Soon to be UK based reefer

MERKEY · Apr 10, 2021

Hello and welcome to R2R!

vetteguy53081 · Apr 10, 2021

jtp7004ft · Apr 10, 2021

Welcome!

G-mans Fish · Apr 10, 2021

welcome to r2r boiii

Jimbhoy13 · Apr 10, 2021

Welcome to R2R and the salty world Iain. Lots of knowledgeable and helpful people here who will support and advise you when needed.
You can get a UK banner that goes under your name. See mine on this post.
Click "Account", Click "Join User Group", scroll to the bottom and click on "United Kingdom User Group".

P-Dub · Apr 10, 2021

Welcome!!!

2ClownGal · Apr 10, 2021

AstroMelly said:
Hi Everyone.

Newly joined and hoping to set my first reef tank up in the coming months. We are renovating our house and the tank will be a centrepiece for the open plan living room/kitchen. Currently looking at the Red Sea Peninsula 650 but that might change. Important that we have views from the 3 sides.

Very excited about moving from 15 years of trops to the salty side!

I've already trawled the forum a bit and saw a few others had the same tank. So much to learn, looking forward to the challenges that await me!

Iain

That Sounds Awesome! Welcome!

Fish Think Pink · Apr 10, 2021

Welcome!

That sounds like it will be incredible! Looking forward to seeing photos when you are further along. Planning is so fun!!

G Santana · Apr 10, 2021

Welcome aboard and good luck with your build

SPR1968 · Apr 11, 2021

Hi and welcome to Reef2Reef!

4tanks · Apr 11, 2021

Welcome to r2r from Hampshire where abouts are you from

AstroMelly · Apr 11, 2021

Jimbhoy13 said:
Welcome to R2R and the salty world Iain. Lots of knowledgeable and helpful people here who will support and advise you when needed.
You can get a UK banner that goes under your name. See mine on this post.
Click "Account", Click "Join User Group", scroll to the bottom and click on "United Kingdom User Group".

Nice - and done!

AstroMelly · Apr 11, 2021

4tanks said:
Welcome to r2r from Hampshire where abouts are you from

Hey 4tanks - we are in Hertfordshire - Rickmansworth/Chorleywood area.

Kiwi reefer · Apr 11, 2021

Welcome! looking forward to seeing pictures of your reef!

AstroMelly · Apr 11, 2021

Zakery Murray said:
Welcome to Reef2Reef, penninsula tanks are wonderful for viewing from 3 sides. May I ask what equipment you are thinking about running with it, lights, apex, etc? We may be able to tell you our opinions on what we have tried out if you would like some advice before you go and buy.

Hey Zak.

And thanks for the warm welcome, to you and all who have replied!

Lights are still up in the air (so to speak!) - my wife would like an enclosure built around the top of the tank to hide the light fixture and 'frame' the tank (I am really not that bothered but I know where my priorities lie). We would prefer not to suspend them from the ceiling. So I guess they will need to be mounted on brackets at each end of the tank - I've seen a few generic solutions for this. I know this will probably become a pain once we are removing/replacing them for the n'th time. I am thinking a T5/LED hybrid setup based on what I have seen but nothing decided yet - maybe LED only but from the results I've seen I like the smooth blend that the T5's provide with no shimmer background lighting. The tank will be fish only with live rock to start with but we want to have some corals once established enough to support them (guessing a few to 6 months after fish go in).

As far as APEX - I will probably pass on that since reading some users horror reports - Im sure there are far more happy and satisfied users but it seems like a huge outlay for what it provides. Plus I'm not sure I like the idea of being locked in to the Neptune world. Also being in the UK there is limited access to things like power banks and the pricing of those available is ?*&^%&* crazy! I did drool over the Apex series for a long time but I really don't want to be spending so much on a control/monitoring solution that has been at best spotty for some investors and downright dangerous for others.

Since finding the reef-pi thread I am looking more closely at setting up a Raspberry Pi to provide just monitoring (ph/temp) at first, with the option of expanding this to provide some control if it turns out to be stable enough. Power control is also tricky for us in the UK but I think I may have found a solution. I'll detail my plans in the build thread. I love my tech (I'm a programmer by trade) and I have set up a Pi in my observatory to control my telescopes and cameras so I've already been down that road once. We will eventually need some way of controlling/monitoring the tank if we are ever away for extended periods - I imagine being away for more than a week would be considered important - we have friendly neighbours who can drop in for feeding but I know enough to say trops != marine as far as basic husbandry is concerned.

We do have interior cameras (SimpliSafe) so they will be set up for periods away from the house and I will be adding their flood sensors under the tank and in the garage as well. I'm just spec'ing out the RO/DI system for the garage and taking a long look at what equipment I will be purchasing. I can share the shopping list in detail once I start the build thread.

For now I just keep thinking of stuff I will need and am researching and choosing as I go. This morning it is heaters/temp controllers so any suggestions gratefully accepted!

Cheers for now.

Iain