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

[SaltyWalter]

Hello everyone! New member to the forum, but I have been keeping smaller-sized reef tanks for a few years now, I've always kept tanks under 50gallons, my current set up is a total of ~45 gallons with tank, sump & refugium. I love this hobby and I'm a big LPS guy but my latest tank is the first time I'm adding some sticks into the equation, so I'm here to learn some more about SPS care. So far I'm doing great, looking forward to sharing!

 

[FlyfisherDan]

Newbie with a "Rescue Tank"

Newbie with a "Rescue Tank"

Hi,
Never had a saltwater tank, but we found someone who was unable to care for theirs anymore so my wife and I now have a rescue tank. The existing tank had a dsb full of worms, no liverock in the tank, no cleanup crew and an overload of fish.
I worked with a local LFS guy and we moved the 55gal. to our house and set it up. I upgraded the ancient filters to an Aquatop 400 filter, put in crushed aragonite at 1-2", added about 15lbs of base rock and the added about 25lbs of live rock on top of that. We have a turbosnail, 2 nassarius snails, 5 margarita snails and 1 peppermint shrimp for a cleanup crew. Livestock:
Threadfin Butterfly (seems to eat everything except for the glass!)
Yellow Tang
Common Cleaner Wrasse (again.....eats like the butterfly)
Pair of mated Clownfish
2 Pajama Cardinals
6 asstd. Damsels
We have a Coralife HO T5 fixture and am running a 10000k and an Actinic bulb for 10-12 hrs a day and a blue led light bar in the bottom of the tank in the back for the rest of the time. Levels are all near or at zero but I can't seem to budge the ph over 8 even with dosing. Any comments, suggestions?

 

[tiago andrade]

tiago andrade's presentation

tiago andrade's presentation

hi, I am Brazilian aquarist and I learn a lot here with friends, especially with corals techniques. Greetings!

 

[markalex]

hi im mark from the uk just outside London,been keeping a reef tank for about 5 years although my first attempt was back in 93.look forward to posting a tank thread and picking up some ideas!

 

[RevisionedHD]

Hi I'm Jake from the US and I've been in the hobby for around 4 years now. Starting with 20 gallon goldfish systems, I now have a 75 gallon mixed reef system, and an 8 gallon mixed reef system.

Looking forward to being on this forum. Thank you!

 

[spydercarl]

Hello everyone my name is Carl. I bought a small 5.5 gallon fluval spec v for my "daughters birthday" but I have quickly taken it over. Im in the pool industry and understand water balance for that so I am beginning to learn all about your lovely hobby. Anyhow thanks

 

[Impactinc]

Hello all,

New to this forum, bought a 55g off Craigslist with the intent of doing a cold water aquarium but the deal came pretty much ready to run with corraline covered rock, some corals and fish. Couldn't bring myself to breaking it all apart so I'm giving the warm water a try. I have already got so much great info from this site!

 

[sandipan.ece]

Hi,

I am from Richmond, VA. I have been doing freshwater tank for a long time. I have been a passionate discus keeper for the last 5 years. I have a 150 gallon discus only tank in my permanent residence.
The marine/reef bug has been chasing me for a few months now. Since I currently stay in an apartment, I have decided to go nano. I am thinking of building 14 gallon bio cube reef tank. Wish me luck.
I am currently researching and reading about marine/reef. I guess it will still take me a couple of weeks time to feel confident and then I will start buying tank and stuff.

Regards,
Sandipan

 

[bobbravo2]

Howdy all! I'm back into the hobby after a 10 year break. (Wow... I feel old now)

I was a reefer up in Boston (NH area) in the early 2000's, and had to tear down my reef when I went to college.

Just getting back into the hobby now with a JBJ 30 gallon nano reef.

 

[St Pete John]

Another newb just getting my first post out of the way, I'm not up on all the lingo yet but i catch on quick. My tank is a 75 w a 4 section acrylic sump around 50 gallons, still putting the guts together but will put up some pics when done.

I have been diving off of st pete for years enjoying the fish and am finally going to try to collect some dudes for my home viewing pleasure. I am very aware of all laws pertaining to the collection of species and have started reading up on proper decompression of fish also. Hopefully i can get this tank slowly dialed in because I am pretty excited.

