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

[Pruss]

Hi there,

I am a long time freshwater fish-keeper who is just making the move to the salty side.

I am in the process of kitting out my first tank, and will be mining the forums here for good information so I can make intelligent (hopefully) decisions about building my reef tank.

I'm pretty handy with online research and filtering opinions from fact in sweeps through forum threads, that having been said I also really like having an on-hand easy access reference book (or seven) to fall back on.

I have a number of the Baensch freshwater atlases and am wondering if the Marine versions are as good.

What reference books should any starting reef keeper have on the shelf?

Thanks for your thoughts,

Pat

 

[DustinS85]

Hello from Northeast Ohio

Hello from Northeast Ohio

My name is Dustin from Northeast Ohio. I am new to marine aquariums, and I look forward to one day being a contributor to the site rather than a question asker! LOL

 

[Siluriforme]

New member from Singapore, nice to meet you all.

 

[nolanshinn]

Hello ReefCentral!
My name is Nolan and I'm a 22 year old University student and Rowing Coach in Washington state.
I just recently got my first saltwater tank. Being on a college budget has made it an interesting journey collecting all the necessary tools, but heres a rundown on what I've got!
-29 gallon tank (from a local on craigslist)
-SeaClone 100 protein skimmer (came with the tank)
-T5 halogens (also from the same guy, though LEDs are coming soon)
-Fluval 150w heater
-a 530 GPH powerhead
-about 2 lbs of Live Rock
-about 30 lbs of dry rock
-about 2 inches of substrate on the tank bottom
-big aspirations, a million questions, and conflicting information from LFS's

The tank has been up and running since 1/21/15. I seeded with LR and Dr. Tim's One and Only. I'm hoping to put in a sump/refugium very soon.

 

[banthonyb71]

Left xreef to join Reef Central.

Left xreef to join Reef Central.

Hello all, I have been a member of the reefing forum community for 5 years.
However, after countless efforts to obtain extended knowledge, I just felt, the questions that I had, the volume of potential helping members, was just not enough. Some basic, seemingly easily answerable posts would go ignored for days. not sure if was because of a lack of knowledgeable of available reefers or simple just lack of active members. whatever the case. I felt the time was right to find a bigger forum to satisfy my everlasting quest for knowledge. I searched for forums with the most active members and years of successful internet searchable questions resolved......I landed at Reef central!

So here I am, ready to ask and if I'm able, answer questions from my new fellow reefers.

 

[smilinviking]

New to RC

New to RC

Hello RC World! Name is Erik and I have been doing freshwater for about 15 years and I am now in a position that I am going to take the plunge into the salt.
My education has been purely through YouTube and forums so I am still trying to figure out all the caveats of the hobby. One thing that everyone has said in common is to take your time. I am in no rush.
I recently purchased a reef ready 90 and I have my dry coral now aquascaped. Making the important decisions of Sump design and lighting. Crazy how much stuff is out there but I think I have made up my mind.
Going with a Eshopps R200 for the Sump and going with the Reef Radiance setup for my LEDs. Any thoughts? Looking forward to this journey.

 

[ajv]

new guy

new guy

Hi im new and was woundering where to put my protein skimmerat in my sump/rrefugium. Where the water comes in should I put it in the refugium part or should I put it where the out take part is and I also have an 85 gallon hang on the back filter on my 20 gallon display tank my refugium sump is a 40 gallon tank that holds 30 gallons of water when full I want to know if I can put my hand on the back filter down in the refugium to get it out of my main tank and if I do do I still need to keep an air bubble in the display tank

 

[cboadi123]

do you think that protein skimmers R need to be used in a reef tank

 

[ReefGirl82]

Hello! Im an avid freshwater hobbyist and along with our start-up 40 saltwater I have a 75 low tech planted set-up and a 120fatboy aba aba knife set-up. I kept saltwater in the very same tank I recently broke down as fw to set back up salt as I have two avid little fishkeepers that want a "Nemo" tank. And a husband whos never kept sw. Looking forward to learning whats new in the sw side of things and working towards setting up the 120 sw when our aba upgrades from it in the next year or so. we are big DIYers and I enjoy "tinkering" with ideas to constantly improve husbandry.

 

[gone fishin]

Hello everyone:wave:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1031074
This link is a wealth of knowledge. it is at the top of this forum. There are also some good stickies at the top of the fish disease and reef chemistry forum

 

[The Slim Reefer]

Hello from 'the new guy'.

Hello from 'the new guy'.

Hi -just joined yesterday. Just acquired a nice 55g tank w/plenty of accessories and ready to go with a reef setup.

I am 50y/o and had my first aquarium at 6 y/o. At 8 y/o I ordered 'Live Seahorses!' from an ad in the back of a boy scout magazine. Included a pregnant seahorse also. These were the dwarf or pygmy seahorses and they multiplied like wildfire! This led to a makeshift brine shrimp farm in my parents bathroom to feed them with. Parents weren't overly thrilled about this but at the same time they were glad to see me have such a passion for something good.

About a year later (1974) I upgraded to a 20 gal. saltwater setup. Read a lot, learned a lot, killed a lot /) but also did really well with some species. Things have changed drastivally since those days I realize from reading the forums and other online articles now.

Probably had an aquarium and/or koi (or other fish) pond every year of my life since then. Moved to coastal South Carolina in 2001, lived on a tidal creek and had a lot of fun with a 55 gal. that I set up as a natural/indigineous species tank. Would occasionally throw the cast net off my dock and put whatever looked interesting in the tank -Pipefish, shrimp, crabs, spadefish, small drum, etc..

Ready to go to the next level!

