[mJ335]

Hello ppl!

So...... I had passion for raising/breeding freshwater fish/aquariums when I was a kid, and had a long term goal of starting up a saltwater reef aquarium when I become an adult. Well now I'm 25, done with university/grad school, working full time, so since I have some more leisure time compared to my academic years, I'm thinking about living up to my childhood long term goal besides modding my car.

Anyone here in e90post have a nice saltwater aquarium set up??

If so...
1. How many gallon tank do you have?
2. What type of aquarium is it? (Reef or Fish only)
3. What brand of equipment/material are you using? (Powerheads, skimmers, sea salt, sand, water filter, etc.)
4. What lighting system/bulb do you have installed?
5. If you live in Socal, where (local fish store) do you go to buy your fish/supplies? I want to find a very reputable place that sells great quality stuff at a good price!
6. Any good sites I can go and get some "frags"? (as the hobbyists call it..)

I'm currently at the stage where I'm researching as much as I can so I can build the "perfect" tank, so any input would be appreciated, thanks!

MJ

[DimSumBoy]

theres a thread or two with some nice tanks

go ahead and

[The_Blob]

It's not gay. It's a very masculine hobby. I've had a salt water aquarium for about 7 years. Get a big tank. As big as you can afford or if you have the space in your home. Get ready to spend thousands of dollars in the long run....

[asdflkijd]

I want to raise some clown fish

[pmeloche]

That's not gay at all. Go ahead and do it. If you wanted to collect shoes that would be gay.

[Blake]

Originally Posted by mJ335

Hello ppl!

So...... I had passion for raising/breeding freshwater fish/aquariums when I was a kid, and had a long term goal of starting up a saltwater reef aquarium when I become an adult. Well now I'm 25, done with university/grad school, working full time, so since I have some more leisure time compared to my academic years, I'm thinking about living up to my childhood long term goal besides modding my car.

Anyone here in e90post have a nice saltwater aquarium set up??

If so...
1. How many gallon tank do you have?
2. What type of aquarium is it? (Reef or Fish only)
3. What brand of equipment/material are you using? (Powerheads, skimmers, sea salt, sand, water filter, etc.)
4. What lighting system/bulb do you have installed?
5. If you live in Socal, where (local fish store) do you go to buy your fish/supplies? I want to find a very reputable place that sells great quality stuff at a good price!
6. Any good sites I can go and get some "frags"? (as the hobbyists call it..)

I'm currently at the stage where I'm researching as much as I can so I can build the "perfect" tank, so any input would be appreciated, thanks!

MJ

1. i have a 70 gallon reef tank with a refugium.
2. reef, glass.
3. i would recommend koralia powerheads (they're good powerheads and they're cheaper than some other), precision marine protein skimmers, and any appropriate sized refugium is the best idea. as far as water goes, i just get mine from my local fish store. most LFS's sell RO/DI water and premixed salt water. it's the easiest, but also costly in the long run. the alternative is buying an RO/DI filter system and mixing the salt yourself, which is a pain in the ass if you almost don't have a dedicated room you can drip RO water and mix the saltwater. RO filters take a long time to make a significant amount of water.
4. i just have a 36" coralife power compact fixture. does the job for my 70 gallon. if you decide to do a reef tank more than 120 gallons, i'd recommend going for a fixture that includes metal halide lighting. it gets expensive in the nicer lights but i would not skimp on lighting. also, check with your local fish store for used fixtures, you can find some deals.
5. don't live in socal, but i get a lot of my livestock from liveaquria.com. they are a very large and very reputable dealer.
6. liveaquaria.com is the biggest and best. some other online dealers can be pretty shady at best, but they're completely legitimate.

you'll love the hobby, but it is very expensive. be looking to spend anywhere from $1500 for a small setup with the right equipment all the way up towards $10k for bigger setups...and that's before you even put a single fish in! because you're doing saltwater, you'll have all kinds of supplements like calcium, pH buffer, iodine (after your tank is established), and i always recommend strontium to everyone to promote coraline algae growth. test your water regularly, at least once a week, for the first six months. i reallllllly recommend getting a couple books and read them cover to cover before you even think about visiting a fish store. you'll benefit a lot more in the end from having a wealth of knowledge about the hobby, because saltwater is very tricky sometimes. if you do it right, you'll never have problems and the tank will pretty much run itself...that is the goal. i rarely have to do anything but regular cleaning and water changes in my tank because it's so healthy. i recommend weekly 15% water changes. oh yea, BE PATIENT! when you read about cycling your tank, follow that very closely. it should take you 2 weeks to a month to cycle your tank, but you should not add a single fish until that happens. i'd be happy to answer any other questions for you, i've been doing the hobby for about a year and maintain a lot of tanks for friends, including a 400 gallon reef tank my buddy has. just send me a PM and i'll answer when i can. btw, aquariums are not gay in the least bit, in fact, women love them! they're great conversational pieces.

