mcb
New Member
... no, not Maine, the left coast, in that state tucked between CA and WA.
I'm Matt. Nice to meet you all here. I've enjoyed perusing a number of posts already and like what appears to be a helpful community of folks who know their stuff!
While I had a saltwater tank in college I still consider myself very much on the beginner side of things. This will be the first time I'll be tackling corals... and that looks like an entirely new world.
I'm pretty amazed by the innovation in this hobby. LED lights alone (no/very little heat output, low power consumption) sorta blow my mind!
What I'm most excited about is involving the entire family in this hobby. A tank (IM Nuvo 16g) will be wrapped under the tree and I'm hoping that this activity will be a great educational adventure for both kids (and my better half and me).
I wanted to invest in an 'SPS-ready' tank that's relatively modest in size to teach the kids and let them take on more responsibility for it over time.
Here's the breakdown of gear that is already purchased/on order and I'm planning on building it out the first week of January. And, yes, feel free to weigh in with any opinions - I'd appreciate the input!
- Tank: IM Nuvo 16g tank (black)
- Flow upgrades: (1) Hydor Koralia pump (425gph) and (2) IM spin stream units -- increased and lateral/variable flow to help out the corals I plan to introduce over time
- Illumination: Maxspect Razor 120w/16k model -- got a deal on this upgrade or I likely wouldn't have done it. Liked how it's highly-controllable in terms of duration / output levels
- Skimmer: IM -- have been reading mixed reviews online, but my LFS guy stands by them so I went this way (at least for now)
- Heater: Hydor 100w
I plan to get the initial set up done with live rock, live sand, a couple of clowns, up to two other fish (goby? wrasse?), cleaner shrimp, hermit crab and some snails and then add in LPS, SPS and others over time.
Lots more research to do - but that's the general outline.
Happy to start a thread on my tank once it gets going. Keeping my fingers crossed that I'm generally pointed in a good direction. Thanks for reading.
Should be a fun and challenging ride! I'm looking forward to it.
Best,
Matt
I'm Matt. Nice to meet you all here. I've enjoyed perusing a number of posts already and like what appears to be a helpful community of folks who know their stuff!
While I had a saltwater tank in college I still consider myself very much on the beginner side of things. This will be the first time I'll be tackling corals... and that looks like an entirely new world.
I'm pretty amazed by the innovation in this hobby. LED lights alone (no/very little heat output, low power consumption) sorta blow my mind!
What I'm most excited about is involving the entire family in this hobby. A tank (IM Nuvo 16g) will be wrapped under the tree and I'm hoping that this activity will be a great educational adventure for both kids (and my better half and me).
I wanted to invest in an 'SPS-ready' tank that's relatively modest in size to teach the kids and let them take on more responsibility for it over time.
Here's the breakdown of gear that is already purchased/on order and I'm planning on building it out the first week of January. And, yes, feel free to weigh in with any opinions - I'd appreciate the input!
- Tank: IM Nuvo 16g tank (black)
- Flow upgrades: (1) Hydor Koralia pump (425gph) and (2) IM spin stream units -- increased and lateral/variable flow to help out the corals I plan to introduce over time
- Illumination: Maxspect Razor 120w/16k model -- got a deal on this upgrade or I likely wouldn't have done it. Liked how it's highly-controllable in terms of duration / output levels
- Skimmer: IM -- have been reading mixed reviews online, but my LFS guy stands by them so I went this way (at least for now)
- Heater: Hydor 100w
I plan to get the initial set up done with live rock, live sand, a couple of clowns, up to two other fish (goby? wrasse?), cleaner shrimp, hermit crab and some snails and then add in LPS, SPS and others over time.
Lots more research to do - but that's the general outline.
Happy to start a thread on my tank once it gets going. Keeping my fingers crossed that I'm generally pointed in a good direction. Thanks for reading.
Should be a fun and challenging ride! I'm looking forward to it.
Best,
Matt
