Reefiez
New member
Hi fellow reefers!
This will be my first saltwater tank ever! I've got experience in freshwater, and finally caught the salty bug. The reefer 525 seemed like a good place to start. As I have no experience, this will be a Keep it Simple Stupid build.
I'm in Hong Kong, and some equipment common in the US are a little difficult to find. I've had to source some of my stuff from e-bay, but I've still got a huge shopping list to go.
Prices here are also weird, some stuff are super cheap, some are super expensive (relative to the US). Anemones are super rare here, and after asking around, it seems it would go for $500 each. On the other hand, clownfishes are like $3, Blue tangs are $15, Gem tangs range from $500-1500.
Choosing livestock is also going to be pretty annoying if you don't do the research. Browsing some corals last week, I thought I saw a bounce mushroom. I asked the staff for the price, expecting it to be in the hundreds if not thousands. The price came at $80. I thought it was too good to be true, so after googling at home it was actually just bubble coral.
95% of the staff here are unhelpful and in my experience give really really bad advice to part you from your dollars. My advice for anyone starting the hobby in Hong Kong is to do the research and know what you need and why you need it, don't let the staff sell you something you haven't done research into. When I was shopping for a siphon that can clean the gravel for my freshwater planted tank, the staff told me "you don't ever need to clean your gravel, the waste is the fertilizer for your plants." Needless to say, I turned around, walked out the door, and have never been in that store again.
OK! Enough ranting, it's time to get on with the show!
Sad news, but the aquarium is still 2 weeks away from getting shipped here, BUT my rocks have arrived!
I'll be using dry Pukani, I have 120lbs of it and have been playing around with aquascaping it. I may use most of it in my tank, we shall see!
2 boxes of 30kg (132lbs), I weighed the rocks and they came up to 120lbs, but I guess with the box it gets to 132lbs.
It seems I'm not the only one excited about the rocks!
As I mentioned previously, even Pukani not readily available in HK. I spent weeks looking for US shipping to HK, but due to CITES permits, I didn't go through with it. I sent Walt in Fiji an e-mail explaining my situation, and he put me in touch with a HK dealer that receives regular shipments from Fiji. So I managed to piggyback my shipment of Pukani with his, and after waiting for 3 weeks, it finally arrived! It was air freight dry rock, lol!
120lbs of Pukani!
Aquascaping (got 2 weeks to play around before tank arrives)
Some pieces are huge, the largest piece was 20x14x10. I may have to resize them a bit in the future.
Anyways, that is it for now, more updates to come!
This will be my first saltwater tank ever! I've got experience in freshwater, and finally caught the salty bug. The reefer 525 seemed like a good place to start. As I have no experience, this will be a Keep it Simple Stupid build.
I'm in Hong Kong, and some equipment common in the US are a little difficult to find. I've had to source some of my stuff from e-bay, but I've still got a huge shopping list to go.
Prices here are also weird, some stuff are super cheap, some are super expensive (relative to the US). Anemones are super rare here, and after asking around, it seems it would go for $500 each. On the other hand, clownfishes are like $3, Blue tangs are $15, Gem tangs range from $500-1500.
Choosing livestock is also going to be pretty annoying if you don't do the research. Browsing some corals last week, I thought I saw a bounce mushroom. I asked the staff for the price, expecting it to be in the hundreds if not thousands. The price came at $80. I thought it was too good to be true, so after googling at home it was actually just bubble coral.
95% of the staff here are unhelpful and in my experience give really really bad advice to part you from your dollars. My advice for anyone starting the hobby in Hong Kong is to do the research and know what you need and why you need it, don't let the staff sell you something you haven't done research into. When I was shopping for a siphon that can clean the gravel for my freshwater planted tank, the staff told me "you don't ever need to clean your gravel, the waste is the fertilizer for your plants." Needless to say, I turned around, walked out the door, and have never been in that store again.
OK! Enough ranting, it's time to get on with the show!
Sad news, but the aquarium is still 2 weeks away from getting shipped here, BUT my rocks have arrived!
I'll be using dry Pukani, I have 120lbs of it and have been playing around with aquascaping it. I may use most of it in my tank, we shall see!
2 boxes of 30kg (132lbs), I weighed the rocks and they came up to 120lbs, but I guess with the box it gets to 132lbs.
It seems I'm not the only one excited about the rocks!
As I mentioned previously, even Pukani not readily available in HK. I spent weeks looking for US shipping to HK, but due to CITES permits, I didn't go through with it. I sent Walt in Fiji an e-mail explaining my situation, and he put me in touch with a HK dealer that receives regular shipments from Fiji. So I managed to piggyback my shipment of Pukani with his, and after waiting for 3 weeks, it finally arrived! It was air freight dry rock, lol!
120lbs of Pukani!
Aquascaping (got 2 weeks to play around before tank arrives)
Some pieces are huge, the largest piece was 20x14x10. I may have to resize them a bit in the future.
Anyways, that is it for now, more updates to come!
