beginner

Hey everyone, To start, I am a total beginner. I saw someone building a pico reef jar on Instagram and thought it looked incredible — minimal, bizarre, a little risky, and fascinating. I've never had any saltwater tanks before (only a few easy freshwater ones), but after some more inspiration...

Warning- this is a long read! Soooooo, I really wanted to start a saltwater tank and do it the right way. I researched, watched a few dozen videos, researched some more, saved a few dollars, watched more videos on how to get started and then made the mistake of going into a business and letting...

Howdy All! My name is Reinboordt and I last kept a reef aquarium with my dad when I was a teenager 20 years ago. It was a great tank but my dad was impulsive and expected me to do all the research on what he had purchased instead of before. Some major family changes and moving to the other side...

Hey everyone, just starting out my reef tank journey. My girlfriend and I decided to start our own 75 galloon saltwater aquarium. Currently planning out some logistics, budget, space, etc. so still very early in the journey but excited to be here and honestly can’t wait to start. I’ve been...

Hello, I am brand new and eager to get corals going in my 20g aio cube. My tank is 6 weeks old and cycled and I added a few corals (zoa, gsp, and Duncan) the Duncan and gsp are doing good, but the ZOA WON’T OPEN! I’ve had them for 8 days now and nothing! My tank parameters and info are...

First of all.. thank you so much for taking time. English is not my main language, so what you see below is edited by ChatGPT but written by me. I hope it is cool.. As a beginner, this situation is stressing me out quite a bit. Let me start by listing the aquarium, parameters, and inhabitants...

Hello everyone, First time poster, and recent lurker. I have been wanting to get into the hobby for a long time and finally took my first step. I got a good deal on a Waterbox AIO 20 with some equipment. I felt like this was a good starting point for me to try and learn the hobby. It has...

I am looking for some advice regarding my beginner 20 gallon saltwater setup. I currently only have fish (2 clownfish), snails, and crabs and plan on keeping it that way for a while. I don't have a sump, just a HOB filter. I am wondering if I could use the linked Fluval breeding box as a...

Hey everyone, figured i'd make a build thread for my first proper reef tank. I've spent countless hours enjoying and learning from other threads, so i guess mine might be usefull as well. I've had planted freshwater tanks before, and rather than buying all new equipment, i decided to try and...

Hi Reefers, Over time, I’ve tried several different ways to track my tank parameters, but the method that really stuck was creating my own spreadsheet. It tracks each parameter and automatically shows whether values are slightly off or need attention right away. It’s been working great for me...

Hello, ive been following forums on here but just created an account, new to reef tanks but have done freshwater for a few years and have a couple large tanks that do very well. Anyways, I have a 75 gallon regular petco tank that is around 2 months old, more like 7 months old though because i...

Hey Everyone!!! I’m excited about getting into this hobby and just researching as much as I can as well as stalking FB marketplace for possible starter setups. Never owned a fish, but fish are my 4.5 year old son’s current obsession. While my son wants either the dangerous Rockfish or a Moray...

What happened to my gold hammer? I used about 1.5 ml of aiptasia X in a 13.5 gallon system and it totally spiked the alkalinity. I did two 50% water changes over two days, and it's starting to come out of it's skeleton, but almost all of the polyps have lost their gold and brown in favour of...

I thought it was 8 months old, but it turns out it's more like 5 months and 20 days. Would love thoughts and suggestions! Stocking is 1 yasha goby and 1 tiger pistol.

Hi everyone, I'm on my first reef tank and I'm putting the finishing touches on the coral selection. The tank is 8 months old and I've been keeping alveopora and euphyllia so I was wondering if gonis are really that hard? I saw some rainbow ones and I really really really want one, I made a...

Hello, I am a pretty new reefer, moved tanks in March and this system was thriving with the cycled rock and water, and now my tank crashed and has been withering away over the last week. All zoa polyps closed, xenia died back and shedding, kenya trees dying, birdsnest and monti dead, mushrooms...

Cleaning tank we found these… they are moving. Living in the foam / charcoal filter and on/ in the ceramic bag. 2 clowns. Bicolor goby Watchman pistol shrimp pair. I feel pellets and the frozen for the shrimp. Can frozen food come alive? Haven’t put pods in it. First time seeing them. 7...

Hello! My name is Andres and I am brand new to the hobby when an opportunity arose from a colleague to inherit their saltwater tank as they had to move. Being experienced with freshwater tanks, having always wanted to have one of these, having watched all the BRS videos I could watch for years...

I recently went to a beach and clloected some seaweed and clams, n I put them in my saltwater tank with brine shrimps. However I found the clam deid this morning and in the enveing the water started become very cloudy. Is it bc of the clam or the seaweed? Should I take them out? ( I've take the...

Hello awesome reefers! So I'm about to begin my beefing journey after hours and hours of videos and everyone's amazing but varied preferences I have just purchased my first tank the RedSea Reefer 625 xxl (they say to start as big as you can 😅) I'm looking for general advice from experienced...

So I live in Sweden and here, we do have really clean water that we drink. But I am really confused on if I should get a RODI system as we have really clean water and i've heard of some people here keeping corals without using one. I am new to the saltie hobby and just want to know if it's...

Hey everybody, I’ve been keeping freshwater all of my life, always wanting to have a saltwater tank and now I’m finally able to. I want to stay on a budget but still buy something that is good quality. I’d say my limit is around $300 since I want to get something nice but also keep the price...

I purchased a few more snails for clean up crew on my 25 gallon tank that is roughly a year and a half old. I don’t recognize the growth on its shell, can anyone identify it? Should I be concerned? It almost looks like small spikes sticking out of the top surface of its shell.

Hi all and thanks for the great read found in this community. I’ve been fighting with this brown algae issue for a while now, my tank is about 5 months old. Nitrate stable around 15, alk around 7, phosphates near zero but struggling to increase it, protein skimmer in action… not sure what my...

Hi all, I'm creating this thread to track my tank's progress. It was set up in November 2023 and is my first saltwater tank! I will make some more posts with pictures and more details. Please feel free to reach out with any questions! By the way, videos on my posts don't show up on Safari if you...