shout from the locals

Reef Aquarium & Tank Building Forum

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Michael and Angie ( Madisons_Mommy) here. Been somewhat active in the Spokane area in reefing for about 3 years. Yes, there's quite a few locals in the area. I've been lucky enough to meet a lot of them. Great people!! We do quite a bit of frag swapping back and forth from time to time. I don't know how current my tank signature is so I'll tell everyone I have a 46 bowfront mixed reef and a 75 mixed that's predominately SPS. Future plans include setting up a 113 cube that'll also be predominately SPS in the near future.

Tracy, still hoping to make it and will give you a more precises answer in the next day or two. Sorry.
 
THANKS. Yes, I should have posted it there but I was so new and so worried about what I had done wrong. Was trying to reach out to locals first. I will get better. Thanks for all the help so far. This has been so much fun. It will be great to get involved with stuff her local.

Thanks Again
Zimmerman.

Hi All,
I am very excited to host the club meeting Saturday- I hope that many of you will be able to make the drive and hang out at the BBQ!

Brandy, there are occasionally children at the meetings but not many. The meetings are intended to be family friendly events thought so it should not be a problem if you want to bring them.

Zimmerman,
I agree with brandy that you may get more responses if you put your question into the general discussion forum. Posting pics helps too. I would check out diatoms and also orange flat worms which are common and annoying although not necessarily bad.

Cheers,
Tracy
 
THANKS. Yes, I should have posted it there but I was so new and so worried about what I had done wrong. Was trying to reach out to locals first. I will get better. Thanks for all the help so far. This has been so much fun. It will be great to get involved with stuff her local.

Thanks Again
Zimmerman.

Not many people read the local board, which is why I suggested posting in one of the other forums. You would get a quicker reply and more replies that way. I'm local, but rarely look in the Spokane Reef Society board.

How long has your tank been setup (just 1 week?). Have you tested for Nitrites to see if they are 0? If your tank is just one week old, I would wait a few more before adding fish.
 
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Not many people read the local board, which is why I suggested posting in one of the other forums. You would get a quicker reply and more replies that way. I'm local, but rarely look in the Spokane Reef Society board.

How long has your tank been setup (just 1 week?). Have you tested for Nitrites to see if they are 0? If your tank is just one week old, I would wait a few more before adding fish.

Zimmerman,

Here's a good link to read about the nitrogen cycling process your tank will go through.
http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/bionitrogencycle/a/aa073199.htm
 
Yes. It is just one week. I had hoped to get a jump on things by going with the live rock from Kevin. The waiting thing is very very very hard.
Thanks for the info on cycling. I will go there as soon as i post this.
 
Yes. It is just one week. I had hoped to get a jump on things by going with the live rock from Kevin. The waiting thing is very very very hard.
Thanks for the info on cycling. I will go there as soon as i post this.

Waiting is hard, but loosing fish is harder. To successfully keep anything alive in this hobby takes "a lot" of patience and studying. There are some fish that can't be added to an aquarium until it's at least a year old. Even after a year the tank is still maturing.

Did you purchase nitrite/nitrate test kits? If not, Kevin can test your water parameters for you and let you know when your tank is done cycling. I would recommend buying the test kits though, so you can keep a close eye on what your tank is doing. Amonia and Nitrites can kill fish.

When reading the link make sure to read the whole thing. Follow the "Next" links and the "my tank is done cycling what to do next" link at the end of the cycling info.

I did a lot of stupid things first starting out because I didn't research everything fully before I started adding livestock.

For example:

I was never told that salt had to be mixed with the water for 24 hours using a powerhead before adding it to your tank. The first time I did a water change, I killed a fish.

I didn't have a good refractometer to test how much salt was in the water and my fish suffered.

I didn't use RO/DI water starting off and dealt with algae problems and couldn't have corals until I purchased an RO/DI system. I started off using tap water and adding some substance to it that was supposed to clean the water. I wouldn't recommend doing that.

