Can it Really Take 4 months to build a beautiful Reef Tank?
- Thread starter druluv
- Start date
iwantacans
Member
k first off is it possible yes.... with all the right conditions.... but they hey anything is possible. HOWEVER the general concensus is that you be patient.
sweetreef.... how long was your tank set up b4 it was a reef....
oh and greg he had a 55 that he transfered over.... so in essence these are b no means start from scratch tanks..... i personally feel that it takes a tank 8 months to a year to really be able to handel a heavy stocking load...
sweetreef.... how long was your tank set up b4 it was a reef....
oh and greg he had a 55 that he transfered over.... so in essence these are b no means start from scratch tanks..... i personally feel that it takes a tank 8 months to a year to really be able to handel a heavy stocking load...
iwantacans
Member
ahh i can instantly that we have a 14 yr old on here...edit my post for my own languae
iwantacans
Member
let me tell you one last thing b4 i am done with you
when you have a tank that has been running for awhile like these 2 did... you can go at a faster pace. compared to one that is made rom scratch new tank... rock... ect....
rnough said. and in no way am i saying these tanks are not beautiful. cuz they are... they by no means new tanks... thank you and goodbye
when you have a tank that has been running for awhile like these 2 did... you can go at a faster pace. compared to one that is made rom scratch new tank... rock... ect....
rnough said. and in no way am i saying these tanks are not beautiful. cuz they are... they by no means new tanks... thank you and goodbye
sweetreef
Active Member
yes some of my stuff is very old in this tank the only thing thats old is my rock and a few fish and thats it no matter what you still get a cycle it may be big it may be small it does help to have a old tank to work off of the first thing i added was brown polyps and hairys a week in a half after the tank was up and running then every other week i would add another coral maby some times one are two corals at a time thats how i did mine
ophiura
Active Member
Personally, I would never go over to the new hobbyists and show a picture like these and say you can do it -
Too many factors:
Experience in the hobby
Age of the tank (or even consituent parts - eg moving from a smaller to larger tank or breaking off from larger tank into other tanks, including rock, water, corals)
Equipment from the start
But experience in the hobby is probably the critical one...knowing when a tank can be pushed, and when it can't or isn't. Knowing what to look for with animal behavior, water quailty, etc.
So I think some people can do it, and most people shouldn't
I don't necessarily see the need to rush things...and certainly not to encourage anyone to rush into things. Adding a lot of corals in many ways is different then adding a lot of fish. So new people who fail in "quick" tanks tend to overstock with lots of fish fast and this causes water quality issues. Few go out and buy a fish or two, but stock up on a lot of corals. For new hobbyists, corals aren't always the fascinating part.
I don't know where I am going with this so I'll stop. man, only Tuesday.....
Too many factors:
Experience in the hobby
Age of the tank (or even consituent parts - eg moving from a smaller to larger tank or breaking off from larger tank into other tanks, including rock, water, corals)
Equipment from the start
But experience in the hobby is probably the critical one...knowing when a tank can be pushed, and when it can't or isn't. Knowing what to look for with animal behavior, water quailty, etc.
So I think some people can do it, and most people shouldn't
I don't necessarily see the need to rush things...and certainly not to encourage anyone to rush into things. Adding a lot of corals in many ways is different then adding a lot of fish. So new people who fail in "quick" tanks tend to overstock with lots of fish fast and this causes water quality issues. Few go out and buy a fish or two, but stock up on a lot of corals. For new hobbyists, corals aren't always the fascinating part.
I don't know where I am going with this so I'll stop. man, only Tuesday.....
sweetreef
Active Member
lol very true only tuesday!!!Drwuv what i suggest is do alot of reading first dig deep do alot of of checking before making a big jump on a system see for me i was kinda rushed in to this tank my other tank had a very bad leak and it was only a fowlr tank so when i set this one up i made the choice of going reef see when i did my tanks they really didnt have any forum sites to learn off of so i lost alot of things on the way of doing a tank about 10 years ago so i pretty much learned the hard way like back in the days when airstone skimmers where the hotest thing out...lol but now they have all kinds of stuff now to keep a reef system going longer now that makes it even sweeter!!!
gregm779
Member
Just found this thread.
Even in the thread about my tank I pointed out that I didn't want everyone new to the hobby to go out spend a ton of money and crash their tanks. I probably wouldn't have put how old it was on there if I would have known it would create such issues.
I didn't buy all of the stuff yesterday, throw it in my tank, and snap a few pictures just to have it crash tomorrow. I've done tons of research (My girlfriend loves the tank but is making me cut back on the sites). All of my fish get along and although some of them are not common in reef tanks are doing well so far. All in all I have 19 fish in there, which I do not suggest for anyone and I am hesitant to post that just because I know I will be attacked. The Niger Trigger, Sohal Tang, Flounder, and a few others will be going into my nonreef when I move. I stand behind UV all of the way and have had no sickness in the tank since the beginning. As far as corals, I see no problem with adding them fast, a lot of people do that before fish with the more hardier species. You do have to keep an eye on your alk and calcium, of course. Maybe I'll count how many corals I have in there but to give you an idea there are over 40 ricordias in there alone (mostly because a lot have split).
