If You Are New to Reef Central, Introduce Yourself Here!
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Reef N Discus
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Newbie intro
Newbie intro
Well my name is Nate, 33 yrs old with a wife and three girsl ages 13, 10, nd 4yrs old. I have kept small fresh water trypical fish tanks ever since I can reeber with my father who had been keeping fish tanks before I was born in 77, he had a tank with perania and some other things from what he and my mother tell me. He naturally brought his hobby to my attention and go me interested at an earlya ge with keeping small tank of 30 gallons or so. Well after keeping lizards, berdead dragons, igunas and such I decide to start keeping my own trypical tanks fresh water. It was not long before I discoverd the most beautiful of all freshwater fish the king of the fresh water aquirum the discus of course! After spending the last couple of years with discus and lightly planted tanks I have always been keeping an eye out over in the salt water world and always wanted to start a coral reef tank. Well I am a definate newbie when it comes to saltwater and coral and inverts and everything else. For about the past 6 months or more I have been watching every episode of LA Fish guys on you tube every episode probably more than once and got to thinking I can do this. I am currently saving money to purchase all the needed equipment and for some of the not so needed as well. I know what I need and why I needed it so I am goos there and theres a couple of extra items I think I may purchase like a ph monitor and such. I am planning on a 90 gallon system I like the foot print of the 90 gallon tanks and that size should keep me happy for a good long while as my main discus display tank is only a 55 gallon as is so I know I will be very happy with a 90 gallon mixed reef setup with a few reef comaptible fish whatever those would be besides clowns I have no idea. The 90 gallon is probably the max i can afford eqiupment wise as the equipment I will ned to purchse will be cost prohibitve for anything much larger. I am planning on a nice in sunp skimmer of a 150 gallon capacity or i was looking at an external recurculating skimmer a well, 6 bulb T5 HO set up from Nova extreem individual reflectors sup plus refugiu an extrnel high pressure filter pump maybe an external pump for curculation or power heads on a wave maker timmer moon lights are a must there awsome and a spectra RO/DI unit if I left other things out I am sorry. oh yea an automatic shut off on the RO/DI for filling my resovor which rite now is an empty 30 gallon tank I use to store my freshwater from my discus tank. it will be nice not to have to change water every other day which is what I currently have been doing to 3 times a week at about 75% on the discus tank it will be a nice change of pace to only have to change the water once every two weeks or so. I was thinking of buying a UV sterilizer as well but not sure about that just yet. Well anyway thats e in a nut shell I like to spend time with my family I am a big home body dont do much out side of the house except for go to movies and such, my bar clubing days are pretty much over now I watch movies with my wife and kids most the time its disney movies like Toy Story 3 is the latest one my 4 year old makes me watch about 3 times a night every now and again I can watch a grown up movie with my wife and older girls. I love y XBOX 360 and Halo 3 have not been laying much lately. I have a 4 year degree in BS IT information technology and a 2 year degree in electronics I love science and technology. My plany with Xmas and the kids will probably take me most of the Winter to purchase all my needed equipment I have to save buy a expensive pice of equipment save buy an expensive pice of equipent and so on untill I am there. Funny thing is the 90 gallon with internal over flow is not all tht expensive when compared to the other equipment you need to run a sucseful reef tank, the stand and canopy can kill you depending on what you buy. Well anyway I am done for now I hope to learn off of you untill I am ready for set up. At least the time needed to buy all my equipent will afford me even more time to learn in the mean tie thats a good thing rather than have all the money now and jump into it half blind I can slow down and tke my time and each item I buy will be well thought out in advance. I am from York PA which is near Harrisburg the capitaol of PA about 45 minutes from Baltimore MD and about 2 and a half hours from Philadelphia PA just to let you all know where I am from and currently live. Thanks for hearning about who Iam and I look forward to the experince thanks again!! I am ready for the party!!:dance:
Newbie intro
