[quote=“a1amap, post:1, topic:596”]
[/quote] ha ha :-)lol
Hey guys my name is Becca and I just started my first Saltwater aquarium! 
I go to UD so I will be moving in and out during the summer. I’m in my upcoming junior year and a entomology and prevet double major. I found out about you guys through Premium Aquatics, who I only recently discovered about. I just wanted to let you know a little about what I have:
-Aquapod 24 (stock lighting now but waiting on my new Viper 150 clamp lamp)
-13 lbs of live rock
-20 lbs of live sand
-12 lbs of DIY rock in final stages of curing… hopefully
-Koralia Nano
-Stock return pump
-Plan on running filter floss, purigen, and chemi-pure for a while so that it can help while the diy rock is seeding. May be a permanant piece though since it doesn’t need to be replaced as often.
I only have 10 gallons running in it now, but that is because I received the Mighty mite from Air, water and Ice (I only found out about your discount from them AFTER I ordered it :BB) ) and I didn’t open the box and I ended up getting my LR only to find that the mighty mite had been broken in shipping. :-(( needless to say I just filled it up with 10 gallons of tap water and let it go. Luckily Air, Water, and Ice has been wonderful and I’m expecting my new mighty mite tommorrow hopefully. I don’t have any concrete livestock plans yet (looking into different wrasses as my center piece)but the tank isn’t going to see any live stock until September when I move back in. I figured that while I’m here researching for the school it would be a good idea to cycle the tank and practice the move without the live stock so I can carefully plan accordingly for when I have the live stock.
Well that was my little intro and I look forward to meeting you all at the first meeting of the year! I have had only the advice of online forums, now but I am excited about seeking advice from people in my area. I can’t wait to begin! <
Hey and welcome! I didn’t know you were an ento major! I just graduated from the Ag school last semester.
Couple of live stock thoughts: Shrimp are really cool in a nano tank and a lot of people like to keep them. However 99% of the wrasses offered in the hobby like to eat shrimp. There is one group that is supposed to be safe with shrimp, but I have never seen one in person or on the lists.(need less to say I like odd-ball items and if it shows up on a list I’ll order a couple as long as they aren’t too expensive)
You may want to focus your search for live stock on gobys, blennies, and maybe a clown. Damsel get mean. Tangs need too much space. Lionfish, puffers, eels, and triggers all will eat smaller fish and most will get too big.
The guy to turn to for fish advice is Scott Michael. His two books “Marine fish” and “Reef fish”(newer and nicer) have a wealth of information that is easy to flip through.(both are pocket guides) If you want you can take a look at the books at the shop just to get an idea of what they are like. Ron Shimeks pocket invert guide is a nice book as well if you want to get an idea of some inverbrates to keep.
As far as corals I would start off with a couple of easy to keep soft corals. Think about things like mushrooms, zoanthids, green star polyps, and similar to start. Xenia, one of my favorits, would work well once you’ve gotten things fairly stable. Leathers would work, but will really do chemical warfare with stonies later on and make limit your options. You will want an establish tank, several months, before you start with any SPS and most LPS. You also many want to pick up the flow a little more, I thought the Koralia Nanos were really weak when we tried one in the store.
Once again welcome and let us know if you have any specific questions or just want to run some things by us for opinions.
Jon
Sweet! Yeah I have looked into fish and corals and what not. With fish I do have some ideas, corals I know I want some softies and later LPS when I feel comfortable with the softies. I don’t particularly like the SPS’s and since they are pretty pricey they kinda fall short on my list of what I want in my tank.
Not sure if I will get shrimp, I was thinking about a cleaner in there, maybe a peppermint or two. But to me not something that I have to have.
The one fish I KNOW I want is a clown goby (such cute little buggers and great personalities). I then have reserves for either a clown, chalk bass, or fire fish and then either a wrasse or a pygmy angel(not dwarf but pygmy). I too like the odd balls but being in college is not helping with money. But researching for UD has helped to rack in the necessary funds for this. 
Not to mention all the dry items I needed were purchased with b-day money and the tank was a gift from all my friends.
Did you have a tank at UD?
I am going to move this to the main Saltwater forum where you will get more hits.
1st :Welcome) to DRC
I do have a question, you mentioned you put your live rock in tap water? Did you use salt or dechlorinator? Unfortunately tap water that is not dechlorinated even with salt added might kill most of the bacteria that you want the rock for. When you get ready to set the rock up you may want to trade a piece or 2 with someone else so you get some live bacteria and micro fauna.
