New to Reef Club

[nanjinho]

Dear All,

I am new to the Club wanted to just say hello to everyone.

I started Fresh Water tank about a year ago and kept on upgrading ever since.

I now have 40 Gallon breeder tank planted, and 10 gallon tank just for pair of Angelfish.
out of 1000's of eggs I was only successful of saving 3 >_< and they are doing well now..

I wanted to start Saltwater from the start but the cost was too high for my pay grade...

I recently visited my friends house and he had some Live rooks on his back yard (most likely be dead)
and brought them home and cleaned it off and now its sitting in 5 gallon container to get all the dirt off.

Is it much harder to keep saltwater reef tank vs freshwater tank?
could you change 40 gallon freshwater tank into reef tank?

I wanted to meet the real hobbyist and gain understanding before i start my new adventure.

 

[ricky5415]

Hi
Iam in norcross 30071 ( 3 min from exit 101-102) . Let me know if u wanna swing by and see my tank. I will try to answer ( best to my knowledge ) all your questions
404-421-4670 text
To answer some of your questions. Yes it is somewhat harder to keep a reef tank (requirement, equipments needed, livestock....) + sure, u can change your 40g freshwater tank into a reef tank (just make sure that it has not been treated with copper / meds that could affect inverts/fish/coral.

 

[tcampbell23]

Ricky is a great friend of mine and is a well of knowledge. Any time I have a question I get an answer from him. He's been doing this for a while and there isn't much he doesn't know.

I'm also more than happy to help out. Shoot me a text 404-819-4643




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Adam]

Hello and welcome to ARC. You've come to the right place to learn and get help. I've been a member here for just over a year now. This is a friendly and helpful group. You should take Ricky up on his offer, he's very knowledgeable. He's also always one of the 1st people to offer to lend a hand and share his knowledge. He's helped me tremendously getting started. I'm also just south of you in Duluth, feel free to drop by and take a look at my setup.

Saltwater is a bit more involved than fresh but you can do it on a budget. There's more equipment needed and your source water needs to be better than tap. In the end it all depends on what you're after in the short and long terms. A FOLR (Fish Only Live Rock) setup will be the least expensive to get started with. If you keep your eye on the sales here you can find a lot of what you'll need for less than retail. Also there are a lot of Black Friday sales going on now.

The best bit of advice I can give is take your time while you read, read and then read some more. Pick up some books, look around here and hit up the other forums like Reef2Reef and Reef Central. Stop by some of the local stores, and ask any of your questions here.

If you decide this is for you good luck and welcome to the addiction.

 

[joseayes]

Welcome aboard! To answer some of your questions, and first of all, I'm not an expert by any means, I can offer my advise but always remember you could get some saltwater books, they'll help, but the really truth you'll find it with reefers who have had keeping tanks for the long run, sorting off all kind of issues.
I was running freshwater tanks long, long ago too, I've kept Oscar's and Chlichids with no problems. Now, diving into seawater requiere more of taking care of the water you use and maintain the quality of this water in your tank. In the saltwater hobby you'll have to watch for stable parameters, anything that you could aloud to accumulate in your tank will put you in troubles later for sure, nitrates and phosphates and are just some of the ones you have to keep withing an aceptable range or even keep them at a not measurable range. Different species of fish and coral could resist and accept certain tolerance within parameters, some corals or fish WILL deteriorate and suffer from poor water quality and show unhealthy signs almost immediately.
Finicky corals could suffer from changes in Calcium, alkalinity and lightning as well as numerous plagues thar round about this hobby.
There's more adapted corals for us, beginners, that you can start housing and they do not require as much care as other species could need. Same thing for the fish, some fish you can keep if you plan and stock with corals and some other species you can't mix with certain species of coral. Be aware of what you get in your aquarium before you buy anything or you'll be expending lots after doug in things that it could die on you and you finally could be looking sooner for some other hobby, hehe, this last statement could be the most honest I could offer to you hehehehehe.

 

[jennm]

Welcome to ARC and the "lifestyle." (We don't like to call it addiction!)

You will want to make sure that rock hasn't been exposed to herbicides, fertilizers or pesticides while it camped in the yard. Otherwise, it can be cleaned and re-seeded and reused.

If all of us adhered to our pay grade, most of us wouldn't be involved LOL Shop smart and shop once - sometimes it's worth waiting for a quality item, instead of buying a cheap, inferior one. It's a lot less costly in the long run. Ask any of us who has a salvage box in the attic/garage AND/or basement!

Welcome!

Jenn

 

[nanjinho]

Thank you all for all the support petco had 125 gallon tank with stand on sale for $330 should I start that big? Or what size would be reasonable?

I will make sure to text Ricky
Btw my number is 678 628 9943

 

[hzheng33]

Nanjinho;1101767 wrote: Thank you all for all the support petco had 125 gallon tank with stand on sale for $330 should I start that big? Or what size would be reasonable?

I will make sure to text Ricky
Btw my number is 678 628 9943

I saw that deal but not liking the stand. if you and I are talking about the samendeal, there's no room for a sump.

 

[nanjinho]

hzheng33;1101768 wrote: I saw that deal but not liking the stand. if you and I are talking about the samendeal, there's no room for a sump.

Yea the one that had one middle cabinet,

the one with 120 had the 2 cabinets on both end so it would be little better. ($315)

 

[nanjinho]

This one looks little better.

http://www.petsmart.com/fish/supplies/aquariums-and-stands/top-fin-120-gallon-aquarium-and-stand-28285.html?cgid=300013">http://www.petsmart.com/fish/supplies/aquariums-and-stands/top-fin-120-gallon-aquarium-and-stand-28285.html?cgid=300013</a>

I need to make my decision ASAP before mid night. before sale ends.. is this a good deal?

 

[Adam]

Don't know if you're going to get any other answers before midnight. Top Fin wouldn't be on my list for an aquarium that size. I was in the same boat this time last year. The advise I got held true. Don't skimp on the aquarium. In the end it will be insignificant in the cost of everything else.

Go see Rit at Atlanta Aquarium tomorrow and see what kind of deals he has. Even if you end up spending a couple to a few hundred more for a tank and stand you'll be much happier in the long run.