New & Hooked to Reef Keeping

Gumbies R Us · Jul 13, 2023

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!

CoralB · Jul 13, 2023

Welcome !!

TheScientificReefer · Jul 13, 2023

Thank you for your service and the help you give to other veterans! Not gonna lie ive noticed alot of veterans are into reefing so you may be on to something! I hope it goes wonderfully! Welcome!

Jimbhoy13 · Jul 13, 2023

Welcome to R2R and the salty world.

tharbin · Jul 13, 2023

Welcome to R2R!

SPR1968 · Jul 15, 2023

Hi and welcome to Reef2Reef!

Nano_Man · Jul 15, 2023

CO2TLEY · Jul 15, 2023

Evas_reef · Jul 15, 2023

XaosCoral said:
Hi everyone.

I bought myself a saltwater tank earlier this year on an impulse buy and have fallen in love with my saltwater tank and coral. I am in the process of setting up my first 30 gallon tank as my inaugural tank (I have been using the 15gal as a practice to learn where I housed the following to start:

-Green Center with Red Rim Brain Coral (2" peice)
-Feather Duster Wine & Gold (1 happy worm)
-Green Birdsnest (1" peice)
-Caribbean Babies Zoanthid (6 baby polyps)
-Brick Red Montipora (1.5" peice)

As far as tank mates go,

-One Bubble Anemone (small, 2")
-One very social Snowflake Clownfish
-One Green Mandarin Goby (3", gift from a friend, very beautiful and majestic)
-A handful of assorted sized hermit crabs and a few small Nassarius Snails and one large Turbo snail.

I will be setting up my 30 gallon tank this coming weekend and into next week. Hopefully I can post some pictures and get feedback and guidance as I continue on my journey I would greatly appreciate it.

On another note, I am very interested in expanding into a larger commercial operation, mostly growing coral and potentially learning to grow, frag and sell coral.

I am also looking to develop a mental health program through my nonprofit, using coral as a foundation to help veterans who are struggling with mental health, substance abuse and/or PTSD. I am a combat vet myself who struggled from all the above and I wanted to use my new found love and appreciation for coral to help veterans like me.

The idea I am working on is to structure a 40hr, one-week class with one hour of coral instruction added each day. As a part of the instruction, each veteran would receive a 5-gal tank with one starter coral piece (they would choose it themselves after learning a little about coral) and maybe one fish or hermit crab or something that would add some life to the tank as well. The idea is to use Coral as a mental health aid in recovery. I know its a lofty idea, but I think its doable. (Ideally we would run small classes to keep the groups small (10-15 vets), Im anticipating the total cost of the coral, tank and fish to be about $250/person outside the instruction itself).

If anyone has any input or advice on my personal tank, my quest to farm coral, or my goal of putting coral tanks in the homes of veterans across the country I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks In Advance.

Love this idea. Dream big and go for it! I too have lived with mental health issues for a while and this hobby has given me so much joy, peace and fulfilment. Best of luck!