New to the saltwater hobby

Shaina Carey · Jul 25, 2018

Hello, my name is Shaina Carey, and I am from Upstate NY.

I have been in the FW hobby foralmost 8 years, but that got kind of boring so I said "Why not take the leap from FW to SW. I have an empty 20 gallon long, so I can't wait to get that set up as my first tank in the future

jsker · Jul 25, 2018

Hello Shaina, and welcome to R2R and the community

Crabs McJones · Jul 25, 2018

Welcome Shaina to R2R and thanks for introducing yourself

Make sure during your build to take lots of pictures, we love pictures

#WelcometoR2R

HotRocks · Jul 25, 2018

Welcome to R2R!!!

Great place, great people, and TONS of great info!!!

Antics · Jul 25, 2018

Welcome to R2R Shaina!

Reefer Deez · Jul 25, 2018

Hello and welcome to R2R

it's a pleasure to have you here with us

KJ · Jul 25, 2018

Welcome to R2R!!!

gtaran02 · Jul 25, 2018

Welcome to R2R!![emoji322][emoji2]

PDR · Jul 25, 2018

Welcome to R2R!

Shaina Carey · Jul 25, 2018

Thanks guys.

I am going to try to get it set up around September. My neighbor has SW tanks and gave me a few idea's on what to do with it. She also said if I ever needed coral frags, she would be happy to give me a few

Ruben's Reef · Jul 25, 2018

!!! Welcome to R2R Shaina !!! That's a great neighbor. Once you jump on the salty side you'll never go back...

Chrisfish · Jul 25, 2018

Welcome to R2R, you’ve joined an awesome reefing community

Shaina Carey · Jul 25, 2018

Depending on how the 20 goes, I might turn my 29 into one, lol. My dad has been telling me I should be going to SW ever since I began fish keeping. So I am taking his advice

hdsoftail1065 · Jul 25, 2018

Welcome to R2R Shaina!!!

reef lover · Jul 25, 2018

Welcome to r2r neighbor!!

dbl · Jul 25, 2018

Welcome to R2R and your new reefing family and welcome to the salty side of the hobby.

Shaina Carey · Jul 25, 2018

Lol thought I would check this out since you suggested it the other day

kschweer · Jul 25, 2018

Welcome to R2R!!

AlyciaMarieee · Jul 25, 2018

Welcome to the forum!

Turbo's Aquatics · Jul 25, 2018

Welcome to R2R!

Here's a pic from one of my favorite articles on reefkeeping, applicable to new hobbyists and old as well:

The nitrogen cycle is only the startup of a SW tank cycle. The next 6-12 months is a maturing phase, and it's typically in this time frame where algae outbreaks occur and things can sort of roller-coaster, and if you stock the tank up too quickly, you might see corals randomly dying & fish getting sick, etc...hobbyists can very easily fall into the trap of chasing problems = making more problems => giving up and selling everything off. We don't want that to happen to anyone!

Long-term stability and balance are the keys, and you just can't shortcut the process significantly. That's always the #1 thing to keep in mind!