Just getting into saltwater aquariums.

[stubbz08]

Hey everyone!

First of all, love this site. I have obtained so much information from just searching previous threads! Have not needed to post with any questions yet!
I have experienced with fresh water but new to saltwater. I have a 55 gal tank. Added half live half base. Running a canister filter for now. I have been going for two weeks now And recently added a raw shrimp to tank to help along the nitrogen cycle.
I plan on doing fish and coral (which I need to research much more on)
As for big purchases coming up I am planning on picking up a HOB aquamaxx skimmer.
One (for now) XR30 gen4 pro light.
And hopefully in a few more weeks get one fish and a small clean up crew.
My biggest stress right now is am I spending too much money to get the radion or could I do with a cheaper set up.
As well I have one hydor power head but trying to figure out a good method for wavemaking. Either buy another hydor and cross flow or a jabeo set up. And trying to control everything ?

There is so much information online and I am enjoying sifting through it all. It is definitely hard to pick the right set up as everyone has their own preference and opinion.
Oh and I am from Canada as well.

Cheers all!

Matt

 

[DSC reef]

Welcome to R2R Matt

 

[Mike Reef Addict]

Hey everyone!

First of all, love this site. I have obtained so much information from just searching previous threads! Have not needed to post with any questions yet!
I have experienced with fresh water but new to saltwater. I have a 55 gal tank. Added half live half base. Running a canister filter for now. I have been going for two weeks now And recently added a raw shrimp to tank to help along the nitrogen cycle.
I plan on doing fish and coral (which I need to research much more on)
As for big purchases coming up I am planning on picking up a HOB aquamaxx skimmer.
One (for now) XR30 gen4 pro light.
And hopefully in a few more weeks get one fish and a small clean up crew.
My biggest stress right now is am I spending too much money to get the radion or could I do with a cheaper set up.
As well I have one hydor power head but trying to figure out a good method for wavemaking. Either buy another hydor and cross flow or a jabeo set up. And trying to control everything ?

There is so much information online and I am enjoying sifting through it all. It is definitely hard to pick the right set up as everyone has their own preference and opinion.
Oh and I am from Canada as well.

Cheers all!

Matt

Lol I love IT raw shrimp! The guys that taught me close to 25 years ago told me to get a couple of cheap hermits chop up a jumbo shrimp toss them in and wait 6 weeks! I was just on another thread they were saying wait 3-6 months to put an anemone in just to be safe. This os 6mo 20 days in a 55g move up from a 40g long started with 20 pounds live 20# base. Personally I'd loose any mechanical media in the canister once it cycles and use it for chemical only (or UV if it has one)it will give you problems IE hair algae cyano from too many nutrients. Coming from freshwater you should know the basics same applys here but you havr alkalinity calcium an others to test for but those two are vital. Slow for me and slow for others is definately differnt slow for me is adding 2 frags a week and not 4-6 lol

It's all about building bioload IMHO.
(Not that I'm a poster child so don't listen to me lol) [emoji12]
Welcome to R2R am happy reefing.

 

[Mike Reef Addict]

Hey everyone!

First of all, love this site. I have obtained so much information from just searching previous threads! Have not needed to post with any questions yet!
I have experienced with fresh water but new to saltwater. I have a 55 gal tank. Added half live half base. Running a canister filter for now. I have been going for two weeks now And recently added a raw shrimp to tank to help along the nitrogen cycle.
I plan on doing fish and coral (which I need to research much more on)
As for big purchases coming up I am planning on picking up a HOB aquamaxx skimmer.
One (for now) XR30 gen4 pro light.
And hopefully in a few more weeks get one fish and a small clean up crew.
My biggest stress right now is am I spending too much money to get the radion or could I do with a cheaper set up.
As well I have one hydor power head but trying to figure out a good method for wavemaking. Either buy another hydor and cross flow or a jabeo set up. And trying to control everything ?

There is so much information online and I am enjoying sifting through it all. It is definitely hard to pick the right set up as everyone has their own preference and opinion.
Oh and I am from Canada as well.

Cheers all!

Matt

Forgot to add I'm running 2x aqueon 700gph and 2x 950 aqueon wave pumps om a Hydor controler 45 second alternating works for what I have an a 100 gallon size seaclone because the other I bought leaked 10 gallons on my floor while I slept.

Ohhhhhh Canadaaaa aye

We're practically neigbors I'm in Michigan myself lol

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

Welcome to R2R





#welcometor2r

 

[Chrisfish]

Welcome to R2R

 

[kkeller416]

Welcome,
Your looking at a very high-end light that will grow anything.. You could definitely save a few bucks. Look into a pair of hydra26 hd, or a pair of kessil 360..maybe save your money for other things you'll need..salinity meter..test kits, rock..ect....
Good luck.

 

[Antegon]

Hey everyone!

First of all, love this site. I have obtained so much information from just searching previous threads! Have not needed to post with any questions yet!
I have experienced with fresh water but new to saltwater. I have a 55 gal tank. Added half live half base. Running a canister filter for now. I have been going for two weeks now And recently added a raw shrimp to tank to help along the nitrogen cycle.
I plan on doing fish and coral (which I need to research much more on)
As for big purchases coming up I am planning on picking up a HOB aquamaxx skimmer.
One (for now) XR30 gen4 pro light.
And hopefully in a few more weeks get one fish and a small clean up crew.
My biggest stress right now is am I spending too much money to get the radion or could I do with a cheaper set up.
As well I have one hydor power head but trying to figure out a good method for wavemaking. Either buy another hydor and cross flow or a jabeo set up. And trying to control everything ?