Well my name is Nate, 33 yrs old with a wife and three girsl ages 13, 10, nd 4yrs old. I have kept small fresh water trypical fish tanks ever since I can reeber with my father who had been keeping fish tanks before I was born in 77, he had a tank with perania and some other things from what he and my mother tell me. He naturally brought his hobby to my attention and go me interested at an earlya ge with keeping small tank of 30 gallons or so. Well after keeping lizards, berdead dragons, igunas and such I decide to start keeping my own trypical tanks fresh water. It was not long before I discoverd the most beautiful of all freshwater fish the king of the fresh water aquirum the discus of course! After spending the last couple of years with discus and lightly planted tanks I have always been keeping an eye out over in the salt water world and always wanted to start a coral reef tank. Well I am a definate newbie when it comes to saltwater and coral and inverts and everything else. For about the past 6 months or more I have been watching every episode of LA Fish guys on you tube every episode probably more than once and got to thinking I can do this. I am currently saving money to purchase all the needed equipment and for some of the not so needed as well. I know what I need and why I needed it so I am goos there and theres a couple of extra items I think I may purchase like a ph monitor and such. I am planning on a 90 gallon system I like the foot print of the 90 gallon tanks and that size should keep me happy for a good long while as my main discus display tank is only a 55 gallon as is so I know I will be very happy with a 90 gallon mixed reef setup with a few reef comaptible fish whatever those would be besides clowns I have no idea. The 90 gallon is probably the max i can afford eqiupment wise as the equipment I will ned to purchse will be cost prohibitve for anything much larger. I am planning on a nice in sunp skimmer of a 150 gallon capacity or i was looking at an external recurculating skimmer a well, 6 bulb T5 HO set up from Nova extreem individual reflectors sup plus refugiu an extrnel high pressure filter pump maybe an external pump for curculation or power heads on a wave maker timmer moon lights are a must there awsome and a spectra RO/DI unit if I left other things out I am sorry. oh yea an automatic shut off on the RO/DI for filling my resovor which rite now is an empty 30 gallon tank I use to store my freshwater from my discus tank. it will be nice not to have to change water every other day which is what I currently have been doing to 3 times a week at about 75% on the discus tank it will be a nice change of pace to only have to change the water once every two weeks or so. I was thinking of buying a UV sterilizer as well but not sure about that just yet. Well anyway thats e in a nut shell I like to spend time with my family I am a big home body dont do much out side of the house except for go to movies and such, my bar clubing days are pretty much over now I watch movies with my wife and kids most the time its disney movies like Toy Story 3 is the latest one my 4 year old makes me watch about 3 times a night every now and again I can watch a grown up movie with my wife and older girls. I love y XBOX 360 and Halo 3 have not been laying much lately. I have a 4 year degree in BS IT information technology and a 2 year degree in electronics I love science and technology. My plany with Xmas and the kids will probably take me most of the Winter to purchase all my needed equipment I have to save buy a expensive pice of equipment save buy an expensive pice of equipent and so on untill I am there. Funny thing is the 90 gallon with internal over flow is not all tht expensive when compared to the other equipment you need to run a sucseful reef tank, the stand and canopy can kill you depending on what you buy. Well anyway I am done for now I hope to learn off of you untill I am ready for set up. At least the time needed to buy all my equipent will afford me even more time to learn in the mean tie thats a good thing rather than have all the money now and jump into it half blind I can slow down and tke my time and each item I buy will be well thought out in advance. I am from York PA which is near Harrisburg the capitaol of PA about 45 minutes from Baltimore MD and about 2 and a half hours from Philadelphia PA just to let you all know where I am from and currently live. Thanks for hearning about who Iam and I look forward to the experince thanks again!! I am ready for the party!!:dance:
Inthenameofweez
New member
Hey guys and girls.
My name is Clayton. I'm a newbie here in all underwater things. I had hermit crabs as a kid, but no tanks. I hope you don't think of me as crazy, but my roommate and I are diving in head first and we plan to purchase a 90 gallon AGA in the coming weeks.
We've got a pretty fair amount of knowledge as far as coral and fish interaction go. The nitrites and nitrates along with phosphates are a bit confusing, but hopefully RC can help with those questions!!
We can't wait to grow in knowledge of this amazing hobby!
