New to the site, and to the hobby!

[theyangman]

Hi guys, thought I would introduce myself here. I'm fairly new to the saltier side of fish keeping, and wanted to say Hi. Hope to meet a lot of you guys on here and make some new friends!

 

[Salty Cracker]

Welcome!

No better way to jump in feet first than to meet a bunch of the guys that absolutely excell at pretty much every aspect of the hobby at fragfest

www.londonfragfest.ca

Lots of the guys on here will be there, and quite a few of the vendors, which will have awesome prices on everything you would need to really enjoy this hobby.  Be warned, it's not a cheap hobby!!   If you can't figure out reefkeeping from the guys at the meet, then you might have brain trauma. 

I'll be the doofus at the first table, be sure to say hi when I stamp your hand

 

[CherryBlossom]

Welcome to the forum!! enjoy your stay

 

[unibob]

Welcome. I believe you emailed me about some frags via kijiji. Send me a pm if you are interested still.

 

[MrHermit85]

Welcome!!! Enjoy your stay!

PS: can't wait for Fragfest!!!

 

[harleymike]

Welcome too the site. Lots of knowledge here.

 

[sunnykita]

Welcome, enjoy your stay, lots of great people here to help out !

 

[yveterinarian]

Welcome!!

Hope you have a great time here and don't be afraid to ask questions, we were all newbies once and can remember the early days when we felt overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information.

Reef keeping is a super hobby, but not cheap, as Salty says.  However, I find the reward is fabulous being able to gaze into your own little piece of ocean to relax at the end of a stressful day.  Enjoy. 

 

[theyangman]

Oh I know it isn't cheap, when I say new to the hobby, I'm not new to fish keeping. I've had tossed a few bucks into the hobby at this point.

I had been keeping monster fish like arowana, rays, peacock bass, and catfish for quite some time. My most recent Blue base cross back jumped out of the tank several months ago, and that's when I called it quits with monster fish. So I sold off my 180 gallon fresh water tank with all the livestock and equipment because the tank was not drilled or have overflows to make the move to salt. I only kept the stand & canopy. The wife had been expressing discontent with the monster fish hobby as most of the fish were not very colorful and just ate other fish which she found mean.

So I bought the biggest tank that would fit on the same foot print of my existing stand and canopy. A new 220 gallon tank!!! And decided to start from scratch. My tank has finished cycling and my parameters are pretty much in line. I have a few corals and some fish and everything is beginning to come together.

Here is my old 180 gallon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP9pCieFKc0#

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtWyINrrWk8#

 

[theyangman]

As for frag fest, I am working on that particular Saturday, I am rapidly attempting to try and get it off, but it might be slightly too late to make it happen. 

oop: oop: oop: oop: oop:

 

[Salty Cracker]

As for frag fest, I am working on that particular Saturday, I am rapidly attempting to try and get it off, but it might be slightly too late to make it happen. 

oop: oop: oop: oop: oop:

Good lord man, did you see who is going to be there?  Seriously, I would have -killed- for something like this when I started out.  direct contact with guys that were growing not only enough coral for themselves, but enough to sell?  That's 'call in sick and take a bank loan' worthy

 

[Big_Als_London]

Welcome to the site Tony, Glad you found it

 

[dale]

Good lord man, did you see who is going to be there?  Seriously, I would have -killed- for something like this when I started out.  direct contact with guys that were growing not only enough coral for themselves, but enough to sell?  That's 'call in sick and take a bank loan' worthy

+1

and welcome....,.. ,, .  a 220g starter tank.... ... .. nice...

 

[theyangman]

I've learned the hard way that it is easier to start with what you want and go slow rather than upgrade constantly as you outgrow your old stuff. I did that with fresh water.

I started with a 75 gallon and I was bored of it within weeks after realizing the best I could do was a handful of Cichlids, so I found the biggest tank I could support which led me to the 180 gallon. So I just started with the biggest tank I could get which was the 220 for salt!

 

[sunnykita]

Very nice freshwater tank, and even better inhabitants, had most of those fish at one time, very nice Dat and fabulous arawana, we had silver arawanas when we had them. Great glass top to prevent jumpers. Enjoy your new tank

 

[spyd]

Welcome! This is definitely a great forum with a lot of knowledgable reef geeks enthusiasts.

A 220 is a perfect tank to start out with. I agree with you 100% that you may as well just go with the tank you want right off the hop than keep spending on upgrades. Plus, the more water volume, the easier it is to keep your water quality stable. What kind of equipment are you running? Any pics of the tank yet?

 

[theyangman]

My equipment list is in my signature.

• 220 Gallon Marineland dual cornerflow tank with durso standpipes
• 40 gallon long sump
• 8" Super Reef Octopus Skimmer
• Mag 12 return
• 2 x Razor Maxspect 160 watt 16k LED lights
• 4 x Koralia 1500's
• 240 lbs of rock
• 2" Caribsea Aragonite bed

I think that is everything.... Pics will be coming shortly, my tank kinda sucks right now and I am not very happy with it overall the setup could be much nicer I think.....

 

[theyangman]

I also made the arrangements to make sure I can attend fragfest next weekend. Oooooh boy, I can't wait to score some cool stuff for the tank.

 

[Poseidon]

It takes time.... I took me 3 setups and over a year to finally figure it out

 

[theyangman]

It takes time.... I took me 3 setups and over a year to finally figure it out

This is the one thing I lack, patience. Reef keeping seems to be one of those things though for people with lots of it, lol