New to saltwater

[ToddAquatic]

Hey everyone. I'm Todd. Long time aquarium fanatic who finally took the leap into a reef tank. Looking forward to getting more involved with this community, I'm already obsessed with the challenges! Let me know what you think. First clownfish went in 9/29/24

 

[Urka]

Welcome Todd! A lot of knowledgeable and friendly people here.

 

[Reefing102]

Welcome. Looks great! Care to tell us a little more about the tank?

 

[ToddAquatic]

Welcome. Looks great! Care to tell us a little more about the tank?

It's a 100 gallon innovative marine tank. Syncra sd 7/9 i believe is the return pump. 2 radion xr15 pro lights. Vortech Mp40 powerhead. I had a lot of guidance from a friend of mine who sells frags and equipment. Definitely couldn't have gotten this far without his help

 

[Reefing102]

Awesome set up! Can’t wait to see it grow in

 

[Brian60077]

Looks good, a lot of open rock spaces and open space inside. Just set mine up last tuesday, got it cycled by Thursday by using the live sand that came with the tank, live rock and Brightwell Aquatics microbacter 7. went to my local fish store yesterday to get at least a clown, and a couple hermit crabs because people say hermit crabs are needed, and they are out of stock on the common clowns likely for 2 weeks.... find that hard to believe, however they quarintene all fish before selling so ..... and only came home to a basically empty tank with 2 hermits.

 

[kfisc]

Looks great! I like the dark substrate. It looks as if you left room behind the rock work for flow as well. Very nice.

 

[ToddAquatic]

Looks great! I like the dark substrate. It looks as if you left room behind the rock work for flow as well. Very nice.

Yeah i tried to leave about 3 to 4 inches in the back for flow. And I feel the dark substrate really compliments the brighter colors in the tank

 

[griss]

Look like a great start.

 

[ToddAquatic]

Looks good, a lot of open rock spaces and open space inside. Just set mine up last tuesday, got it cycled by Thursday by using the live sand that came with the tank, live rock and Brightwell Aquatics microbacter 7. went to my local fish store yesterday to get at least a clown, and a couple hermit crabs because people say hermit crabs are needed, and they are out of stock on the common clowns likely for 2 weeks.... find that hard to believe, however they quarintene all fish before selling so ..... and only came home to a basically empty tank with 2 hermits.

Yeah pet shops can be frustrating. Is there any local private sellers near you?

 

[Brian60077]

Not so much for fish, but I got a sweet Rasta Zoanthid frag from someone in my area from the Reef Bay app group.

 

[griss]

Yeah pet shops can be frustrating. Is there any local private sellers near you?

Try not having a LFS near you. I live in the St. Louis, MO metro area and have to drive 40 minutes each way to get to a LFS. Back in the late 90s/early 2000s, I had three within 15 minutes, 3-5 more within 30 minutes and several more within 45 minutes.

 

[Brian60077]

The one LFS really close to me, like maybe a mile tops is a really good store. However I do not see how they can be sold out of their most popular salt water fish, common clownfish and not have any for roughly 2 weeks although they do qt all fish and corals before offering them for sale. There is one that was recommended to me to check out, they are probably roughly 4-6 miles from me, and was thinking about doing a field trip today and check them out, glad I looked them up on their website... they have the craziest of hours.... only open from 12 to 6 pm and ONLY Friday, Saturday and Sunday. What kind of hours are those.....

 

[griss]

There is one that was recommended to me to check out, they are probably roughly 4-6 miles from me, and was thinking about doing a field trip today and check them out, glad I looked them up on their website... they have the craziest of hours.... only open from 12 to 6 pm and ONLY Friday, Saturday and Sunday. What kind of hours are those.....

Interesting.

 

[Brian60077]

Interesting.

must not need to have a revenue source.

 

[griss]

Or, they know when their customers shop. No sense in paying people to be in the store if there’s no customers. I’ve seen some local (non-reef related) that have goofy hours like that.

It could also be that it’s not the owners primary source of income.

 

[Brian60077]

Or, they know when their customers shop. No sense in paying people to be in the store if there’s no customers. I’ve seen some local (non-reef related) that have goofy hours like that.

It could also be that it’s not the owners primary source of income.

Kinda makes it difficult to hurry and get at least one fish... unless I go to the Petco in the East Lakeview area of Chicago.

 

[five.five-six]

Welcome to the addiction