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keep_evolving

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Hi all, I just thought I'd make an introductory post on the forum before I start blasting you all with questions :D

My name is Chris and I'm in the early planning stages of setting up a reef tank, inspired by jrgilles who you may know from this forum.

I'm planning on something along the lines of a 50 or 60 gallon tank. I'm liking the dimensions of the 50g breeders, but I'm interested in cubes, too. Cubes seem like you could aquascape so that you get a good view from two corners as well as from the front. Any opinions?
I'm currently just researching as much as I can, and trying to decide the best place to put the tank in my house. I am a little worried that the best spot is next to a window... although it doesn't get too cold around here, I'm thinking I would need to get some beefy heaters.

I'll leave you all with a video of an insane reef that I found:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmwBaaMS8M4

How does he get so many fish in there?!

Thanks for reading, and I'll be seeing you all around!
 
Now that’s a huge tank in that video. The fish are huge too. I wonder what he considered big fish.

Welcome to Reef Frontiers.

I here your are in the planning stages of a new system.

Have you had a Saltwater tank before or is this your first attempt?
 
Welcome to the hobby!! :D On the cube, they are pretty cool tanks. I had a 38gal cube and loved it. I've also had tanks that were more rectangular in shape and loved them as well. It all depends on what look you are going after. A tank in the 50 gal range is a nice size to go with. Not too big where equipment would be that pricey and not too small to where slight changes (ie temp etc) can easily affect things in the tank. Good luck and ask whatever questions come to mind. :)
 
Welcome to RF! You will find that everyone here is friendly and willing to help. We have all been in your shoes and we are all still learning as we go along.

The best advice I can tell you is to take your time, do your research and do things slowly.
 
Sorry about digging up the old post but is seemed like a good place to start. I herd he was still looking for a tank and since I happen to have one.

By the way Jeff I like the new signature.
 
Hey, Welcome to reef frontiers, you will find that the immense amount of information on here will be a huge help. The only thing that I c an mention as I am sure that many people will chime in on this, is to take your time. Plan, plan, then plan your planning.
 
Hi Erik! Jrgilles pointed out your thread about your tank to me, since he and I have been talking about me getting into the hobby.

So far I have only kept small freshwater tanks when I was a kid. However, I have been watching Rob build and grow his 75 gallon reef over the last 9 months or so, and it's been fascinating.

Currently I've been going through a process of continually scaling down my ambitions :D
Originally I was extremely interested in cephalopods, but quickly realized that I would need years of experience before considering such a tank. Then I thought about a smallish 40 gallon reef, but decided that I should probably start out with something lower maintenance- ie, freshwater. I wanted to be able to leave my tank alone for up to 10 days occasionally during the year, as I like to take a few trips. I was thinking about doing a Malawian cichlid tank, but after doing extensive research on cichlid community building, I found that most of the species I was interested in were not available locally.

Currently I've still got a 40 gallon breeder I'm sitting on to fill out when I get to it. I've been considering a planted freshwater tank when Rob pointed me in the direction of your post. My main issue right now is that I am renting, so long term stability is an issue. I'm looking into being able to drill the walls and such at the moment.

Anyways, I love how you are just looking to spread the hobby. It's very noble and I appreciate your intentions. It's great that there are people like you in the world, and I hope you are able to get back into your reef addiction, err.... hobby... soon!

Chris
 
Hi Chris
Nice to here from you on this.
I understand about your currant housing limitations with renting. As far as drilling a hole in the wall, it doesn’t need to be anything more then one heavy duty screw like a oversized drywall screw or similar to screw into a stud of your place. Its not absolutely necessary but because of how high the stand is if you happened to bump into it forgetting it was there you could be in trouble.

I was hoping I could give it to someone in my area so I could help set it back up and give you the 30 second tour about how it all worked but I’m sure I could give good instructions to Jrgilles on how it was all put together and he can tell you about the rest.

I understand you were not able to see the listing because of not having enough posts yet but the skinny on the system is a 29 gallon display that is at eye level when standing in front of it. This makes it convenient for just stopping by for a look. You don’t have to bend down too look in the tank unless your like 6.6. The sump / refrugium is also a display below the main tank. It is a converted 24 gallon biocube. The stand is all black and paneled with access to underneath the fuge and hinged front over the main tank and refrugium for feeding. Without going into every detail of the system it is a home made stand with scrap wood and very low budget by a guy that was and is still unemployed but I would be happy to have this in my home if I was looking to have a tank like this. Its definitely not junk and looks nice when all put together. There are many things you could do to it if you so chose to but nothing is needed its all just a matter of willingness and material if you want to upgrade anything or change something.

I don’t know what all you were told about it but it is a complete system including some live stock. I mean everything. You will need nothing, not even food. The only thing you will have to supply is water. I have salt for it too. Everything and everything and did I say anything you will need, its in the box.

This system was growing LPS corals and softies when it was taken down. I see no reason with the lights on it that if you upgraded the power heads in the tank you could keep SPS on top of that.

I don’t think with out some automations you would be able to leave the tank for 10 days. Evaporation would be a problem. The sump area only holds a couple of gallons when running to allow for water runoff from the main tank if the power goes out. You can not run it full to the top or it will flood. But again that’s something you could come up with if you needed to. A auto top off for your system would be easy since it doesn’t require too much water top off. A inverted 5 gallon water container with a tube running into the sump would do the trick for a 10 day trip.

Sorry I don’t have any good pictures of it put together but I can take pictures of the pieces in my shed if you like.

Let me know if your interested and if you do want to set this up you will have to keep us all posted on how things are doing. And lots of pictures is nice too.


BTW

I believe saltwater tanks are less maintenance then fresh water tank. Once they are set up a balanced tank tends to take care of it self. Just add water and food, clean out the skimmer and wipe the glass is about all you will need to do once its set up. When I had my 90 cube freshwater it seemed like I was always having to clean something and change the water all the time. I was also keeping Africans in there.
 
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