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

Hey guys I'm new.... brand new to this hobby n I have to say I love it... I have a 25 gallon tank, I have 1 clown fish, 4 bumble bee snails 4 snails that love the sand n bury themself in there, 5 hermit crabs, one cleaning shrimp, 2 peppermint shrimps, and 2 lawnmower blennys.... and I have a LR that has mushrooms on it. Well I'm writing this Cuz my mushroom look like there dying I need help. What can I do to bring them back to life. There all light brown n sucked in not expand when I first bought them...water levels r Ph 8.2-8.4 , ammonia 0 nitrite fluctuates 0-0.25 and nitrate fluctuates also, 0- 5.0... can u help plzzzzz
 
hi creep, mushroms are vertually indestructable, they do however hate flow with a vengence, if they are sucked in they may be getting blasted by a ph, try altering the position of flow, after a day or 2 they may recover

[welcome]
 
Hi! I am a teacher and mother of three children. I have kept cichlid tanks since I was about 12. I am not getting ready to venture into saltwater tanks. I am trying to find out all I can before I dive into the hobby. I am thinking that maybe a 55 gallon size would fit best into my home, but maybe possible a 75. I am not sure which size I should get.

Any advice and help would be appreciated.
 
Hi! I am a teacher and mother of three children. I have kept cichlid tanks since I was about 12. I am not getting ready to venture into saltwater tanks. I am trying to find out all I can before I dive into the hobby. I am thinking that maybe a 55 gallon size would fit best into my home, but maybe possible a 75. I am not sure which size I should get.

Any advice and help would be appreciated.

[welcome]

Larger tanks are more forgiving of mistakes that you are bound to make with just getting into the hobby. They are actually easier to maintain. In the long run the can drain ones pocket book quicker then smaller tanks as you invest in corals and fish etc

That said being a mother of three children I would go with the 75gal but keep it fish only with live rock. If you research FOWLR tanks on here you will be able to learn more information.

Good luck and hope to see you posting on here soon that you have taken the plunge.

BTW
don't go new--plenty of deals on craigs list and www.kijiji in your area
 
Hi I'm Ed from New jersey, I'm going to convert my rainbow tank to reef tank and reading all the post on how to start a saltwater tank, I dont think I can wait a month today is the day i'm starting it so I will post tomorrow how everything is going
 
Hey Micheal thx but they have been like that since I had them. I have a water pump that's for a 45-65 gallon tank. U think that's y there like that....n my Ph level is at 8.2-8.4
 
well im not sure what to say then, can you give a little more info, what actually is the make and model of the pump? what salt do you use? what salinity is your water at? and how do you measure it?
 
welcome to the forum, whats your plans for the tank (what fish etc)

Thanks, Mike!
So far (for almost one month with life rocks) we adopted two clown fish, two sand sifting sea stars, two snails, one scarlet shrimp, one Scarlet Hermit that today changed its shell :cool:, two small colonies of zoanthides - one of them hitchhikers and we used them for visual test of the water quality along with the daily tests (never imagined that this boring science will come in use in my life):crazy1:
All this staff was placed because a friend of ours said it is better to have something inside and this way the water cycle to begin faster. Fortunately everything is going well -the zoanthides started flourish, every creature get used with the environment. Hopefully everything will go in the right direction.
Our plans are not to have so many fishes but mostly corals and invertebrates.
That's all for now.

Best regards
 
Hi I'm Ed from New jersey, I'm going to convert my rainbow tank to reef tank and reading all the post on how to start a saltwater tank, I dont think I can wait a month today is the day i'm starting it so I will post tomorrow how everything is going

great--keep us informed
[welcome]
 
All this staff was placed because a friend of ours said it is better to have something inside and this way the water cycle to begin faster. Fortunately everything is going well -the zoanthides started flourish, every creature get used with the environment. Hopefully everything will go in the right direction.
Our plans are not to have so many fishes but mostly corals and invertebrates.
That's all for now.

