New to the club and new to salt water.

cybermoser

New member
Hello everyone,

I just wanted to get a thread started by me introducing myself. I am new here on the forum but more important I am new to the salt water hobby. I have maintained a very nice 50 gal Cichlid set up for about 6 years and had always wanted to get started into salt but it was always to expensive, well I just aquired my first salt water set up about 2 weeks ago!!!!

So a bit about myself, I work in the Springs as an engineer and I live in Pueblo West. I have a wife and a 10 month old daughter.

So, now the fun begins. I may need many questions answered as I learn this exciting new hobby, hope you guys/gals don't mind. I am very excited.

I have a 54 gal, corner tank set up. I have a wet/dry below with a skimmer prior to the bio balls. I set this up 2 weeks ago and have been cycling since. I have about 50 lbs of crushed coral (dead sand) and 20 lbs of live sand. I have about 20 lbs of live rock also. I just took my first water sample in today and found that all my levels are stable (kinda weird for only 2 weeks, no?).

So if anyone wants to give me some guidance I am open to hearing it all. Also if anyone has any extra of just about anything that they want to get rid of cheap or free to a fellow hobbiest just let me know.

Thanks for letting me join your club.
 
Welcome to SCMAS. I'm from Pueblo and have lived in Pueblo West before and I am also new to salt water too! I have a 29g that have been set up for almost a month now or is it already a month? :p
I honestly have no idea how long it takes for a SW tank to cycle. I recieved a lot of LR (from 55g) with some livestock (fish only) and I basically "skipped" cycling. Right now my 29g is growing algae :p I hope that my coraline algae will start to outcompete the green algae.

Oh, I'd think that you need more LR for a set up like yours. I'll let the experts chime in. I just wanted to welcome you to SCMAS :)
 
Welcome to SCMAS, hope to see you at the next meeting. Don't forget to post in the introduction thread and the mug shot thrread.

Sounds like you are going to have a nice set up. I would dump the bio balls now, since you don't have any live stock. Bio balls trap detritus and propgate nitrates. Your live rock, sand, and skimmer should be all you need in bio filtrattion. What kind of livestock are you planning on keeping? What kind of lighting do you have?

Again, Welcom.
 
Hey cybermoser, I am Todd and also live in Pueblo. I have been into reef tanks for a little over 4 years now and have been somewhat successful at it. I have helped many local aquarist start out or change over to reefs and actually enjoy helping out. Shoot me a pm and we can exchange numbers and maybe I can give you some advice/help.

Btw LR means live rock, and Murf is very correct on getting rid of the bio balls. Just replace the bioballs with live rock rubble.
 
murfman,

I have a 30" compact flourescent reflector, 55 watt that uses a 2G11 lamp ( the bulb that is in it currently looks like it has two different colors), is this called a 50/50? My filtration unit is a Pro Clear Aquatic Systems Pro 75 wet/dry with prefilter and skimmer. Inside this I have a return pump that is a RIO+ 1700 which has a capacity of 2430 LPH (liters per hour)
 
Livestock, not quite sure yet. I want as much of a reef setup as I can do without having to spend much more right away. Maybe some clowns and a tang or two with some bottom feeders and cleaners. I am going to have to build this slowly due to financial constraints but some day I would have a nice reef set up. To get started I will probably try to get some community fish.

What ever the experts here suggest is how I will go.
 
Hi Nate, glad you found your way over to the forums. I told you these guys were great! With any luck you'll be able to make it to the meeting this month, I've only been to one and I learned all kinds of invaluable information.

-judi
 
Welcome to RC-and hopefully to the club. PM us we can probably
help you out with some rock. We have a 125 set up with a few peices of rock just cycling.
Tracy
 
Welcome to the forums. Like everybody has stated everybody on here is really helpful and nice. I have already meet with a few of them and they are about reefing. I am in Pueblo as well with a 12G nano setup in my dorm. If you are on the market for some snails soon I might be able to hook you up with some for free. Mine have already reproduced and I have like 2-3 babies in the tank as well. I think it would be best to wait on fish for a bit until you get the process of maintaining the tank down and feel comfortable doing it. You might be able to stock up on some coral when the frag swap takes place. I might be able to talk to my uncle about getting rid of some of his rock. He is wanting to break his tank down, but not as forth going as his words. LOL
 
csupueblotim,

Thanks I would appriciate that. If he wants to tear down sometime feel free to PM me or just post on this forumn.
 
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