Happy to be here

[BigMike81]

Hello all. My name is Mike and I have a beautiful wife and and three beautiful kids. I first caught the saltwater bug the first time we went to Petco, and saw the beautiful animals in the salt water section of the store. Ever since then I have been trying to think of affordable ways to get the biggest tank I can afford and fill it with colorful animals. I know this is a difficult process and really am excited about the opportunities I have to get things going. I need to know everything about caring for a saltwater aquarium as I only have ever had fresh water and am slightly intimidated by the amount of information I feel I need to get started. I can't wait to get to know the people here and hopefully with enough of everyone's help, i will build the tank of my dreams.

 

[Texas Reefer]

Hi! Good luck and have patience, it will pay off.

 

[ethridge78]

Welcome

 

[ZoaEmpress]

Welcome Mike

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Welcome to REEF2REEF! We're very glad you joined and hope that you will enjoy the forums, enter contest, start a tank thread, and just be a part of our family friendly community!

Start a new tank thread here: Member Tanks

Enter a FREE contest here: R2R Giveaway and Contest Forum

Thanks for joining and please make sure and post often!

 

[Ryan2428]

Welcome to the club

 

[mfief]

Welcome to the learning curve. you will love your tank just take your time, ask questions and use the heck out of Google and youtube. There is a lot of information and knowledge out there. Hopefully you can find a good LFS that can give you face to face 1 on 1 tips.

 

[joekool]

Welcome home!

There are many threads on here for you to search to help you out. You should start your own tank thread as soon as you decide the route you want to go.
Lots of things to think of.

First of come up with a budget.
Next decide how much energy you want to pay for each month to run equipment. Unfortunately the more efficient equipment costs more than less efficient stuff.
There are some nice dc sump pumps that are affordable.

You could start a discussion thread and give your ideas of what type of tank you want to run fish only, reef, mixed reef, etc. let us know your available space you have to put a tank. We will help you wether it's 4 gallon or 4000 gallon.

The biggest thing is patience and taking your time to get it right.

My advice don't ever buy any live rock. Start with some nice dry rock cycle and it will be pest free.

Most of all have fun

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

[BigMike81]

Thank you all for your warm welcomes. You have all made me excited about having my first saltwater tank. I am now seriously considering a 75g bowfront tank that is reef ready with sump and all the plumbing. I think that will be my first step in the right direction as it fits in well with my bugget and allows me to really examine who I want in the tank. Does anyone buy saltwater from the pet shop, or do they make their own? Just looking for suggestions to do things right.