Originally Posted by The_Blob

It's not gay. It's a very masculine hobby. I've had a salt water aquarium for about 7 years. Get a big tank. As big as you can afford or if you have the space in your home. Get ready to spend thousands of dollars in the long run....

i agree, you really should get as big of a tank as you can afford. the bigger they go, the exponentially more money it costs. look on craigslist, a lot of tanks on there. the bigger the tank, the less problems you'll have with water quality.

[bmwturbopower]

Having a tank isn't gay at all. It's pretty awesome you can control nature within a cube of glass. And for the ladies you always have to have a nemo check out my thread I started. There are a good bit of guys here who run tanks.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=152292

[Blake]

and i can't stress enough, don't skimp on equipment. saving money today will end up costing you a lot more money later. i've learned that lesson the hard way. a good sized refugium, good lighting, and good pumps make or break an SW tank.

[bmwturbopower]

Originally Posted by blakepilot

and i can't stress enough, don't skimp on equipment. saving money today will end up costing you a lot more money later. i've learned that lesson the hard way. a good sized refugium, good lighting, and good pumps make or break an SW tank.

+1 and a good skimmer as well.

[Blake]

Originally Posted by JNic335i

+1 and a good skimmer as well.

precision marine skimmers

[Blake]

CPR aquatic refugiums...http://www.cpraquatic.com/products/afmp.html

these are great refugiums because they combine the benefits of the natural filtration plus the bio ball filtration.

[Blake]

current usa combination MH and T5 lights are, IMHO, the best light money can buy.


they can get pricey though, but well worth the initial investment.

sorry for post whoring, i'm bored and my team is getting killed right now.

[mJ335]

haha the reason why I said a bit gay is because this is a male dominated automotive forum, and doing a hobby that requires collecting lots of pretty rocks with fruity colors with BEAUTIFUL fish just does not mix well here .

[mJ335]

Originally Posted by DimSumBoy

theres a thread or two with some nice tanks

go ahead and

Was searching.. found one called "fishy" but didn't find the topic/answers I was looking for.

Originally Posted by The_Blob

It's not gay. It's a very masculine hobby. I've had a salt water aquarium for about 7 years. Get a big tank. As big as you can afford or if you have the space in your home. Get ready to spend thousands of dollars in the long run....

haha yeah I know I'm gonna be spending more and more money as I get sucked more and more into the hobby.. kinda like this forum.. Mod Bug FTL

Originally Posted by asdflkijd

I want to raise some clown fish

That's what I'm planning to get as my first fish. And ultimately, breed them!

Originally Posted by pmeloche

That's not gay at all. Go ahead and do it. If you wanted to collect shoes that would be gay.

haha even collecting Jordans??

Originally Posted by JNic335i

Having a tank isn't gay at all. It's pretty awesome you can control nature within a cube of glass. And for the ladies you always have to have a nemo check out my thread I started. There are a good bit of guys here who run tanks.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=152292

Nice! Thanks for the info!

[mJ335]

Originally Posted by blakepilot

1. i have a 70 gallon reef tank with a refugium.
2. reef, glass.
3. i would recommend koralia powerheads (they're good powerheads and they're cheaper than some other), precision marine protein skimmers, and any appropriate sized refugium is the best idea. as far as water goes, i just get mine from my local fish store. most LFS's sell RO/DI water and premixed salt water. it's the easiest, but also costly in the long run. the alternative is buying an RO/DI filter system and mixing the salt yourself, which is a pain in the ass if you almost don't have a dedicated room you can drip RO water and mix the saltwater. RO filters take a long time to make a significant amount of water.
4. i just have a 36" coralife power compact fixture. does the job for my 70 gallon. if you decide to do a reef tank more than 120 gallons, i'd recommend going for a fixture that includes metal halide lighting. it gets expensive in the nicer lights but i would not skimp on lighting. also, check with your local fish store for used fixtures, you can find some deals.
5. don't live in socal, but i get a lot of my livestock from liveaquria.com. they are a very large and very reputable dealer.
6. liveaquaria.com is the biggest and best. some other online dealers can be pretty shady at best, but they're completely legitimate.