My name is Clayton. I'm a newbie here in all underwater things. I had hermit crabs as a kid, but no tanks. I hope you don't think of me as crazy, but my roommate and I are diving in head first and we plan to purchase a 90 gallon AGA in the coming weeks.
We've got a pretty fair amount of knowledge as far as coral and fish interaction go. The nitrites and nitrates along with phosphates are a bit confusing, but hopefully RC can help with those questions!!
We can't wait to grow in knowledge of this amazing hobby!
NomiGold
New member
Hello Reef Central! :wavehand:
I've been lurking around here for a while now while diving for information on marine and reef aquariums, and thought I may as well introduce myself before I start asking thousands upon millions of questions! Ok, perhaps not quite that many. But it may seem like it.
I started in the hobby about 10-12 years back as a kid when my parents inherited a 30G tropical tank. I soon became the aquarium caretaker and was the only one in my family to develop more than a passing interest in fishkeeping. However, due to a lack of space and my parents dislike of pets in the house, the 30 G was banished to my parents truck shop. The first few years we kept a simple tropical community of tetras, mollies and cory cats, until a power outage in winter took out all the fish (I'm from the Canada-land, you see). However, this caused me to discover my love of fancy goldfish, and we started afresh with three fantastic fantails five years ago, and a small backup in case of more power problems.
Luckily in the last few years I was allowed a ten gallon tank and a few bettas, and started learning to keep plants and started some simple aquascaping, also keeping a small breeding colony of crystal red shrimp! I was even allowed to upgrade the 30G goldfish tank to an 80G, and have been having some great success with developing a goldfish safe aquascape!
In two months, however, I will be moving across the country for some higher learning. I've already torn down my betta and planted shrimp tanks, giving away my fish and shrimps to friends, and teaching my parents how to take care of my beloved goldies.
But as sad as all this is, this means I will finally have the control over what tanks I can have! well, depending on space. And money. And space. I hope to expand my fishkeeping experience, and start keeping some goldfish in a green water tub, some dwarf chiclids, FW puffers and even *gasp* a marine tank!
I've learnt the hard way over the years the great importance of research and patience in all things aquaria, and most likely will not be able to set up a reef or FOWLR for a long time yet, so I'll be taking advantage of all that time to learn me some knowledge. The mechanics and technicalities of SW seem quite different than FW, so I'll probably be spending most of my time figuring that out.
Sorry for writing so much! Cookies for all who read that! I hope to learn quite a lot on here!
I've been lurking around here for a while now while diving for information on marine and reef aquariums, and thought I may as well introduce myself before I start asking thousands upon millions of questions! Ok, perhaps not quite that many. But it may seem like it.
I started in the hobby about 10-12 years back as a kid when my parents inherited a 30G tropical tank. I soon became the aquarium caretaker and was the only one in my family to develop more than a passing interest in fishkeeping. However, due to a lack of space and my parents dislike of pets in the house, the 30 G was banished to my parents truck shop. The first few years we kept a simple tropical community of tetras, mollies and cory cats, until a power outage in winter took out all the fish (I'm from the Canada-land, you see). However, this caused me to discover my love of fancy goldfish, and we started afresh with three fantastic fantails five years ago, and a small backup in case of more power problems.
Luckily in the last few years I was allowed a ten gallon tank and a few bettas, and started learning to keep plants and started some simple aquascaping, also keeping a small breeding colony of crystal red shrimp! I was even allowed to upgrade the 30G goldfish tank to an 80G, and have been having some great success with developing a goldfish safe aquascape!
In two months, however, I will be moving across the country for some higher learning. I've already torn down my betta and planted shrimp tanks, giving away my fish and shrimps to friends, and teaching my parents how to take care of my beloved goldies.
But as sad as all this is, this means I will finally have the control over what tanks I can have! well, depending on space. And money. And space. I hope to expand my fishkeeping experience, and start keeping some goldfish in a green water tub, some dwarf chiclids, FW puffers and even *gasp* a marine tank! I've learnt the hard way over the years the great importance of research and patience in all things aquaria, and most likely will not be able to set up a reef or FOWLR for a long time yet, so I'll be taking advantage of all that time to learn me some knowledge. The mechanics and technicalities of SW seem quite different than FW, so I'll probably be spending most of my time figuring that out.
