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

[insomniac101]

hey

hey

im 26 an engineering student and extremely interested in the hobby but i basically need all the information you could give me.helpful books for reef keeping and something on fish compatibility and diy tank building.Plus information on setups.It doesnt have to be a book helpful starting advice too is welcome.Im planning on my first saltwater tank in a few months because i figure that will be long enough to learn enough to start.

 

[insomniac101]

also what would a good beginner tank size be preferably id like something bigger as i hear that the smaller tanks are harder to keep

 

[Yspapito]

Newbie!!!

Newbie!!!

Hi everyone, I am Antonio. New to the island and the hobby. Love ocean and what I have seen so far. Was wondering where is a good place to look for tank stands?

 

[Adavey113]

Hey I'm new I'm new!

Hey I'm new I'm new!

Hello everyone

 

[Reefer Ron]

First post

First post

I'm fairly new to this forum, and this is my first post. I spend quite a bit of my time reading and taking a lot in (sometimes the good info here is overwhelming). I really like this site, my #1 go to for good info. I'm a little reluctant to post because I'm unfamiliar with. Don't want to look like an idiot. But need to get over it and jump in and either swim or drown. I just set my 125G reef/fish back up on 12-13-15. Been in the hobby (freshwater) oh about 48-49 yrs. Had my existing reef set up from 2005-2009. Mother took ill with cancer so moved in with her till she passed 2012. All tanks, 2 reefs (1-125, 1-150), 1-265G drilled (plant/Discus), 1-125 African cichlid, 1-75 South American (mostly Severums). Put in storage for a few yrs. Setting all back up now. Current tanks: 1-125 SA/planted, 1-75 African, 1-60T Red spotted gold's, 1-10 neons, guppies (for dwarf lionfish), 1-5 with a pair of Beta's, last but not least 1-265 drilled, 1-150 drilled (never had any livestock in it) glass etched, both ready for H2O. Oh also 3-20L QT's, & 4-10G for near future of culturing my own live foods. Sorry for the biography. LOVE THIS FORUM. Very informative. RR :wave:

 

[nelsonkearstin]

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

Hey Dustin, I'm also north east ohio...do you happen to be as close as youngstown? I'm also learning. I Have some input as to the lfs around here...

 

[oldbones]

Hi folks, I'm the new guy. My name is Jeremy, and I brought home my first aquarium (ever) yesterday. I'm in my mid 40's and live an hour outside Seattle. Nice to meet you all!

Pics and story of my setup here: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2493084

 

[jchakraborty]

2 1/2 months into the Hobby and feeling why I'm so late to get in

2 1/2 months into the Hobby and feeling why I'm so late to get in

I'm so excited these days that I wish to stretch the 10PM-2AM period much further, observing my coral & fishes. How could I have missed such an excitement all my life...:bounce3:

Made a big mistake not knowing the importance of Refugium/Sump and now ****ed with my non-drilled Marineland tank. Wishto have visited local FishStore instead of Petco & PetsMart..before buying the tank.

1. Anyone having CPR overflow (used) with a small sump, for my 55 Gal tank.
2. Any link for DIY for building a light hanging kit for supporting my two EcoRay units.
3. One Anemone (not sure BubbleTip or a Sherman) not doing well, Shrinking most of the times, and at times the center mouth is coming out big. Tried to feed couple of Myso shrimp, but could not take all in even after 5/10 mintes. later the clowns have come and got all out of it.

Anything I can do, like..
a. Fresh Garlic Dip
b. Fresh Water Dip
c. Any other Coral Dip ..


Please suggest.:sad2:

 

[Jim Clark]

Hello

Hello

Hi I am Jim I have a 55 gallon semi aggresive tank with a dragon wrasse, Panther grouper, emporer snapper and snowflake eel. All of my fish are small(less than 4 inches beside the snowflake) I'm am looking to upgrade to a 150 could I put anything else with the fish I already have with them?

 

[MichaelBlake]

So new to the Hobby I started my build today! Advice welcomed!

So new to the Hobby I started my build today! Advice welcomed!

Just started my 125 gal reef build today. Have only added Life Rock so far! LOL ! My daughter has a rare disease called EOE. Almost everything for this tank has been donated to build it for her. The following list is what I will be using:

140 lbs Life Rock and 120 lbs Arag-Alive sand donated by Caribsea

150g cone protein skimmer donated by Coralife

RODI Buddy system donated by AquaticLife

Syncra 5.0 return pump and 2 Voyager 3 pumps donated by Sicce

2 250watt pro heaters from Aqueon,

refractometer, test kits, coral foods, and other chemicals donated by Red Sea

RS-100 sump donated by Eshoppes

3 AI Prime LED's from Ecotech Marine

Just wanted to say hello and give a shout out to these companies. Would love some advice on this build.

 

[johnsnake]

Hello

Hello

I have done fresh water tanks for years and thought I would always stick with that, but seeing the delicacies of the guys salt water tank when I bought my 300g tank made me want to do salt water. The details and the growth of everything excites me.

I am still working on accumulating everything I need and must get into my crawl space to reinforce the floor. I am estimating on the plus side, but I want the floor to be able to sustain 2 tons of weight in a 8'x4' area.

I do have many questions since I am new and I have recently moved to the middle of nowhere West Tennessee and not many people to get information from.

