Hello everyone! I'm kind of new to saltwater aquariums, and I've been watching a BUNCH of YouTube videos on the subject.

G Santana · Mar 24, 2021

Welcome aboard, good luck with your build!

vetteguy53081 · Mar 24, 2021

jtp7004ft · Mar 24, 2021

Welcome!

Zach B · Mar 24, 2021

Welcome

Sleeping Giant · Mar 24, 2021

Welcome to R2R

Jimbhoy13 · Mar 24, 2021

Welcome to R2R and the salty world. Lots of knowledgeable and helpful people here who will support and advise you when needed.

maceto · Mar 24, 2021

Welcome!

Fish Think Pink · Mar 24, 2021

Geo007 said:
I am relatively new to saltwater, so be gentle with me. ;*)

I don't have a saltwater aquarium yet, but I can't get anything larger than a 10 gal according to my Senior Living lease. But, I think I can get away with a 20 gal aquarium. My desire is to have a 20 gal standard/high tank and make it a reef tank. Having looked at several cube tanks, all-in-one aquariums, and several set-it-and-forget-it aquariums, I don't want any of those. I wish to build my own from the ground up.

I'm curious to find out what suggestions you would make for me to have such a tank. Live rock vs dry rock, live sand vs normal sand, type of fishes, any cleaning crews and how many, etc. Preferences on equipment such as filters, skimmers, water flow jets, etc. And more importantly, "why" you would chose those particular items.

Thanks in advance!

Geo007

Welcome!

I'll defer to others with nano experience as only my quarantine tank is small (5 gallon Petco) though its temporarily repurposed from QT to housing Red Ogo macroalgae for about a month+ and my yellow tang moved there two weeks ago (sure tang thinks its in heaven having all the Ogo it can eat...). I look forward to seeing your future build photos and hearing what you decide.

Salty Rambler · Mar 24, 2021

Welcome to R2R! A good place to start would be to browse the nano tank subforum. Smaller tanks take more work to maintain stable water parameters, but you can definitely build something beautiful in a smaller tank if you have the time to focus on maintenance.

Geo007 · Mar 24, 2021

Fish Think Pink said:
Welcome!

I'll defer to others with nano experience as only my quarantine tank is small (5 gallon Petco) though its temporarily repurposed from QT to housing Red Ogo macroalgae for about a month+ and my yellow tang moved there two weeks ago (sure tang thinks its in heaven having all the Ogo it can eat...). I look forward to seeing your future build photos and hearing what you decide.

Thanks for the welcome, Fish Think Pink. I too look forward to posting photos when I finally get my tank up and running. I also think I've got some solid ideas to work with, but I was hoping for some experienced reefer's views on the subject.

MERKEY · Mar 24, 2021

Hello and welcome to R2R!

Geo007 · Mar 24, 2021

Salty Rambler said:
Welcome to R2R! A good place to start would be to browse the nano tank subforum. Smaller tanks take more work to maintain stable water parameters, but you can definitely build something beautiful in a smaller tank if you have the time to focus on maintenance.

Thank you, Salty Rambler, for the warm welcome. I think I will eventually get to the nano tank sub-forum. I know that smaller tanks do take more time and attention to maintain stable water parameters, but I have plenty of time on my hands since I retired.

Geo007 · Mar 24, 2021

Again, I'm overwhelmed by the warm welcomes and positive responses I've had to R2R! I hope I won't disappoint anyone when I do start building my nano reef aquarium. As I have been watching many YouTube videos, it seems to me that it can take several months to get the aquarium ready for it's first fish. I'm just starting out... slowly... so bear with me.

Again, thank you to all who has said welcome!