Let's talk anbout your first time...

[Spyral]

Ok, so most know I keep Frontosa and Africans. Almost 3 months ago, my girlfriend suggested I try a SW setup after my planted tank FAILED miserably due to my screw up with lighting. So, I had a free 25 tall with a 56W T5 fixture, a heater and a AquaClear 50 on it.

I said what the heck, and she gave me some crushed coral, a piece of formerly live rock, a few different hygrometers and some reef chemicals (Iodine, Calcium, Reef-Vit, Strontium, etc).

I bought a bag of Instant Ocean and followeD the instructions. I added my piece of formerly live rock and waited. I waited almost a month for it to cycle. I added a big piece of Coralline encrusted live rock from A Place For Pets and a protein skimmer, a Rio Nano-Skimmer from Midway. This skimmer sucked, it never produced a bit of skimmate and seemed like a useless waste of $40. Well, turns out I set it up wrong, but I only found out after I opted for a CPR BakPak 2 skimmer which I got slightly used from Sierra (which By the way Is amazing!).

I then added a pair of Blue Damsels and more live rock from Midway (much to the dismay of Lars, but they lived and are still kicking). Once I saw these guys prosper and my levels were maintaining, I added a pair of beautiful Saddle Back Clowns from A Place For Pets (Kevin was nice enough to hold them for an entire week for me to make sure my tank was stable).

I then went to Sierra to get some coral frags and wound up buying their mystery Goby, who turned out to be a Signal Goby.

I knew my 56W T5 fixture was too weak so I got a 96W Odyssea fixture from Aquarist World and the tank took flight.

After that, it was on. I have been buying corals and researching like mad ever since. I have gone to see a guy in shoreline off CL to get some coral frags, I have lurked the LFS's for coral deals and have basically immersed myself in the SW hobby. I know the SW section at A Place For Pets has become my first stop when I visit now.

The satisfaction of seeing my tank come to life with so many creatures and micro-life is just indescribable.

I had an incredible fear of SW tanks. This fear was unfounded. With patience, some reading and the help of knowledgeable people like Lars and lilfishie, I have been able to set up an amazing little piece of a reef here in my home.

If you are thinking of setting up a SW tank but are scared of tackling it, don't be. it is pretty easy and the answers to any questions you may have are at your finger tips 24/7. I would suggest you read the links lilfishie has posted, they helped me incredibly and are an invaluable resource to the beginner.

I already have a new 75 gallon tank that I am planning out. i have the tank and will be buying the equipment to set up a stunning reef.

 

[aaronfeeney]

encouraging post,thanks. I'll add one here too as I get started. I am planning a 30 gal, with 64 watt t5 ho fixture, a HOB of some kind laying around here, and an old power head or 2. I've got a bunch of aragonite and sand mixed for substrate. I suppose I need a big hunk of live rock , or even dead live rock to get the cycle started?

 

[sandnuka]

Thanks for the post.... wish it was just fear that was stopping me..... #1 its time... My wife will divorce me if I spend another minute on fish tanks.... #2 its money..... the cost of the lights, fish, corals, skimmer, UV, etc.... are soooooo much, it will definetly bankrupt me!

But one day I will make the turn to the SW side..... maybe when I go to kuwait. Then I will just walk to the beach from our beach house and get sand and water.

 

[Paintguy]

It has been interesting watching your tank evolve over the last month or so. Thanks for sharing all the pics and info.

 

[lilfishie]

