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

[brob19977]

New to reef keeping

New to reef keeping

Hey, My name is Ben and am currently in the middle of getting my 75 gallon tank ready for corals. my tank has an overflow, 30 gallon sump, protein skimmer, 2 power heads, LED lighting plus 1 t-5 actinic, I am using some chemical filtration which includes Purigen, chemi pure elite, poly filter, bio zorb. I have a yellow tang, percula clown, lawnmower blenny, and 2 fire fish. There are a couple of palys on a rock a friend gave me that are doing great. I also have been given a frag with about 15 zoanthid polyps on it that don't seem to be doing so well. they will not open up all the way. My water parameters are great. Any suggestions on what my be going on with then would be greatly appreciated. By the way they have been in my tank for about 3 weeks.

 

[justhaag]

hi my name is Justin and im a reefaholic
*hi Justin*
Ive had my tank setup for about 6 months now.
Its a biocube 29 with 3 ecoxotic led lights, in tank media rack and refugium and 2 koralia 425's. so far it is doing fantastic and i havent lost any livestock.
stocklist:
Fish:
1 orange ocellaris clown
1 black ocellaris clown
1 royal gramma
1 twinspot goby

Coral:
1 trumpet
1 neon hybrid frogspawn/hammer
1 (now 3 smaller) pulsating xenia
1 red mushroom
lots of zoas
1 green scolly
1 xmas favia
1 orange chalice
1 orange digi
1 green monti cap
1 toadstool
1 valida acro
1 misc acro
1 birdsnest
1 purple haze monti

 

[justhaag]

*everyone claps and applauds*

 

[JealousKittens]

Hello!
My name is Sam and I am new to the Hobby! My teacher Kobashi got me into this by having his 14G in his classroom. I decided to ask him how much effort and cost it would take to get into said hobby and he has become my mentor and I am in love with Salt water tanks!
I have a 14G nano and it has been cycling for around 4 -5 weeks now. I have recently added a damsel fish to see how the water is doing. The damsel fish has survived a week and looks like he will continue to live. I Have around 9-11 pounds of live rock in my tank (estimated) with my biggest rock being 8 pounds and cultured. I have also recently added a mushroom and Anthelia and they are also doing well! the mushroom is getting bigger every day and the anthelia is growing longer and producing more heads each day.
My teacher told me to get a reef central account for asking questions and getting advice, so here I am!
I cannot wait to start adding fish and other exotic types of coral!
In the past my parents had a 500G tank in our living room until we moved out of the house that held the 500G, and ever since I have been hooked to salt water tanks.
This is my first tank, but most definitely not my last!
Any advice for being new to the hobby and some help is always great and appreciated!

 

[justhaag]

read up before you buy anything! there will always be times when you realize you should have done more research but never times you felt you did too much. Also dont get yourself down when things go wrong, just save what you can and keep going. Theres advice

 

[mechanicpsyco]

Hello from Kingsport tn

Hello from Kingsport tn

Just saying hello. Just joined. I have been into fresh water forever and tried saltwater about 15 years ago and failed miserably. Well here i go again.
I am a much more patient man than i was then. Alot more focused, arent we all.
But I am going to set up a 10gal nano tank for the bedroom and if all goes well Ill do the 55 gal.
Shamless plug- so if anyone near Kingsport feels generous, I could use advice and anything else.
Thanks for letting me ramble.
Looking forward to being here

 

[cmclean06]

Howdy,

I'm chris and i'm fairly new to RC. I've used this forum to gather information for a long time and decided it would be beneficial to hop on board. I'm currently establishing a 350 gallon round acrylic center overflow reef tank, taking down a 250 gallon FOWLR, and just sold my 100 gallon reef tank this morning, focussing on the one 350 gal. reef for a while. I'm welding up the stand in the garage currently and have loads of questions for the forum so in advance, I appreciate the help. Thanks. . .CM:smurf:

 

[cmclean06]

Thanks again for the welcome page!

 

[qterry22]

Newb for now....

Newb for now....

Hello

I am 30 and just started my SW hobby. I had a 55 gal freshy before with 2x oscars. Although fun....it got boring quick. After a certain age they started fighting a lot and tearing up the tank.

Fast forward to now. I have got a 65 gal. corner flow tank. 70lbs of rock, 50 lbs of live sand (As recommended by a rep. at 'that fish place' in Lancaster, PA.) A 20 gal sump. No protean skimmer or refuge as of yet. I will be adding a light fixture and skimmer when I get live stock.

I have begun my cycle with the cocktail shrimp as also recommended. After 1 week here are my water readings.

