First tank after dreaming for 10 years!

[SaltyCupcake]

Welcome to R2R!!

 

[KJ]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[vetteguy53081]

 

[Snuggs]

Welcome aboard

 

[Billldg]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[Dr. Phil]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[Sakana]

Welcome... While reading your intro I had time to cycle my new nano!

Please share your magical bacterias, I want them!

Glad to have you join the community. This community has been so helpful to my wife and I regarding our tank. Hope you find it as awesome too!

P.S. I know you are from France, if by chance you like discussing wine... that's my other hobby... drinking French wines..so if you feel the urge to discuss the rich wine history of France... I'll be here!

Do you think that all the French drink wine? Well... That's actually true and the truth of the matter is that I'm actually drinking red wine at the moment haha! Don't judge it's 8pm here Anyway, it'd be a pleasure to expose the bit of knowledge I have about it

Welcome to the R2R family! You should start a build thread in the member tanks forum. It’s a great way to track you progress

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Thank you for the tips! Even though I would theoretically be able to get the tank quite soon. I'm willing to wait until this summer to actually start it as the situation is not the greatest in the world as you all know. That's why I didn't want to start a build thread straight away. I don't know if that make sense? In the meantime, maybe you could throw some ideas about what equipment you would get according to my criteria? (12 gal shallow, going to the essential, minimalistic looks, keeping mixed corals and one fish)

Thanks guys and girls!

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

Welcome to Reef2reef!!

 

[The Aquatic Arsenal]

 

[Brandon Smith]

 

[SPR1968]

Welcome to R2R Simon!

 

[JoshO]

Welcome to R2R, Simon! Thanks for the awesome intro!

 

[Thespammailaccount]

Welcome

 

[Jimbhoy13]

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

Welcome to R2R Simon. Wow 12 years of dreaming. You deserve to make those dreams come true. Lots of knowledgable and helpful people here who will support and advise you to get there.

 

[YurgiReef]

You mentioned viewing your corals from above mostly with the shallow tank. What are your thoughts on acrylic vs. glass?

You might want to check out Advanced Acrylics. They have many AIO frag tank setups that may suit your situation. Display tanks and Show tanks.
Advanced Acrylics - Frag Tanks

Welcome, and HAPPY REEFING

 

[Sakana]

Thanks everyone!

You mentioned viewing your corals from above mostly with the shallow tank. What are your thoughts on acrylic vs. glass?

You might want to check out Advanced Acrylics. They have many AIO frag tank setups that may suit your situation. Display tanks and Show tanks.
Advanced Acrylics - Frag Tanks

Welcome, and HAPPY REEFING

Hey! I've seen your tanks and had especially an eye on the AIO101 18x18x8 but I'm afraid of the shipping costs and custom fees which will be at least 25%... Might be quite expensive in the end unfortunately..

 

[windemerejack]

Hi and welcome from the UK. Very friendly and knowledgeable folk on here, you will love it.
Stay safe

 

[Marsh980]

Hi, welcome to the reefing family. There are a lot of knowledgeable experienced reefers on here.

Like you I was dreaming for many years and was saving for 10 years before finally taking the plunge.

Now..... I’m 8 weeks in my very first SW reefing adventure.

Good luck and happy reefing

 

[LiveWire]

Welcome to the REEF!!

 

[reef lover]

Welcome to r2r!