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

[2k3Msch]

New

New

Hi. Jim from indiana. I've been i freshwater tanks for around 6 mo and finally bought a tank to use saltwater.

I have a 60 gal cube 24x24 around and drilled for drain.

I used a 20 gal Long to build a refugium for my basement below display due to my reading on best ways to filter tank, I plan on using chaeto in the refugium

I have an SCA-302 180 gal skimmer to place into the sump/refugium. From what I read this is a decent skimmer for budget price. I also have an or-u120 120w LED light which I picked up new, again... Budget which is supposed to work well.

I'm still trying to getting my dining room/bar room completed before placing the tank and just picking up most of what I need to get started now.

My basement refugium will be approx 8 ft down and 8 foot to the side. What budget pump can I get to flow enough for this 60 gal tank with 20 gal refugium?

Also I want to know about rock, etc, and what to watch out for. The more info I have before I get started the better

 

[Mrfishguy]

Hey everyone I am joseph I have 30 gallon aio cube been in hobby for year and half. Looking to go larger came here for insight on equipment and everything else. Im located in west georgia.

 

[andrewcomte]

Hi, I'm Drew. I have a 38 gallon with live rock and live sand. I have an Ocellaris, a Black and White Ocellaris, and 2 Lemon Chromis currently. Cerith snails, 2 Peppermint shrimp, and three types of hermit crabs as well. This is my first saltwater tank. So far so good. I'm currently looking at trying my hand with a couple types of mushroom corals soon. Learning all I can about corals first, a lot from the discussions here, right now.

 

[lysaer]

Hello everyone, I am in no way going to be able to catch up with all the posts here so I'm just gonna jump in and introduce myself.

I'm an experienced FW keeper jumping headfirst into the SW world. I am currently cycling a 55g tank, and have 5 coral frags in a QT waiting on the big tank to finish cycling. I know I should have waited on the coral but you can't argue with a 40% off sale. The corals are 2 zoas, an Australian prism, and 2 I haven't exactly identified. I also apparently am the proud owner of quite a number of aiptasia, including one *really* big one (like, US quarter sized in center disk that extends out over an inch when the light's on) that I'm hoping don't kill my frags before the big tank finishes cycling and I can add a peppermint shrimp to eat 'em up yum.

My LFS is a great resource, the owner has been super helpful with getting me set up and not just trying to make some money off me.

Tank details...I've got a 4 stage canister filter that's currently using filter pads, Seachem Matrix, and UV light although I have the UV off while cycling the tank. I have 25 pounds of base rock, and 25 pounds of "Life Rock", with 40 pounds of Bimini Pink live sand. The canister runs about 264gph, so I've got two 1300gph powerheads in opposite corners of the tank set to run alternating day/night currents.

Lights are set...Actinics on at Noon, 12k whites at 1pm, actinics off at 2pm, actinics back on at 8pm, 12k whites off at 9pm, actinics off at 10pm. One powerhead runs from 1pm-9pm, the other from 9pm-1pm. Tank temperature is maintained right at 26 degrees C from a 300w heater set up by the filter's spray bar.

Hydrometer is reading a little high right now, I'll be doing a partial water change this weekend (if the numbers are right, the tank should be cycled by Saturday) and putting in non-salted RODI to get the salt numbers down some.

Current plan is to add a couple turbo or trochus snails, a peppermint shrimp, and a pair of clowns once the tank is fully cycled and stable with the numbers.

Here's a shot of the tank itself...although it's supa blue because just the actinics are on. i need to get a mag cleaner to clear off that salt line from the 30g fill. And yeah, I tend to ramble, sorry.

 

[Slim_okrug]

Hello dear passionists. First i want to apologize about my Eng. My name is Mirko and i am writing you from Croatia.I am 33 years old and have 2 kids. Happy merried . Started this hobby ( passion or way of life ) 2 years ago. I red alot last 2 years and i am aware i am still knowing a little. First i haved mediteeranean 200 L aquarium. It was nice domestic tank and realy cheap. It was like self market what ever speciment you need you just dive and took it. It was some kind of introducing to this beautiful hobby.