you'll love the hobby, but it is very expensive. be looking to spend anywhere from $1500 for a small setup with the right equipment all the way up towards $10k for bigger setups...and that's before you even put a single fish in! because you're doing saltwater, you'll have all kinds of supplements like calcium, pH buffer, iodine (after your tank is established), and i always recommend strontium to everyone to promote coraline algae growth. test your water regularly, at least once a week, for the first six months. i reallllllly recommend getting a couple books and read them cover to cover before you even think about visiting a fish store. you'll benefit a lot more in the end from having a wealth of knowledge about the hobby, because saltwater is very tricky sometimes. if you do it right, you'll never have problems and the tank will pretty much run itself...that is the goal. i rarely have to do anything but regular cleaning and water changes in my tank because it's so healthy. i recommend weekly 15% water changes. oh yea, BE PATIENT! when you read about cycling your tank, follow that very closely. it should take you 2 weeks to a month to cycle your tank, but you should not add a single fish until that happens. i'd be happy to answer any other questions for you, i've been doing the hobby for about a year and maintain a lot of tanks for friends, including a 400 gallon reef tank my buddy has. just send me a PM and i'll answer when i can. btw, aquariums are not gay in the least bit, in fact, women love them! they're great conversational pieces.



i agree, you really should get as big of a tank as you can afford. the bigger they go, the exponentially more money it costs. look on craigslist, a lot of tanks on there. the bigger the tank, the less problems you'll have with water quality.

Originally Posted by blakepilot

and i can't stress enough, don't skimp on equipment. saving money today will end up costing you a lot more money later. i've learned that lesson the hard way. a good sized refugium, good lighting, and good pumps make or break an SW tank.

Originally Posted by blakepilot

precision marine skimmers

Originally Posted by blakepilot

CPR aquatic refugiums...http://www.cpraquatic.com/products/afmp.html

these are great refugiums because they combine the benefits of the natural filtration plus the bio ball filtration.

Originally Posted by blakepilot

current usa combination MH and T5 lights are, IMHO, the best light money can buy.


they can get pricey though, but well worth the initial investment.

sorry for post whoring, i'm bored and my team is getting killed right now.

Dude thanks a million. I knew out of the thousands of people/car enthusiasts that visit this forum, there are a handful of reef experts that can provide me with valuable info

Anyone else??

[bmwturbopower]

sign up here. You never stop learning about Reefs.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/

[mJ335]

Originally Posted by JNic335i

sign up here. You never stop learning about Reefs.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/

Thanks JNic!!! I was searching everywhere for a decent forum like e90post, but all I can find was saltwaterfish.com and it kinda fell apart after they turned its classified section into an ebay style money sucking section

Edit: You have a sweet looking tank btw

[Blake]

Originally Posted by mJ335

Dude thanks a million. I knew out of the thousands of people/car enthusiasts that visit this forum, there are a handful of reef experts that can provide me with valuable info

Anyone else??

PM me if you ever need any help, i'm happy to answer reef questions. keeping a saltwater aquarium is easily the most fun hobby i've ever had. there are a lot of variables that have to be pretty close to right to have a healthy tank but i enjoy that aspect of it.

[bmwturbopower]

on a side note. Your first few months of owning a new reef will not be pleasing. It will have to go through it's cycles before settling down to add coral/fish. When owning a saltwater tank you will have to go through many water changes. For me it's once a week 5 gallons. My first few months of having the tank I would go to the store and buy 9-10 gallons for water changes. Well that starts to add up in the money aspect so I picked up a RO unit. This will start paying for it self in the long run.

this is mine. Although you don't need it, It will save you money in only 2 months of use. You can find some for under $100



Also make sure you get some quality salt.

Visit premium aquatics. They have always have been good to me.
http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc

[The_Blob]

Honestly, the most boring salt water aquarium fish you can buy are clownfish that are farm raised, especially the Ocellaris Clownfish aka Nemo. They are the dumbest weakest fish ever!!! Well, they're like slugs that can swim. Believe or not, clownfish from different families like to fight.

My first clownfish I owned was the tomato clownfish which is pretty dumb but it has more personality that the Ocellaris Clownfish. After introducing the Ocellaris Clownfish aka Nemo to the tank. The Tomato clownfish was fighting with the two Ocellaris Clownfish in my tank as if there was no tommorow. The two Ocellaris Clownfish were so injured that the two died a few days later. During the time, my family really wanted Ocellaris Clownfish because of the unique orange colour so we had to exchange the tomato clownfish for another fish.

My favourite aquarium fishes? If you're new, I highly recommend damsel fishes. They're very easy to maintain are they're the last ones to die. If your tank if full of algae, they'll survive on algae alone - yep, it happened by accident. Blue, yellow, yellowtail, and bluefin are the damsel fishes that I recommend due to their interesting personalities, great colours, and hardiness.

