Thinking about getting back into the hobby.

[HawkeyeDJ]

Hello! I've been looking at various forums for the hobby and this one seems to be the most active and authoritative, so here I am.

I was in the hobby (both freshwater and marine) for several years when I decided to give it up about 25 years ago. At the end, the living reef was just coming into vogue. Before that, we had what we called "sterile" aquariums where the only living residents were our fish, invertebrates, and the occasional hitchhiker. We monitored our Ph, specific gravity, ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, etc., did our weekly water changes and scraped algae off the glass. I used a combination of canister filtration (charcoal, etc.) and undergravel filters to maintain my tank's water quality. Bio Balls were just recently introduced to the hobby, although I wondered if they were some sort of gimmick. Turns out they weren't, apparently.

Now I am considering getting back into the hobby. But my oh my how things have changed! So much more science involved and it has gotten substantially more expensive (hundreds of dollars for lights? what the heck?)

I never had a living reef, so I'm wondering if it might be a good idea to start off where I left off, with a 'sterile' tank, get it well established and then slowly convert it over to a living reef, adding small elements over time. Or, should I just take the plunge and drop right into the living reef from the beginning and hope for the best?

Your input and feedback is appreciated.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Hey welcome to the club! You choose a great forum to join!

Can I ask, what exactly are you referring to when you say "living reef"? The corals? Live rocks??

 

[harley32907]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[sfin52]

Jump in the waters are warm

 

[Cole.mormon]

Jump in what size tank?

 

[Conchman]

I was with You as well, the real, dead, over priced corals, Skilter filters, and Oceanic Tanks, built like, well tanks. Things have changed, improved. Research, and enjoy...welcome...

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Welcome!

 

[Bfragale]

Hello there. Now a days there are two main styles of marine tanks: Fish Only With Live Rock (FOWLR) and reef tanks. The. Within reef tanks there are a few “styles”:
Softy reef tank: these are mostly the easy to keep soft corals with occasional LPS (Large Polyp Stony) corals.
Then a Mixed reef: these generally have softies and LPS and evening SPS (Small Polyp Stony) corals.

A general rule of thumb is from easy to keep to harder to keep is : softies, Lps and SPS being The more sensitive corals. This is a general rule with some exceptions.

If I was you I would start with a tank with reef safe fish- and soft corals and then gradually get harder to keep corals.

But your in the right place. Glad to have you here with us and can’t wait to see what you do!

Hope this helps. Take care my friend and HAPPY REEFING!

 

[Bfragale]

Hello there. Now a days there are two main styles of marine tanks: Fish Only With Live Rock (FOWLR) and reef tanks. The. Within reef tanks there are a few “styles”:
Softy reef tank: these are mostly the easy to keep soft corals with occasional LPS (Large Polyp Stony) corals.
Then a Mixed reef: these generally have softies and LPS and evening SPS (Small Polyp Stony) corals.

A general rule of thumb is from easy to keep to harder to keep is : softies, Lps and SPS being The more sensitive corals. This is a general rule with some exceptions.

If I was you I would start with a tank with reef safe fish- and soft corals and then gradually get harder to keep corals.

But your in the right place. Glad to have you here with us and can’t wait to see what you do!

Hope this helps. Take care my friend and HAPPY REEFING!

 

[imchuco]

welcome!! what size tank?

 

[Cole.mormon]

Id try for a 40 breeder

 

[Soryu]

I'm in the same boat you are, I was doing FowLR back almost 30 years ago and gave up when I had a massive leak happen. While have had fresh water tanks almost my whole life I decided to give the reef tanks another shot. There is so much information you can find these days and just as many opinions.

I jumped in deep and went with cultured live rock for biodiversity. I am currently cycling a new tank where I'm using dry rock and a more "sterile" approach. So many things have changed and so many things have been learned since you were last in this hobby. The great news is that there is such a wealth of knowledge now that you can basically go any route you want and have success. Heck when I was last in this hobby the prevailing notion among everyone I knew in the area and the local fish stores was that you couldn't have success without at least a 90g tank and a sump system (I did just fine with a 29 gallon). Now I see people with 5 gallon all in one pico tanks growing corals. Welcome back!

 

[George81]

@HawkeyeDJ jump back in. I was out of the hobby for 12 years before I came back. I too was intimidated and surprised by how things have changed. I use very little technology in my tank. I run cheap viparspectra led lights. No fancy bells and whistles. Use my old phosban reactors and my old geo calcium reactor.
I used all my original live rock. I bought a new protein skimmer only because I couldn’t find the pump and collection cup for my old euro reef skimmer. I also upgraded to ice cap gyre pumps. I do have to admit being able to control them from my phone is both great and annoying. I need my phone to put them into feed mode Which is irritating but the options to control and tweak them are great.
I came back with the intent of fish only but now I’m mostly an sps reef tank.
I did quarantine most of my fish which I never did in the past. The fish I didn’t quarantine were treated at the store.
this place has all the information you need to be successful. Brs has videos that are very helpful as well.

I say plan for a reef tank! Good luck. No one ever fully leaves this hobby. They just take breaks from it.

 

[HawkeyeDJ]

Hey welcome to the club! You choose a great forum to join!

Can I ask, what exactly are you referring to when you say "living reef"? The corals? Live rocks??

Yes, a living reef, a close approximation of an actual marine biosphere. All the live creatures and fauna one would find in a typical shallow tropical reef, allowing for limited populations of diverse organisms.

When I was last in the hobby, I had a 55 gallon plexiglass tank with undergravel filtration and power heads and a cannister filter containing cotton wadding and charcoal and a protein skimmer. I had large lava rocks, dead white chunks of coral, and a small variety of fish. Opercula Clowns, Blue Tangs, a Racoon Butterfly, a Moorish Idol, a Naso Tang, and a shrimp of some sort. Pretty much the tank featured in the animated film Finding Nemo. In the several years I was active, I only lost the Naso Tang. In contrast to the living reefs that were beginning to become popular, my setup was referred to as a "sterile tank." I had a 5 gallon tank I used to quarantine new fish for a week before introducing them to the community.

To be honest, it's been so long, I've forgotten most of what was involved. When I gave up the hobby, I also gave away an extensive library of TFH publications. Now I'm feeling like a complete novice as the body of knowledge has grown so much.

 

[HawkeyeDJ]

Jump in what size tank?

55 gallons is probably where I would start.

 

[Cole.mormon]

Maybe 75

 

[Chrisfish]

Welcome to R2R, and back to the salty life!!! Lots of knowledgeable people here and very helpful, maybe start back with fish and slowly start adding corals for your reef

 

[jeffrey750750]

Hello and welcome. Your going to love jumping back in. There's so much new in this hobby it definitely pays to research everything. Start with a good size so in a year you don't want to upgrade.

 

[KrisReef]

55 gallons is probably where I would start.

I hate my big tank (too much glass to clean ) but just wanted to mention that lots of people are doing much smaller Living Reef Tanks in tiny tanks called Nanos now.

Lights are expensive, but some of the new LED fixtures are supposed to last 10 years without a bulb change. They are a lot cooler (heat production) than older light fixtures and they allow a person to adjust the spectrum to bring out for viewing the amazing colors present in fish and corals.

Live rock is being harvested in Florida from the dead rock that was dumped offshore about the time you left the hobby. They can 1-day ship it wet to your tank and a lot of the sea life will survive and thrive and eliminate (some, all,..? ) cycling issues.

That said, now you have to come back on account of I just wrote this long post to welcome you back to reef keeping and to Reef2Reef family! I didn't really do the topic of modern reefing justice, but you are in the correct spot to learn and I know you are going to stick around.