Getting reefy with the hubby, an intro....

[amygetsalife]

Welcome to the reef!!
Sounds like you two have a lot of fun adventures to enjoy together

Thank you! We sure hope so. Saw you are an infusion nurse, hubs had cancer almost 12 years ago and a cheerful nurse sure makes a difference, no matter the name! Just think how many times they'd get your name wrong if you weren't memorable!

 

[amygetsalife]

Welcome

Thanks!

 

[amygetsalife]

Welcome to R2R

Thank you!

 

[Lavey29]

Welcome to the club. Great people here with vast reefing knowledge to help get you on a great path to reef success.

 

[amygetsalife]

Welcome amy,and hello,hope your new tank gives you and your family great enjoyment and you and your hubby can share same interest and talk/ discuss how your tank progresseses so good luck ^_^

Thank you! We are looking forward to it.

 

[amygetsalife]

Welcome to R2R and the salty world Amy. Good idea not to buy from an lfs whose tanks are in bad condition. I would also be wary of any advice they give. Lots of knowledgeable and helpful people here who will support and advise you when needed.

So far this one guy has been pretty in line with what I'm reading /seeing here. Poor fella had gotten boxed into a corner a few times when I've made him admit to what he does for his own tank versus what they sell in the store. And I can respect that conflict because I hate when an employee tells a potential customer to buy something elsewhere. My husband has done some side work for the lfs, so we get some extra help from him. But yes, it's great to have info from here! We're looking forward to visiting 2 fish shops about an hour away soon. Everything you see online looks so clean and pretty (and carefully framed/edited?), but there's no replacement for setting things in person!

 

[Mhamilton0911]

Hey hey hey!!

Welcome to your new family! So much help 'round here.

About your lfs.... even if thier tanks are wonky, they still have dry goods. For example, salt, testing kits, foods, additives/nutrients. They might be able to order fish for you as well? My lfs, is the only one on my tiny town, apart from a single petco but that's not usually a good option. Even though my lil lfs kinda sucks, thier tanks are not usually sparkly, but I haven't seen a single dead fish there, so I've gotten most of my fish there.

Great to meet you, hope you stick around!

 

[TnFishwater98]

Hello! I'm a small business owner who also employs my husband full time. We work great together, but recently someone asked what we talked about if it wasn't work related or family related. Ouch. Neither one of us had much of an answer.

I had turned my hobby into a business and like many small business owners during covid, we were working more than ever and needed to reconnect and find something that was outside of work and family responsibilities. Although the kids are pretty interested in this new hobby of ours!

We bit the bullet and ordered our tank this weekend (Thanksgiving 2021). We ordered through our local fish/pet store who is very close by. They have a couple of pretty knowledgeable salt water folks that work there and one of them has been very helpful. I already had been reading here and following the brs guys plus a few others. (Research that helped me reel in the hours I usually would spend working too late!) So it was nice to be able to be on the same page with most of his recommendations, and know when I wanted something different.

We knew we could get help from them in person, but also knew we wouldn't be buying much(any?) in the way of corals, fish, or even CUC from them as their tanks are in pretty rough condition. Lots of algae, aptasia, gunk on plugs, in the tanks. We have yet to visit a few other fish shops that are further away....I hope that's not typical. (Guy said he needed a lot of that for the file fish, etc to eat...) So it felt good to be able to give them our business for the equipment at least.

Tank might arrive tomorrow, so we're pretty excited. Hubby is a gadget guy, fixes things, very handy. I love mixing colors and shapes, and all things biology/farming/animals so we think there's a good mix of things in this hobby to chat about and do. Heck, we're the type to go to Lowes on a infrequent date night.... A visit to a fish store or show could be downright amazing!

Getting a 65 gal jbj aio. Rodi unit is on order. He's ridiculously excited to get that installed! He wants "corals that swish" so I'm looking at mostly softies and LPS. Having to remind him that it will be a while before we get any corals. Kinda proud of my 12 year old (the youngest), he has declared we need black and white clown fish. No Nemo for him.

