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Hello! New to saltwater and new to WMAS

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clubbby View Drop Down
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    Posted: January 25 2012 at 3:08pm
My girlfriend and I have just (as of Christmas) gotten in to saltwater/reef aquariums as of Christmas 2011. We don't personally know many other saltwater enthusiasts locally so I was very excited to find WMAS!

At the time of this writing we have just had our tank for two months, and are at a point where we are confidient that it's both established enough and we have a better than vague idea of what we are doing and are very excited to try putting our first coral frags in early next week! (To that end, we are hoping that we might be able to get some frags from a local enthusiast for cheaper than the LFS, but I will post in the proper forum with more details on that later).

We both have been doing a lot of research and have found that for every answer we find about 2 to 3 new questions pop up! Everyone here appears to be very tolerant and accepting, so I'd like to express my appreciation of that in advance.

What else might be important to say, well we are in Salt Lake City. I have had freshwater tanks for about.. 7 years now round about. Can't say for her off the top of my head but it's several years of freshwater as well, I know that.

Our tank is a 55G that currently just has a mix of live and base rock and a small clean up crew. We have 216W of T5 bulbs in 2x actinic and 2x 10,000k, we have a HOB filter which I hear mixed reviews on but the carbon filtering seems worthwhile to me. We have about 5x water turnover and intend on getting another powerhead in the near future to move up to the recommended 10x. We have installed an RO filter system recently and we are still lacking a protien skimmer! (expensive). We also have setup a 10g quarantine tank.

I think that about covers it! Looking forward to interacting with all of you and will try to answer what few questions I do know the answers to.
55G Fledgeling Reef
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jwoo View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jwoo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 25 2012 at 3:41pm
Welcome to WMAS!

If you are looking for information this is the place to come. We are the largest Marine Aquarist group in Utah and have been around since 1994.

Look around and ask any questions you want! Also the Buy/Sale/Trade forum has saved me thousands of dollars and I probably wouldn't be in this hobby if not for that so it's a great resource.

It sounds like you are well on your way! I wouldn't worry about a skimmer just yet. Are you running a sump right now or is everything HOB? With a low bioload for now the rock and sand should provide enough filtration, as you add more critters and coral you'll want to think about a skimmer but most people start without one for the first little while (at least I did.)
None at the moment
Soon: 72 Gallon Bowfront
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lskurys Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 25 2012 at 4:12pm

Welcome. 

It does not sound like you are running a sump right now. I have only been doing Salt for about 8 months now but had my tank running fresh water with a filter before that.  I started up my tank with that like I am guessing you are doing.  So I know where you are coming from.  If you are looking at adding more flow I would look at a sump and return pump option.  Right now Pets mart has there tank $1 per gallon sale going.  So you could pick up a sump pretty cheep.  After you have that you can get a return pump that will have most of if not all of the flow you need to get things going.  This will also give you a place for that skimmer you are going to be getting at some point. 

 

Just some ideas to keep your $$ cost down at first. 

One other think that will help is getting to know the people at your lfs.  They can also save you from a lot of miss spent money on things that are not ready for your tank yet.  Also a lot of lfs will sell item on consignment. 

 

Once again welcome and enjoy. 

Shelby

220g , large elite aquatics sump. 3 Radion Pro Gen 3 lights 3 Mp 40's
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Adam Blundell Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 25 2012 at 6:51pm
Nice to have you here. I'm sure you'll make tons of friends nearby to help you with your obsession.

Adam
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote CapnMorgan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 25 2012 at 8:20pm
Welcome to the addiction! We are here to help! If you have any questions feel free to ask, either here on the forum, via PM, email, or even call or text! (My phone # is in my signature.)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 25 2012 at 9:07pm
Welcome!! In the spirit of "pay it forward", I have a few soft coral frags you can have for free... Let me know when you're ready and i'll hook you up with a toadstool leather and some palys.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote clubbby Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 26 2012 at 7:32am
Originally posted by lskurys lskurys wrote:

Welcome. 

It does not sound like you are running a sump right now...


Correct, due to our placement we actually don't have a place to put a sump so everything will have to be HOB. It seems it should work out tho, albeit a little cluttered. I was eyeing a Reef Octopus HOB BH100 skimmer and another ~200gph powerhead.

 

Originally posted by lskurys lskurys wrote:


One other think that will help is getting to know the people at your lfs.  They can also save you from a lot of miss spent money on things that are not ready for your tank yet.  Also a lot of lfs will sell item on consignment. 


We generally shop at Fish 4 U and sometimes at the Aquarium. The people at Fish 4 U have steered us away from early unneeded purchases so I'd say that's a good sign for them. The aquarium we've really only gotten our CUC there because they had a better selection.

Originally posted by Shad Shad wrote:


Welcome!! In the spirit of "pay it forward", I have a few soft coral frags you can have for free... Let me know when you're ready and i'll hook you up with a toadstool leather and some palys.


We would like that very much! Do you have a particular method you'd prefer in which we could procure those?
55G Fledgeling Reef
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 26 2012 at 11:24am
Send me a PM and we'll set up a time.. Weekends are probably best for me. I'm in West Jordan..
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mark Peterson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 27 2012 at 9:40am

What I would say to you is what I just said to Ackbar in his/her newcomer thread titled "Haii".
Every time a new hobbyist like you finds us, is another gratified reminder of why I helped start the WMAS 17 years ago. Approve
This hobby is awesome. Enjoy. Big smile
Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks:
www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244
Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Turbostud653 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 12 2012 at 8:37am
Welcome to a wonderful club!
Here is what a customer said while on hold Oh my gosh! Did you open the door? I told you not to open the door. Dre is in here completely naked and he's got freak'n Macaroni and Cheese in his hands.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Fatman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 12 2012 at 9:17am
Welcome.  This is a friendly forum and I'm sure you'll get lots of great advice.  This can become an addiction very easily. Yesteday was spent at the fish store, putting the front on the new tank stand, adjusting the auto top off and staring at the tank.

I have Reefer Madness and I have it bad.  I caught if from Reef's Up, my neighbor.

Hope you enjoy your time here and have success.  Remember, patients is a virtue in this hobby, nothing good happens immediately.
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