My return to saltwater

[SPR1968]

Hi and welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[Jimbhoy13]

Welcome to R2R and back to the salty world.

 

[jsker]

 

[tharbin]

Welcome back!

 

[Reef Devils]

Hey y'all, I am finally diving back into the salty side after a few years hiatus. I have always been fasicinted by the SW side and even had a few tanks in highschool but once I got to college I could not keep them. So I moved over to botanical method aquariums up until recently when TBS and I started talking about a return to SW. Needless to say I am very eager to get back into the swing of things and so pumped to have TBSS rock and sand in my tank. Here is some of my botanical tanks and my old reefs:

Botanical Tanks

This was my first ever botanical tank, it was a lifegard 2.6 AIO with melatsoma root and live oak leaves. This tank house my Mexican dwarf orange crayfish.

This was my favorite and longest running tank, it began as a little idea to see if I could grow a rabbit foot fern epiphytically like this on a small 2 gallon UNS shallow tank and boy did it work out amazingly. This tank is still running at a friends house and the fern is MASSIVE!

Next up is the first UNS tank I purchased, a UNS 30A (7 gallon). This tank had great potential and I learned a lot from it, it never saw fish as I could not decide what to stock it with but it was either going to be Boraras or Tucano tetras.

Next up is one of my most iconic tanks, a UNS 45s (5 gallon) filled with melastoma root and a pretty unique fish; Indostomus paradoxus. This tank is the one I regret taking down the most, but I did not know how feeding the Indostomus would be in college so I rehomed them before I left home.

Lastly is one of the more recent tanks (and currently now the SW tank) a UNS 45L (4 gallon), this tank was a great divider between my couch and my desk. The tank was filled with melastoma root (sensing a pattern?) and swamp climbing ferns. Fish-wise the tank house a group of sparkling gourami that I still have to this day.

Reefs

First up was my Fluval Spec V that I got from the same friend who now owns my UNS 5s fern log. This tank had a tailspot blenny, green clown goby (disappeared), and a yellow-tail damsel. I gave this tank back to my friend after I upgraded to the UNS 45a showcased below. I currently actually have this Spec V again, but it is a freshwater tank.

This tank is the biggest regret I have ever had, not only was the scape nearly perfect but also the livestock was what I always wanted. The tank used to be a macro dominated tank with a pair of Red Rooster Pygmy Waspfish until the male passed away, someone locally wanted the female so I handed her off. After that I switched to a mixed reef and it was amazing, the zoa garden on the left side was my favorite part. I also really liked the caulerpa prolifera which I will get again. Fish wise I just had a 4-stripe damsel and loved it, active little piggy. My grandfather and I built the stand as well so that was another regret on getting rid of the tank. I got rid of it due to me moving rooms in my house and my parents not wanting me to have lots of fish around the house.

During the pandemic I was working at Petco and bought this little tank around Thanksgiving. I also purchased my first LR order from KPAquatics and I was hooked. The tank saw a variety of macros, feather dusters, and even some Florida oyster clusters. Fish wise I only ever got to put my ORA Elongate dottyback in the tank before one of the oyster clusters died and nuked the tank while I was away for a weekend.

Hesitant to start again I found some old dry rock, sand, and whipped up this little pico filled with macroalgae, some palys, and a group of 6 green-banded gobies from work. It was a great tank until I had to move to college and shut it down (not knowing how much free time I would have to keep it going).

This tank is the same UNS 30a that I had the FW tank in, and yes right before I left to college I impulsively said "lets make it a saltwater" and well it was cool for the time I had it. The tank never had a CUC or other added livestock. I did order some macroagae; ogo and fine coralline. That was all, I got an RA job a month into school and that tank wasn't the same after I moved. I eventually sold off the tank due to limited space.

This tank was just the old KP rock that I threw in a 5S I had lying around, not much else about it. Never really saw anything happen to it and it was tore down after I got COVID and was forced to go home with little time to pack.

This little 1 gallon cube was a fun little return that did not last super long, it was more of a test than anything.


So yeah that has been my path from FW to SW back to FW and now a return to SW soon. Still not 100% confirmed on what tank size I am going with as I have a few options:

1. Keep my UNS 45L and use that for a little pico shorelines
2. Buy a UNS 45a again because I just LOVED that tank so much and its a perfect smaller tank that I can actually have some cool stuff in the tank size. The AIO is also so nice to hide equipment too.
3. OR buy an IM 15 cube for $100 because ya know its only $100 and I can slowly upgrade it also its bigger so more fun stuff and volume to play with.

Either way TBS will be sending rocks and sand no matter what I decide, I just have to decide on a tank.

Here is my thread if you want to see the progress: Tank Thread

Welcome to reef2reef

 

[Buckster]

Hello and welcome back to the hobby and to R2R!

 

[CasperOe]

Welcome to R2R! We're happy to have you