Salinity = 1.024
PH = 8.2
Ammonia = .50ppm
Nitrite = 0ppm
Nitrate = 0ppm
Temp = 77.9 F

I plan on having a fish/coral tank with more coral than fish. Not sure how long the cycle will take and I am not totally sure where a good happy medium is for water params to facilitate a healthy tank for both the fish and coral. Here are my current benchmarks.

Salinity = 1.024 *I actually got this pretty good. Happy with where its at.

PH = 8.2 *Not sure but I am aiming for 8.3. Will wait for cycle and more advice before adjusting.

Temp = 78F *Not doing to bad on this either. I would like to keep it around 78F unless otherwise is needed for a healthy tank.

Ok. So here are some questions I actually am hoping to have answered.

1. Where is the best place to measure water temp?

Obviously in the tank is where its most important to keep the temp regulated. However I was instructed to keep the heater and thermometer in the sump. So as of now this is where its at.

2. What are the best water params for keeping a mostly coral tank with a couple clowns?

3. Does anyone know if Orphek is a good company to purchase a light fixture from?

I am currently looking at buying there titan light for $900. The other light I seen that seemed to be perfect for what I want to do is the Aqualife LED fixture. However that one is around $2500. I want to harvest coral and I dont know if LED lighting is the way to go but to me it seems like it. Its Heavily front loaded as far as cost but I am ok with that as I plan on sticking with the hobby. My biggest wants for a lighting fixture is a light source that will promote healthy growth for all types of coral, low heat output, low electric bill, sleek modern look, and the least amount of plugs as possible.

Thanks for reading my long post. I welcome and appreciate all feedback. I look forward to being an active member of RC.

Quentin

 

[eutimio]

Advice on a 55G Hex tank

Advice on a 55G Hex tank

Ive got a 55G hex-25"x25"
30 pound live rock
2 bags aragalive substrate(2-3 inch deep sand bed)

Just set it up today.Have no place for a sump and im running a Fluval FX5 canister filter on it filled with ceramic rings and pads for mechanical filtration.Ive seen people recommending against canisters on marine setups.
What is the best option to run on this tank?
I understand 25% water changes per day can be beneficial during the cycle?
I dont have a RO/DI water unit.Am i safe using tap water mixed with salt til the cycle ends?Planning on buying RO water from my LFS for water changes after i get fish.
What other pieces of equipment are needed in order to keep optimal water parameters?for now all i got is a master test kit for marine and a hydrometer.
Thank you all for the help!

 

[SGTG]

Hi, am new to salt water fish but not new to the fish tank hobby. i have a 55g tank just set up the tank for salt water 3 weeks ago. the steps i took from the begining. added water and waited for the tempeture got up to 79f and hold there. added salt slowly untill i had a reading of 8.2ph and salinity at 31 and gravity at 1.023. waited 3 weeks. this saturday i added live sand and crushed coral and 6 damsels to help cycle the tank. my filter is an aqua clear that treats up tp 125g. at the moment in the filter i have the sponge and pura complete. i also have a power head 402 at its highest psi. my lightbulb is a sunglo. thats about it. its been 3 days since the fish where introduced and my questions are what else should i put in the filter to help maintain the water purity and how long from now should i add them in. my plans for the tank are, i want to have live rock corals amnenemis clown fish, lion fish hippo tangs shrimps eels and maybe someother things but i know i have to limit the amount of fish i add in there and i hear i need alot of light for the reefs. is there anything else i should be getting ready to buy or do in the mean time the tank is cycling. what else do i need to test for in the water besides nitrite nitrate ammonis ph? any advise will be greatly appreciated. thanks for your time. heres a pic of my tank at the moment.

<a href="http://s1126.photobucket.com/albums/l610/pfcflaco/?action=view&current=IMG_6654.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/l610/pfcflaco/IMG_6654.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

[Midwestmade]

Hello!

Hello!

Thought I would post a little bit about my new tank build as I will probally have some questions along the way.

I currently have a 60 gallon FOWLER setup for about a year now. I have learned alot in the past year with my tank and now have the bug and am starting a new build.

I just got a 72" x 24" x30" tank and have been picking up parts and pieces for it along the way. Here is a list of what I am planning on using so far.

I will be aquascaping with 175#'s of live rock.

I will be getting into some corals in the new tank, mostly softies as thier colors are what I like.

-Sump I have a Aqueon Mega flow model 4 "what is the best use of the sump? obviously I will run a skimmer and return pump but whats the best use of the other chamber? more live rock?

-Lighting I have a 72" Prolife Aquatics T5 fixture that I plan on using.
I also picked up a dual bulb VHO and Dual 250W MH system from someone who made the change to LED. What setup would you run if it were your tank?

- Dual dosing system from BRS. This will be a learning experience as with my FOWLER I really didn't have to worry about my calcium levels.

