Coming Back After a Decade

[cwt94]

So I’m finally settled into a home for good. I want to buy my first stank since I was a teenager. I haven’t had a reef tank since 2010 or so. I need help though. There’s a lot of changes since I got into it and I don’t remember everything. I need to find a LFS, I think I’ve found one about 45 minutes away I plan on visiting soon. Please see if there’s anything y’all can recommend. My current planner set up is:

Fluval 13.5, add a media basket, add a RFG on the return, pink live sand then add around 10-12 pounds of dead rock. Add some Bio-Spira with adding some ammonia here and there to let the tank cycle for a while.

The biggest question for y’all is what kind of media and such to use in the filtration system on the back.

Any advice or help would be much appreciated. I loved my system back years ago. Large reef tank with tangs and such, want to go small for now. Don’t want to shock the wife with a 180 or something haha. Anyways thank you in advance for all the help. If you have any criticism or advice please let me know.

 

[KrisReef]

Glad you are joining us. I have no idea what to put in the back of that tank?
Welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[bnord]

Good play to take it slow

So where in Georgia ?

 

[cwt94]

Good play to take it slow

So where in Georgia ?

Near Augusta! Thanks everyone!

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

I came back after 20 years and I was surprised how much has changed:

1. No more importing of live rock allowed. Oh how I miss the real ocean rocks. There is nothing like them.

2. Hawaii does not allow collection of ornamental fish anymore. This I’m actually glad about although many will disagree with me.

3. There have been some success with some captive bred specimens.

4. Back then Oceanic was an awsome tank company. They no longer exist. Now Red Sea, Waterbox and Cade are the top three. IM is also good and Elos is real high end. There are a lot of very well made and high end plug and play tanks these days.

5. Prices have skyrocketed.

6. Companies like flying fish express, etc no longer exist. Liveaquaria has gone to crap, don’t order from them.

There is so much more, but this is a good beginning.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Also, putting a big wooden top on the aquarium is so yesterday. Now it’s all about rimless and low profile.

 

[shakacuz]

welcome aboard the r2r board! @TastesLikeChicken has definitely put you on the right track!

 

[cwt94]

Also, putting a big wooden top on the aquarium is so yesterday. Now it’s all about rimless and low profile.

I came back after 20 years and I was surprised how much has changed:

1. No more importing of live rock allowed. Oh how I miss the real ocean rocks. There is nothing like them.

2. Hawaii does not allow collection of ornamental fish anymore. This I’m actually glad about although many will disagree with me.

3. There have been some success with some captive bred specimens.

4. Back then Oceanic was an awsome tank company. They no longer exist. Now Red Sea, Waterbox and Cade are the top three. IM is also good and Elos is real high end. There are a lot of very well made and high end plug and play tanks these days.

5. Prices have skyrocketed.

6. Companies like flying fish express, etc no longer exist. Liveaquaria has gone to crap, don’t order from them.

There is so much more, but this is a good beginning.

That would explain why I can’t find live rock lol, what’s the best process to turn dry rock into live rock now?

 

[shakacuz]

That would explain why I can’t find live rock lol, what’s the best process to turn dry rock into live rock now?

bottled bacteria, seeded items from an established tank(sand, rock, bio media), and time.

edit: real “live” rock can be bought from kpaquatics. seeded rubble and sand can be bought from aquabiomics. not sure of other sources but these two i’ve seen very recently

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Everything is artificial now. The confusing thing comes from their naming. They name it such that one thinks it’s real ocean rock. It’s not. It’s all artificial and for those of us who tasted the real thing it will never look real. Best way to seed is to add bacteria like you did.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

You can still find real ocean rock if you look
On craigslist and buy from someone who is leaving the hobby. That’s what I did. But it takes a good amount of effort.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Metal Halides are also out. Now it’s all LED.

 

[UnderseaOddities]

@cwt94 started in 05 still doing it in 22

I was even a wholesaler and fired so feel free to ask me anything


But my top 10 tips are


1.avoid gimmicks and sales pitch, everyone has an opinion everyone's the best everyone's ***** the best and worth 100 a polyp if u want to buy but if u want to sell urs it's a dollar a polyp
Dont get taken to the bank by some young kid hawking named greenstarpolyp for 39$ a 1/4 inch frag
It's in who u know and what u know


2. Buy rodi not to filter basically you want 3 or more filters membrane carbon sediment di 0tds anything more than 0ppm is unacceptable for long term sucsess.