There's lots to learn.
 
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Waiting is hard, but loosing fish is harder. To successfully keep anything alive in this hobby takes "a lot" of patience and studying. There are some fish that can't be added to an aquarium until it's at least a year old. Even after a year the tank is still maturing.

Did you purchase nitrite/nitrate test kits? If not, Kevin can test your water parameters for you and let you know when your tank is done cycling. I would recommend buying the test kits though, so you can keep a close eye on what your tank is doing. Amonia and Nitrites can kill fish.

When reading the link make sure to read the whole thing. Follow the "Next" links and the "my tank is done cycling what to do next" link at the end of the cycling info.

I did a lot of stupid things first starting out because I didn't research everything fully before I started adding livestock.

For example:

I was never told that salt had to be mixed with the water for 24 hours using a powerhead before adding it to your tank. The first time I did a water change, I killed a fish.

I didn't have a good refractometer to test how much salt was in the water and my fish suffered.

I didn't use RO/DI water starting off and dealt with algae problems and couldn't have corals until I purchased an RO/DI system. I started off using tap water and adding some substance to it that was supposed to clean the water. I wouldn't recommend doing that.

There's lots to learn.

THANK YOU!!.
So much. I did not know about the mixing either. glad you told me. Kevin has been testing my water so far. He has been really great. The rock he sold me had little creatures comming out of it the day after I put it in the tank. It was so cool. There is so much out there to learn, but it seems to just keep getting better and better.

Thanks again, and anything you think of that a newbe needs to learn before theymess up would be great.
 
yeah u are looking at 3 weeks b4 u add thing i strongly suggest buying as much rock as u want first .seed it with mysis shrimp ect..coppepodes things of that nature..get a fuge started i have all 5 grasses as well for yeah.. umm what else helps is 3 cups of sand from a old tank wow u would believe the jump it will give u! And a skimmer that is good quality ...trust me u will fight with it for 6 months ...oh the love of reef keeeping...fre xenia for yeah after 3 weeks
 
some people don't use skimmers... (me) Just like skinning cats, there is more than one way to keep a tank clean. Also if you do skim, wait a bit first before you start skimming... I forget how long, but garf.org recommends that...
but I don't plan on stocking my tank heavily with fish and have a good refugium...
a couple places to look:
garf.org
reefvideos.com
http://www.reefkeeping.com/
 
skinin a kat where did that saying start l.o.l. tooo funny ..have fun and let me know if u want some test xenia and some shrooms!i carry l.p.s. only dont have time for sps
 
I haven't been too active on this forum but my wife and I (Peter and Anna) have been attending club meetings since spring. We have a 20 gallon nano tank and are in the process of setting up a 65. Also, I am trying my thumb at clownfish breeding so I have about 8-10 gallon tank setup in the basement
:)
 
Hey all! Can i get a Whoop Whoop for the spokanites! lol..... Hows about a Sunday Frag Swap Meet? Any ideas? Ive Got the room and an extra frag tank that can hold a hundred frags or so. Maybe we can get some seattle interest. Ill host it....lol my wife will freak, but ill have a really clean house.....lol hows about 10-26-08?????
 
I think that works for me... BUT I'll check with the missus first we should do a frag swap...
Anyone know when or where the SRS meeting is this month?
 
Hello from Clayton, WA 35 north of Spokane. I am also relatively new and hooked on salt water. I have a 45, 50, and a 70 gallon saltwater tank. I can set for hours gazing in my tanks and never get bored. (smiling)
Ronda
 
Rhonda, welcome!!! I think we all can relate. I bet many of us even sit and stare at night..lol. I know I do!!

Busdriver and Rhonda, information about the SRS (Spokane Reef Society) meetings can be found in this forum. To be added to the mailing list or get information, contact Greg at [email protected].

As far as I know, a location hasn't been nailed down yet. Greg's looking for people to host meetings.
 
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