Weekly Discussion: Our First Tanks

[Geoff]

What was your saltwater tank? how long did it last before you decided you did it all wrong?

mine was a 55g. i had one of the newest new fangled hang on back wet-dry systems. worked ok. took me several years to get a skimmer. they were not very common back then. remember this was 20 years ago. i kept that 55 up and running for 10years or so. adding skimmers and other do-dads that would not work. then i found TRT and started the mantled monster.

G~

P.S.- Sorry for such the delay in getting this back going, but my other hobby put a kabosh on my real life for a while. Bicycle wreck at 40+ mph leaving multiple fractures of the scapula. all is good now, just hard to type long term when you have trouble straightening your arm.

[Fat Tony]

Ewwww... sorry to hear bout the wreck Geoff, hopefully all will heal quickly and properly.

My first system was a 55 as well. I was inspired to start a tank after googling images and found a picture of Hoang's build on here. Been hooked ever since. TRT became my home and I kept the 55 for 6 months or so before the upgrade tot he 75 and then another 8 or 9 months to the 135 upgrade which has been going for 9 months or so.

[Loverotties]

Mine was a 23 flatback with undergravle(still have setup dry in a corner)25 + yrs back.That tank started as a fresh water ,turned into a SW FO then it was a seahorse tank and ended up a Lion tank!Had all sorts of things on it.UV,airstone skimmer,Ozone wave device too.UG ended up having PH on top.Ah!,so long ago!

[VWD]

My first tank was in 1972 , I can't remember the exact size, about a twenty gallon with under gravel filter operated with air stones, dead coral and fish only, It remained my tank for sometime, Replacing lost fish was common back then. I did get better with time. It was the beginning of a lifelong addiction.

[jenglish]

My first tank was a 29 gallon with a single 55 watt 50/50 PC, seaclone skimmer and DSB. I was doing so wonderful that I had these beautiful pink anemones all over my rocks

[Loverotties]

Originally Posted by VWD

deal coral

What was this?must of been very hardy?

[chrisd]

wow my first tank was a 55 some 25+ (cough cough) years ago. no clue what i was doing. at the time not alot of options ran a magnium canister filter and an amiracle protein skimmer you know the one that used a power head to pump water in while using an air pump with air stone to skim. the collection cup was nut and bolted to the reaction chamber not easy to clean. plus not knowing about a sump it had to flow right back into the tank microbubbles and all. it lasted about a year.

[Doug1]

29 back in 75, ran it about 6 months then got a deal on a plexi 125, worked p/t at a LFS then so I got lots of deals. No live rock back then it was all sterile, coral skeletons, etc

[robow]

I am still on my first setup 100 gallons The tank stand and filter was free then after spending 565 dollars on it. It was ready for fish. No protein skimmer yet looking for one though. Since I set it up I watch about a water of the TV i used to.

[Mr.Peanut]

I am still on my 1st saltwater tank. It is now going on it's 11th month. I would have never thought it was this easy to set-up/maintain a SW tank. I give all of the credit to TRT and all of the members that have helped me.

[aquawolf]

I had freshwater tanks for many years before the saltwater bug hit. The JBJ Nano Cubes were new and I saw one fully stocked at the LFS and decided to give it a shot. The helpful people at the store sold me everything I needed to get started.
1) 12 gallon Nano Cube with stand
2) Wet sand in a bag called live sand
3) Nutri Sea Natural Sea Water in jugs
4) Live rock out of their vat
5) A pair of clown fish
6) A fire fish
7) A Sebae Anemone
8) A basic test kit
And sent all of that home with me the same day.

What they did not do is tell me about a hydrometer or refractometer. I am guessing they thought since I would be using the natural water for the initial fill and their RO water for topoff, I would not need to worry about testing the salinity. Things were great until they put saltwater in my RO water container and the only way I found out about it was when the fire fish died and the anemone did a face plant in the sand. Of course, the shop owner said it was all my fault.

It took me nearly a year after that experience to even consider saltwater again, and I do not go to that store for any reason to this day.

[Reeftanker3295]

My 29 gallon biocube, my only real large mistake was not taking out the bioballs. Its now been running for 8 months and have hair algae and cyano problems. Getting my new 25 gallon tank this week and that will be my start over, going to take it slow, get a good skimmer, and not buy "live sand"

[zero186]

20g hex as a 15 year old in highschool.... shocking it lasted until the past march.

[AnaJu]

yeah very good

[Elegance Coral]

Hand me down 55gl from my older sister 20+ years ago. Still have it. No center brace back then. Just heavy glass. UG filter, CC, and dead coral. Filled it with critters from the Florida Keys. Sargent majors, other damsels, condy's, flower anemones, if it lives in the Keys and I could catch it, I had it. I'm not saying it survived for long, but I had it.