I honestly think that the first 2 months are the hardest and at this point everything will become easier. My refugium controls my nitrates, my fish and refugium control my algae. If done correctly and with a lot of hard work at first this hobby can become much easier in the long run.
I always suggest a very good skimmer for that amount of fish and you pretty much need macro algae in a refugium.
I just don't really understand how a very healthy tank would all of the sudden start unmaturing or go the opposite direction, unless of course I stop taking care of it.
I post pics every month around the 21st, so we will see then how it is.
Again patience is the key, I don't want people to get out of this hobby because they crashed their tanks from going so quickly.
About my 55 I did take about 50lbs of Live Rock from it for the new tank. All of the sand is new except for about 2lbs from the old which I used to seed it, I did use about 140lbs of aragonite LS from the store which also allowed me to add things earlier, all of the water is new of course and there are some corals from the old tank but for the most part are new also.
Sweetreef, nice tank! What size is it? I will be getting a 29g the end of March and will start that up in a few months.
This is a pic of my 55g before I took it down and sold it.
Even in the thread about my tank I pointed out that I didn't want everyone new to the hobby to go out spend a ton of money and crash their tanks. I probably wouldn't have put how old it was on there if I would have known it would create such issues.
I didn't buy all of the stuff yesterday, throw it in my tank, and snap a few pictures just to have it crash tomorrow. I've done tons of research (My girlfriend loves the tank but is making me cut back on the sites). All of my fish get along and although some of them are not common in reef tanks are doing well so far. All in all I have 19 fish in there, which I do not suggest for anyone and I am hesitant to post that just because I know I will be attacked. The Niger Trigger, Sohal Tang, Flounder, and a few others will be going into my nonreef when I move. I stand behind UV all of the way and have had no sickness in the tank since the beginning. As far as corals, I see no problem with adding them fast, a lot of people do that before fish with the more hardier species. You do have to keep an eye on your alk and calcium, of course. Maybe I'll count how many corals I have in there but to give you an idea there are over 40 ricordias in there alone (mostly because a lot have split).
I honestly think that the first 2 months are the hardest and at this point everything will become easier. My refugium controls my nitrates, my fish and refugium control my algae. If done correctly and with a lot of hard work at first this hobby can become much easier in the long run.
I always suggest a very good skimmer for that amount of fish and you pretty much need macro algae in a refugium.
I just don't really understand how a very healthy tank would all of the sudden start unmaturing or go the opposite direction, unless of course I stop taking care of it.
I post pics every month around the 21st, so we will see then how it is.
Again patience is the key, I don't want people to get out of this hobby because they crashed their tanks from going so quickly.
About my 55 I did take about 50lbs of Live Rock from it for the new tank. All of the sand is new except for about 2lbs from the old which I used to seed it, I did use about 140lbs of aragonite LS from the store which also allowed me to add things earlier, all of the water is new of course and there are some corals from the old tank but for the most part are new also.
Sweetreef, nice tank! What size is it? I will be getting a 29g the end of March and will start that up in a few months.
This is a pic of my 55g before I took it down and sold it.
pyro
Active Member
I apoligize for the temporary hijack...
Sweetreef, your candy corals look very healthy. I can't seem to get mine to do good for some reason - all water checks out and my polyps are doing good aswell the red mushrooms are splitting like crazy. I think it is more of a placement issue. Mine seem to get beat up by the current no matter where I place them. I cut my flow back on everythign and have my candys (the coral accidently got broken in two) placed in the far corners of my tank where my polyps are, and the polyps are just slowly swaying in and out. I think its still getting too much flow - the skeleton keeps poking farther and farther through the fleshy top part of the coral every day.
Back on the subject - putting the pressure on your back to rush a saltwater tank just isn't worth it and sortof destroys the whole idea behind it to me. Why stress yourself for something thats enjoying and relaxing?
No pictures to back me up though... My tank is a 30g with 45lbs of live rock and a couple beginner softies and a candy coral.
Sweetreef, your candy corals look very healthy. I can't seem to get mine to do good for some reason - all water checks out and my polyps are doing good aswell the red mushrooms are splitting like crazy. I think it is more of a placement issue. Mine seem to get beat up by the current no matter where I place them. I cut my flow back on everythign and have my candys (the coral accidently got broken in two) placed in the far corners of my tank where my polyps are, and the polyps are just slowly swaying in and out. I think its still getting too much flow - the skeleton keeps poking farther and farther through the fleshy top part of the coral every day.
Back on the subject - putting the pressure on your back to rush a saltwater tank just isn't worth it and sortof destroys the whole idea behind it to me. Why stress yourself for something thats enjoying and relaxing?
No pictures to back me up though... My tank is a 30g with 45lbs of live rock and a couple beginner softies and a candy coral.
gregm779
Member
I also believe in that. I'm kind of dissapointed that I'm almost full. I love this hobby and just found pieces that I really liked and fit in perfectly much much quicker than I ever imagined. Here is a pic of the tank from Oct 21, 2004 the day after I put the water in. It only had a flourescent light at that time, I did not have my reef lights yet.