Welcome to Randy's Tank and Learn Thread!
First, why that particular title?
I started my last reef tank in August of 1995, and ultimately took it down in March of 2016, after more than 20 years of enjoyment. I’ve learned a lot since then, but not nearly enough. The title reflects the idea that this tank thread will be different than most, and will be focused around learning, both for readers and for me. As I proceed to set up and maintain a new reef tank, I will encounter all sorts of challenges that I will address extensively in this thread. Some recent days the list of challenges seemed endless. Some I’ve already encountered and gotten great help for, and will recount these in this thread. Future challenges will include things I’ve done before, and some I have not. For many of these topics, I will request input from readers on how to best do certain things, and what are the pros and cons of the various paths forward. Some will obviously be chemical challenges (e.g., what to dose and how and why, DIY materials of various sorts, etc.), but others will not be (e.g., what corals look best in white light). My intent overall is to first tell folks what I'm thinking of doing, gathering suggestions of how others think I might go about it, then doing it, tracking if it seemed to work, etc. My hope is that a wide range of folks will follow this thread, both to learn things they do not know, and to help with things they do. In many cases, each post I make will have a heading that summarizes it in a “topic of the day” type of discussion.
I won’t belabor the reasons for taking down my previous tank, but electricity cost was a big factor. Fast forward to today, and there have been huge changes in the reefing world, not least of which is more electrically efficient equipment. Rev (revhtree, owner of Reef2Reef) asked me a couple of times if I had an interest in restarting a tank, and I decided last fall that the time was right to start again. In discussions with Rev, he suggested that perhaps some Reef2Reef sponsors might be willing to help out, and that has turned out to be true. I want to express a very big thank you to three companies:
TBS (Tampa Bay Saltwater), providing their “package” of rock, sand, and some clean up crew
Tunze, providing powerheads (Stream 6105 eco), a skimmer (9410), an Osmolator 3, and an RO controller (8555)
BRS (Bulk Reef Supply), providing discounts on a wide range of items (still being set up)
As my tank story unfolds, there will be more about why I chose these specific items, how I’m using them, etc. An important thing to note is that these are the specific items I felt would best serve this tank. Folks may have noticed a bunch of threads I started recently asking for folks experiences with various things (e.g., lights, bulkheads, etc.). This tank is why. I made a wish list of items I wanted and Rev worked to find a way to help make it happen. Thanks, Rev! It was not the other way around, of a company trying to convince me to try something. I picked these things so it’s on me to have chosen correctly.
So let’s roll on, have fun, and learn together!
www.reef2reef.com
