Coming Back After 15 Years

[gowyn]

So got out of the hobby fifteen years ago. Boy things have changed!

Last tank I had was a 125 reef tank, when I set it up I thought I was being a rebel and going against the grain by not having a wet/dry and just going with a ton of live rock and skimmer. Who knew.

Anyway, my daughter wanted to get a fish, fresh water but I ended up buying a used 14 gallon Biocube for myself too. I’m in London, Sealifecentral is just down the road so picked up some live rock, sand and a couple Clowns. Rock isn’t great, I’d consider it base, no coralline.

First thing I did was pull out the bioballs and filled that compartment with live rubble, put the Biocube skimmer back there too.

Tanks runs a little warm for my liking, don’t really care for the lighting so I’m either going to put a Kessil a80 on it, remove the plastic rim or just replace the tank with either a IM Nano or Biocube 32 LED. Not sure yet.

Anyway, hi and any suggestions I’d appreciate.

 

[TORX]

Welcome back to the hobby. A lot has changed in 15 years for sure. Heck, so much has changed since I started about 10 years ago. Going from a 125 to a 12 is a huge difference for sure. If you have the PC lighting in the cube, it will run hot for sure. I had a 32 gallon Nanocube and the first thing I did was switch out the PC for a DIY LED, best thing I did on the tank. In such a small tank, a skimmer and media is not really needed. For the most part you should be able to keep things under control with weekly water changes. I personally suggest 2 small changes a week on a tank that small which will leave things much more stable.

The Kessil a80 is a nice little light. Maybe spend a few extra and go for the AI Prime HD. I have seen a lot of tanks lit with that light including a lot of the vendors at London Fragfest ran them at their tables and the color was amazing.

Sealife Central has a lot of fish for sure. Check out Sustainable Marine Canada as well in London. He probably isn't far from you either.

 

[derrick orosz]

Welcome back to the hobby. A lot has changed in 15 years for sure. Heck, so much has changed since I started about 10 years ago. Going from a 125 to a 12 is a huge difference for sure. If you have the PC lighting in the cube, it will run hot for sure. I had a 32 gallon Nanocube and the first thing I did was switch out the PC for a DIY LED, best thing I did on the tank. In such a small tank, a skimmer and media is not really needed. For the most part you should be able to keep things under control with weekly water changes. I personally suggest 2 small changes a week on a tank that small which will leave things much more stable.

The Kessil a80 is a nice little light. Maybe spend a few extra and go for the AI Prime HD. I have seen a lot of tanks lit with that light including a lot of the vendors at London Fragfest ran them at their tables and the color was amazing.

Sealife Central has a lot of fish for sure. Check out Sustainable Marine Canada as well in London. He probably isn't far from you either.

Welcome! I was also going to suggest the AI prime HD... I have had a lot of success with them and he price point is great. I bought another one this past week. You also have to buy the flex arm separately if you want it which I did and after tax it was $330 for light and arm

 

[gowyn]

Thanks all.

I'm assuming the best place to get lighting is online, haven't seen any in stock anywhere

 

[TORX]

Thanks all.

I'm assuming the best place to get lighting is online, haven't seen any in stock anywhere

Sealife pretty much doesn't keep anything on hand but they can order it. I am not sure what Sustainable has on hand. The owner of Sustainable is at MACNA right now. He a lot of dry goods stock on hand. @reefdiver @Winks You can get a virtual tour of the store HERE, the tour is a month or 2 old. IF you follow it through the store, there is a hallway you can go down as there is actually 3 rooms. Maybe once he is back he can let you know stock. If not, then he can order for you.

The other option is reefsupplies.ca. They are basically the same bulkreefsupplies.com only in Canada. There are a few others in Canada, but they are the closest and typically have the most in-stock then anywhere else.

 

[reefdiver]

I put AI primes on my wife’s tank and so far I’m impressed with their ease of use.

As far as ordering, I can have most things in a day or two.
Cheers!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk