Hi reef community. Had several FOWLR setups for about 8-10 years in the late 90s to early 2000s - tore my last tank down before a long distance move and sold all my equipment as I exited the hobby. This January, I decided it was a good time in my life (and space in a permanent home with no expected moves in sight) to get back into the saltwater hobby after 13 years.
Wow... has technology, technique, knowledge, understanding and most of all the ability to share information (internet and youtube) changed... we had word of mouth from our trusted mentors and books back then.
Stumbled upon and lurked the vast threads of this wonderful community to map out my new build... decided on a 125g FO tank which has been successfully up and running for the last 5 mo.
I dont have any experience with coral and quite honestly prefer to keep some non reef safe livestock so artificial coral (flame suit on - this is a reefing site) and a Large community FO tank it was.
Some things that have shocked me returning to the hobby - lighting is much cheaper with more abundant modalities given LEDs, live rock is not the same as it used to be and is hard to come by but also not necessary with things like marine pure, COVID was not a good time to hop back in and start stocking a tank, the overwhelming choices to piece your hardware together and hide in a sump is awesome (HOB used to be the thing), I was pleasantly surprised how many local Colorado LFS' there are to support and Ummm... rapid fishless cycling with turbo start is the most amazing thing ever!
Thanks for having this community and imparting all your valuable knowledge.
Attached a couple picks of some of the livestock in there now.
Wow... has technology, technique, knowledge, understanding and most of all the ability to share information (internet and youtube) changed... we had word of mouth from our trusted mentors and books back then.
Stumbled upon and lurked the vast threads of this wonderful community to map out my new build... decided on a 125g FO tank which has been successfully up and running for the last 5 mo.
I dont have any experience with coral and quite honestly prefer to keep some non reef safe livestock so artificial coral (flame suit on - this is a reefing site) and a Large community FO tank it was.
Some things that have shocked me returning to the hobby - lighting is much cheaper with more abundant modalities given LEDs, live rock is not the same as it used to be and is hard to come by but also not necessary with things like marine pure, COVID was not a good time to hop back in and start stocking a tank, the overwhelming choices to piece your hardware together and hide in a sump is awesome (HOB used to be the thing), I was pleasantly surprised how many local Colorado LFS' there are to support and Ummm... rapid fishless cycling with turbo start is the most amazing thing ever!
Thanks for having this community and imparting all your valuable knowledge.
Attached a couple picks of some of the livestock in there now.
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