In that tank i was learning about how fish and corals live together, get knowing about water parameters and things like that. So after 1 year of that aquarium i decided to go step forward. I decided to go for reef. Big step forward if you ask me because conditions in water and in sea life are so different i was a bit a scared to be honest.

So to cut the story i suck it up and decided to go 210*50*55 cm DT with 100*45*45 sump + RODI tank 25*45*50. Raw it was around 700 liters in my calculation. You must understand one thing here in Croatia. We do not have stores where we can buy equipement like you do ( yes i am jelous ) also all fish and corals are bought out of country so basiclly all i bought i never saw it before it came to my home.

Here is some specs of gear i got atm

Tank started 1.10.2014.

Tank specs:

Main tank: 210*50*55 cm
Sump: 100*42*42 cm
RO tank: 25*40*50 cm ( not used for feet mesurements so i will use metric system )

DIY led lights ( designed by myself at least i didnt see any similar to my design ) 3 x 10 W flood led cool white 10000K, 2 x 10 w flood marine blue 6500K , 15 x 3w cool white 12000 K , 30 x 3w marine blue 6500 K

Skimmer: Reef Octopus NWB200 ( new aquatrance 3000s pump )
Fluid reactor no.1: Reef octopus MF800 ( use it for reef octopus bio perls )
Fluid reactor no.2: Reef octopus MF300 ( use it for AU )
Wavemaker: Jebao WP40
Return pump : Jebao DC6000
Heater : Ehaim Jager 300W
Dozing pump: Marine colors MCD-3M ( still not use it cos sea parameters are stable and good )

https://imageshack.us/i/f03kgRUkj
Start of cycle

https://imageshack.us/i/ipa4gQA6j
Start of advanture and some of corals glued to reef

https://imageshack.us/i/ipMOF7u5j
Tank looks atm

https://imageshack.us/i/pc7ZtVSej

https://imageshack.us/i/f02bzT5Mj

Hope you enjoy it like i do and also i want to tank all of reef central community because you share you expiriance and gave me alot of knowlage to start this advanture. I bow you and really i am so glad to find you guys. One more time VERY BIG TANKS to all of you and sorry for my eng one more time .

P.S. Here is some video on youtube because i cant take good photo of tank on mobile phone

Daylight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0wKUa0MZhI&feature=youtu.be

Night just before moonlight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgCO3ImtxUU&feature=youtu.be

Also flame or give advice i am welcome for that to improve myself .

 

[NSady1]

I could have sworn I've posted on this forum before.

I could have sworn I've posted on this forum before.

However, when I checked my profile it said I didn't have anything. this will be a long post as I bring you on this journey, so here goes nothing!

I joined RC last Fall. I got my first ever saltwater tank from a friend in August of last year (2014). It was a 55 gallon set up that was about 5 years old.

The tank had:
Fish:
1 Black Ocellaris Clownfish
1 Firefish Goby
1 Coral Banded Shrimp

Corals:
Branching Hammer Coral with about 20-25 heads.
Toadstoll Leather
Ricordia Cap
Montipora Cap
Polyps
Mushrooms
Open Brain
Maze Brain

CUC:
2 Mexican Turbos
3 red legged hermits
1 blue legged hermit
1 Nassarius snail


Rock:
about 60 lbs of live rock which he had set up in a linear shelfin the middle of the tank.

Equipment:
Reef Octopus protein skimmer
3 Koralia powerheads (not sure of gph off the top of my head)
1 smaller powerhead.
T5 lighting

We moved the tank from his house to mine. All went well except that we left the protein skimmer hanging on the back of the tank during transit. Unfortunately the skimmer ended up cracking the glass of the tank. I had to go out and buy a new tank that was the same size. I can't really complain because I traded and washer and dryer to him for this whole setup.

