For those new to the hobby....

[iPEProjects.com]

First of all, WELCOME TO REEF CENTRAL!

My name is Kevin and I have been here on Reef Central for about 5 months. Anyways, before I found this site, I based all of my purchases on advice from the local lfs. This was a huge mistake and I ended up with the wrong tank, lights, filtration, and even substrate. So, not wanting others to have to rely solely (since many are helpful/accurate/honest) upon an lfs, I decided to put a bunch of tips and basic info on my site.

I didn't make it to insult your intelligence, but after reading this site you should have a little better understanding of some of the more popular techniques of filtration, lighting, etc and I just go over some things that I would have appreciated knowing before I spent all of my money on the wrong stuff (in my opinion).

Anyways, here is the link and I hope it helps:

http://www.ipeprojects.com/reef

Kevin Buch

[DgenR8]

Kevin,

[Mr. Gadget]

kevin,

Are you a Redhawk or Husky? Might want to look at your tank shape recomondations. Length is better when keeping certian species I.E. tangs. Shape will have more to do with what you keep.

Nice start on the site!

Gadget

[iPEProjects.com]

I am a huskie..I put that the depth should be greater mainly because it looks a lot better when you put your rock farther back but I wasn't really considering anything about tangs or other fish...I will add your input tonight.

Kevin Buch

[Mr. Gadget]

Might just want to put a Tang tag, Longer is better.

My son would kill me if I didn't say "REDHAWKS RULE!"

gadget

[Malikah]

Good job Kevin, I only wish I would have had this information before I started spending money also.

One thing you might want to add to your filtration page is to recommend good water circulation. What is it again? Tank volume x 7 gallons per hour?

[Hawnreefer]

Thanks Skipper
What a wealth of information, printer still spewing out pages.



Gerald

[Defcon]

Hey ive done fresh water for about 8 years and have mastered it and i recently set up a 30 gallon salt tank...i was thinking about getting some scallops because of their colorfulness, but being new to the hobby i dont know much information about them. such as if they require special lighting (like the one for reef tanks) to survive. also how long should you have your tank running before you put them in it. Thanks

[Skipper]

Scallops are not recommended. Check this article by Rob Toonen which discusses their captive requirements.

[traveler911]

This is great. I know many, including myself wanted a list like this when we first started in the hobby/obsession.

Good work to all.

[marm64]

This is one of the best sites that I have found for info on reefs. I am looking at starting a 75 and I think that my LR and SPS will all be thankful that I was here before I put the tank together.

[New Reefer]

Hi All,

The guy who hosted my Website closed his business a few weeks ago, and sold all his equipment, including the server with my Website on it...

I've now regestered my own domain, and have just moved the Website to a new server. Please update the link to:

Hennie's "Indoor Reef"

(For those who missed it, this is a link to the article which started this thread...)

Regards,
Hennie

[Dome001]

i have a 55 gallon freshwater tank and i really want a saltwater tank, and will probably start one in a few months, so i am trying to get as much information as i can before i get started.

Thank you so much for these links. i now have some reading to do.

[bangbang]

This site is what I needed.....to enhance my experience with Marine Tanks..................I just set one up after 9 months of research. I saved myself a lot of headaches by waiting this long..........I have raised African Ciclids for any years but got bored. I am havin alot of fun now.

[DgenR8]

Hello Bangbang,
[welcome]

Glad you found this resource, there is no better place on the 'Net for finding the info to be a success with your new endeavor!

[Stefanie]

My question is;
I bought an exsiting system, all but the 55 gal tank. I got the huge honeycomb eel, 20+ gallons of water, live rock, feather ? algea, filters and crushed coral. The previous owner was using an undergravel system also, but I did not take that. I do not think that the rock is alive any longer as it has no evidence of any living creatures other than that algea that looks like feathers? growing, I peeled alot of it off. I would like to know if I need to keep the current medium-carbon, in the filters, I had and am using my HOT Magnum with the cartridge filled with carbn and got with tank 2 large bio ball/wheel filters that also have the carbon inserts. I've been told to keep the carbon and others have said to remove it for a reef system? what to do.
I bought some horseshoe crabs (3) and snails (5) and hermit crabs (4) to start getting things alive again. Also, I'd like to buy some more live rock that has feather dusters and other stuff living on it. Would this be wise with the eel? Can I have a reef system with an eel and no fish? Just the corals and crabs and that?

[beach]

skipper,this may not be the place to ask this question if not maybe you can direct me to the spot.i went from a 55 to a 90,40,2-10,and a new 30(all reefs ) in a yr (got the bug bad).as the tanks have matured i have run into some problems that i could not id in the books and turn to reef central for my answers.well right now i have a trachphylia that is acting weird and was asked to post a picture of it.like all good reefers i dropped everything(the reef needs it) and purchased a dig camera but don't have a clue how to post onto reef central's forums (have a doctorate but it isn't in computer science).appreciate any help or direction to an info source.thanks beach.by the way great articles on starting a reef .it would have been alot cheaper and less frustrating to have known there was such good accurate info out there.

[NorthCoast]

You can get pics in the post a few ways:

Attachment: use the attachment feature below the reply text box when editing a reply. (easiest method if you don't already have a site with content you want linked or displayed)

Link: you can link to a file posted somewhere else on the internet by using the vB codes.

Display a linked picture: again this is a file somewhere else on the internet using nested vB codes.

I hope this makes sense.

Later,
NC

[Drowning_Fish]

WoW This place is awesome. I wish I had found it earlier, as it would have saved me soo much money on books.

Hopefully, with all this info and some of your infiinite wisdom, I will be able to succeed.

[DgenR8]

Drowning_Fish,
[welcome]

The money you spent on books was not wasted, as long as they're good books
Real time, live info is great, but books to reference are valuable as well!

[oujeeper]

Just wanted to add my $.02. This site is a great resource. I came here before I had done much more tham buy a tank (still not set up yet) to read through the posts and ask a few questions. It's a great site. And I am definitely learning from the posts here and through other's experiences. Thank you to everyone that has posted and shared. Keep up the great work!

[ima_angel2003]

asl

[bangbang]

Originally posted by oujeeper
Just wanted to add my $.02. This site is a great resource. I came here before I had done much more tham buy a tank (still not set up yet) to read through the posts and ask a few questions. It's a great site. And I am definitely learning from the posts here and through other's experiences. Thank you to everyone that has posted and shared. Keep up the great work!

I had two tanks with equipment almost a year before I set up for Salt. I did a lot of research before I did it and saved myself a lot of grief and money. I have a Fish/Invert tank now set up for 7 months with very little problems so far. Have Fun! This is a great site but has been so slow that I rarely come here anymore. I go to Reefs.org instead. I actually like this site better but it is so darn slow.

[DgenR8]

Originally posted by bangbang
This is a great site but has been so slow that I rarely come here anymore. I go to Reefs.org instead. I actually like this site better but it is so darn slow.

Bangbang,
Did you happen to notice things look a little different around here? JohnL and GregT have been bustin their nads the last three days moving us to a new server. We're MUCH quicker now, and after a few little bugs get worked out, I'm sure you'll be quite impressed.

[karlas]

if i can i have a couple to add to that

reef dictionary

reef keeping 101

reef safe and fish only fish

live rock faq

sand bed faq


and everybody will use this over time

hitchiker faq

HTH happy reading