my first saltwater/reef tank

[fatboyt123]

hey everyone my name is travis and i am very new to reef tanks not that i dont know anything about them because i have done my research but i just have never had a tank before.

i have had freashwater for a couple of years and i think it time to switch to the real fish keeping dont get me wrong i lived keeping freash water but once you done everything and had every kind of freashwater fish there is its time to switch

saltwater for me started two years ago when my sister got her first tank (40 gallon breeder) that she did a nice little setup on. by the time she had got hers up i had a 30 gallon out side my room a 75 and a 20 in my room and a 55 gallon at the top of the stairs (all and cichlids in them). when your the only person with fish in the house its fine but when my sister got here tank up it went form "travis your fish are so cool" to "travis your fish are dumb and mean and they pick on each other to much come upstairs and look at your sisters tank "

i handeled things like that for about a year untill i said this has to stop thats way i sold all my tanks and bought my current project my 155 gallon bowfront setup that is going to be a reef tank mainly sps the only thing i really need now is my lights (400 watt halide 20k and 2 250 watt halide 15k) calcium reactor and some other little things.

tell me what you guys/gals think about it for the first setup or just give me some advice on what you think i should do or something that you dont think i will know because i know i am going to learne stuff along the way

i dont really like the way the rock is kind of a hard switch for freash to salt compelty different rock work with a freash tank you put a rock here and a rock here and then but a rock ontop across them and build little homes but with this i look at it and just see a rock wall so when i get some more live rock im going to tear down the rock work and reaquascape all i have now is dead live rock about 200-250 pounds or so if any body want to trade some live rock for some of my dri im down with that

 

[slim_jim989]

Well congrats on your new purchase the tank looks pretty good. There should be some rock for sale somewhere if not just look in the livestock section theres always great deals. But if you let your tank cycle with the rock u have in it, it will be fine. No need to spend any more money lol. Good luck

 

[fatboyt123]

Well congrats on your new purchase the tank looks pretty good. There should be some rock for sale somewhere if not just look in the livestock section theres always great deals. But if you let your tank cycle with the rock u have in it, it will be fine. No need to spend any more money lol. Good luck

thanks slim the only reason i was considering buy some live rock was because i kinda wanty to help seed the rock i already had

 

[slim_jim989]

aw true that on the LR what part of tacoma are you in?

 

[fatboyt123]

aw true that on the LR what part of tacoma are you in?

i am a block away for cheney stadium 5 mins from indoor reef on 6th ave and 15-20 min from aquarium paradise in lakewood

 

[slim_jim989]

ok i would recondmend going to indoor reef. Paul is a good guy and he will work with you, he also has a kick ass discount card, and if your a member of the PSAS then its 10% off every purchase. He is also good on his prices, aquarium paradise isnt really good on there prices they like to over charge and right now there tank quality isnt that great. All there tanks have alge in them and its just now great, i only go there because they sell salt water 1$ a gallon lol.

 

[fatboyt123]

ok i would recondmend going to indoor reef. Paul is a good guy and he will work with you, he also has a kick ass discount card, and if your a member of the PSAS then its 10% off every purchase. He is also good on his prices, aquarium paradise isnt really good on there prices they like to over charge and right now there tank quality isnt that great. All there tanks have alge in them and its just now great, i only go there because they sell salt water 1$ a gallon lol.

i have heard everybody talking about psas how do you join:?:

 

[slim_jim989]

if you go to paul at indoor reef he has the membership cards there its 30 bucks, and u fill out a information card that he mails. Or you can go to the website but id just go to him cause it cost the same as the website and he gives u a card right there. and also whats ur projected stock list for the tank?

 

[fatboyt123]

if you go to paul at indoor reef he has the membership cards there its 30 bucks, and u fill out a information card that he mails. Or you can go to the website but id just go to him cause it cost the same as the website and he gives u a card right there. and also whats ur projected stock list for the tank?

okay i might head over there today

not sure on fish i did buy a niger trigger and put in my sister 55 gallon tell i got mine setup and running for awhile and was going to switch it over but he died but i heard that they might nip at corals but i seen people have them in there tank and they said they have had no problems guess it all depends on the fish

corals mainly sps acro,mille,ect mainly what ever frag that looks good over at beerier reef i wish i would have had my tank up sooner or i would have got one of those frag packs from salmonslayer boy was that a good deal

 

[slim_jim989]

yeah that was a good deal and i finally went to barrier reef this past weekend and they have some awsome sps. I was planning on getting a trigger myself and they say alot of fish nip at corals but i feel if there fed then they wont, cause i have a lionfish mixed with other small fish he could easily eat but he doesnt. and i have a baby snow flake eel in my nano and hes fine.

 

[balogh03]

Hey Travis, it looks really good so far. The PSAS is deffinently something to get involved with and it is very easy to end up getting your $30 back.The only question I have by looking at your picture is if you have a check-valve or air hole on you returns (assuming that is what the pvc is)? Trying to protect you, becuase if not and the power goes out, you could be looking at alot of water draining out of the tank.

Good luck

-augustus

 

[fatboyt123]

Hey Travis, it looks really good so far. The PSAS is deffinently something to get involved with and it is very easy to end up getting your $30 back.The only question I have by looking at your picture is if you have a check-valve or air hole on you returns (assuming that is what the pvc is)? Trying to protect you, becuase if not and the power goes out, you could be looking at alot of water draining out of the tank.

Good luck

-augustus

ya i did put the holes in the top

when i first turn the the ball valves on the drian lines then unpluged the return pump(went with a mag 12 unsted of the quiet one 4000 still thinking about getting a bigger one though know that i have it running) so that i could put some more rock in the tank saw the sump start to fill up and went $h!t right i drilled the holes

 

[fatboyt123]

yeah that was a good deal and i finally went to barrier reef this past weekend and they have some awsome sps. I was planning on getting a trigger myself and they say alot of fish nip at corals but i feel if there fed then they wont, cause i have a lionfish mixed with other small fish he could easily eat but he doesnt. and i have a baby snow flake eel in my nano and hes fine.

it was my first time going there this weekend to couldnt get my sister to let me put a frag in her tank for a month so just decided to wait until i can just put it in mine