Did anybody here start out with reef?

[reefgirl189]

Lol no no I don't want to add any SPS today or anything. I'm just impatient and want to know that I could eventually add them and know how to care for them properly when I do. I feel like there is just so much to know and I might never understand it all. Like the universe, haha.

But for now I'm sticking to the simple easy hardy things, like snails and softies. I just need to grow some patience!!

And thanks Coralgurl! I'm thinking of heading to VS this weekend to get myself a new push up thanks to you

I kept FOWLR tanks for 20 years and just got into reef about 8 months ago. The thing is, although I always enjoyed having a FOWLR tank - I never really felt the passion I do now, since taking on corals.
Not to say it has not been without frustrations - not by a LONG shot...but I think the learning curve is a big part of what is holding my interest.
That OR maybe I just needed another hobby to sink thousands of hard earned dollars into and spend hours of time on, only to raise my blood pressure and keep my up at night....I'm a sucker for punishment.

[Coralgurl]

[quote=reefgirl189;665806]Lol no no I don't want to add any SPS today or anything. I'm just impatient and want to know that I could eventually add them and know how to care for them properly when I do. I feel like there is just so much to know and I might never understand it all. Like the universe, haha.

But for now I'm sticking to the simple easy hardy things, like snails and softies. I just need to grow some patience!!

And thanks Coralgurl! I'm thinking of heading to VS this weekend to get myself a new push up thanks to you [/

Think of your tank the same as raising your son, you want to raise him right, with manners, morals, provide him with every opportunity to be successful, it's not going to happen overnight. You also learn as you go, hobby is the same. I bet your tank has some pretty cool stuff going on now...take lots of pics, you'd be amazed at how it will transform and you don't even notice it day to day!

And thanks for the laugh!

[troni]

Originally Posted by reefgirl189

Lol no no I don't want to add any SPS today or anything. I'm just impatient and want to know that I could eventually add them and know how to care for them properly when I do. I feel like there is just so much to know and I might never understand it all. Like the universe, haha.

But for now I'm sticking to the simple easy hardy things, like snails and softies. I just need to grow some patience!!

And thanks Coralgurl! I'm thinking of heading to VS this weekend to get myself a new push up thanks to you

i'm new myself tanks about 2 mo old and ive found if i read and research for a week then rest and let it sink in, debate in my head and stuff then i'm not so overwhelmed.
also...at the risk of makin someone mad...everything thing you read and hear about tends to be a bit anal, not to say that theres no truth or anything, just...what works in someone else tank doesnt always work in yours.

[phi delt reefer]

i've never had any pets or even a fish tank growing up.

i did buy my daughter a betta tank to keep her happy while i spent a year building my reef system.

i went live in july 2011 and am already keeping sps. My advice, wait the 6 months like everyone says before getting into sps. I put SPS in like 2 months after my tank cycled and it barely grew. Now its finally taking off but my tank went through some disgusting algae outbreaks and two serious month long dino blooms. If i wasnt so deep into my tank financially i would have tore it down but i am glad i kept it.

I dont mess with my tank too much now that i have it dialed in. I have lots of live rock/bio media - filter socks - powerful skimmer and lots of flow. Lots of fish help as well for SPS love to eat fish poop. I only do a 10% water change once every one or two weeks and havent had a nitrate or phosphate issue. And i feed heavy and my tank is heavily stocked.

stick with it - like Mike said - Rome wasnt built in one day

[Reef Pilot]

I inherited a reef tank, when we moved into a new house just over a year and a half ago. I made the usual rookie mistakes early on, and have now learned to have more patience.

The old display tank, though, is very, very mature (like been running for 10+ years), and was very overgrown with softies and LPS, and algae and aiptasia.

I set up another big tank downstairs, (and have a couple spare QT/refugium tanks, too. So now I am moving my upstairs livestock downstairs, so I can clean the sand and live rock. My plan is to convert to SPS in my upstairs display tank once everything is set up and working properly.

Right now am still battling high nitrates (around 20 ppm) even after cleaning the live rock and sand. And this is despite running bio pellets for 6+ months.

I actually got my nitrates down from a peak high of 100, to about 20 just with the bio pellets and MB7. Really cleaned up all the algae too. Then I worked on cleaning the sand and rearranging the live rock (and added some new rock too after curing), but the nitrates are persisting at around 20. P04 is hanging around .2 or .3, too. Still not running GFO though.

I think it would have been easier and faster for me, if I had started with a new tank. I think my live rock has a big build up of N03 and P04 which is taking a long while to get down. I have not actively rinsed my live rock (didn't want to kill it). But my sand is pretty clean now.