We're in Virginia, so it was nice to see two recent introductions from folks in Virginia. A bit nervous about the expense and possibility of failure, reef death, etc. But as my user name says, I gotta get a life! (User name same as my new instagram handle where I finally set up a personal account instead of just a business account) I have to admit, getting my mind off the business in the evening is helping me to focus better when I am at work, so there's that.

Looking forward to learning a lot and getting reefy with my hubby.

Welcome to Da Reef!

 

[amygetsalife]

Hey hey hey!!

Welcome to your new family! So much help 'round here.

About your lfs.... even if thier tanks are wonky, they still have dry goods. For example, salt, testing kits, foods, additives/nutrients. They might be able to order fish for you as well? My lfs, is the only one on my tiny town, apart from a single petco but that's not usually a good option. Even though my lil lfs kinda sucks, thier tanks are not usually sparkly, but I haven't seen a single dead fish there, so I've gotten most of my fish there.

Great to meet you, hope you stick around!

Thank you. That was our thought, dry goods, tank, etc. We had fun shopping. We certainly didn't want to be one of those people who come in with lots of questions but don't buy anything to offset the time used. I need to figure out the quarantine thing and learn more before I try buying fish there.

 

[shadow_k]

Welcome reef fam ! Glad to have you !

 

[Mhamilton0911]

Thank you. That was our thought, dry goods, tank, etc. We had fun shopping. We certainly didn't want to be one of those people who come in with lots of questions but don't buy anything to offset the time used. I need to figure out the quarantine thing and learn more before I try buying fish there.

I would buy a healthy fish in an algea tank. Lots of our fish friends and cuc's rely on algea and the various micro life like pods living in the algea to eat and survive. Most algea isn't really a disaster, but stay clear of cyano or Dino infestations, those are really the unwanted ones. Most others can be dealt with easier.

I did not qt, only because I only have a 20g and I'm already done buying fish. But when I upgrade, my 20 becomes the qt and I will qt from then on.

 

[Manny’s Reef]

Welcome to the R2R family.

 

[tharbin]

Amy and hubby, welcome to R2R!

In your local LFSs defense. It can be very hard being an LFS today. I have a local one in town (about 2 miles from our house) that opened a few years ago while I was on hiatus from reefing. He opened with the idea of being a saltwater shop with a little freshwater to help pay the bills.

When I first went to his store I didn't expect much but what I saw almost drove me out. To stay in business 90% of his business is reptiles and reptile foods. He has two small saltwater tanks that don't contain anything worth owning but he does have a very nicely maintained 29 gallon or so bio-cube with softies and a few fish.

I was surprised though at the small but good selection of dry goods. After talking he can get me almost any dry good I want within a few days at the same or even lower cost than online.

He can't bring in livestock since last time he did almost forced him out of business. Just too expensive for his turn over. His saltwater tanks suffer because no one looks at them. I don't think he even has another reefer around to talk to.

Luckily I have a half dozen quality LFSs about an hour away for livestock and the things he can't get me but I use my local LFS as much as possible. He just doesn't get the foot traffic he needs to succeed at SW or even FW/SW.

 

[Jeffcb]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!

 

[Pricketthome]

Hello, we have an 80 gallon cube tank we've had a lot of fun with but no longer have the time. It has some fish and mature coral and a refugium tank under with lighting. Looking at giving away. We are in Virginia and would love to give away to a family to enjoy

 

[Kiwi reefer]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[Magic City Reefer]

Welcome to R2R!
Corals the Swish = Gonis and Torches

 

[sp1187]

welcome to the show.

 

[Kraig]

Welcome. I am very new here myself.

I can somewhat relate to your story. My wife and I "joke" about the trips to Home Depot/Lowes as our date nights. I have many hobbies, but non that my wife has very much interest in, so when I brought up the idea of having a saltwater tank and she approved and is very interested in herself, I jumped on the opportunity for us to share and enjoy this together.

Good luck to you and your husband!

 

[atomos]