3. Avoid expensive leds t5s are just as good blackbox are just as good the only difference is about 500$ less and no gimmicky app to lock out a switch or dial should be all the ramping you need the person takes care of the coral motor an app

4. Reef Crystal's, kent, fritz rpm or tropic marin salt, esv, aquaforest or brs 3part salinty 1.025 alk 8.2 to 8.6(8.4-8.5 is sweet spot) cal 420 to 450 mag 1350 to 1400


5.always dip coral in coral rx, revive, or medic

6.avoid buying from wholesalers buy from the little guy who does it for the love of the animal not the money

7.you should try wc everyday all wholesalers do this this is the difference between hobbyist and wholesaler weather its 10 25 or 35% it's all on where your numbers are if not 2x or 1x a week bare minimum

Even freshwater fish stores have their systems on auto waterchange it's like flushing a toilet out wit the old in with the new

8. Remove rocks when you see visual buildup set in sun to cook re introduce to tank this is called sun bleaching and effectively removes unwanted algae sponge with out being labor intensive plucking and scrubbing and spreading gametes to reproduce

9. Reefroids isnt all its cracked up to be anyone that's been doing this for a long time will tell you oyster feast and mysis pe is better u really wanna see coral pop target feed before weekly wc dose aminos wait for extension then feed

Benepets and FRENZY are preferred by me over the roids but to each is their own

10.find a good lfs to conduct business with

 

[cwt94]

bottled bacteria, seeded items from an established tank(sand, rock, bio media), and time.

edit: real “live” rock can be bought from kpaquatics. seeded rubble and sand can be bought from aquabiomics. not sure of other sources but these two i’ve seen very recently

So realistically with the bottled stuff and time is there a need for seeded stuff?

 

[cwt94]

Metal Halides are also out. Now it’s all LED.

I’ve noticed that. I remember having a dang 12 bulb t5 system with all different colors and dang that thing could get hot and not to mention the big wooden box it was in

 

[vetteguy53081]

 

[cwt94]

Another question, I remember QT being pretty important for bigger systems. Is still a thing or is there vendors that sell quarantined animals?

 

[UnderseaOddities]

The evo is a good start I personally am oldschool which makes me a cheapskate why spend close to 200$ on a poorly made thing from petco when you could have something way nicer for less


That's just me though young kids are spending like 800$ on those water boxes and it's just a little 20g box nothing special

But it's all preference, these are nice to start out and dip your toes in I would say go crushed coral instead of sand


As far as filtration I would say chemipure nano would be your best bet or maybe purit rowaphos some bioblock and floss


For light maybe go 2 aquaknight or maybe 2 orphek 24in on higher end
If u need more par buy a cheap t5 off Amazon or ebay ati blue plus
Even viparspectra and will can grow some coral just as beautiful as kessil redsea and radion everyone likes to hate on china tho cause it doesnt come wit apn app

Domica wavemaker or nero5 on high end

Get a jebao or kamoer doser and find a good 3 part like esvbionic or aquaforest


Or start out using tropic marin aio in ato then gradually try 3 part dose by hand first and see how the tank take to it then get the doser setup based on consumption

But tbh on a tank less then 20g along as u have ato and are doing weekly or biweekly wc dosing may not even be needed if u dont have a sps dom system

 

[UnderseaOddities]

But I cannot stress enough in a tank less than 30g water change is crucial especially in hob or aio setups as this is the only way to transport nutrients and waste

 

[UnderseaOddities]

Another question, I remember QT being pretty important for bigger systems. Is still a thing or is there vendors that sell quarantined animals?

The main thing is trusting a vendor and getting on a first name basis if its lfs bought I dont need to qt bc the ladies that own it qt all fish b4 sale, not lfs are built equally though shes a veteran so she cares about her customers and the fish... not all stores are like that

Always qt tho just to make sure praziquantul formalin then copper