Hi!
I'm very new to reefing, and trying to keep my head above (beneath?) the water. I am an experienced freshwater aquarist, having kept various tanks over nearly six decades. I have successfully kept many species, including all of the usual suspects and some exotics from the Amazon and Orinoco basins, from Neon Tetras to Discus to Arawana, as well as various Asian fishes. I have successfully bred Melichromis auratus cichlids from Lake Malawi in Africa and raised the brood to maturity. That taught me a bit about water chemistry to be sure, but none of that prepared me for this! Sure, I can tell a heater from an air stone. But water flow intensity? PAR value? Alkalinity v. pH (I thought they were synonymous!) Coral aggression? I'm totally unprepared for this, and I'm sure I'm only scratching at the surface.
I'm starting without knowing anything, just jumping in. That's how I best learn. Not two months into this since I added water to my tank, I've already found things I'd do differently - as in everything - by reading on these forums.
I have a 36 gallon bow front (too small and distorted) with a Fluval 207 cannister. On the bottom I used 3" of live sand (I think I got that part right) with 45 lbs. wet (not live) rock from the LFS which came with some hitchhikers, e.g., mini starfish, brittle stars, and some dreaded Vermetid (which I crush when found) and Aptasia. My first CUC member was a Peppermint Shrimp - a real one. It was amazing to watch it visciously destroying Aptasia! I can say that I have really enjoyed watching my tankful of CUC inverts. Like when I feed the fin fish and the Nassarius snails emerge from the sand, waving their probiscises and the Dwarf hermit crabs scramble down the rocks to the tank front, and the shrimp and Emerald Crab emerge from hiding, all drawn by the scent of Mysis shrimp or the daily special. I don't even need fish, really. I do however, have a Bangaii Cardinal, a Neon Pseudochromis, a Six-lined Wrass and a Yellow Clown Goby. For Corals, I have a Green Polyp Toadstool, two polyps of Kryptonite Candy Cane, a hunk of GSP (mounted on a pedestal of rock island for control), and two frags of Gonis. Except for Vermetids and Aptasia, I havent killed anything yet (at least on the macro level).
This site is a great resource, and I've been drinking from the firehose. Hopefully it will steer me away from really bad decisions (or at least make me carefully consider them before doing them anyway! Looking at you, GSP, Dottyback, non-live rock and Goniopora).
Thanks for being here for us newbs. I appreciate all the giving back you people do!
I'm very new to reefing, and trying to keep my head above (beneath?) the water. I am an experienced freshwater aquarist, having kept various tanks over nearly six decades. I have successfully kept many species, including all of the usual suspects and some exotics from the Amazon and Orinoco basins, from Neon Tetras to Discus to Arawana, as well as various Asian fishes. I have successfully bred Melichromis auratus cichlids from Lake Malawi in Africa and raised the brood to maturity. That taught me a bit about water chemistry to be sure, but none of that prepared me for this! Sure, I can tell a heater from an air stone. But water flow intensity? PAR value? Alkalinity v. pH (I thought they were synonymous!) Coral aggression? I'm totally unprepared for this, and I'm sure I'm only scratching at the surface.
I'm starting without knowing anything, just jumping in. That's how I best learn. Not two months into this since I added water to my tank, I've already found things I'd do differently - as in everything - by reading on these forums.
I have a 36 gallon bow front (too small and distorted) with a Fluval 207 cannister. On the bottom I used 3" of live sand (I think I got that part right) with 45 lbs. wet (not live) rock from the LFS which came with some hitchhikers, e.g., mini starfish, brittle stars, and some dreaded Vermetid (which I crush when found) and Aptasia. My first CUC member was a Peppermint Shrimp - a real one. It was amazing to watch it visciously destroying Aptasia! I can say that I have really enjoyed watching my tankful of CUC inverts. Like when I feed the fin fish and the Nassarius snails emerge from the sand, waving their probiscises and the Dwarf hermit crabs scramble down the rocks to the tank front, and the shrimp and Emerald Crab emerge from hiding, all drawn by the scent of Mysis shrimp or the daily special. I don't even need fish, really. I do however, have a Bangaii Cardinal, a Neon Pseudochromis, a Six-lined Wrass and a Yellow Clown Goby. For Corals, I have a Green Polyp Toadstool, two polyps of Kryptonite Candy Cane, a hunk of GSP (mounted on a pedestal of rock island for control), and two frags of Gonis. Except for Vermetids and Aptasia, I havent killed anything yet (at least on the macro level).
This site is a great resource, and I've been drinking from the firehose. Hopefully it will steer me away from really bad decisions (or at least make me carefully consider them before doing them anyway! Looking at you, GSP, Dottyback, non-live rock and Goniopora).
Thanks for being here for us newbs. I appreciate all the giving back you people do!