I had to learn quickly as a new tank owner and dove right in. I utilized my LFS and the previous owner for questions and techniques. I started doing biweekly water changes (10 gallons each time) and weekly water tests just to make sure that the tank transitioned properly. Everything made it through the move just fine and the tank was doing great!

The only real issues I've had in the last 11 months is cyanobacteria early on and now green hair algae which you will see in one of the photos I have attached. The cyanno subsided this past winter and the green algae took over a few months ago. I did a major cleaning on the tank a few weekends ago. I ran distilled vinegar through the protein skimmer for about 6 hours and cycled the powerheads one at a time in a vinegar bath over night. I also picked out as much hair algae as I could. Since this cleaning, I haven't had a lot of new growth and the tank looks clean as ever! I still do have some reddish sand but it's not slimy like Cyanno growth makes it look.

I added two Talbots Damsels in the late fall. Unfortunately one only made it about a month or two before he died and fed the cleanup crew. The remaining Damsel has been doing great and I think he has become the boss of the tank since my Black Ocellaris Clownfish decided to commit suicide and jumped out of the tank about 4 months ago.

In early winter I added 4 Green Chromis with the thought that a few might die off. I was experimenting with the cheaper fish just to be sure that I had the tank at a proper state to support additions while minimizing any loss financially. However, these 4 Green Chromis who I aptly named the ninja Turtles have been doing great. They usually greet me at the end of the tank when I come home and follow me across the tank as I walk by to go change. The sleep in the rock and Montipora Cap at night and will race there if something startles them. I believe that one of these guys did something to startle the Clownfish which resulted in him jumping. He was the boss of the tank and made it very difficult to clean as he liked to bite.

As we got into spring, and the hair algae problem persisted, I decided to buy a Lawnmower Blenny. A week later I went on vacation. I trained a neighbor of mine on the basics of feeding the fish and topping off the tank at night. Unfortunately, the Blenny died midway through my vacation and I'm not really sure why. We had also purchased a Red Fromia Starfish the same day we bought the Blenny. I regret that I didn't acclimate him as much as necessary. He didn't move much before we left for vacation, but when we got home, he was cruising all over the place. Sadly, After my big cleaning, he started melting. I hope it wasn't something I did, but I do know that they are very difficult to try to take care of.

On July 3, I bought 6 more snails to add to my cleanup crew which before then consisted of 2 Trochus, 1 Turbo, and the original Nassarius and Hermits. I bought 2 beautiful Astreas, 2 more Trochus, and 2 Nassarius to aid in keeping everything clean.

My latest water test revealed a few things that I am now working on. Calcium was about 320. Through dosing slowly, it is now at 370. My goal is to get it back to 420 within the next few months.

My Alkilinity is at an 8 which needs to get a little higher.

pH was about an 8.1.

Nitrites were and always have been 0 on all of my tests and the Nitrates were very close to 0ppm..

Phosphates were between 0 and .5ppm obviously not counting those tied up in the hair algae currently.

Thanks for reading and getting this far! I feel like I have a great handle on this tank now and it is really looking great. I have plans for some future additions which include some Zooanthids to bring some more color to the reef. I also want to add two clowns and a Copper Banded Butterfly. I guess I just like the color Orange.

I also need to change out the bulbs. I would love to move to an LED setup, but I don't have the cash for that right now. I'm attaching some pictures and posting more in reply just so y'all can see what it looks like. I need to get a full tank shot and post it later.

Thanks for reading. Glad to be a part of this very knowledgeable community. I typically do a lot more browsing than posting so forgive me for that ahead of time. I'll try to be as active as possible. Also, I wasn't able to rotate the images on my work computer for some unknown reason.

 

[NSady1]

More Pics

More Pics

Some more sideways pictures for y'all!

 

[iifeainteasy]

should i be expecting the worse?

should i be expecting the worse?

