Long time with fish, never added salt

Nasabeau

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Hi everyone, I'm a long time fish keeper, had a fish tank off and on since high school, always freshwater though. I've always loved salt water fish and really liked the idea of making a reef tank, but was always a little worried about the cost and commitment. My wife and I have been making good money for a while now and since this was always something I wanted to do, I did a lot of research and just picked up a 75 gallon tank for salt water. I plan on turning this into a reef, but as I am active on tropical fish and freshwater forums mostly, thought I would start finding out more about marine tanks and start an account over here. hopefully all the questions to follow won't make me seem like I have no idea what I'm doing XD. if anyone has some tips on start up they'd all be welcome, right now I've got my water in, warmed to 79 degrees F, and salinity dialled in to 32ppt (1.023). ammonia is at 0.5 ppm with Nitrite at 0 and Nitrate at about 5ppm. calcium is about 260, pH of 8.1 (planning on putting in a buffer to bring it to 8.2) and I don't have my phosphate test kit yet (lfs doesn't have one in stock). mostly just waiting on that ammonia to come down (live rock and sand used) before going out and picking up my first couple of fish! Super excited both to start the hobby and to be a member of this new community
 

Peace River

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Welcome to Reef2Reef!!!

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Check out this R2R article:
 

IKD

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Hi everyone, I'm a long time fish keeper, had a fish tank off and on since high school, always freshwater though. I've always loved salt water fish and really liked the idea of making a reef tank, but was always a little worried about the cost and commitment. My wife and I have been making good money for a while now and since this was always something I wanted to do, I did a lot of research and just picked up a 75 gallon tank for salt water. I plan on turning this into a reef, but as I am active on tropical fish and freshwater forums mostly, thought I would start finding out more about marine tanks and start an account over here. hopefully all the questions to follow won't make me seem like I have no idea what I'm doing XD. if anyone has some tips on start up they'd all be welcome, right now I've got my water in, warmed to 79 degrees F, and salinity dialled in to 32ppt (1.023). ammonia is at 0.5 ppm with Nitrite at 0 and Nitrate at about 5ppm. calcium is about 260, pH of 8.1 (planning on putting in a buffer to bring it to 8.2) and I don't have my phosphate test kit yet (lfs doesn't have one in stock). mostly just waiting on that ammonia to come down (live rock and sand used) before going out and picking up my first couple of fish! Super excited both to start the hobby and to be a member of this new community
Welcome to the salty world!
 

Clownfish_Boy

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Welcome to our assorted collection of reefers (not the kind that Cheech & Chong smoke) ! You will find that basic saltwater fishkeeping is little different from freshwater.... Except you will want a protein skimmer to remove dissolved organics from the water. Now when you advance from fishkeeping to reefkeeping, there is a whole lot of additional matter to learn....
 
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vetteguy53081

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No regrets going into the ocean in your home.

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Pistol Peet

Reefing , family ,God, country.
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Hi everyone, I'm a long time fish keeper, had a fish tank off and on since high school, always freshwater though. I've always loved salt water fish and really liked the idea of making a reef tank, but was always a little worried about the cost and commitment. My wife and I have been making good money for a while now and since this was always something I wanted to do, I did a lot of research and just picked up a 75 gallon tank for salt water. I plan on turning this into a reef, but as I am active on tropical fish and freshwater forums mostly, thought I would start finding out more about marine tanks and start an account over here. hopefully all the questions to follow won't make me seem like I have no idea what I'm doing XD. if anyone has some tips on start up they'd all be welcome, right now I've got my water in, warmed to 79 degrees F, and salinity dialled in to 32ppt (1.023). ammonia is at 0.5 ppm with Nitrite at 0 and Nitrate at about 5ppm. calcium is about 260, pH of 8.1 (planning on putting in a buffer to bring it to 8.2) and I don't have my phosphate test kit yet (lfs doesn't have one in stock). mostly just waiting on that ammonia to come down (live rock and sand used) before going out and picking up my first couple of fish! Super excited both to start the hobby and to be a member of this new community
Welcome happy to have you I shoot for a calcium level however o f 420 and I shoot for a salinity of 1.025 or 1.026 good luck with the switch happy reefing
 

High pressure shells: Do you look for signs of stress in the invertebrates in your reef tank?

  • I regularly look for signs of invertebrate stress in my reef tank.

    Votes: 42 32.1%
  • I occasionally look for signs of invertebrate stress in my reef tank.

    Votes: 29 22.1%
  • I rarely look for signs of invertebrate stress in my reef tank.

    Votes: 26 19.8%
  • I never look for signs of invertebrate stress in my reef tank.

    Votes: 34 26.0%
  • Other.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
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