RobertP
Active Member
You do not know me because this is my first post but wanted to say thank you! Between this site and others I have learned a TON of information.
long boring story....
About 10 years ago my wife and I bought a 130 G (48x26x24) tank that was set up for saltwater but we ran it as freshwater because we were not yet comfortable. Raised lots of different fish but had yellow mbunas most of the time. They were nice but been wanting to go to saltwater for the past couple years. Well, we had a plumbing leak in April 2016 in the bathroom (copper line leak) and it ruined our laminate floors. Got new flooring but while moving the tank we lost all but two of our fish in this tank. That sucked and let the tank sit for weeks.
Before Thanksgiving my wife suggested that we switch over to saltwater and I jumped at the offer. It reinvigorated me and I had just TONS of questions and then came on here and other sites and read, read, and read some more. Got 90 lbs of pukani and reef-safe rock from BRS and got everything up and running around Thanksgiving. I left the lights off until New Years and levels are so good I just added 5 Green Chromis yesterday. It is SO nice to see something alive in the tank again!!! My wife cannot wait to see some corals in the tank. It is pretty funny listening to her at the LFS. She was disappointed I didn't buy more than the 5!
Learned that my old wet/dry is not the way to go for reef so already eye-balling a Trigger sump....good ole Texas boys! Still trying to figure out if I can fit the emerald 39" under the tank or have to go with the smaller 34". Had a buddy build an aluminum pan that is 45" long but since it is only 3" tall it was no problem fishing it into the stand before I put the wet/dry back in. Guess I will cut out some cardboard and see if I can work around the wet/dry for fitting. Same story as others...got that middle bar between the front doors to contend with.
Still not sure what skimmer I am going to get but the sump will dictate that since the 34" is limited. Been looking at Lifereef, Reef Octopus, and others and go back and forth the more I read. I want reliable, quiet, and not much maintenance if possible.
Still not clear if I should go with a big return pump (1500+gph) or smaller and just skim more...opinions seem to vary.
Since I am a tech guy I will be adding an Apex for certain but sump and skimmer first.
Added an algae reactor last week because I wanted to see SOMETHING grow and wow it works well. Even though my nitrate levels are less than 5 it seems the chaeto has doubled size in a week. Guess 24 hours of lights for 7 days helps. Time to go back to nights only and give those lights a rest.
I know I have a bunch still to learn but a big thank you for the knowledge you have here!
long boring story....
About 10 years ago my wife and I bought a 130 G (48x26x24) tank that was set up for saltwater but we ran it as freshwater because we were not yet comfortable. Raised lots of different fish but had yellow mbunas most of the time. They were nice but been wanting to go to saltwater for the past couple years. Well, we had a plumbing leak in April 2016 in the bathroom (copper line leak) and it ruined our laminate floors. Got new flooring but while moving the tank we lost all but two of our fish in this tank. That sucked and let the tank sit for weeks.
Before Thanksgiving my wife suggested that we switch over to saltwater and I jumped at the offer. It reinvigorated me and I had just TONS of questions and then came on here and other sites and read, read, and read some more. Got 90 lbs of pukani and reef-safe rock from BRS and got everything up and running around Thanksgiving. I left the lights off until New Years and levels are so good I just added 5 Green Chromis yesterday. It is SO nice to see something alive in the tank again!!! My wife cannot wait to see some corals in the tank. It is pretty funny listening to her at the LFS. She was disappointed I didn't buy more than the 5!
Learned that my old wet/dry is not the way to go for reef so already eye-balling a Trigger sump....good ole Texas boys! Still trying to figure out if I can fit the emerald 39" under the tank or have to go with the smaller 34". Had a buddy build an aluminum pan that is 45" long but since it is only 3" tall it was no problem fishing it into the stand before I put the wet/dry back in. Guess I will cut out some cardboard and see if I can work around the wet/dry for fitting. Same story as others...got that middle bar between the front doors to contend with.
Still not sure what skimmer I am going to get but the sump will dictate that since the 34" is limited. Been looking at Lifereef, Reef Octopus, and others and go back and forth the more I read. I want reliable, quiet, and not much maintenance if possible.
Still not clear if I should go with a big return pump (1500+gph) or smaller and just skim more...opinions seem to vary.
Since I am a tech guy I will be adding an Apex for certain but sump and skimmer first.
Added an algae reactor last week because I wanted to see SOMETHING grow and wow it works well. Even though my nitrate levels are less than 5 it seems the chaeto has doubled size in a week. Guess 24 hours of lights for 7 days helps. Time to go back to nights only and give those lights a rest.
I know I have a bunch still to learn but a big thank you for the knowledge you have here!
