lelolai15
Community Member
Hello Reefers!
This post is a year and ten month old, but who is really counting. I have used reef2reef to learn from many of you and now I want to give back and contribute to the community. I had fresh water and saltwater tanks in previous stages of life but nothing too serious. When I finally obtained my first home, I knew I wanted to get back into the hobby on a budget. Not knowing where to start, I thought the best idea would be to start simple. I landed on a Redsea Max Nano. Almost 2 yrs later, I am satisfied with the tank quality and use nearly all the AIO components besides the ATO. To show progress I have shared a few pictures throughout the life of the tank leading to today. I currently live in south FL, I work in occupational safety, and during my off time I enjoy spending time with family at the beach or scuba diving.
Goals for the tank is to create a mix reef while being extremely selective in the process with the type of corals I am placing. Since there is limited space, I recently decided to save money and only purchase nicer "eye candy" corals which bring joy to my wife and I. As mentioned, I am doing this on a $75 monthly budget. Interestingly enough, it allows me to move slow, continue to learn, and perfect my system. Maintaining suitable parameters for a mix reef nano tank has been tricky for me. About three months ago I started dosing and it has helped tremendously (I was previously dosing by hand). I previously purchase level entry corals to test my ability. But due to limited space I am scaping overgrown zoas and replacing corals to more preferred species.
"Keeping it simple" in mind, I have basic equipment light, 2x power heads, ATO, one doser container (All for reef), and UPS. I currently work from home, the tank is set up right next to my desk which provides plenty of distraction throughout my day. Due to return to office policies I will start working in the office soon and am looking to invest in a Apex controller and trident to keep up with water testing. I have been keeping all levels in range, but sometimes I am not as religious with water testing and find my alkalinity and Ph dipping to the low 7.0s. Currently, I mostly have LPS corals and only one SPS. The yellow toadstool at top will be going soon and replacing with SPS (we are still creating our SPS wish list). We would also like to change out the torch for a dragon soul or a 24k gold torch. My most recent member of the fish tank is the scolly.
Despites of having tanks in the past, I still consider myself a beginner in the hobby. I am consistently reading and spend hours on Youtube learning on how to deal with bacteria, algea, fish foods, and researching for suitable trophy corals. As mentioned, I am creating this thread to ask questions for myself but for others to learn from my experience as I have learned from many in this forum.
Happy Reefing!
This post is a year and ten month old, but who is really counting. I have used reef2reef to learn from many of you and now I want to give back and contribute to the community. I had fresh water and saltwater tanks in previous stages of life but nothing too serious. When I finally obtained my first home, I knew I wanted to get back into the hobby on a budget. Not knowing where to start, I thought the best idea would be to start simple. I landed on a Redsea Max Nano. Almost 2 yrs later, I am satisfied with the tank quality and use nearly all the AIO components besides the ATO. To show progress I have shared a few pictures throughout the life of the tank leading to today. I currently live in south FL, I work in occupational safety, and during my off time I enjoy spending time with family at the beach or scuba diving.
Goals for the tank is to create a mix reef while being extremely selective in the process with the type of corals I am placing. Since there is limited space, I recently decided to save money and only purchase nicer "eye candy" corals which bring joy to my wife and I. As mentioned, I am doing this on a $75 monthly budget. Interestingly enough, it allows me to move slow, continue to learn, and perfect my system. Maintaining suitable parameters for a mix reef nano tank has been tricky for me. About three months ago I started dosing and it has helped tremendously (I was previously dosing by hand). I previously purchase level entry corals to test my ability. But due to limited space I am scaping overgrown zoas and replacing corals to more preferred species.
"Keeping it simple" in mind, I have basic equipment light, 2x power heads, ATO, one doser container (All for reef), and UPS. I currently work from home, the tank is set up right next to my desk which provides plenty of distraction throughout my day. Due to return to office policies I will start working in the office soon and am looking to invest in a Apex controller and trident to keep up with water testing. I have been keeping all levels in range, but sometimes I am not as religious with water testing and find my alkalinity and Ph dipping to the low 7.0s. Currently, I mostly have LPS corals and only one SPS. The yellow toadstool at top will be going soon and replacing with SPS (we are still creating our SPS wish list). We would also like to change out the torch for a dragon soul or a 24k gold torch. My most recent member of the fish tank is the scolly.
Despites of having tanks in the past, I still consider myself a beginner in the hobby. I am consistently reading and spend hours on Youtube learning on how to deal with bacteria, algea, fish foods, and researching for suitable trophy corals. As mentioned, I am creating this thread to ask questions for myself but for others to learn from my experience as I have learned from many in this forum.
Happy Reefing!
