darkrabbit
Active Member
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2018
- Messages
- 127
- Reaction score
- 70
- Location
- Puslinch, Ontario
- What state or country do you live in
- Canada
Hey all! Just wanted to post and say thanks for all the help the forum gave me as I lurked when selecting my reef aquarium and equipment 
TL;DR: Freshwater 8 yrs, 20yr break, had kid, she loves ocean things, decided to build an ocean.
I had a freshwater setup for 8 yrs probably when I was a teenager. All sorts of things in there: crayfish I caught in lakes, Plecostomus, Gouramis, Red Tail Shark, etc. Loved it. I find aquariums relaxing and interesting, and it was a great learning experience. But I ALWAYS wanted saltwater! Reasons I didn't get it: Money.... that's about it. Well that and the maintenance was a bit intimidating.
FF 20 yrs or so and I still love aquariums, and now I have the means for a saltwater tank both in money and interest. We also have a 3yr old girl and she's been obsessed with the ocean since probably 1.5 yrs old. All the time she talks about is fish, crabs, etc. and I think that was the final nail in the coffin for my wallet. She really wants sharks but there's apparently no small sharks in saltwater like there is in fresh
The plan is a mixed reef with LPS and soft at first, SPS once I am at least a year or two in (no sooner). My setup is:
Reefer 250 with the stock sump setup
Two AI Prime lights
Reef Octopus Classic 110INT skimmer
2 x Current USA eFlux circulation pumps
Current USA eFlux DC return pump
Neptune Apex system with ATO (which won't fit the 250) and AFS
A pair of 150W Eheim heaters for redundancy
To come next week: UPS system for the aquarium
I just finished cycling so my population is small, but I have:
1 blood shrimp (pretty)
1 skunk shrimp (active)
2 Nassarius snails (these are incredible, love how they dig the sand and roam like the creatures in Tremors)
1 long spine urchin (little fella, room to grow)
2 scarlet hermit crabs
1 dwarf blue leg hermit crab
1 emerald crab
I can say at this moment this equipment won't last long, I am looking to go Triton sump soon as I am wholly dissatisfied with the sump size in the 250. Leaves little to no room for a refugeum, and the ATO is sad. I am adding water to it every 2-3 days at most. I figure if I am going to do a sump change I might as well think long term and get a good size triton and somehow set up a 10gal ATO.
I am big on automation / IoT, hence the Apex (though I find it a bit clunky in terms of UI, and the probes I suspect are overpriced junk after going on their forum). It's nice though to get some idea of the health of the tank / water which is logged constantly, and have a way to track some details in a log (which I will likely do in a spreadsheet anyway). Automation is a must as I need to be able to leave the aquarium for 2 weeks with maybe one - two checkups on it from someone who knows nothing about them. I also have a company and some days can't give it daily attention as much as I might want to.
I'll almost certainly do a build thread if R2R has those, just need to find out where. I think it would be good to track and will likely help others with similar setups. Reading others' experience sure helped me.
As a sidenote I am also a very active home brewer, and it's quite interesting the crossover between the two hobbies. I now have an RO system for getting brewing water, I have large kettles and pumps for water changes, and water conditioning for beers is something I've wanted to get into, salt aquariums are a great way to start messing with water chemistry. I already had the lab grade pH meter too. Since my brewing area is 20 feet from my aquarium, it's quite convenient access to everything I need to manage it.
Thanks all!
EDIT: Sorry if the pics are a bit big, but here's a few shots of the basic setup. I'll add more in a build thread later.
-J
TL;DR: Freshwater 8 yrs, 20yr break, had kid, she loves ocean things, decided to build an ocean.
I had a freshwater setup for 8 yrs probably when I was a teenager. All sorts of things in there: crayfish I caught in lakes, Plecostomus, Gouramis, Red Tail Shark, etc. Loved it. I find aquariums relaxing and interesting, and it was a great learning experience. But I ALWAYS wanted saltwater! Reasons I didn't get it: Money.... that's about it. Well that and the maintenance was a bit intimidating.
FF 20 yrs or so and I still love aquariums, and now I have the means for a saltwater tank both in money and interest. We also have a 3yr old girl and she's been obsessed with the ocean since probably 1.5 yrs old. All the time she talks about is fish, crabs, etc. and I think that was the final nail in the coffin for my wallet. She really wants sharks but there's apparently no small sharks in saltwater like there is in fresh
The plan is a mixed reef with LPS and soft at first, SPS once I am at least a year or two in (no sooner). My setup is:
Reefer 250 with the stock sump setup
Two AI Prime lights
Reef Octopus Classic 110INT skimmer
2 x Current USA eFlux circulation pumps
Current USA eFlux DC return pump
Neptune Apex system with ATO (which won't fit the 250) and AFS
A pair of 150W Eheim heaters for redundancy
To come next week: UPS system for the aquarium
I just finished cycling so my population is small, but I have:
1 blood shrimp (pretty)
1 skunk shrimp (active)
2 Nassarius snails (these are incredible, love how they dig the sand and roam like the creatures in Tremors)
1 long spine urchin (little fella, room to grow)
2 scarlet hermit crabs
1 dwarf blue leg hermit crab
1 emerald crab
I can say at this moment this equipment won't last long, I am looking to go Triton sump soon as I am wholly dissatisfied with the sump size in the 250. Leaves little to no room for a refugeum, and the ATO is sad. I am adding water to it every 2-3 days at most. I figure if I am going to do a sump change I might as well think long term and get a good size triton and somehow set up a 10gal ATO.
I am big on automation / IoT, hence the Apex (though I find it a bit clunky in terms of UI, and the probes I suspect are overpriced junk after going on their forum). It's nice though to get some idea of the health of the tank / water which is logged constantly, and have a way to track some details in a log (which I will likely do in a spreadsheet anyway). Automation is a must as I need to be able to leave the aquarium for 2 weeks with maybe one - two checkups on it from someone who knows nothing about them. I also have a company and some days can't give it daily attention as much as I might want to.
I'll almost certainly do a build thread if R2R has those, just need to find out where. I think it would be good to track and will likely help others with similar setups. Reading others' experience sure helped me.
As a sidenote I am also a very active home brewer, and it's quite interesting the crossover between the two hobbies. I now have an RO system for getting brewing water, I have large kettles and pumps for water changes, and water conditioning for beers is something I've wanted to get into, salt aquariums are a great way to start messing with water chemistry. I already had the lab grade pH meter too. Since my brewing area is 20 feet from my aquarium, it's quite convenient access to everything I need to manage it.
Thanks all!
EDIT: Sorry if the pics are a bit big, but here's a few shots of the basic setup. I'll add more in a build thread later.
-J
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