My second favourite fish are lemon peel angels. They're intelligent, fun to watch, easy to maintain, and they'll remember you like a dog. I swear, my lemon peel angel fish thought it was a human being. It would spot me when I'm 20 feet away and when I'm near the aquarium and I'll walk past it, it'll follow me. When I don't feed it, it'll get really grumpy and ignore me. When I feed full, it'll swim and on its own ignore me most of the time.

My third favourite fish are triggerfishes. They have a unique body shape and they're actually easy to maintain and they have a very dog like personality. Yes, they're smart and they'll get very excited when they see you.

Make sure you buy live rocks and some sea anemone in your tank. It will make your tank a lot more interesting.

Ask me anything about salt water aquarium fishes because I've had pretty much had almost all species introduced into my tank at one point of time.

[bmwturbopower]

if you get a sea anemone watch out where you put corals. Make sure it finds a spot where it likes before you place any corals on your live rock. I had to get rid of mine due to him not liking where he was at. And if you have ever removed a foot from a anemone, it's a pain in the ass.

[mJ335]

Originally Posted by blakepilot

PM me if you ever need any help, i'm happy to answer reef questions. keeping a saltwater aquarium is easily the most fun hobby i've ever had. there are a lot of variables that have to be pretty close to right to have a healthy tank but i enjoy that aspect of it.

Will do blake, thanks bro!

Originally Posted by JNic335i

on a side note. Your first few months of owning a new reef will not be pleasing. It will have to go through it's cycles before settling down to add coral/fish. When owning a saltwater tank you will have to go through many water changes. For me it's once a week 5 gallons. My first few months of having the tank I would go to the store and buy 9-10 gallons for water changes. Well that starts to add up in the money aspect so I picked up a RO unit. This will start paying for it self in the long run.

this is mine. Although you don't need it, It will save you money in only 2 months of use. You can find some for under $100



Also make sure you get some quality salt.

Visit premium aquatics. They have always have been good to me.
http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc

RO is the Reverse Osmosis thingy right? I heard that's the best way to get "fresh" water for the tank.. but I still don't know how that thing actually works..

I became a more patient man after joining this forum, so I'll just setup my tank just like how I modded my car research, take as much time as needed to find the best price, and master perfection (hopefully lol)

Originally Posted by The_Blob

Honestly, the most boring salt water aquarium fish you can buy are clownfish that are farm raised, especially the Ocellaris Clownfish aka Nemo. They are the dumbest weakest fish ever!!! Well, they're like slugs that can swim. Believe or not, clownfish from different families like to fight.

My first clownfish I owned was the tomato clownfish which is pretty dumb but it has more personality that the Ocellaris Clownfish. After introducing the Ocellaris Clownfish aka Nemo to the tank. The Tomato clownfish was fighting with the two Ocellaris Clownfish in my tank as if there was no tommorow. The two Ocellaris Clownfish were so injured that the two died a few days later. During the time, my family really wanted Ocellaris Clownfish because of the unique orange colour so we had to exchange the tomato clownfish for another fish.

My favourite aquarium fishes? If you're new, I highly recommend damsel fishes. They're very easy to maintain are they're the last ones to die. If your tank if full of algae, they'll survive on algae alone - yep, it happened by accident. Blue, yellow, yellowtail, and bluefin are the damsel fishes that I recommend due to their interesting personalities, great colours, and hardiness.

My second favourite fish are lemon peel angels. They're intelligent, fun to watch, easy to maintain, and they'll remember you like a dog. I swear, my lemon peel angel fish thought it was a human being. It would spot me when I'm 20 feet away and when I'm near the aquarium and I'll walk past it, it'll follow me. When I don't feed it, it'll get really grumpy and ignore me. When I feed full, it'll swim and on its own ignore me most of the time.

My third favourite fish are triggerfishes. They have a unique body shape and they're actually easy to maintain and they have a very dog like personality. Yes, they're smart and they'll get very excited when they see you.

Make sure you buy live rocks and some sea anemone in your tank. It will make your tank a lot more interesting.

Ask me anything about salt water aquarium fishes because I've had pretty much had almost all species introduced into my tank at one point of time.

The reason why I said "wild vs. captivity" is exactly that. I want a fish that has its full personality and how it actually lives/acts in the wild, which honestly makes it more challenging/fun! I've bred fancy guppies/mollies/angels/cichlids too long.. they're IMHO just too boring compared to what I see in saltwater creatures.

Originally Posted by JNic335i

if you get a sea anemone watch out where you put corals. Make sure it finds a spot where it likes before you place any corals on your live rock. I had to get rid of mine due to him not liking where he was at. And if you have ever removed a foot from a anemone, it's a pain in the ass.

Huh? So anemones actually move to its desired place?? Can't we just super glue gel it like the rest of the corals? And what is the foot of an anemone and why is it a PITA if you remove?

Sorry for the 100+ questions