I'm the new guy, so howdy!

[Liratram76]

My name is Paul. Haven't had an aquarium since childhood. A friend of mine conspired with my wife to sell us a JBJ 28g Nano LED Pro. At this point, I'm studying and planning the start up of the tank, procuring materials and supplies, and imagining beautiful, vibrant colors. Reefing is a whole different ball game than the Wal-Mart based aquarium of 1980-85ish!! So I feel good about a careful, deliberate approach. After all, we're critter lovers and I want a healthy, happy crew!
That same friend lead me here to Reef Frontiers saying you guys were good folks and mostly locals to Seattle-land. Hello and thanks for having me!!

Paul

 

[sedrostyle]

Hello and awesome to have you. First thing I think is your doing the right thing by taking it slow.
Does your buddy have a tank setup at the moment? It's always nice to have close personal help.
First thing is to get your supplies in order by having a thermometer, hydrometer to measure your salinity.
Salt of course. And a good test kit.
Api makes a good one. A heater and a power head to move the water around.
Then the rock it can be expensive but you'll find people with dry rock that you can clean and make ur own live rock.

You will want a protein skimmer if you are going to have a reef. Their a good thing to have.
I looked and listened for a year before I took the plunge.

This is a awesome book full of information. I still glance at it from time to time

Main thing is take it slow. And welcome again. Your in the right place to start out and ask questions we are more than happy to help.

 

[NemCrazy]

Welcome to the reefing club! It's such a rewarding hobby, and certainly a beautiful one. And patience is virtue in this endeavor. I'm nearby and willing to help if I can. Just research and ask questions as much as you can before you start and before buying any livestock.

 

[user 26995]

Welcome Paul.
Welcome to RF. Your friend is right...in my opinion...there are a lot of really nice and helpful people here. We are glad to have you. Read thru the forums. There are a lot of people that have asked a lot of good questions and see what others have posted as answers. Its a great way to learn. Ask any questions you may have. We are all here to help. Something else to keep in mind, is there is no one way of doing things. You will get different suggestions from different people. There are many ways of keeping a succesfull reef tank. Take the suggestions that work best for you and work with them.
We all look forward to seeing pics of your new system when you are able to post them.

 

[Krish]

Welcome Paul! Good luck with the new tank and I hope you enjoy the forum!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Red C Aquarium]

Great choice for a starter aquarium , I think you'll love it!!

Red C

 

[NC2WA]

Paul,

Welcome to RF !!!

Yes, the hobby has changed since the mid 80s...Agreed with the taking the slow part..patience is a MUST if you want to minimize problems with your tank.

i highly suggest you read the following book:

The Conscientious Marine Aquarist: A Commonsense Handbook for Successful Saltwater Hobbyists (Microcosm/T.F.H. Professional): Robert M. Fenner, Matthew L. Wittenrich, Scott W. Michael, Alf Jacob Nilsen, Christopher Turk: 9781890087999: Amazon.com: Bo

It will give you advice on equipment selection, live rock, water parameters, disease and treatments, etc.. the second half of the book describes the different fish species.

 

[pandora32]

Welcome paul. Its neen said already...take it slow and take your time. Stuff WILL happen, when it does, your prepared because you did your research on it already probably. Dont over react. If you do come to a point that you dont know what to do, someone here does. 28,000+ people on here. Coast to coast...THATS A BIG FAMILY! Absolute most important thing...HAVE FUN WITH WHAT YOUR DOING!

 

[N1Husker]

Welcome aboard, Paul

 

[ReefGeeker]

Paul,

Welcome to RF !!!

Yes, the hobby has changed since the mid 80s...Agreed with the taking the slow part..patience is a MUST if you want to minimize problems with your tank.

i highly suggest you read the following book:

The Conscientious Marine Aquarist: A Commonsense Handbook for Successful Saltwater Hobbyists (Microcosm/T.F.H. Professional): Robert M. Fenner, Matthew L. Wittenrich, Scott W. Michael, Alf Jacob Nilsen, Christopher Turk: 9781890087999: Amazon.com: Bo

It will give you advice on equipment selection, live rock, water parameters, disease and treatments, etc.. the second half of the book describes the different fish species.

The first book I bought! Good reading.

 

[Liratram76]

Paul,

Welcome to RF !!!

Yes, the hobby has changed since the mid 80s...Agreed with the taking the slow part..patience is a MUST if you want to minimize problems with your tank.

Didn't think about it at the time, but hello from KE5ETO. =)

 

[Liratram76]

Finally got wet and now I have crabs...
Will proudly post a pic when I can shrink it for upload!!

 

[pandora32]

Right on paul! If you got hermit crabs, make sure you have a couple shells bigger than theirs. If you get snails, the hermits will kill them when they try to find a bigher shell to move into.

 

[NemCrazy]

Nice! It's a great moment when the clean up crew moves in I'll be introducing mine to the new tank this weekend.

 

[N1Husker]

Finally got wet and now I have crabs...
Will proudly post a pic when I can shrink it for upload!!

Crabs? I think they have a cream for that..

 

[vlangel]

I'm a bit slow with the welcome to RF but glad to have you. Looking forward to seeing your tank!

 

[Liratram76]

Thanks for the greetings!
I'm a bit slow at posting pics. PC took a dump and I'm down to iPhone and Amazon Kindle. Pics need to be resized before upload.
In addition to crabs, I have a diatom outbreak so some snails might be in order shortly too!

 

[N1Husker]

Diatoms occur in all new tanks and come and go in established tanks. I have the Super Tongan Nassarius Snail that plows through the sand and a Fighting Conch that does the same thing. They keep the sand stirred up. You could also try a sand sifting goby like an Orange Spot, they are pretty cool but you need a fairly fine substrate that they can sift through. They can also make a mess as they sift if it is too fine. You also need a tight fitting lid, they are real jumpers.

 

[telefonica007]

Welcome! Great site!