Sakana
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2020
- Messages
- 6
- Reaction score
- 37
- Location
- Stockholm, Sweden
- What state or country do you live in
- Other International
Hi everyone and thanks for being a wealth of information for newbies!
Let me begin by introducing myself, my name is Simon, I'm a 25-year-old architect from France living in Stockholm, Sweden since. I joined all kinds of French forums back in 2009 because of a growing interest for reef tanks as a teenager. No one has really been interested in the hobby in my family or friends so I cannot really tell why I got into this. Nevertheless It's been a passion since the beginning and I've spent hours and hours on every possible forum and website I could find. to learn more and more. I have accumulated a gigantic amount of theoretical knowledge during these 10/11 years but I've never had the chance to actually own my own reef. When I was a teenager I didn't have money, then I studied a lot, I moved to foreign countries several times to finally land in Sweden where I live since 2016. Being now a young professional and earning my own money, I just want to get into it and start slowly. I already know what my dream tank is and I'm saving up money for the 48x36x16" reef of my dreams. I keep that project aside as long as I don't own my own flat and don't have a fully permanent place to live.
I'm though moving in a new long-term apartment next week and I see that as an opportunity to start a first project and learn the practical stuff. Being an architect and having a certain obsession for aesthetics doesn't make the task any easier. I would moreover consider myself as a minimalist and would like my first tank to be as pure as possible. As you may have understood, I am a pretty patient person that just want to make things right. For this first tank I'm aiming to around 10 to 15 gallon mixed reef. I really like fish but what I like even more is corals so even if I might be tempted to get one or two small fish, I'd like to focus on corals and invertebrates which I think are at least as interesting to observe. I'm really fascinated by symbiosis in general, Alpheus/goby, Oshima crab/anemone, clownfish/anemone (even though 10gal is too small for clownfish, I'll keep that for the big one). So I could definitely see myself picking one of these as the main "attraction" of this tank besides the corals. I'm not a huge fan of softies in general and I'd like to have a mix of lps and some easy sps.
I've been inspired by a lot by some ADA shallow reef systems that some of you have presented on this forum. Many of these have really clean setups but sometimes a bit overkill when it comes to lighting and filtration systems. I'm aiming for a more simple setup even though it may requires more maintenance. I definitely want to go for that shallow look but I don't think the ADA tanks have ideal dimensions. I like depth more than length and I would more likely be leaning towards something like 18x18x9" or 24x16x8" that could mainly be enjoyed from above. It sounds like an acceptable size to begin with and have some fun. I'm fully aware of the limitations it implies with livestock but size is a thing I've been thinking about for a long time and I think I found the good investment/satisfaction balance for me. I want to go minimal and therefore don't get a sump, I'm flexible on the rest as long as it does not pollute the look of the tank, so the bare essential for a viable tank is what I'm looking for. It does not mean that I want to go cheap. I want appropriate equipment for the animals to thrive but at the same time not seeing a thousand ugly stuff in the tank. I'm struggling choosing adequate lighting, pumps, heater etc which besides being of good quality also look neat. I unfortunately think that most things just look ugly and I'm trying to look for saltwater alternatives that are similar to the ADA products. I especially like their lights, stainless steal internal filters and lily pipes. That's really the look I'm aiming for. If you have any tips, ideas or just inspiration pictures, please comment!
I think that's it for now! I'm really sorry for the gigantic post but thanks a lot for reading and I look forward to reading your answers!
Simon
Let me begin by introducing myself, my name is Simon, I'm a 25-year-old architect from France living in Stockholm, Sweden since. I joined all kinds of French forums back in 2009 because of a growing interest for reef tanks as a teenager. No one has really been interested in the hobby in my family or friends so I cannot really tell why I got into this. Nevertheless It's been a passion since the beginning and I've spent hours and hours on every possible forum and website I could find. to learn more and more. I have accumulated a gigantic amount of theoretical knowledge during these 10/11 years but I've never had the chance to actually own my own reef. When I was a teenager I didn't have money, then I studied a lot, I moved to foreign countries several times to finally land in Sweden where I live since 2016. Being now a young professional and earning my own money, I just want to get into it and start slowly. I already know what my dream tank is and I'm saving up money for the 48x36x16" reef of my dreams. I keep that project aside as long as I don't own my own flat and don't have a fully permanent place to live.
I'm though moving in a new long-term apartment next week and I see that as an opportunity to start a first project and learn the practical stuff. Being an architect and having a certain obsession for aesthetics doesn't make the task any easier. I would moreover consider myself as a minimalist and would like my first tank to be as pure as possible. As you may have understood, I am a pretty patient person that just want to make things right. For this first tank I'm aiming to around 10 to 15 gallon mixed reef. I really like fish but what I like even more is corals so even if I might be tempted to get one or two small fish, I'd like to focus on corals and invertebrates which I think are at least as interesting to observe. I'm really fascinated by symbiosis in general, Alpheus/goby, Oshima crab/anemone, clownfish/anemone (even though 10gal is too small for clownfish, I'll keep that for the big one). So I could definitely see myself picking one of these as the main "attraction" of this tank besides the corals. I'm not a huge fan of softies in general and I'd like to have a mix of lps and some easy sps.
I've been inspired by a lot by some ADA shallow reef systems that some of you have presented on this forum. Many of these have really clean setups but sometimes a bit overkill when it comes to lighting and filtration systems. I'm aiming for a more simple setup even though it may requires more maintenance. I definitely want to go for that shallow look but I don't think the ADA tanks have ideal dimensions. I like depth more than length and I would more likely be leaning towards something like 18x18x9" or 24x16x8" that could mainly be enjoyed from above. It sounds like an acceptable size to begin with and have some fun. I'm fully aware of the limitations it implies with livestock but size is a thing I've been thinking about for a long time and I think I found the good investment/satisfaction balance for me. I want to go minimal and therefore don't get a sump, I'm flexible on the rest as long as it does not pollute the look of the tank, so the bare essential for a viable tank is what I'm looking for. It does not mean that I want to go cheap. I want appropriate equipment for the animals to thrive but at the same time not seeing a thousand ugly stuff in the tank. I'm struggling choosing adequate lighting, pumps, heater etc which besides being of good quality also look neat. I unfortunately think that most things just look ugly and I'm trying to look for saltwater alternatives that are similar to the ADA products. I especially like their lights, stainless steal internal filters and lily pipes. That's really the look I'm aiming for. If you have any tips, ideas or just inspiration pictures, please comment!
I think that's it for now! I'm really sorry for the gigantic post but thanks a lot for reading and I look forward to reading your answers!
Simon