I am retired and at a young age and enjoy things like this to keep me busy and enjoy conversation with people over the internet about like interests. I am not always the most prompt person since I have many other hobbies and duties with my new house

I will not say money is not an issue other wise I would have paid a pro to set up everything and have a custom tank built. But I have about $250 a month to spend on this hobby and am hoping to have my tank up and with live rock by time my kids go back to school in the fall.
I am also the type of person who likes to buy good to high quality items first instead of okay and then replacing in 6 months, but also I like to only get what I actually need. I would rather wait a few months and get what will last.

I am looking at lights right now and have been trying to figure out the best for my set up. I know most run LED, but have not been able to figure out if that is the only lights I will need or if medal halide is the way to go.

I have been looking at ro/di and trying to figure out which one I need. I am assuming a 3 stage and 75 gallon system would be adequate. That is double my 10% water change requirements.

Any knowledge would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Ironwood]

New to Saltwater fish/reef

New to Saltwater fish/reef

Hi, My name is Scott. I have had several freshwater tanks in the past and currently have a 72 gallon Cichlid tank running. When a friend of mine wanted to get rid of his 72 gallon bow front tank for "free" I decided that I would try putting together a saltwater tank. My ultimate goal was to put together a system that would take care of itself for the most part (ha ha).
I started to research mainly on this site and set up my system with a sump/ref. Needless to say that the free tank has cost a lot of money.
I drilled the tank, put an internal weir in the tank with an overflow on the back
using the Animal Bean system. Getting it all working correctly was a bit of a challenge but after a few adjustments it now works as advertised.
Once the tank was put together I bought 70lbs of dry live rock which I put in a barrel with a pump, heater and power head to cure the rock. In four weeks the ammonia and Nitrite level went to zero. At this point I put the live rock in the tank what 60lbs of packaged live sand and started to cycle the tank with a raw shrimp. The tank seemed to cycle within two weeks but to make sure I waited another two weeks before I bought my first fish(this past Saturday, I was at the store when they opened). It was an exciting day for myself and family. The first two fish were Mocha clowns. I decided to take a chance with putting the first fish directly in the tank instead of the QT tank because for some reason after 7 weeks that tank would not cycle. The clowns seemed to be doing great, they were active, eating and just seemed happy. I woke up Monday morning only to find one clown swimming in the tank. I figured the other clown was hiding in the rocks. When I got home from work I ended up finding it in the skimmer. I have a hard time believing it jumped over the weir but I'm not sure what else could have happened(I have since attached a grate over the internal weir).
The second Clown continued to do well until Monday night sometime after I went to bed something happened. At this point I still haven't found it. I tore my tank apart last night taking out all of the live rock and I still can't find it. Could it have jumped out of a small opening that I have on the top. I doubt it but anything is possible. So far it hasn't been easy but hopefully things start going my way.

 

[Mr Big]

hello

hello

Hello, my name is Nate. I live and work in the Pittsburgh area. I started out with fresh water aquariums where I got every interested in the live plant part of FW. Since I've moved on to marine, currently I have a FOWLR tank with two clowns and a sixline. I have had my marine tank up for about 3 years now and am in the process of moving everything from a ugly scratched 38 gallon I got used to a nice 36 bowfront. I bought a Ocean Revive t247 which I really like for the money. When the weather warms up I will be drilling the 36 and putting together a sump/fuge.

Anywho, hello and thanks for having me.

 

[nelsonkearstin]

Welcome. I'm new myself and, i have learned soooo much here already and have started to see results in my tank. It's a good spot....
I'm also in Pittsburgh area. Could I ask which lfs do you go to?!

Hello, my name is Nate. I live and work in the Pittsburgh area. I started out with fresh water aquariums where I got every interested in the live plant part of FW. Since I've moved on to marine, currently I have a FOWLR tank with two clowns and a sixline. I have had my marine tank up for about 3 years now and am in the process of moving everything from a ugly scratched 38 gallon I got used to a nice 36 bowfront. I bought a Ocean Revive t247 which I really like for the money. When the weather warms up I will be drilling the 36 and putting together a sump/fuge.

Anywho, hello and thanks for having me.

 

[Mr Big]

lfs

lfs

I usually go to Wetpets in McMurray because it is the closest to where I live. I got some really nice live rock from Oddball Pets in Westmifflin. I have also been to Elmer's in Monroeville but that is a decent drive for me.

 

[nelsonkearstin]

I usually go to Wetpets in McMurray because it is the closest to where I live. I got some really nice live rock from Oddball Pets in Westmifflin. I have also been to Elmer's in Monroeville but that is a decent drive for me.

Ah ya that's a drive for me as well but, there's only 1 shop with saltwater around here and I haven't been thrilled. Those may be some of the closer shops tho. If I'm out that way I may look into those thanks! :/ good luck

 

[XylemUP]

Hi guys! I'm new. Been doing freshwater for a while but coral and saltwater just looks so much more fun.

been reading up for ages and now i have the money to do a little nano tank! got a screaming deal on an oceanic 14 which i plan to mod with a kessil light and a new pump. going to start with some easy stuff like green star polyps, then hopefully some harder ones!!

 

[tajaba]

Hi, Taj here

After Lurking here for around 2 years,

Wow, I learned so much from this site!

started this tank 2 years ago and rollercoastered my way to the present. Thanks to this site my tank is still going strong and lots of coral growth!

 

[tajaba]

sorry, I dont know how to link pics

edit: oh darn it, I give up

 

[Dino]

<b><big><big>To Reef Central tajaba!</big></big></b>

You need to use a different photo host tajaba, we had to block that one as due to the way they recycle photo URLs pictures of an adult nature kept popping up on here.