Reefing, whewww

[Emvy]

Hey all! New reefer here. My son wanted his very own starfish, and after a couple years of saying “how…?!”, here we are. Hundreds of hours of research later we have our first tank almost done cycling. Excited to be here!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Welcome to your new home for saltwater reef aquarium resources and fun! Welcome to the family! :D

 

[Peace River]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!!

 

[56longroof]

Welcome aboard!

 

[Crabs McJones]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[Psyduck]

 

[Brisk]

Welcome!

 

[B&CinB.C.]

Hello . Welcome to Reef 2 Reef

 

[vetteguy53081]

 

[phillyb614]

Innovative Marine lagoon? Pretty tank! Have one myself.

 

[eggie]

Welcome to Reef2Reef, that’s an awesome start

 

[Ocean_Queenie]

Hello & Welcome!

 

[petcellar]

Welcome!!!

 

[Gman83]

Welcome!

 

[FrugalReeferJon]

Are those the Nicrew Gen 2 lights? How do you like them?

 

[Fish Fan]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I believe keeping an aquarium like that is a great way to introduce your kids to science in general :)

Good luck to you guys!

 

[crazyfishmom]

 

[PharmrJohn]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I believe keeping an aquarium like that is a great way to introduce your kids to science in general :)

Good luck to you guys!

Ditto. Just be sure to teach them EVERYTHING you know. And never think they can't keep up with ya!

Also, what kind if starfish are you thinking? There are some that are reef safe and others not so much. In a tank that size, you won't have many options. And when you do choose, you will probably have to target feed. For example, a sandsifting star will do such a good job at keeping your sand clean they will exhaust their food source in no time. Just do your research and don't rush into getting one right off the bat. Many require a stable, mature environment.

Hey! Welcome to the Boards! You'll find lots of info and friendly people here. It's a wonderfully active site!

 

[Fish Fan]

Ditto. Just be sure to teach them EVERYTHING you know. And never think they can't keep up with ya!

Also, what kind if starfish are you thinking? There are some that are reef safe and others not so much. In a tank that size, you won't have many options. And when you do choose, you will probably have to target feed. For example, a sandsifting star will do such a good job at keeping your sand clean they will exhaust their food source in no time. Just do your research and don't rush into getting one right off the bat. Many require a stable, mature environment.

Hey! Welcome to the Boards! You'll find lots of info and friendly people here. It's a wonderfully active site!

Great point friend, I meant to touch on this!

If a sea star is what you and your family really want, I'd encourage you to do some real research, so as not to disappoint your kids. Arguably, the easiest, least expensive and maybe hardiest real sea star is the Chocolate Chip Star (Protoreaster nodosus), but these animals are not safe around corals if you aspire to also have corals.

Furthermore, many of the sand-sifting sea stars really require a very deep and mature sand bed, or they simply deplete their food source, and slowly starve to death in many home aquaria.

Not true sea stars according to the taxonomists who do this work, but I think bristle stars (a common name with multiple Genera) and the like will make your daughter very happy, and be a much better "resident" in your tank:

Hash tag, not my picture :)

As always, good luck!

 

[Emvy]

Great point friend, I meant to touch on this!

If a sea star is what you and your family really want, I'd encourage you to do some real research, so as not to disappoint your kids. Arguably, the easiest, least expensive and maybe hardiest real sea star is the Chocolate Chip Star (Protoreaster nodosus), but these animals are not safe around corals if you aspire to also have corals.

Furthermore, many of the sand-sifting sea stars really require a very deep and mature sand bed, or they simply deplete their food source, and slowly starve to death in many home aquaria.

Not true sea stars according to the taxonomists who do this work, but I think bristle stars (a common name with multiple Genera) and the like will make your daughter very happy, and be a much better "resident" in your tank:

Hash tag, not my picture :)

As always, good luck!

Thanks for the input! I’ve already prepped him with the expectation of only getting what we can safely keep, and that we would need at least 6 months to a year to get the tank mature enough for that. Unfortunately being new to everything the IM aio 40gal is what we could afford, and he’s mentioned being okay with a brittle. We’ll see how it goes, taking it step by step!