Hello my name is Brian,

I have a 36g bowfront with a hangon filter(previously for fw setup) 165w chinese LED light(3 watts led bulbs???). Ok im not new to the aquarium world. but SW is in a whole different league. then u add coral/reefing and it becomes even more broad. Ok so i donated my fish to petco(few convicts & 1 jewel cichlid), then prepared my tank for SW. cleaned it. bought a few pieces of live rock (3lbs i know not enough), added reef sand and dosed with a bacteria starter. i let that mix around for about 1 day. added two FW mollies. acclimated them to SW in about a day. they survived for 3 days so im assuming my water is at least inhabitable..added 4 blue leg hermits.. they survive one week. im seeing no ammonia , nitrites, nitrates for a week. go to petco, lady said i could add a clownfish & neo blue goby since its in the damsel family and my other critters havent died.note my tank hadnt cycled at all. i knew once it did.. water changes were gonna be 3/4 times a week depending on the test. so moving on.things are moving along fine. after a week and a few days. boom. ammonia rises. only a tad. like 0.25 then 2 days later 0.50 then few days later 1.0. ok so im not worried. im like yay its about to start cycling now. so ammonia never rises above 1-1.5 maybe 2. but then i get signs of nitrites after like 3 days after seeing ammonia. at this points all my fish are in a QT tank getting treated for ick. i bought a 2nd clown to pair with my first and it had started showing signs of it after a 3/4 days in the tank. ok now i have a QT with 2 mollies, 2 clowns, 1 neon blue goby and one watchman goby(assumed if i was going to QT some fish might as well by the goby now so i can add them all at once.(QT is 10 gallons with a HOB filter, heater and bubbler. in my DT i have 1 BTA(maybe 2 i think its splitting) 1 torch, one birds of paradise , one green birds nest, duncan coral, and a few zoos. heres where im at now. about 2 weeks in. ammonia has dropped. very low (0.25) nitrites (5+ ppm) are high and nitrates are getting high (20-30 ppm). so i do a water change (5 g). nitrites & nitrates are still high. my coral look fine. next week i will build my sump out when my protein skimmer comes in the mail. will my coral die or should i be safe since i have hardy coral species?? i do water changes every 2/3 days. i test religiously. i know i know, i did alot of noobie things. i buy premixed water from my LFS.:headwally::fish2::headwallblue:

 

[melindasreef]

Hey guys. New to the saltwater reef world. Hubby wants a reef so I get to learn all I can and maintain one. yeeha! lol We had a freshwater for about a year before we decided to go salt. My sister in law has been doing this for over 25 years but she just recently started back up again so we are teaching each other. Right now we have a 55 gallon with external canister filter, 4 powerheads (only two are on) and about 50lbs of live cured rock that already has mushroom coral on it. waiting on our led light to come in and searching for a protein skimmer. Mymain question I have right now is the water temp. I do not have the heater on. its been about a week since we set it up and my house temp is at 75 but my water in the tank reads 78-82. no lights on. just sunlight from my windows. not direct. ive have read so many posts that give variying appropriate temps. does anyone have an idea? is it 72-78 or 74-80?

 

[NSady1]

Hi Melinda!

Hi Melinda!

I'm new here too but just wanted to say that I keep my house around 78 and my T5's are on from 2pm to 10pm daily. My tank has been at about 80-81 now that we are in the summer and gets to about 77-78 in the winter. Everything is doing great! From my research I have decided that I like the 74-82 range although I won't let mine get to 74 ever. Ideally I'd like my tank to just stay at 80. Can't wait to see what our more experienced comrades say!:beer:

 

[Steve in Alaska]

Hello all! I'm getting ready to start my first salt tank. It's a 52 corner bow front. I have NO IDEA what fish to buy, but have access to a shop in Anchorage where the owner is willing to walk me through. Any advice is welcome!

Tanks all!