Well, it was back in march 2009 I decided I wanted to set up a saltwater tank. I’d had numerous freshwater tanks over the past 20 some years and, still have one. Actually I have 5. I always wanted a saltwater tank but never invested in one. Plans were for a FOWLR tank. I contacted a guy that lives in not too far away who had a thousand gallon saltwater aquarium and he worked with me showing me his system and explaining a lot. He got me started with the RODI system. Said the first thing I need is fresh water. It took me a month I think to figure out everything I was going to need, get everything I needed and getting everything hooked up. I am limited on space for storing water, so instead of getting a large container for fresh water, I ended up connecting two smaller 13 gal containers for the fresh water. I was able to manage to get a 32 gal container in the room for the saltwater storage.
In the meantime I found a 55 gal tank on craigslist for a pretty good deal on the tank, stand and hood. The hood is being stored behind the love seat in the family room. I picked up some things for the sump from my LFS. I advertised on Craigslist for a lighting system for a saltwater tank and a member of a saltwater community website contacted me with one he had been using on his sump that he sold me for a reasonable price. I had a chance to see his beautiful tank and sump room. He turned me on to the site that he was a member of and I signed up and started reading, asking questions and did a lot of research on tanks and sumps and skimmers and more. I learned about sumps and built my own. Figured out what return pump I was going to need. Figured out the volume of space I was going to need available in the tank and in the sump in case of equipment malfunctions or a power outage. Which was tested a couple days after the tank was set up when our power went out and no floods or overflows. Yea. I had to modify the stand to get the sump into it. Ordered a skimmer and heater and hoses and power heads and all kinds of other things.
It must have been May 2009 when I finally filled the tank with saltwater and flipped the switch to the power strip and turned everything on. And it all worked! I bought some live rock and a clean-up crew from an established tank, put it in the tank and let it run.
I did testing of the water parameters every day just about. It was up and running for at least 4 weeks when I got my first saltwater fish. A Pajama Cardinal and a pair of Black Ocellaris Clowns and an anemone. They are so cute. I just love them.
Shortly thereafter I started collecting coral. Seeing others beautiful tanks and all the beautiful coral I decided to go reef. I started buying “softies” zoanthids and mushrooms and leathers and eventually expanded to lps and sps coral. The 55 was just not quite big enough so when I came upon a 75 for a great deal, I jumped on it. Here are the new occupants of the 75. A pajama cardinal, an female ocellaris clown that I rescued, a male ocellaris clown, a mandarin dragnet, a dwarf golden moray eel and a yellow tang. A few scarlet reef crabs, emerald crabs, dwarf blue legged crabs and a great number of snails and mini brittle stars and limpits. There are numerous other critters (good critters) running around after dark.
I picked up the coolest tank not too long after. A Red Sea Max. I moved my black clowns to it and added a few more cute little guys. A tail spot blenny, an orange diamond goby, a black strip cromis, a scarlet reef crab, a couple emerald crabs, a turbo snail among many other snails and mini brittle stars and hopefully some other good critters.
Feb 2010 I also set up a 54 gal tank. Occupants are a sebae clown, two tiger strip dart fish, and a flamefin tomini tang. And soft corals, zoanthids, mushrooms and leathers.
The 34 gallon red sea max is being taken down and replaced by a 90 gal tank. This one will be Fish only and maybe some leather coral, if the fish don’t eat it.

 

[Spyral]

Awesome, lilfishie!

 

[unconv-reefer]

My first SW or first Reef

I'll go with Reef; I was the idiot of the reefing industry, I say I've been doing it for 5 years but I don't count the first two as I did everything wrong I read after the fact and only used LFS insight (dumb) and what books I had or bought but they were old hat.

I had a 55g hex 36" deep, the lights were what typically comes with aquriums, just changed the bulbs for SW lighting standards, per my LFS. more I read the more of those lights I bought (had 6 sets in top) as I didn't want to buy MH, stuck with canister filters, thought sump was too expensive and didn't trust it not to overflow and ruin the house.

I bought live rock threw it in the tank with live coral and away I went, started buying corals fish etc. after a few weeks, I also had a SW tank with eels and other non reef safe fish. Surprisingly I didn't lose that many corals until I bought some LPS, again LFS recommened. I can go on and on about the mistakes I've made, by listening to the wrong people, or by not asking due to my EGO. But I don't have the time, space and nobody wants to read about that.

The fact that all of you are here and looking and asking shows more common sense than I had, I'm not an expert, but have succeeded and failed so I gues you would say I'm very experienced. I don't do scientific, or technical, I believe it's easier to understand in laymans terms. If I abbreviate and your not sure ask.

 

[Fern]

I haven't gone salt yet, but I have a feeling my son will have a salt tank in the future. He is 7 and I will be starting him with a 29g fresh tank soon......