Sorry for writing so much! Cookies for all who read that! I hope to learn quite a lot on here!
Hey Guys my name is frank, and people at petsmart call me frank da tank, love this forum and cant wait to read up on all the DIY stuff, I have had a reef tank since I was 11 years old and no I have a 34gallon reef setup, a large cichlid tank and my beloved koi pond.
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Hello RC!
So here's my deal. I'm obsessed with this hobby. My wife says that I'm out of control, but she's happy I'm not into guns or motorcycles instead.My 20 MO daugther loves to "help" me with maintenance, and especially likes to watch the "bugs" in the refugium.
I've only been at the SW thing since May of this year, and I had no previous experience with FW, although I've got friends and family that do, so I wasn't completly ignorant, just mostly.
Anyway, I've been out here in the hot and sunny Central CA valley since 2006, but I was born and raised in Massachusetts...moved out here following a job promotion, and now we're kind of stuck here for a while. Eventually we want to move back east...it's very nice here, but it just doesn't feel like home. In the mean time, this turns out to be a great place to get my feet wet in the hobby. :clown: Our house, like all houses around here has central heating and air. It's modestly sized, and energy efficent, so we keep climate control running year round. No Higher than 79, no lower than 68, so the tank temp is easy to maintain without the need of chillers and large heaters. I'll probably jinx myself for saying so, but I can only recall one short power outage in the 5 years I've been here. It would be a whole different ball game in MA, and I'm sure a generator and dedicated cooling for the short but hot summers would be must haves.
So, I currently have an AGA 55 mixed reef. There's really not much in the tank yet...the centerpieces are a toadstool and Kenya tree coral if that helps to paint the picture. Other than that, have a couple zoo frags growing out, some red and green mushrooms, a small xenia colony, green star polyps and a green BTA. For fish, it's a Bi-color Angel, Pajama Cardinal, Green Mandarin, and a pair of tank raised Ocelaris clowns. CUC is 4 turbo snails, a couple nassarius, astrea, various hermits, a black long spine urchin, and a Coral Banded Shrimp. It's also noteworthy that I have a literal forrest of feather dusters.
Had a few losses along the way...a beautiful Percula clown that succumbed to Brook, a Six Line Wrasse with a mystery illness, and a Diamond Goby that decided to try his hand at terrestrial living. Most of my corals have done well, but I did lose a green brain that just never took, and my ricordia has slowly been withering away.
The tank's got about 60 lbs of LR (Fiji and Tongan) and a 2" arragonite sand bed. I started off running with just an Aqueon HOB cartrige filter, and a couple of wimpy T8's. Soon after the tank cycled, I ditched the Aqueon in favor of a CPR Aeroforce HOB skimmer, and also upgraded to a 4 bulb T5 lighting system. For flow, I've always had just one Evo 1050.
A couple months ago, I assembled my DIY sump/fuge system from (2) AGA 10's, both drilled and coupled to fit inside my narrow stand. I continue to use the HOB skimmer, but I've just moved it down below. I'm culturing pods and chaeto in one of my fuge chambers, and the other just has a DSB, albeit with a small footprint. I use a Mag 7 for return, and an overflow box/siphon in the DT. I also rigged a cheap but effective ATO from an $8 float valve, and a 6 gallon water jug.
Eventually, I'd really like to do a larger in wall reef, maybe in the 90-240 range, but I'm not interested in dropping the big bucks for premium equipment and rocks to do it. If I can' figure out a way to set up and maintain for a reasonable, sustainable cost, then I'll just stick to my 55. The cost of Rock will definately be a limiting factor, so I'll likely make most of it myself, whether it be arragocrete or perhaps even ceramics.
Another interest of mine in regards to a potential larger system are Algae Turf Scrubbers as supplemental filtration. I'd like to experiment with one on my 55, to see whether or not doing one on a larger tank could reduce my filtration equipment costs to the point of where it would be feasible for me.