Thanks to all.

 

[1Obsessive]

Hello All,

I am very new to the hobby and I am in the process of building a 120 gallon system.

At first the more I had looked into a reef tank, the more difficult it looked or that it was going to be more trouble than it was worth.The more videos I watched and the more that I read blogs the more discouraged I became and at one point I decided to table the idea. But I have always loved the water and its creatures and I kept looking into it. I found that most internet videos are more of a commercial than they are very informative. Then I watched three of Mike Paletta's 75 gallon build videos and I was sold on his tank system. I decided to follow his exact system and in the process I learned that he lived in my area. I contacted Mike Paletta and he started directing me on my build. I even went to his home and looked over his great tanks, he is a great ambassador of the hobby!

Unfortunately I can not completely financially follow Mr Paletta's recommendations and stay married. I have been scouring the blogs for good lower priced options and I am down to my last couple of key pieces to the build that I need.

I have decided on a Reef Angel controller, Mike highly recommended the Apex Controller, I could go either way on this though, any thoughts?

Lastly I am in need of LED lights that I want to control with (as of now) a Reef Angel. My tank is 72" long and has two supports. So I guess that I'll need three lights. Looking at Evergrow and Arctic, any recommends would be great.

 

[pecero]

Hello.

Im from Spain and I hope this forum helps me for learn English and learn about aquariums haha

 

[marleychan]

Just joined, but I have been in the hobby for some time. Just saying Hi.

 

[Motobuddy]

Back to salt water...

Back to salt water...

Hello all, I have really been enjoying the forum. I had a 55g FOWLR tank many years ago and gave it up while I was courting the wife. 10 years later we have our life, kids, and business where we wanted them to be so we had the time to try again, so we purchased a used 210 gallon tank that was pretty much like new and we are starting a full reef tank. I'm full of questions as a lot of the tech has changed in the last several years and just wanted to say thanks to those who have chimed in so far and those who will do so in the future.
I'm also in central FL and wandering if there are any good LFS I might have skipped over as my main source downsized in time and does not have as much as they use to but the service is still great.

 

[martinresi]

Setting up first saltwater tank

Setting up first saltwater tank

Hello all! I'm in the middle of setting up my first tank and just wanted to check in. I've been learning a lot from reading posts in this forum. I'm setting up a 45 gal reef tank with 52 lb rock, 1.5" fine sand, canister filter and LED lights. I knew this was involved but I still underestimated how much, though I"m liking it even more than I thought I would! So far I'm just in the middle of the tank cycle.

 

[MotivatedReefer]

Hello all. I am brand new to the hobby. I have a 75 Gallon DB rimless. Just got finished building the stand. I am going with LEDs for my lighting. Myself and a friend are building a customer sump out of acrylic, which will hopefully be done by early next week. I already have the live rock and sand. I am holding out on a skimmer for just a bit since I have been told its not a necessity right away. Just figured I would say hi.

 

[toast84]

I am also new to the hobby. I've been reading a few threads to learn and recently posted my plan to get a tank up and going so also new to the forum. Just wanting to say hi.

hi

 

[claywp]

Hi all. I have been registered here for several months, just never posted anything. I usually can answer most of my own questions by searching threads. Just realized today that i need a post count to access the buy/sell area, figured the intro thread is the best place to start!! I have had a red sea 34g up and running for just over a year. I have had good luck with it so far, now looking to upgrade to a larger reef.

 

[VanHeze]

After years in the hobby, and many visits to RC I finally registered. I'm running two mid-size reef tanks, a FOWLR tank, and just setting up a frag tank to give my tiny bits some space to get big and strong. My 'specialties', so-to-speak, are leopard wrasses and NPS corals though I must admit to having a zoa habit and a large school of mixed cardinals.

 

[Jmatt_8]

Hello everyone, I am so new I don't even own a tank yet. I am reading as much as possible to educate myself before I make any purchases. I have a friend who is a member here and his beautiful tank has convinced me to start one. Thanks to all of you who freely give up your knowledge. I enjoyed MACNA in Florida last year. The amount of products to keep a reef tank is dizzying. Jim Matthews.