There is so much information online and I am enjoying sifting through it all. It is definitely hard to pick the right set up as everyone has their own preference and opinion.
Oh and I am from Canada as well.

Cheers all!

Matt

Welcome!

Grats on the new set up!

Lights - you don’t have to have a Radion name brand super light to be successful. The cheap black box leds will work, t5s, whatever, it’ll all work if it’s being used for the right application. Just take your time and keep doing the research. If you want coral success, it’s all water quality and lights ime. If you want SPS all over the top half of the tank, then yeah, get multiple radion pucks or primes or kessils, maybe throw a dimmable 2 T5 on there, and be the unstoppable light master. But if you want a nice, lps/softie coral reef, and you don’t mind working with PAR hotspots that come with cheaper light systems, then grab 2/3 black boxes (their hotspots are so that they actually do much better run perpendicular to the tank, and closer together w/more units. There are good videos online that use PAR meters to show this stuff), and you’re good to go. Think also of the features you want. If ramping/spectrum control/etc. are things you need, then look towards the higher end.

Sounds like you are all over your research and are already armed with the best tool in this world, patentice haha.

Watch your LFS on those CUCs. They love to sell you more than you need at first, they don’t have enough to eat so they starve, they die and release nutrients into the system, which promote algae, which then grows cause you have no clean up crew lol.

Not a wave maker expert, but pointing two simple powerheads at each other will help create a flow that isn’t constant and set, which is good. Something I aim for in flow is if an uneaten piece of food is floating down to the substrate, I want enough flow to never really let it quickly settle, but be kept up in the water column.

Controllers are something I’ve not had much experience with, but dream about often haha! They are super cool, there’s just a lot that comes first on the priority spending list lol.

Good luck!!!

 

[redfishbluefish]

Welcome @stubbz08 to R2R.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[stubbz08]

Forgot to add I'm running 2x aqueon 700gph and 2x 950 aqueon wave pumps om a Hydor controler 45 second alternating works for what I have an a 100 gallon size seaclone because the other I bought leaked 10 gallons on my floor while I slept.

Ohhhhhh Canadaaaa aye

We're practically neigbors I'm in Michigan myself lol

Haha. Thanks for the info! I'll do that with the filter once my skimmer is set up.

 

[Mike Reef Addict]

Right on

 

[stubbz08]

Welcome,
Your looking at a very high-end light that will grow anything.. You could definitely save a few bucks. Look into a pair of hydra26 hd, or a pair of kessil 360..maybe save your money for other things you'll need..salinity meter..test kits, rock..ect....
Good luck.

Ya from researching I have heard good things from the Hydra line and the kessil is my second choice. I doubt I will be growing any difficult strains of coral for quite some time. I just really like the idea of the dimming ability with sunrise /sunset mode. And being able to tweak the lighting a bit to make your tank look the best it can.

 

[stubbz08]

Welcome!

Grats on the new set up!

Lights - you don’t have to have a Radion name brand super light to be successful. The cheap black box leds will work, t5s, whatever, it’ll all work if it’s being used for the right application. Just take your time and keep doing the research. If you want coral success, it’s all water quality and lights ime. If you want SPS all over the top half of the tank, then yeah, get multiple radion pucks or primes or kessils, maybe throw a dimmable 2 T5 on there, and be the unstoppable light master. But if you want a nice, lps/softie coral reef, and you don’t mind working with PAR hotspots that come with cheaper light systems, then grab 2/3 black boxes (their hotspots are so that they actually do much better run perpendicular to the tank, and closer together w/more units. There are good videos online that use PAR meters to show this stuff), and you’re good to go. Think also of the features you want. If ramping/spectrum control/etc. are things you need, then look towards the higher end.

Sounds like you are all over your research and are already armed with the best tool in this world, patentice haha.

Watch your LFS on those CUCs. They love to sell you more than you need at first, they don’t have enough to eat so they starve, they die and release nutrients into the system, which promote algae, which then grows cause you have no clean up crew lol.

Not a wave maker expert, but pointing two simple powerheads at each other will help create a flow that isn’t constant and set, which is good. Something I aim for in flow is if an uneaten piece of food is floating down to the substrate, I want enough flow to never really let it quickly settle, but be kept up in the water column.

Controllers are something I’ve not had much experience with, but dream about often haha! They are super cool, there’s just a lot that comes first on the priority spending list lol.

Good luck!!!

Thank you! Lights has been the most difficult trying to decide which route to go...[emoji37]. In my free time I am now researching coral.and see what kinds I am interested in. Maybe that will help with deciding the light route.
Ya I have a "brown out" in my tank for past few days. So once the ammonia drops here I may just grab a few snails for now. It's so hard to not just stock the tank right full right away [emoji52]
It's seems like you can spend a ton on wave makers at well. That may be just the route I go. Add another hydor point them at each other and buy that cheaper hydro controller.
Thanks again for the info!