No more lurking

[jdogclif]

I've been reading reefing forums for the past several years and had a couple of small tanks, both reef and freshwater planted. We recently built a new home and my sweet wife suggested that I install an in-wall tank with a fish room so I said "OK" if I must .

I have done and continue to do tons of research and planning. I went with a 270 gallon tank from Crystal Reef Aquatics in Bellingham, WA. They were great to work with and the tank turned out very nice. Frankly when I got it in the house I was a bit intimidated by the size and started to wonder what the heck I was getting myself into. I figured I would join R2R for moral support since you guys seem so nice and helpful!

 

[jdogclif]

I got some dry rock from BRS and let it circulate for a few weeks. Then I ordered 80 lbs live sand and about 25 lbs of live rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater. Once that was in WOW the water was clear. That TBS stuff is awesome!

TBS live rock:

Clear tank after adding live rock and sand!

 

[dbl]

Welcome to R2R. No more lurking is right! Way to come out swinging...good looking start to the new tank.

 

[Robink]

Welcome to R2R!!! Nice tank!

 

[jdogclif]

Here's a peek at the fish room. The display drains to the 40B next to the sink, which will have macroalgae (I'm going to give Triton a go...), and then that drains back into the sump under the DT which is a 75g. Under the algae tank is another 40B for quarantine.

 

[reeferfoxx]

Welcome to R2R! Loving the new setup!

 

[Tahoe61]

Welcome .

 

[KJ]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[kschweer]

Welcome!!!

 

[MaddyP]

Welcome to the forum! I think you'll like it here....

 

[Salty1962]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[DSC reef]

Welcome to R2R, what a nice tank!

 

[jdogclif]

Everyone says to go slow with a reef tank; work and kids and life pretty much force that! Like many people I'm sure, I get a couple hours here and there every week to work on it. I'm *hoping* that the Triton method will allow for a little less time required for maintenance, plus I've tried to set everything up to make chores a little easier.

I got the refugium lights up: I was going to go with the H380 but couldn't resist trying these $10 lights from Amazon. If they don't work, I'll go with the Kessil...

The protein skimmer is doing its thing. Reef Octopus 300 INT. I was surprised at the size when I opened the box, but now I'm used to it!

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

Welcome to R2R

 

[iemsparticus]

Welcome! Glad to have you aboard!

Great looking tank... lookzing forward to watching it progress.

 

[tripdad]

Aww , now your making all us lurkers look bad. But seriously, welcome, enjoy the site! Nice start and you have a nice wife, mine would rather buy shoes with my reef funds.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Nice setup and welcome.

 

[reef lover]

 

[Dsnakes]

That tank is going to be great I wish I had a fish room like that. Looks awesome!

 

[jdogclif]

Thanks for all the nice comments! @tripdad my wife buys shoes too but she tells me that she saved so much money because they were on sale, so I just use all the money that she saved to buy more fish stuff

So quick question; this is the "meet and great" forum, do I keep posting my updates here or am I supposed to move over to the "member tanks" forum to continue the tank's progress? Or does it matter?