reef noob

mattGgator

mattGgator

New member
I'm Matt, Mallorie's (mallorieGgator) husband. I'm an aerospace engineering major at the University of Florida with a part time campus job. That pretty much sums up my life at the moment.

I'm really excited to get into this hobby. Prior to this, I bred leopard geckos with my wife...a hobby gone horribly awry. This time I plan to keep it strictly a hobby. We tried breeding freshwater angle fish as well. This seems to be a little more exciting what with the brighter colors! Other than the angle fish (which I didn't really do a whole lot with, other than water changes), I really don't have much experience with fish. Its because of this I plan to spend plenty of time on this forum to try and absorb as much information as possible.

Look forward to getting to know as many of you all as possible!

Matt
 
I meant that I didn't want to try to make money with it. Thats what I tried doing with the geckos, and its way to stressful. I would imagine it would be even more difficult in this hobby. However, I have no issues with getting a massive tank or two (or three or...). So yeah, I can see this getting out of hand rather quickly too lol.

Matt
 
fork out a good $1800 for a basic 36 gallon reef tank healthy enough to breed fish. Your best luck on breeding fish are Bangia Cardnal fish. The trick to breeding isn't the actual breeding it's self, but the raising of the fish. You might get 200 new born fish, but only 4-10 will survive to adult hood. Bangia cardnal fish make this easy because they are mouth brooders. The only problem is you have to raise the fish in an aquarium consisting of long spine sea urchins which are rather dangerous to handle. The second fish i would reccomend you breed is clown fish. They are rather simple to breed, and earn big bucks. There's a husband and wife in illinoise who only breeds clown fish in their basement, yet earn enough to afford a 500,000 dollar home. If you have no experience in the hobby at all, i wouldn't recomend just staring out breeding. Get a smallnano cube first to get the feel of things. I've been a reefer for 5 years, have had 5 aquariums, yet still have no clue what i'm doing a good half of the time. Saltwater is way harder than one might think. One little problem like a 2 degree change in tempature can crash your whole system. I've had aiptasia, the most common pest in the aquarium trade, and had to spend nearly $500 to get rid of them all. I'm not saying it's imposible to do; once you get 2 years under you belt it gets allot easyer. Its also very rewarding. The one tip i can give you is do lots, and lots, and lots of research. One blog will do you nothing. I recomend talking to a local aquarium store, and reading a million, billion, books on reefing. I don't want to prevent you from getting into reefing, but don't jump into it. It wont be the relaxing, un stressful, hobby your thinking of; It's a full time job.
 
Thanks for the welcomes!

kingfisher62 said:
I would recommend "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist: A Commonsense Handbook for Successful Saltwater Hobbyists " great book for beginners.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Conscientious-Marine-Aquarist/Robert-M-Fenner/e/9781890087999/

I think your first thing to do is to decide what sort of fish and corals do you want to keep.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice on literature as well. I think I'm going to let the wife decide what she wants in our tank for now as my taste in critters tends to be more large/unfriendly/difficult things to keep.
 
Welcome to reef central and good luck reefing. I love my tank. The hours a week i spend on it are nothing to the joy i get out of my tank. I hope you can get the same feelings from yours.
 
kingfisher62 said:
Sounds like you are leaning towards a predator tank. Lionfish , groupers and morays is that what your thinking?
Click to expand...

Nailed it...unfortunately we only have a 55g as of right now, and its not really time or budget effective, for us being college students, to have a seperate tank for my wants. My dreams of a predator tank will have to be held off until after school, and thats fine with me.

Matt
 
mallorieGgator said:
He just wants a shark tank...sharks with laser beams... :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, Baby!

<a href="http://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r174/Kingfish62/?action=view&current=austin-powers-shagadelic.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r174/Kingfish62/austin-powers-shagadelic.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


You could always keep Dwarf lionfish.

A 55 gallon is a tough tank to aquascape but it is a good size to start with for a beginner. The bigger the better , larger tanks tend to be more stable.
 
Well, It is just the dimensions are too narrow on the width . Front to back it is only 12 inches. So when you pile 70 pounds of Liverock in the tank it tends to be a long wall with not that much beach front or sandy areas in the front for certain corals. Also you do not gett the depth of field that you get in a larger tank.
You will see what I am talking about once you start. Don't get me wrong . I am not saying it is impossible but you will be more limited in your creativity.

Hear is a picture of mine. It is a lousy picture but you can might be able to see what I am saying.
<a href="http://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r174/Kingfish62/?action=view&current=DSCF0856.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r174/Kingfish62/DSCF0856.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
 
I also switched from freshwater sometime ago because of all the colors, lol.

I see your tank says corner overflow, so I just wanted to make sure you plan on using a sump.
 
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