How'd you start your reef?

Gforce3s · 11-18-2006, 10:55 PM

Just wondering how all of you started your reefs. My 75gal is up an running for the past 2 months...but at the moment its more of a FOWLR....im slowly adding more rock, live and base, and its got 2 clownfish, an algae blenny, and a threadfin anthias in it. No corals as of yet. Its just thinknig about it, hm im doing a reef tank but no corals yet. So i was just wondering how long were your tanks up when you looked at them and just said "wow...thats kinda empty". And how long did it take to get a good coral population in there?

Greg

dobejazz · 11-18-2006, 11:27 PM

My 95 sat empty for 2 months but then I started adding fish and corals at the same time

TheReefer12 · 11-18-2006, 11:35 PM

I started adding corals in after a month. But I would only do one at a time. Never wanted to change the tank too much at once. I was always afraid of a small change ending in a disaster.

jenajet · 11-18-2006, 11:42 PM

When I first got into sw I had fish only. It went coral free for 2 years. Well while in the lfs one day I figured hey I havn't killed the fish lets try something new. Asked the guy what is the easiest thing you got? He sold me a rock with two plant looking things that he called softies. Cool it was 15.00 on a good size rock so I said cool I need rock. Well turned out not only were there two xenia on there but soon I notice what turned out to be purple mushrooms and when they got big they had bright blue stripes on them! Now I have shrooms and xenia galor! Been hooked on corals since. Thats why I got the 90 cause I soon realized the small tank wasnt big enough for everything I piled in there.

tsoperator · 11-18-2006, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jenajet

When I first got into sw I had fish only. It went coral free for 2 years. Well while in the lfs one day I figured hey I havn't killed the fish lets try something new. Asked the guy what is the easiest thing you got? He sold me a rock with to plant looking things that he called softies. Cool it was 15.00 on a good size rock so I said cool I need rock. Well turned out not only were there two xenia on there but soon I notice what turned out to be purple mushrooms and when they got big they had bright blue stripes on them! Now I have shrooms and xenia galor! Been hooked on corals since. Thats why I got the 90 cause I soon realized the small tank wasnt big enough for everything I piled in there.

Good story... gets me all geeked up to get mine going!

leveldrummer · 11-19-2006, 12:04 AM

i did the typical stupid mistake and just lucked out. had a cichlid tank, emptied it, filled with salt water. came across some really good live rock, put it in, wait a week for a cycle, nothing ever happened, so i figured i was good. added some snails and crabs, waited another weed, added some zoo's. then just kept going. its 2 years later and im starting my second tank. much larger. so... i would say it took 2 years to need more room. but i never got fully stocked. just needed to upgrade!

partobe · 11-19-2006, 04:39 AM

I had a fish only tank for a few yrs before I decided to go with corals. The things I wish I would have done before adding corals.
Bought a better skimmer
Bought an ro unit
Bought the test kits I would need
Had less fish in my tank
A reef tank is more work than a fish only tank. I now change my water 2x a month instead of 1 x a month. I had no idea my bio balls were nitrate factories so I removed all of them(very slowly) as well as all sponges.
I also found out soft corals can do toxic warfare on each other so now I run active carbon. My best advise to you would be before doing anything to your tank run it by the great guys and gals here at trt. I'm pretty new to reefing but always feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions. If I don't know the answer I will try to help you find the answer.
Patrick

theplatypus · 11-19-2006, 05:38 AM

I bought a stocked Nano for my first tank.

ChrisPrusha · 11-19-2006, 07:52 AM

I got a bunch of LR for my new 180, waited two months, and then transfered everything from my 75 (which was fairly stocked with corals) to my 180.

I've been adding periodically ever since.

Loverotties · 11-19-2006, 08:03 AM

I had LR and water for 2 months,then added a clown and damselThen when they were in their a month I started corals.but when I got into saltwater many yrs before thatObout the same with out the LR and corals(except dead bleach ones for decorations).

reefermike1 · 11-19-2006, 08:12 AM

id say i was fowlr for about 3 months after i was done cycling. then i just started adding frags. started with zoas and shrooms, then gradually into lps, and leathers. everythings growing and doing well. it is alot of work making sure everything is right in there i test my water atleast every 2 days. but i cant really consider it work because i enjoy it so much. im always upgrading equipment, and trying to find better ways to do things. definately get opinions on here before u get anything that your not 100% sure about. there are people on here that have endless knowlege about anything you would need to know regarding a reef tank and they are happy to give it to u.

Doug1 · 11-19-2006, 01:04 PM

Hmmmmmmm had SW tanks FO off and on since the mid 70s, back in 98 had a 29 that was given to my wife, she wanted a couple clowfish so I set it up for her, shortly after that I discovered the internet. Looked at reefs and thought Kewl, but DAYUM thats expensive !!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Anyway wife wanted an Orange Spot Filefish and got one , so I searched online to find out what it would eat besides coral polyps, started adding Live rock, then DIY more light, added a sump , moved it all into a 55 tank I had, that failed at a seam, so moved it all into the 75g I was going to move into anyway.
Had a catastrophic failure of a pump and lost the tank, several friends kindly set me up with everything to restart, but the tank went south after a nasty motorcycle wreck and being off my feet for two months. That 75/55 went to Motorslaves son, and I am back to a 29 I got from him . Kelli prods me alot to start that sucker up

stang5_o2002 · 11-19-2006, 01:44 PM

Like this... BEFORE TRT...

Mike01z · 11-19-2006, 02:02 PM

I also bought some what I thought was empty live rock and then some shrooms started growing on it, started buying some stuff after that.