If you had to do it all over again what would you do?

[Ken B]

Well, thank goodness for the internet and forums! When I started the hobby in 88 I never had such a great resourse as this to go off of. But alas, I was only in the hobby a year or so and had to get out. I moved to Alaska and just wasn't good to take the gear with me.

Now I am going to be moving back to the lower fourty eight and am considering a new reef system. The problem is that I have been out of it for so long I have no idea what is availible. I have done some probing around and find that I like the Acrilic style tanks.

My plan is a 60-75 gallon Reef tank, I want some reef safe fish in it too.

The questions are these:

Are the Acrilic Uniquariums any good?

Are there new rules as to getting live rock, corals, and livestock?

Just how good is the shipping of the above?

If you had to do it all over again what would you do differently?

Are there any new technologies that have come on in the last 15 years I should look at?

TIA!

 

[alrmc4]

i am sure that there are many more qualified to answer but i will start it off..
acrilic vs glass pros and cons to both glass is heavy but acrilic scratches easier...

there are many places to get rock corals and livestock online and lfs best thing you can do is research any online seller before you order people post good and bad experiences on all the forums..as far as lfs remember they want to make a dollar so take them with a grain of salt(pun intended)

what would i do different start in a forum like you rather than a lfs...expect it to not go by the orignal time line and go slower

there have been many changes in the hobby as far as set up dsb vs berlin vs pendulum and changes in lighting mh vho and t5 to name a few...

good luck you are already one step ahead of me you found aa
BEFORE you started

 

[ReefLady]

Are the Acrilic Uniquariums any good?

They scratch very easily. IMO, I'd do glass, unless your doing upwards of 250g.

Are there new rules as to getting live rock, corals, and livestock?

Not sure what you mean by rules? Legalites? Or what is preferred by hobbyists?

Just how good is the shipping of the above?

Very good - there are many reputable MO vendors out there.

If you had to do it all over again what would you do differently?

Get a bigger tank! Running out of space in the 180g in just over a year. Seriously though, let's see - I would have put a smailler return pump in the basement (electricity costs are horrid here) and plumbed the tank for a closed loop system.

Are there any new technologies that have come on in the last 15 years I should look at?

Just about everything. The first and foremost thing that comes to mind is filtration. If your thinking reef, think only LR (1-2lbs per gallon), a DSB, and a very good skimmer. No other mechanical filtration is needed/wanted.

Also - lighting. Again, if you're looking toward highly photosynthetic corals/clams/anemones, get MH lighting up front.

A lot of advances have been made as far as what the hobbyist is now able to keep. There are also a lot of excellent reference books available. Let us know if you want any book recommendations.

Good luck!

 

[loganj]

My two cents...get a copy of "The Concientious Marine Aquarist" by Robert Fenner. That will answer all the questions you have now and help you form lots of new ones .
Welcome to AA.com!

 

[Ken B]

Thanks all! As I said I was in the hobby a while back so I am not going in blind. I just feel kinda stupid because some of these terms I am starting to read about are a bit confusing.

Deep Sand Bed - What exactlly is that? I have seen it used in a few posts and am kinda at a loss.

What about wet dry systems? are they still the thing or not?

Lighting, Yep, that's the one big place I was going to splurge! I neglected it last time I was into this and I am not making that mistake again.

 

[reefrunner69]

Deep Sand Bed - What exactlly is that? I have seen it used in a few posts and am kinda at a loss.

http://www.rshimek.com/reef/sediment.htm

http://www.seabay.org/art_plenums_part1.htm

http://www.seabay.org/art_plenums_part2.htm

Those should help with the explanation of a DSB.

What about wet dry systems? are they still the thing or not?

For a FO system they are fine, but for FOWLR and Reef systems the trend these days is to allow the rock and sand to preform the nitrification and denitrification.

Lighting, Yep, that's the one big place I was going to splurge!

Good idea, most of the reefers around here will spend more on their lights than they did on their tank