Hello from Northern Indiana!

[attiland]

Welcome to R2R

I must say, this place looks amazing! I am terrified to jump in and start my first reef tank. I will soon take the plunge! lol I use to have a 29 gallon freshwater system for a long time but when we bought our first house and moved to another city, there was a lot of issues with the water dif etc. I started losing the fish and I just never put it back together. I was pretty young then and had 2 small kids to run after. Now that it's just me and the hubby I decided we just need to do this! I've always dreamed of having a reef tank but felt like it was too difficult so that's why I had gone with freshwater originally. Well, now we have internet and YouTube and awesome forums like this so I'm about to jump in...of course after I do more research, which is how I found this place Thanks in advance for all the knowledge I am about to soak in

 

[Jeffcb]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!!

 

[R33FDr3amer]

Thank you everyone! I have been pretty confused on how the sump and refugium is/works. I did order a couple of books that I seen someone had posted and plan to do more research on just those 2 things before I jump in and go big....lol I was going to start up a 40 gallon breeder from scratch (again sump/refugium confusion kicked in lol) but!!....decided that for now, to get my feet wet, I'll go with the fluval evo 13.5 and do a few upgrades on it. I did have an opportunity to purchase a used tank but it was loaded with Calurpa algae and was set up with a refugium. Even had fish, but I decided nope....I'm not ready for that just yet. I don't wanna clean up someone else's mess when I barely have enough knowledge ;Bookworm to start up my own mess. Plus, I want to do my own aquascaping and not use what someone else did I do feel bad for those fish & corals tho

@Solga I am just north of Auburn so we aren't too far from one another!

Thanks again for the warm welcomes! I enjoyed reading them all!!

 

[Sean Clark]

Thank you everyone! I have been pretty confused on how the sump and refugium is/works. I did order a couple of books that I seen someone had posted and plan to do more research on just those 2 things before I jump in and go big....lol I was going to start up a 40 gallon breeder from scratch (again sump/refugium confusion kicked in lol) but!!....decided that for now, to get my feet wet, I'll go with the fluval evo 13.5 and do a few upgrades on it. I did have an opportunity to purchase a used tank but it was loaded with Calurpa algae and was set up with a refugium. Even had fish, but I decided nope....I'm not ready for that just yet. I don't wanna clean up someone else's mess when I barely have enough knowledge ;Bookworm to start up my own mess. Plus, I want to do my own aquascaping and not use what someone else did I do feel bad for those fish & corals tho

@Solga I am just north of Auburn so we aren't too far from one another!

Thanks again for the warm welcomes! I enjoyed reading them all!!

I am quoting you from above, so just listen to yourself. You will do great!

"I jump in and go big....lol"

Now let's jump in and get started.

 

[Adolfo]

 

[vetteguy53081]

 

[Solga]

@Solga I am just north of Auburn so we aren't too far from one another!

I use to run around the auburn area a long time ago. I have family that used to live on the south side of Auburn, and still have family in the Kendallville area.

When it comes to sumps, it is debated on whether or not one is "needed". It does make it convenient to hide the maintenance items, but adds a little difficulty in the plumbing area. Typically people (including myself) put the sump under the main display tank and use it for skimmers, heaters, auto top off's, dosing chemicals, water changes, mechanical filtration, etc.

Refugiums are a completely different story, and I do not know enough about them to give any kind of advice. I can tell you, though, that there are many thoughts and ideas on what a "refugium" actually is, and what they should do.

Enjoy the research and reading ! I will warn you though, it's an awful deep rabbit hole !!

 

[Kiwi reefer]

Welcome to R2R

 

[region.reef]

I must say, this place looks amazing! I am terrified to jump in and start my first reef tank. I will soon take the plunge! lol I use to have a 29 gallon freshwater system for a long time but when we bought our first house and moved to another city, there was a lot of issues with the water dif etc. I started losing the fish and I just never put it back together. I was pretty young then and had 2 small kids to run after. Now that it's just me and the hubby I decided we just need to do this! I've always dreamed of having a reef tank but felt like it was too difficult so that's why I had gone with freshwater originally. Well, now we have internet and YouTube and awesome forums like this so I'm about to jump in...of course after I do more research, which is how I found this place Thanks in advance for all the knowledge I am about to soak in

Welcome! Also from NWI

 

[welsher7]

Welcome!!! There is a pretty large group of reefers around the Fort Wayne area and a few good stores in the area too. There is a large and active FB group Fort Wayne marine aquarium society.

 

[R33FDr3amer]

@Sean Clark I just purchased the last fluval on Amazon! Should be here next week!! Super excited to get these feet wet! ;Joyful
@Solga I am originally from Fort Wayne so I know that area very well. Thank you for the info! The refugium just seems weird but I will figure it all out haha. I'm not sure I will have one but I have read they help the health of your tank tremendously and you have crystal clear water...more research is required tho! My hope is that I will do exceptionally well with this fluval, keep it for my office and then build a 40 gallon breeder with a sump....then!...to excel at that and then move up to a larger tank using the 40 for the sump. I probably won't be able to go over 65 gallons due to space in my living room....but then again, who needs more furniture than 1 couch right? ;Hilarious

thanks again for the warm welcomes! There sure is a lot of Hoosiers here ;Happy I will have to start a build thread (I think that's what it was called?) once I get everything I need and get it started! ;Woot

 

[R33FDr3amer]

Thanks @welsher I will look into that fb group! I'm on a couple right now that are geared towards beginners so that has been helpful as well!

 

[KYnewbee42103]

Glad your here get a RODI and roll on with saltwater!!

 

[TnFishwater98]

I must say, this place looks amazing! I am terrified to jump in and start my first reef tank. I will soon take the plunge! lol I use to have a 29 gallon freshwater system for a long time but when we bought our first house and moved to another city, there was a lot of issues with the water dif etc. I started losing the fish and I just never put it back together. I was pretty young then and had 2 small kids to run after. Now that it's just me and the hubby I decided we just need to do this! I've always dreamed of having a reef tank but felt like it was too difficult so that's why I had gone with freshwater originally. Well, now we have internet and YouTube and awesome forums like this so I'm about to jump in...of course after I do more research, which is how I found this place Thanks in advance for all the knowledge I am about to soak in

Welcome to Da Reef!

 

[welsher7]

I think InTank makes a few cool add ons for the Fluval tanks. I had some for my IM20 and they were great quality.

 

[Sean Clark]

@Sean Clark I just purchased the last fluval on Amazon! Should be here next week!! Super excited to get these feet wet! ;Joyful
@Solga I am originally from Fort Wayne so I know that area very well. Thank you for the info! The refugium just seems weird but I will figure it all out haha. I'm not sure I will have one but I have read they help the health of your tank tremendously and you have crystal clear water...more research is required tho! My hope is that I will do exceptionally well with this fluval, keep it for my office and then build a 40 gallon breeder with a sump....then!...to excel at that and then move up to a larger tank using the 40 for the sump. I probably won't be able to go over 65 gallons due to space in my living room....but then again, who needs more furniture than 1 couch right? ;Hilarious

thanks again for the warm welcomes! There sure is a lot of Hoosiers here ;Happy I will have to start a build thread (I think that's what it was called?) once I get everything I need and get it started! ;Woot

Nothing better than being true to yourself.

Next step build thread...

 

[SPR1968]

Hi and welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Welcome!

 

[Screwgunner]

I am also from Northern Indiana !!! Welcome there is so much information here it can be intimidating. Do your research and have a plan . Corals are expensive and some fish.

 

[Sean_B]