 

[Wet dave]

hey all, my name is Dave Had to shut down my 4x3x2 with remote sump system, for a move from the UK to the USA. broke my heart to break it down, but I did bring the tank and stand with me.

Had to sell most of the equipment due to the voltage differences from the UK to here, but brought my vortech mp10 and 40 with me, and they both work!!

Just starting off small this time after a 2 year break, with a 2x2 shallow cubish tank. recently purchased the return pump, heater, rodi unit, and salt, but the ups guy broke the salt bucket in the back of the delivery van!! so no salty salty for me this weekend!!

 

[captain dorey]

Hi Michael we are new to the hobby

Hi Michael we are new to the hobby

hello hugo welcome aboard

<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central</b></i></big></big>

Hi our names are Pete n Keeley. We have a great tank 29" wide by 23" deep by 24" high. we would love to have it as a marine tank with as much of the kit needed for it on the outside of the tank. I would love to say that we would only have the best for our tank and fish but that will only have to come over time. We would greatly appreciate any advice and guidance in our new community. Many thanks

 

[shark565]

Hi , my name is Victor. I live in Varna, Bulgaria. I am a high school student and i have been i the aquarium hibby for around 7 years. I have been keeping a freshwater tank , but then i started reading about reefing. I sold my freshwater tank and now i am keeping a 6 gallon pico reef for 6-7 mounths. I am in a process of upgrading to 40 gallon AIO rimmless cube.

 

[JCSpongeBob]

Hello all my name is Janice. I have had fish in my house for about 10 years now. I started with freshwater then moved to Salt water and the Red Sea 65 gallon. About three weeks ago I had a 225 gallon delivered. I'm still trying to figure out if I want fish only or a reef tank. All the fish I have so far are reef safe except for my dog face Puffer. I'm looking forward to joining the RC community.

 

[sid101]

Hello Everyone!!

Hello Everyone!!

Hi everyone, i have been in aquaria for a long time now and recently got the budget to get my first reef, right now i am curing the rock in a tub with a maxijet while my tank base gets delivered, the rock seems to be wild caught, got tons of things, mithrax grabs, porcelain crabs, tons of pods and worms, lots of polips, some zoontids brittle stars and lots and lots of things, sadly also got some very small (2cm) pistols shrimp and a coupls of green mantis shrimp, i got thos of the pistols (i thinks theres only 1 remaining) and one green mantis last night putting his rock in freshwater but the other one moves a lot so i dont know wich rock to pick and put in freshwater, right now the water smella really bad and lots of stuff are dying arround, do you think the amonia spike will kill him? i just saw him moving really slow like he had problems, the aquarium base gets home tuesday or wednesday so i plan on making more water ad moving the live rock and sand into the tank to continue curing, what do you think?

 

[snorvich]

Well, to all those who are new here . . . the old timers will do their best to help. I have been keeping fish since 1957 and reef tanks since the 1980's. (Yes, I know that is last century) And about 3000 hours under water diving and doing photography, mostly in SE Asia.

<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central</b></i></big></big>

 

[Ogeos]

hello everyone just started my first saltwater tank and this site has been great for info!

 

[Cinderella911]

Newbie

Newbie

My name is Nichole and I'm from South Dakota. I have been doing a lot of research on setting up my tank (I only have the 55 gallon tank, NOTHING else). There is a lot of great info on here!!

 

[reefbilly11716]

Hello All,

My name is Billy.
New to Reef Central, also new to S/W. but not new to aquarium's.
Currently I have a 29gal bio cube I picked up from a family local and they didn't have time for it no more. Been running for about 4 months now I have a oscilaris clown and a frostbite clown, a herald's angel, algae blenny, sand sifter, and I know a six line.
as for corals I have two different zoas, gonapora, frogspawn, calas I think its spelt right.

currently in process of building a 40gal breeder reef tank from ground up.

Thanks for all the info and help so far.

I do have a question regarding brown diatom. I cant get rid of it