Neebie here

Sivla · Jul 9, 2014

Hi everyone
My name is Alvis and I'm in Miami Florida
I'm starting a 40 gallon reef tank as a hobby since I have sometime on my hands in the evening Now I have been thinking about it for a few years now and in the process have been doing a ton of research, I snorkel and free dive just to do research and try to understand marine world (Very fascinating I must say). I would love to see and hear what problems some or most of you have had and the avenue you took on resolving the issues you may have had, I love to read a lot so throw them at me. I am not looking to add any life nor coral until about 2 months after I setup completely and the chemistry is right.
I plan on using actual beach sand since I have seen the success it has and how natural it looks any suggestions as to why I should or shouldn't?
Anyway Thank you for having a site like this one and for reading Hope to hear from some,

Hoping this is not one of those boring no one on sites
Alvis "Sivla"

Tahoe61 · Jul 9, 2014

Welcome. :wave:

fishroomlady · Jul 9, 2014

welcome to the site! one suggestion I have is to read all the newbie articles you can find. I'm sure you can find several on this site. In terms of beach sand, are you talking "taken directly from the beach" sand? I think that beach sand can sometimes be a bit too fine - meaning that it can get blown around by powerheads. I prefer a medium grade aragonite sand. I have no data to back this up but it seems that finer sand also seems more prone to cyanobacteria.

I've been at this a long time so it's hard to kind of state all of the issues I've dealt with and how I resolved them. I think one thing that most hobbyists struggle with is keeping nutrients low so that visible algae in the tank is minimized. There are many methods to accomplish this.

As a piece of advice, I would suggest that you start your tank with high quality materials from the start. If you try to cut corners in this hobby, it will always come back to bite you. You want to use a high quality skimmer and quality lighting. You also want to make sure you start your tank with high quality water from the get go - use RO/DI water. You can purchase a unit to make your own and many find that that is a very good investment if you plan on being in this hobby for a while.

Just a few thoughts that came to me. Feel free to ask questions and read, read, and then read some more

Although I've been in the hobby a long time, I continue to learn something new everyday! I think that's one of the things that makes this hobby so interesting.