 

[Jedhead5]

New to RC

New to RC

While not new to saltwater....first tank was in 2001 (with a emperor bio wheel and bought most of my stuff from flying fish express) i am new to the reef keeping portion and RC (posting not new to stalking RC So just wanted to say hi. :wave:

 

[MCWRT]

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

Hi RC!
I have been researching on this forum for a long time.... figured it was time to become active.
Here is what I am currently setting up. Water test was successful last night.

60g cube
75g basement sump
Herbie overflow
ASM skimmer
Maxspect Gyre xf-130
Iwaki MD-40rt
BRS reactor
2 inch of sand
40lbs elevated dry rock in DT
35lbs in sump
Still deciding on lighting
Still deciding on refugium

Plan to start cycling on 15 Feb 2015.

 

[Keith01]

Old newbie

Old newbie

Hey RC. My name's Keith and I've been in and out of the "Hobby" since 1970, when i lived in Norfolk, VA with the Navy. Back then we knew NOTHING about cycling. I set up a 20 gal with a freshwater box filter, walked to the Bay too many times to count, hauling buckets of (live) sand (shudder) and Bay water (double shudder), went out and captured some siversides, a baby horseshoe crab, 2 or 3 glass shrimp and 3 Atlantic Spadefish babies and off we went. Every week I'd do a 50% water change and I never lost a creature. They all went back in the Bay when I left in '71. Since then in and out of the hobby, and now it's time for "back in". But I'm confused a little. Technology has come a long way since my last tank 12 years ago. So, for starters: I love the simplicity and compactness of the Biocube nano's, not to mention the price. Can't decide between a 14 or a 29, and beside cost as a consideration, I also like the compactness of the 14. I also know how quickly one out-grows the "first" tank. It will be a fish only tank, for right now, with live rock and sand with some snails, hermits as clean up. Any recommendations, pro's/con's, feedback about the Biocubes (yes, I've watched ALL the videos) is greatly appreciated, as well as any other considerations I may need. And I'll be asking stupid questions like: should I cycle the tank with live rock and sand, or use an artificial kit to speed the process up? What's "seeder" rock do? How does "dry rock" benefit the tank?
We used to use Black Mollies to cycle, way back, once we understood the process. Just pour em outta the freshwater and straight into the salt. That always kind of unsettled me as we would lose a percentage (some times most) of them to the ammonia, if not the transition shock alone. Couldn't do that now, with any conscience.
Well, thanks in advance for your help, everyone. This is gonna be FUN!

Best regards, Keith

 

[crabbydan]

Hello

Hello

Sort of new here, 40 gallon cube and 10 gallon sump. Reactor with gfo and off and on carbon. Small hob skimmer in the sump. Kessil 350w, hob fuge, tunze auto top off and since I live in the dessert (Arizona) I have a small Chiller.
Pretty empty on the stocking levels snowflake clown blue green chromis peppermint shrimp cleaner shrimp and an assortment of snails along with about 20 zoas heads 4 headed Duncan and a green star polyp

Just set up (first day of cycling is today) is a 105 gallon 48" x 18" x 27" tall with a 20 gallon long sump. Will move most of the equipment over from the old tank except will be adding another kessil this one is a 360W, a vertex omega 150 skimmer and will need to upgrade the chiller before April.

Will try to post a few pics here and will likely do a build thread or blog later on.

Fyi I took on the nickname of crabbydan the year I realized I had three teenage daughters.

 

[crabbydan]

Added a photo

 

[schryvertime]

new here. I am setting up a 60g reef tank. I added 40 lbs of Caribbean live sand and then an additional 10 lbs of sand from my LFS. My cycle took about 5 weeks but I am reading 0 ppm accros the board. I also added about 55lbs of real reef rock. I started adding fish and the clean up crew almost 2 weeks ago. I first added 2 oragne clown fish and a yellow tang. then 6 days later went back to the LFS, i got 100 small hermits, 20 nerite snails, 6 nassarius snails and 3 baby engineer gobies. I also got my first coral which was a Kenya tree and all is doing well. The gobies instantly went into the rock and sand and hid for about 24 hours. They started really coming out in the past few days and are fun to watch. let me know what you think.

 

[buddahi]

Hello RC,
My son (age 11) decided he wanted to make the jump from fresh to Saltwater so here we are.

We started out tank a couple months ago and are now starting to add more life to it.

Here are some details about what we are working with:

Tank: 46 Gallon Bow Front with an AquaMaxx HOB Skimmer, CPR HOB Refugium, 75lbs of live rock, 40 lbs of live sand and 2 800GPH submersible circulation wave makers.

Life: 2 clowns, 1 brittle star, 1 sand sifter star, 5 baby saltwater mollies (for LFS credit and algae), 2 peppermint shrimp, and CUC (snails and crabs).

We are hoping to get started on coral soon with my son doing the research on which type.

We are looking forward to becoming better and more seasoned members of RC.

Day 7
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5wnaw9rmy7GdEJNX05lcjZXdzQ/view?usp=sharing

Today:
G]https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5wnaw9rmy7GOHNKT1dtWklJUXM/view?usp=sharing

 

[Clownfish2004]

Hi I'm Gavin.I live in Henderson and have just started a nano reef.

 

[toeinthewater]

Hi All,

I have been an aquarium hobbyist for >30 years off and on of various setups, always freshwater (community, african ciclids, others). Now i'm pretty excited to be making the jump to a marine tank. I just ordered a ~120 gallon tank and equipment and will begin setting it all up next week. I recently moved from washington DC to Cambodia and figured this was a good time to take this step. I'm pretty excited!