Another pet project of mine is finding a way to reduce water changes as much as possible. The cost of salt on a large system is nothing to sneeze at. There's been some interesting research done on that subject by GARF, but there seems to be some disagreement within the community as to the potential longevity of mud bed systems.
I'll close for now with a couple pics of me, my family and my system. See ya around!
Love that setup, and that sump tank is amazing!
Hello to all inhabitants of the REEF CENTRAL tank.
My name is Alex and I am new to RC. I have been involved with sw tanks for the last 6 years and before that fresh for 20 years. I currently have a 135g and a 120g that i am going to be plumbing together with a 55g viewable fuge. Not sure just yet what will be stocked in either tank just yet. Right now the 120 is up and running with about 200lbs of figi and tonga. There's about 30 mushrooms scattered throughout the tank. 4 damsels, 1 engineer goby, 1 snowflake eel, 1 grouper (cephalopholis argus). All still relatively young and small. All in same tank for now as I am remodeling my fish room. Looking forward to all the information that I can absorb from you all...................
My name is Alex and I am new to RC. I have been involved with sw tanks for the last 6 years and before that fresh for 20 years. I currently have a 135g and a 120g that i am going to be plumbing together with a 55g viewable fuge. Not sure just yet what will be stocked in either tank just yet. Right now the 120 is up and running with about 200lbs of figi and tonga. There's about 30 mushrooms scattered throughout the tank. 4 damsels, 1 engineer goby, 1 snowflake eel, 1 grouper (cephalopholis argus). All still relatively young and small. All in same tank for now as I am remodeling my fish room. Looking forward to all the information that I can absorb from you all...................
HouseOfCorals
New member
Happy to be here!
Happy to be here!
My name is Jeff and wife's name is Karen. We have been into fresh and salt set ups for over 30 years and still have the fever of this hobby! We have 2 sytems. The 1st 850 gallon and the second 400 gallon both with a mixture of tanks ranging from 55 gallons to 215 gallons, our basement sump room is 16x26 and is full now. LOL I always say that and yet still find room for another tank! We have 7 prop tanks growing every thing from shrooms to acros, 6 T-5 six lamp fixtures and 250watt MH fixtures. 225 gallon Rodi water storage and 100 gallon salt mix storage. We will post some pictures soon! It's nice to be here.
Happy to be here!
My name is Jeff and wife's name is Karen. We have been into fresh and salt set ups for over 30 years and still have the fever of this hobby! We have 2 sytems. The 1st 850 gallon and the second 400 gallon both with a mixture of tanks ranging from 55 gallons to 215 gallons, our basement sump room is 16x26 and is full now. LOL I always say that and yet still find room for another tank! We have 7 prop tanks growing every thing from shrooms to acros, 6 T-5 six lamp fixtures and 250watt MH fixtures. 225 gallon Rodi water storage and 100 gallon salt mix storage. We will post some pictures soon! It's nice to be here.
wow!
um my name is Daren and I have a 46 gal tank. I just started my system 4 months ago. I got a starter set-up from my brother. I have a lot to learn but wlling to do the leg work and study. Being an engineer this is outside my box but very interesting!
D
mixalakis32
New member
hi,
my name is mike (form Greece) and i'm building my new diy 30 gal tank.
it's a great forum with lots of usefull information!
thanks!
my name is mike (form Greece) and i'm building my new diy 30 gal tank.
it's a great forum with lots of usefull information!
thanks!
Hi everyboby!
My name is Sameer, I am from India...
I have been in this hobby for a few years now, my current tank consist of mostly LPS and few softies!
Few weeks back I successfully fragged my Sri lankan Elegance coral, now my frag tank is in the process of being connected!
I also have a few fresh water tank with alligator gar, arowanas and other stuff!
This site is really very helpful and I can share my experience with fellow hobbyist, here in India we cant discuss corals and reef care openly as keeping any coral in captivity is banned!
But in spite of the blanket ban, I have had a really rewarding reef hobby!
will be sharing a lot of info/pics soon!
My name is Sameer, I am from India...
I have been in this hobby for a few years now, my current tank consist of mostly LPS and few softies!
Few weeks back I successfully fragged my Sri lankan Elegance coral, now my frag tank is in the process of being connected!
