30 year old realizing his dream of reef keeping

[slambulance]

Hello fellow reefers! I’ve been in and out of the hobby for about a decade but I still have a lot to learn, fell in love with salt water keeping when I was 15 and a family friend had a 55 gallon tank. The hobby has come such a long way since then! I currently have a 40 gallon breeder I’ve had up and running for a few months, the current setup is actually the starting ground for my soon to be 75 gallon set up when we move at the beginning of next year. Primary focus of my current tank is creating live rock, growing up some coral frags, and trouble shooting any issues I may run into along the way to prepare for the bigger tank!

Equipment: 40Gallon Breeder, Phlizon 165w 20” black box LED, 50 Gallon Fluval HOB filter, 200w ceramic heater, 1 800gph power head. Tank was started with 40 gallons of natural ocean water, 15lbs of live sand, 1:5 live rock to dry rock, and cycled fish in. I’ve had tremendous luck on this tank set up and while the scape isn’t what I really want, the tank is serving it’s purpose with plenty of habitat and surface area for helpful bacteria and coraline algae.

Currently (and finally) the tank is stocked with:
1 Coral Beauty
1 Tomato Clown
1 Ocelaris Clown
1 Racer Snail
15 blue leg hermit crabs
1 long tentacle anemone
1 bubble tip anemone
1 Stripped Blenny
1 Yellow Spot Goby
1 Firefish
1 Filefish

For corals I went with what I could find at petco, unfortunately I don’t have IDs on 3 of them.

1 green hammer (branching)
3 assorted Zoas (WWC AOI, Starburst, and can’t remember the last.)
2 branching softies
1 mushroom I believe

I need to get a blue light filter for picturing the tank!! Any advice you guys have is welcome and can’t wait to grow with y’all!

If anyone has any good LFS suggestions in the West Virginia tri-state area of PA, OH, and WV please let me know!! I’ve been to only one LFS in PA, but the amount of aptasia in their tanks and over all customer service leaves a LOT to be desired. Not mentioning any names of course!

Thanks to all of ya for providing such a wealth of information here!!

 

[Idech]

Hello and welcome ! I started my dream of having a reef tank at 53, so it’s never too late !

You’re off to a very good start.

 

[parclife]

Hey, looking great. Also the pattern on your clown is awesome!

 

[slambulance]

Hey, looking great. Also the pattern on your clown is awesome!

He was actually a donation at petco! My local one has a bunch of fish that people bring in when breaking down their tank and I’ve actually managed to stock my entire tanks for under $120 just by collecting the fish that others couldn’t keep or didn’t want. Everyone gets along well too!

 

[MDAquatics]

Welcome and looking good! There are so many good filters out there. I use an Orphek kit that's like 25$ on amazon.

 

[slambulance]

Welcome and looking good! There are so many good filters out there. I use an Orphek kit that's like 25$ on amazon.

Oh man thank you! I have an iPhone and the lack of camera filter options is almost infuriating! Such little editing power (at least to my knowledge!) I’ll definitely look into this so I can get some good pics of my Zoa frags! They almost don’t even show up on camera because of the color palate.

 

[Peace River]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!!

 

[MDAquatics]

Oh man thank you! I have an iPhone and the lack of camera filter options is almost infuriating! Such little editing power (at least to my knowledge!) I’ll definitely look into this so I can get some good pics of my Zoa frags! They almost don’t even show up on camera because of the color palate.

I had the same problem with my new iPhone, most filters don't fit.

 

[tharbin]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[danenelsen]

 

[1112-425XL]

 

[shakacuz]

welcome aboard the r2r board!

 

[vetteguy53081]

 

[Propane]

I could be wrong but I think the white one with the pink tips is a Haitian Anemone. They usually don’t play well with others.

 

[slambulance]

I could be wrong but I think the white one with the pink tips is a Haitian Anemone. They usually don’t play well with others.

I’ve actually had the exact same thought, I try to keep it away from everything and so far it’s been happy where she sits for about 4 months now. If I have any issues I’ll end up getting her back to the store. Probably a rookie mistake but I actually only wanted the baby clown it currently hosts and when the store keep went to fish out the clown it dove into the nem and WOULD NOT leave it. I gave in and took both home. Currently I have a bubble top hosting a tomato clown and the Haitian hosting the baby ocellaris

 

[FrugalReefer]

Started at 45. It's never too late to get into the hobby.

 

[Nano_Man]

 

[zheka757]

Welcome to R2R,

 

[Jimbhoy13]

Welcome to R2R and the salty world.

 

[kevgib67]

Welcome, glad you are here!