Best regards
Acutually there are very few things we can actually do to increase the rate of bacterial growth(cycling) We can however very easily increase the ammonia level in a tank before the bacteria have cycled enough to handle it
This can be deadly to all tank inhabitants.
If you want to decrease the risk of an ammonia spike by early additions to your tank then I suggest you use Seachem reef Prime. It is a ammonia and nitrate inhibitor and gives your tank time to cycle while there are inhabitants in it.

This 40 gal bow tank has been up one week and has 2 cardinals, 2 shrimp, 2 clowns, a six line wrasse, 6 turbos and hermits in it,
IMG00063-20091203-1331.jpg


its using fully cured live rock and reef prime daily
 
Acutually there are very few things we can actually do to increase the rate of bacterial growth(cycling) We can however very easily increase the ammonia level in a tank before the bacteria have cycled enough to handle it
This can be deadly to all tank inhabitants....
Yes, we are aware... and every day I am playing the role of the mad professor with the flasks and syringes. The indexes of the ammonia are going down progressively - from 0.05 one week ago to 0.005 today. I really believe this friend of ours knows what he is doing, he is in this business almost ten years.
Thanks for the advise, I'll keep it in mind! :reading:
 
LOL....u gotz to remember bro I'm new to this hobby. There's different salt u use.... I use the sand in a bag I think its live sand. N I don't have the device to check the salt yet. Next week I will.but I keep up on my ro water I have it marked In my tank, so when it goes down just a lil I fill it up
 
Hello, I'm a newbie, looking for help please!!!

Hello, I'm a newbie, looking for help please!!!

My name is Don, and I was wondering if anyone could recomend to me a name or a place that specializes in making glass aquariums. I am planning to upgrade soon and would like to move into a 100 gallon or so size tank. My local shop here in San Mateo California says most tanks unfortunatley are 20 inches or taller but I would prefer one that is no more than 18 or 19 inches tall with a length of 5 feet or less and then a width of 18 inches or more with a overflow. whom ever can give me any kind of info, I appreciate it greatly. Thanks everybody.

Sincerely, Don
 
My name is Don, and I was wondering if anyone could recomend to me a name or a place that specializes in making glass aquariums. I am planning to upgrade soon and would like to move into a 100 gallon or so size tank. My local shop here in San Mateo California says most tanks unfortunatley are 20 inches or taller but I would prefer one that is no more than 18 or 19 inches tall with a length of 5 feet or less and then a width of 18 inches or more with a overflow. whom ever can give me any kind of info, I appreciate it greatly. Thanks everybody.

Sincerely, Don

If you go to the reef club forums on this site and check for a local reef club you will probably get an answer to your question

[welcome]
 
LOL....u gotz to remember bro I'm new to this hobby. There's different salt u use.... I use the sand in a bag I think its live sand. N I don't have the device to check the salt yet. Next week I will.but I keep up on my ro water I have it marked In my tank, so when it goes down just a lil I fill it up


we need to sort out this post first
Salt mix that you mix with water comes either in a pail or a bag. What brand of salt are you using.

Live sand also comes in a bag but has nothing to do with the mixing of salt and ro water.

sounds like you are topping up the water level in your tank with ro water--great.

Have you added your live rock yet. If so, until you get the salt level correct you really can't count the time your tank has been cycling until you do so.
 
Hi RC, my name is sam720. I have been in the hobby for almost 10 yrs. and still feel like I have a mile to go. I currently have a 150 reef tank up and running. This has been up for almost a year and a half. It is a mixed tank with the rarest and hardest to get montipora's. I do have another tank in storage that I will be setting up when I move. That's why I have the name that I do. Just found out about this site. Hoping to learn more. sam720
 
hello my name is Gabriel I age of 32 years and I have this hobby for three years.have two tanks holding 90 gallons each wich for now with freshwater.and I decided that one of them to make into a marine aquarium.before I built one skimmer, overflow, follow the lamp and setup.
 
Damn I don't know bout the salt mixer...all I do is get saltwater from a good pet store. N for the sand it was.in a bag. They said it has all the. Nutrients to start ur tank, live sand. I have 20 pounds of LR rock. Before I added anything I had my water cycle for like a month, then got all my inverts first then, a week later I got my fishes. LOL I had 2 blennys n they were fighting n found one if them died. Sucks...
 
Back
Top