I also have a few fresh water tank with alligator gar, arowanas and other stuff!
This site is really very helpful and I can share my experience with fellow hobbyist, here in India we cant discuss corals and reef care openly as keeping any coral in captivity is banned!
But in spite of the blanket ban, I have had a really rewarding reef hobby!
will be sharing a lot of info/pics soon!
bulklodd
New member
hi everyone! my name is serg. i'm from russia. I've been in the hobby for 3 years - i've got a small 24g tank and recently i started up a new 60g tank. So now my systems are in the transition - I'm planning to put all my fish from the small tank into the large one and get a couple of clown fish into the small one. My hobby started quite unexpectedly i decided to give a sea tank as a birthday present to my kid and i thought it'd be a piece of cake 
well, the process wasn't smooth as i thought at first but eventually i really fell in with it.
well, the process wasn't smooth as i thought at first but eventually i really fell in with it.
Help needed
Help needed
Hi guys, i'm new to this, i'm a coral biologist and We have been asked to conduct a review on coral diseases in the wild and those within aquarium, we do however need some photographs of these specific diseases' and those predicted to be the casual agents of said disease/syndrome.
Therefore this is a call to anyone who has high quality photographs from the list below to aid in the review;
A list of the photographs we require are below;
1. White syndrome in aquarium
2. Vibrio harveyi
3. Brown Band Disease in the field
4. Helicostoma ciliate sp.
5. Brown Jelly Syndrome
6. Cyanobacterium responsible for black band
7. red slime algae in aquarium
8. Cyanobacetrium responsible for red slime algae
9. red bugs Tegastes acroporanus in the wild
10. close up of T. acroporanus
11. red bugs in aquarium
12. Acropora Eating Flatworm (AEF) in aquaria
13. flat worm infested coral, Wamineo sp.
Obviously all photographs will be acknowledged in full, please attach the reference you would like us to use and if you would like to aid substantially in the review this would also be welcome as co-authorship.
Please email any figures and attached refs to m.j.sweet@ncl.ac.uk As high res photographs as possible would be desirable
Yours faithfully
Michael Sweet
Help needed
Hi guys, i'm new to this, i'm a coral biologist and We have been asked to conduct a review on coral diseases in the wild and those within aquarium, we do however need some photographs of these specific diseases' and those predicted to be the casual agents of said disease/syndrome.
Therefore this is a call to anyone who has high quality photographs from the list below to aid in the review;
A list of the photographs we require are below;
1. White syndrome in aquarium
2. Vibrio harveyi
3. Brown Band Disease in the field
4. Helicostoma ciliate sp.
5. Brown Jelly Syndrome
6. Cyanobacterium responsible for black band
7. red slime algae in aquarium
8. Cyanobacetrium responsible for red slime algae
9. red bugs Tegastes acroporanus in the wild
10. close up of T. acroporanus
11. red bugs in aquarium
12. Acropora Eating Flatworm (AEF) in aquaria
13. flat worm infested coral, Wamineo sp.
Obviously all photographs will be acknowledged in full, please attach the reference you would like us to use and if you would like to aid substantially in the review this would also be welcome as co-authorship.
Please email any figures and attached refs to m.j.sweet@ncl.ac.uk As high res photographs as possible would be desirable
Yours faithfully
Michael Sweet
New To Forum
New To Forum
Hello all!!
I have recently purchased an established reef tank, my first one. I have had chiclid tanks prior. I have had tank set up now for about 5 days. It did have many corals when i got it however i am only seeing a few now. Some of them have actually closed up since. All water test have come back good. A little high on Nitrate .40 waiting for full week to do small water change. Added chemipure bags. Will these corals come back or are they gone for good?
New To Forum
Hello all!!
I have recently purchased an established reef tank, my first one. I have had chiclid tanks prior. I have had tank set up now for about 5 days. It did have many corals when i got it however i am only seeing a few now. Some of them have actually closed up since. All water test have come back good. A little high on Nitrate .40 waiting for full week to do small water change. Added chemipure bags. Will these corals come back or are they gone for good?
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