Hello from Ohio. I am here to advance my reef keeping skills

[drfm]

I started about 22 years ago with a built in 180 gallon (6x2x2 feet) fish only aquarium (April 2001) then to a reef aquarium in August 2002. Never had luck (skills or proper equipment) in keeping hard corals so I gave up and kept soft corals.
I always wanted a beautiful reef aquarium but did not stay current with the latest technology and I believe my setup (especially lighting) needs major upgrade. I recently discovered this forum, so I joined to learn and get help in reaching my goals. So, I will be posting a lot of questions and would like to thank everyone in advance for answering them.

 

[Peace River]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!!

 

[Pistondog]

I started about 22 years ago with a built in 180 gallon (6x2x2 feet) fish only aquarium (April 2001) then to a reef aquarium in August 2002. Never had luck (skills or proper equipment) in keeping hard corals so I gave up and kept soft corals.
I always wanted a beautiful reef aquarium but did not stay current with the latest technology and I believe my setup (especially lighting) needs major upgrade. I recently discovered this forum, so I joined to learn and get help in reaching my goals. So, I will be posting a lot of questions and would like to thank everyone in advance for answering them.

Welcome drfm,
We are here to assist.
Sounds like you have a good background with so many years of experience.

 

[Woodyman]

I started about 22 years ago with a built in 180 gallon (6x2x2 feet) fish only aquarium (April 2001) then to a reef aquarium in August 2002. Never had luck (skills or proper equipment) in keeping hard corals so I gave up and kept soft corals.
I always wanted a beautiful reef aquarium but did not stay current with the latest technology and I believe my setup (especially lighting) needs major upgrade. I recently discovered this forum, so I joined to learn and get help in reaching my goals. So, I will be posting a lot of questions and would like to thank everyone in advance for answering them.

 

[vetteguy53081]

 

[PeterC99]

Welcome to R2R!

Looking forward to seeing some 180g pics.

 

[Karen00]

Welcome to the community and welcome back to the salty side. Ask all the questions you need to. I look forward to seeing your setup.

 

[Schraufabagel]

 

[xcountryx]

Welcome! From Ohio also

 

[Zach B]

Welcome Sounds like a plan!

 

[Fred2482]

Welcome!

 

[tharbin]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[maceto]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!!

 

[Adolfo]

 

[G Santana]

Welcome to R2R

 

[Billldg]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[Rmckoy]

Welcome .
I don’t believe the secret to a successful reef tank is having all the top
Of the line bells and whistles .

strict routine , stable parameters and time

how about a little run through explaining your system and issues

 

[Sean Clark]

Welcome. Glad that you are here.

 

[drfm]

Thank you all for a very warm welcome.
Per request, a photo of the aquarium follows. I will consider this as the BEFORE joining R2R and hopefully will post in a year the AFTER joining R2R with much nice aquarium.

The reef does not have powerful lighting ( I posted another thread about my plans for an upgrade). I do have a refugium growing macroalgae taht I harvest and couple of weeks ago changed the plant grow lights from Lowes to a Kessel H160 Tuna Flora to accelerate growth to lower phosphates (currently > 1 ppm) and lower nitrates (currently in the 40s ppm). Also have an old protein skimmer AquaC that I plan to upgrade. Have an old Korallin calcium reactor that has been offline for years and need to rejuvenate. Bought all new testing kits based on recent reviews as I had all Salifert test kits and they all expired (some years ago!)

So I am energized to fix my tank problems and move up the chain in reef keeping.

 

[Rmckoy]

Thank you all for a very warm welcome.
Per request, a photo of the aquarium follows. I will consider this as the BEFORE joining R2R and hopefully will post in a year the AFTER joining R2R with much nice aquarium.

The reef does not have powerful lighting ( I posted another thread about my plans for an upgrade). I do have a refugium growing macroalgae taht I harvest and couple of weeks ago changed the plant grow lights from Lowes to a Kessel H160 Tuna Flora to accelerate growth to lower phosphates (currently > 1 ppm) and lower nitrates (currently in the 40s ppm). Also have an old protein skimmer AquaC that I plan to upgrade. Have an old Korallin calcium reactor that has been offline for years and need to rejuvenate. Bought all new testing kits based on recent reviews as I had all Salifert test kits and they all expired (some years ago!)

So I am energized to fix my tank problems and move up the chain in reef keeping.

Looks nice .
Something to consider …
A mixed reef is said to be harder to keep .
I’d work on getting nutrients down a little .
Nitrates in the 5-10 range .
phosphates .03 …

I prefer salifert for nitrates .
hanna ulr phosphorus checker .