new to reefs, time to get salty

[Marcus McConnell]

hello everyone, I'm new to saltwater tanks but have quite a few years doing freshwater aquariums, either between helping my dad run what he called his monster, a 100gal "swamp tank" with fish ranging from feeder tetras to a 14in catfish, live planted with controlled algae growth, and his "clean tank" that was a 120gal extra tall extra wide, which was brackish for bichirs and inverts. been around fish for a better part of my life, and moved a few years ago from ocean front to out in the middle of nowhere, and I'm starting to miss being able to just take a little walk to go sit on the rocks and watch the sea life around me. I'm planning on starting 3 tank builds sometime within the next year, rebuilding the swamp tank, and jumping head first off a cliff in to reef tanks. I'm going to be making a red sea reefer 250 anemone tank with some smaller corals/sps and clownfish, and what will become my monster, an approximate 200-300gal full reef tank that I want to try triton with.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[kschweer]

Welcome to R2R!!

 

[NY_Caveman]

Swamp tank! Love that.

Welcome!

 

[Saltine]

Welcome!

 

[Marcus McConnell]

Swamp tank! Love that.

Welcome!

Is was awesome, had to do to it was a 50%water change and trimming once a year and throw in 2 bloodworm cubes a week, everything else was self sustained, tetras reproduced at a incredible rate to feed all the other fish, phytoplankton fed the tetras, and the plants were thick and well grown, shrimp and snails kept algae at a controlled level. Our LFS did a spotlight on it in their monthly news letter. We ended up moving half way across the country a few months after the photoshoot, we donated all the contents to the LFS minus one of our big catfish, who sadly didn't make the trip.

 

[Fudsey]

Welcome to R2R ! ! !

Sounds like you got a plan

 

[KJ]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[dbl]

Welcome to R2R and your new reefing community.

 

[LadyMac]

Welcome! Sounds like some exciting plans. I too came from fresh. I have wild species of betta. My 29 is half full, with a nice rock structure and planted with needle leaf java, crypts, and buceps. The canister filter brings down a lovely waterfall. Currently home to a single female macrostoma. My reef is pretty bland in comparison for now. But slow and steady wins the race, yeah?

 

[MaddyP]

Welcome to the family!

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

Welcome to R2R

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[reef lover]

Welcome to the salty side !

 

[Marcus McConnell]

Welcome! Sounds like some exciting plans. I too came from fresh. I have wild species of betta. My 29 is half full, with a nice rock structure and planted with needle leaf java, crypts, and buceps. The canister filter brings down a lovely waterfall. Currently home to a single female macrostoma. My reef is pretty bland in comparison for now. But slow and steady wins the race, yeah?

Yep slow is better, it took between my dad starting that tank in early 2000 and me helping him from 2006 to get the tank nowhere it was, we were extra cautious with everything we added

 

[DSC reef]

Welcome to R2R

 

[ReeferHunter]

Welcome to R2R, I too come from the freshwater side of fish tanks but have love for the ocean and the corals. It sounds like you've got some great funding which will always help because cheeping out on equipment is never worth the risk incase of failure. I have the Red Sea E-MAXX but was wanting the Reefer 250, however my dad said no since I still live at home upstairs lol. Some of my biggest regrets were the substrate I used. I went with a very fine carib sea sand and its been getting blown all over so check out some vids from BRS or
MarineDepot before you select a sand. Another one of my big mistakes was buying a anemone too soon. Anemones require a cycled tank that has been stable for about 7-8 months. That doesn't mean guys haven't got them to work sooner but in my experience and from what I've been told on here its better to wait. What happens is the anemone swims around your tank and runs the risk of getting stuck in a wave maker or powerhead. This is exactly what happened to me and it was not pretty lol. When I started out, youtube and R2R became my best friends so don't be shy

 

[Marcus McConnell]

Welcome to R2R, I too come from the freshwater side of fish tanks but have love for the ocean and the corals. It sounds like you've got some great funding which will always help because cheeping out on equipment is never worth the risk incase of failure. I have the Red Sea E-MAXX but was wanting the Reefer 250, however my dad said no since I still live at home upstairs lol. Some of my biggest regrets were the substrate I used. I went with a very fine carib sea sand and its been getting blown all over so check out some vids from BRS or
MarineDepot before you select a sand. Another one of my big mistakes was buying a anemone too soon. Anemones require a cycled tank that has been stable for about 7-8 months. That doesn't mean guys haven't got them to work sooner but in my experience and from what I've been told on here its better to wait. What happens is the anemone swims around your tank and runs the risk of getting stuck in a wave maker or powerhead. This is exactly what happened to me and it was not pretty lol. When I started out, youtube and R2R became my best friends so don't be shy

BRS is how I found this place, I have watched almost all of their videos from the last 2 years

 

[LadyMac]

I believe BRS is how I ventured here as well...

 

[Marcus McConnell]

Has anyone made a custom stand using wood flooring, just walked by some me at looking flooring. Looks like it's been in the ocean and drug up