid]

I am new to this Forum and have been reading alot..I see i am way behind... I have made some serious mistakes i see.. I have a custom 135. I have a serious Ich problem. Just a few questions. I have some corals and i was wondering will my corals make it if i drop my salinity to 1.08??? Seems like thats the only way to beat this stuff... Any help would greatly be appreciated. Bc my only other choice i tjhink is to start all over and not sure if thats the answer either.. looking forward to some help thanks a lot..

Corals like a high salinity. 1.08 is VERY low ;\. You can add garlic to their diet, give the fish a freshwater bath or get a UV sterilizer. I doubt your corals would make it at that low salinity.

 

[Drako50]

Back and new again. LOL

Back and new again. LOL

I can't figure this forum out. How to post what to what. What " reply to thread" to click on, LOL. Maybe we need a forum on how to use the forum, LOL. I tried to use this forum in 2006 and just gave up. Hope to stick with it this time. Lots of info. and great people here that I would love to learn from. I have a 24 gal. nano reef (old) and want to replace it with a new 28 gal. JBJ Advanced LED reef tank. Any info. on this system will be appreciated.

 

[StuartG]

New,but moving up

New,but moving up

I converted a 55 gal from fresh to salt last spring. Recently I purchased a used 150 gal tank and stand with sump system. I am currently rebuilding and refinishing the stand. Soon I will be taking down the 55g and have to figure out what to do with the live stock I have until I can put it in the new tank.

 

[jr7168]

Welcome all you new peoples. Lots and lots of people here probalby spend more time searching posts for advice and guidance on issues. You will find tons of information and even more people to help when you need it explained in a way you understand. Though i have not posted many times I quite freq visit the site and look through everything

 

[MileHiReefR]

Rookie

Rookie

Hi all,

I am still a somewhat noob to the hobby and have been doing much research and reading on this forum so I figured I would post on here. I bought a friend's 125 gallon, softy dominated, reef tank 1.5 yrs ago & became baptized into the hobby through some trial and error right off the bat. I still have much learning, and am not satisfied with the efficiency of the setup and system design he was running and am planning a build on 240 gallon acrylic tank I recently purchased.

 

[yamanailesi]

Hi Reff Central,

This is Tolga YAMAN from Turkey. Just another starter to salty water and hopefully aiming to reach a good , healthy reef on the way.

My tank is under build at the moment. size 90cm x 90cm x 50 cm
PS: Just bought Tunze Master Doc 9420
Got one biopellet reactor for the start
İllumination : not decided yet
and all other euqipment to be presented to the experienced friends evaluations under another topic. After a looong reading term I realised that you can only learn swimming when youj jump in deep sea.

 

[treedog5]

Hello RC,
Glad to be here and i have lots of questions so be prepared. LOL

 

[alamantia320]

Hey everyone! I am completely new to the forums as well as to the saltwater world =) My husband (lammy2012 is his username) and I have been kicking around the idea of starting a tank and finally made the decision to do so. I am super excited but a bit nervous as well because it seems a little complicated, then again I know nothing about this and am sure once we start learning and getting involved with it all, it will come easier. But that's why we are here! To learn, get info, and meet people who are into the same things as us! Just wanted to introduce myself and say hey!

 

[halffrozen]

I want to convert to salt! Been doing Fresh water for 2+ years now.

 

[strongoak52]

my name is gene adkins. i live just outside of huntington wv. very new to the hobby and would like to set up a 30 gallon reef tank. any and all help will be appreciated. i'm 60 and disabled so i need to go somewhat inexpensive. do you need sand or broken corral for a bottom or will that cause nitrate problems? also what type of lighting will be necessary and what do i need for a currant in the tank. thanks gene adkins