Edit Don’t forget Pictures as you set the tank up
:Welcome)
I am a newbie too. But the only advice that I can give you is to read and read. Listen to these people. They have a ton of knowledge and experience.
Good luck and to me its a lot of fun!!!
Oh and when you aqua scape your tank don’t forget to do it outside of the tank first (At least that helped me some).
Sorry for the confusion about the water. Yes I did add dechlorinator, I have Aquavitro, that new product by seachem to dechlorinate and take out the nasties then I added Instant Ocean salt. Salt has been at a constant 1.023 and from what I have heard I should aim for 1.025 for reefs so I am going to be adding more salt to the RO water when I get the unit which should be today.
I just mentioned tap water because people on online forums flame for using tap water, honestly I don’t think it is that bad, my friend uses it, dechlorinates and she doesn’t have too much of a problem. But I went on ahead and bought a unit so that I could say I’m doing everything in my power (and budget) to make sure I do this the right way.
Yeah I’m a researcher so this has been a good hobby so far. I like researching stuff and I could sit and read stuff all day. I have been planning/contemplating since May. When my friends all pitched in and bought me the aquapod for my b-day in June everything started to become reality and I got more in depth with research.
If you dont think tap water is too bad, you only need do two things that will change your mind.
1. Buy a TDS meter and test your water.
2. Take a look at your micron filters on your RODI unit after a few weeks of use. It is amazing how nasty they can get.
Tap water is just to much of an unknown for me. Ive seen people who use tap water but ive never been too impressed with their setups. On the contrary, a lot of problems that people struggle with seem to go away when the switch from tap to RO.
Hahaha I know I bet so. I don’t want to know. My room mate is also a girl who is very particular about stuff especially water… if I were to open up that filter… :SPIT)
yeah it’s best she never knows 
hahaha
Hello, and once again :Welcome)
I think you did the right thing getting an RO unit. I have run tanks with tap water and also with RO water, and I will always be using a RO unit from now on. It is possible to do it with tap, just much harder and much more work to keep the algae down.
For livestock I would reccomend a bicolor blenny. It was our favorite fish… tons of personality and pretty comical facial expressions. When it comes time for corals just ask around… most peope have a few little frags that they will give away. I think most newbies miss this point… everyone has something that grows good for them and will get rid of for free many times.
Yes icy I have taken notice of this. People are very kind in this hobby. I had a guy offer me a free egg crate mod for the back of my tank so I can use filter floss, purigen, and chemi-pure and not have it all over the back chambers. He even offered to put it together and isn’t charging me anything. This being a very expensive hobby. I think that fact has caused people to want to help others who want to get into the hobby and just can’t afford to have all those beautiful colors in their tank.
As some told me on an online forum: Welcome to the world of perpetual poverty(especially for college kids). :BEER
[quote=“bugbabe623, post:4, topic:596”]
Well that was my little intro and I look forward to meeting you all at the first meeting of the year! I have had only the advice of online forums, now but I am excited about seeking advice from people in my area. I can’t wait to begin! <[/quote]
Just curious which forums did you used?
Well I’d like to add my obligatory :Welcome) as well.
Then I’ll go on to say that when you move in and get set up, I have a few small pieces of LR I can give you to seed your new rock, as well as a ton of mushrooms. They’re nothing special but they do add quite a bit of color to a tank.
depending on the status of my tank move when you get settled I may have some extras for you as well.
When I got in to the hobby I had a guy give me 5 or 6 frags of stuff to get me started with the caveat that I pass on the good will…so I’ll share what I can when you’re ready to go.
Craig
Welcome, always good to have another nano reefer, all these people with their big tanks, smaller tanks are more of a challenge, less water more problems, so you gotta stay on top of it…
Craig- thanks so much for the offer! I might take you up on that then the ever on going good will can continue its cycle ;D
xownagex- Indeed onn the water changes and what not! I was diligent about keeping my fw water changes up every week. Granted saltwater changes are going to prove to be very fun to deal with. Going to have to go out and get a gallon jug to figure out how much water I take out!
[quote=“bugbabe623, post:18, topic:596”]
Craig- thanks so much for the offer! I might take you up on that then the ever on going good will can continue its cycle ;D[/quote]
That’s the idea
[quote=“bugbabe623, post:18, topic:596”]
Going to have to go out and get a gallon jug to figure out how much water I take out![/quote]
Just measure the first time, put a small line on the side of the tank after you take out the amount you want to change, drain to that point every time.
I hate mixing salt, so I just get real ocean water from petco, it tests perfect every time…you get 5 gallons for $12…it works great for nanos…