 

[SEAF]

For Sandnuka and those of you who haven't started your saltwater tank, may I offer some suggestions? If you operate on a limitied budget as I do, go with a fish only or a shallow tank. I got a, several years established, reef tank in a 20 gallon high from a lady in Ballard who got tired of caring for it. She had let her light stay burned out for over a month and told me that most everything in the tank was probably dead.

I brought the setup home in buckets and, not having room for the 20 high, set up everything in a 20 long. I didn't know at the time, but that was one of the smartest moves I made. With a shallow tank you can use a LOT less expensive lights. I built my own light fixture on a board with a ballast from Home Depot, some metal tape for a reflector and some bulbs I had on hand. (I sell full-spectrum fluorescent tubes with a five year full replacement guarantee) I used two four-footers (yeah, they extend past the 30 inch tank... but remember, I'm on a very low budget!) and a 24" Actinic. Presto! Instant reef light! Put a HOB filter on the tank, built a glass top for it, and I am up and running. I later added a homemade surface skimmer (real easy to do) and much later... a protein skimmer I got in a trade.

The third day (after the water cleared from the setup process) I started noticing some signs of life. Everything was not dead afterall! I had a Green-legged Hermit Crab (he became Black-legged after he molted and he has changed shells twice since then) and a Nassarius Snail along with some mushrooms, lots of sponges, worms and feather dusters. Then I noticed some Mini or Micro Brittle Stars in there also. Just a couple of weeks ago, I discoverd reef night life. Wow! I used a small flashlight and couldn't believe all the stuff that comes out after dark! Worms, copepods, a clam and hundreds... maybe thousands of those Brittle Stars! Lots of stuff I can't identify or even take the space to describe here. I have had lots of help from people here to help ID some of the stuff.

Along the way (since April or May... can't remember when I actually got it all started) I have added 5 more Hermits, 4 Turbo Snails (a bit dirty... but I have lots of great clean-up crew members to take care of that) that do a great job with algae clean up, an Ocellaris Clownfish, two pairs of Blue Damsels (sold one pair and finally took the second pair out of my reef tank when they wouldn't leave some later additions alone... made a very simple "fish only" tank for them), some Frogspawn Anemone, a Leather Coral (suspended these two just under the surface on a small piece of rubble held up with fishing line, so they would have max light benefit... they are doing very well), Green Polyps, Green Star Polyps and more Mushrooms.

I have dealt with Bubble Algae (got help from lilfishie on that one) and Glass Anemones (Aiptasia) Thought I had eradicated all of that from my tank, but just discovered another small colony that sprang up. (see my post in Saltwater Diseases and Disorders)

I couldn't identify much of the stuff in my tank without help from some people here. I won't try to name them all ('cause I'd forget some!), but lilfishie has offered lots of help.

Okay, didn't mean to write a book here (and I left a lot out that I thought of writing), but here are my recommendations:
1. If you are on a tight budget, go with a shallow tank.
2. If possible get an already established tank.
3. Don't buy any more than absolutely necessary at the LFS (those folks are there to sell... not help) and never take their advice!
4. Go slowly! (fat chance, huh?)

Best wishes! I'm no expert, but if I can help, don't be afraid to ask.

Not a great picture, but there it is!

 

[Mikey]

Great suggestions and set-up SEAF!!!

 

[SEAF]

Thanks Mikey! I just picked up two Spotted Cardinals so my Clown will have some company. I was told they are reef-safe... we'll see.

 

[Salzabar]

WoW!!! All you folks rocking the saltwater has encouraged me to approuch my wife about setting up another tank. If you don't see any post from me for about a week then may I suggest you call the authorities and report me missing and possibly buried in the back yard.
:spoton:

 

[lilfishie]

Thanks Mikey! I just picked up two Spotted Cardinals so my Clown will have some company. I was told they are reef-safe... we'll see.

The spotted cardinals are definately reef safe. I have on in a mixed reef. They have some cool personalities.
Great looking tank and gret job on the do it yourself lighting. I like the suspended rock idea.