- BRS GFO/Carbon reactor

-24W Turbo Twist UV steralizer

 

[thinker60]

Hello All,

Just getting into the forum and have recently began the saltwater hobby. I have a good friend locally that has been in the hobby for a few decades and he has helped me tremendously. Kinda of a jump start for me.

I actually purchased a setup from someone getting out of the hobby and moved it to our house. It is a 150G Oceanic half round tank. With it I moved all the live sand, live rock, and fish/critters. I also added more live rock 80lbs (already cured) and live sand (100lbs). In addition I did some major plumbing to move the sump out to my garage which required about 50ft runs of 1 1/2 " plastic for the pump feed to the tank and 2" plastic from the tank. Right now the sump is a 30G with a protein skimmer. I will give more details later and upload some pics of what has been going on. In a short time (relatively) the tank is in decent shape. I think in about another 4-5 months it will be more like what I want in the end (of course that is a moving target) .

So hopefully I can get a little help and provide some input to this forum as well.
So here is a first pick of the assembly after adding the sand and some water. Putting the rock in its place.

 

[Bpain05]

Hi I'm new to this site and Saltwater. I purchased a 12G JBJ Nano yesterday and I'm now in the process of setting it up for saltwater with the help of my "expert" buddy. I will take plenty of pics of the build and start a build thread in a few days.

 

[Rando1122]

WHERE AM I.... in my cycle?

WHERE AM I.... in my cycle?

First, and foremost, HELLO!

My wife and I recently ventured into the world of marine reef aquariums and would like to know about where we are in the cycling process.

We have a 40gal (36" X 18.5") tank with live sand and 50lbs live rock (cured).... Aqueon "Quiet Flow" 55 filter, 250gal/hr powerhead.

It's been setup for 3weeks now, and we just bought our water test kit today with the following results.

Temp: 78
PH: 8.3
Ammonia: +/- .25ppm (color matching somewhere between .5 and .25)
Nitrite: 0.00ppm
Nitrate: +/- 5ppm (color matching between 0.0 and 5.0)

We just bought the light today, so the only light the tank has seen is natural light during the day.


ANYONE....??

Thank you SO Much!

 

[Doomseed]

Hey folks, My name is Pav and I just started.

Hey folks, My name is Pav and I just started.

Yep name is Pav and I just started about 4 weeks ago. Bought a 28g Nano cube.
Been working with the guys at Alaska Coral Fanatics and they have directed me here to do further research into this addiction. Just wanted to say hi.

 

[Kayzie]

Hi

Hi

Hey there my name is Kaye and i'm very new to this hobby, (about 12 months) but with a few disappointing moments I am getting better, and learning as I go.

 

[Nikko3355]

New to RC and saltwater

New to RC and saltwater

Hi all,
I am new to the saltwater end of the hobby and am looking forward to growing my reef with this forum's help. I have a 72g freshwater planted that I have had for years and just purchased a 29g Biocube set up. I got the tank about 3 weeks ago and it was cycled and had about 20lbs of live rock that has coraline algae on it. I've since added about 10 more lbs. of dry live rock and one big piecce of texas holey rock I had laying around. I put three zebra hermits, a peppermint and cleaner shrimp and some snails in there. I plan on stocking it slowly and am not in a hurry. It is running 2 36w 50/50 10kK bulbs and things seem to be going ok. I have a couple pieces of coral in there now and they seem happy. Starting to get some purple/red algae on the sand through.
Anyway, happy to be here!

 

[2006ug]

Greetings to all.
My name is Adam, and I joined this forum a while ago because reef aquariums are freaking awesome. I've been doing a lot of reading, and plan to set up a ~200 gallon reef aquarium for my dad's business, with a minimum number of errors!

 

[nanotankdan]

Hello everyone

Hello everyone

Hi everyone,

My name is Dan and am a full time college student. I am new to the hobby and have had my tank set up for about a month and a half now. It is a 28 gallon bowfront tank. Has dual t5ho lighting, moonlight led, 2 powerheads, an aquaclear filter (soon to be adding a acqueon 50 filter, heater, thermometer, and UV sterilizer pump. I do %10 a week water changes with RO/DI water. I have about 30lbs of live rock, a pagoda cup coral, and a leather hand polyp. My livestock consists of an ocellaris clownfish, a pink-spotten goby paired with pistol shrimp, and a blue/green chromis fish. For cleaners I have about 10 nassarius snails, 3-4 hermit crabs, 2 turbo and 2 astrea snails. For substrate I am using about a half inch of sugar fine live sand mixed with crushed coral sand. So far everything is looking good with my water levels. I dose Iodine, Magnesium, and Calcium 2 times a week and feed my fish daily with mysis shrimp and flakes. The only issue I am having is my sand keeps getting brown growth on it, Im assuming detritus.

So yes, this is my tank and I will be posting pictures soon.

Thanks!