Pet Forum / Aquaria / Marine Reef / February 2004

1) Ask, listen, and read for the next six to twelve months.

2) Join a local marine aquarist club and ask for stories, advice, etc.

3) Buy a few books.  Others will have other book recommendations.  These
  are mine:

  a) The Conscientious Marine Aquarist
     http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1890087025/qid=1077505284/sr=1-1/r
ef=sr_1_1/104-1757134-1453517
  b) Your First Marine Aquarium
     http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0764104470/ref=pd_sim_books_3/104-
1757134-1453517

4) Read online.  Two great online magazines started two years ago.
  You should read just about all of the articles in every issue.
  Each one will teach you something new.

  a) Reefkeeping (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/past2.htm)
  b) Advanced Aquarist (http://advancedaquarist.com/index/)

5) Read more online.  A 25g tank is extraordinarily small for a
  marine tank.  Well, not so extraordinary any more.  You will be
  building what is called a nano-reef.  Go to that website:

  http://www.nano-reef.com

6) Stay on here and keep asking questions.  The signal to noise on
  r.a.m.r is substantially higher than most of the other online
  forums I've found.  The two magazines also have decent forums.
  Don't know about nano-reef.com as I don't read there, but they
  may be very helpful for you.

7) Develop patience.  Zen-like patience.  The patience that a buddha
  statue wishes it had will work just fine.  Good things take a long
  time to happen in this hobby.  Bad things happen very quickly.

8) Really, just learn for the next six months.  Minimum.  If you're
  going to be a success in this hobby, you'll be the type who will
  have a great time learning and you'll enjoy the hobby more with all
  of the accumulated experience you'll have gained.  Your pets will
  appreciate what you know as well.

Regards,
Ross

-- Ross Bagley       http://rossbagley.com/rba
"Security is mostly a superstition.  It does not exist in nature...  
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."  -- Helen Keller

a slightly different point of view

get that tank filled with SW and a few pounds of uncured LR  like aprox 10lbs

dont add any corals, or fish or inverts that dont come on the LR!

let it cycle, do a few waterchanges and test the water at least salinity & temperature
along with ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/ph, get good at keeping the paramiters in check. and
get used to how much to feed.  while your doing this READ!!!  and when your done reading
READ SOME MORE!!!   now is the time you want to make mistakes when little will be harmed

then in 2 to 4 more months or so, add some more LR, this time get cured LR continue the
drill of waterchanges/checking/feeding/READING! at this time you might consider some
macroalgae and a one of many invertibrates(keep the crabs out) to make up your clean up
crew, and maybee some small starter cultures of amphipods/copepods/mysis all or none or
any combo in between.

then 4 to 12 months after you have added your last piece of LR add corals, and 1 small
fish.

you cant get everything you need to know by reading, and you should wait until your tank
is stable before adding corals/fish and its not that easy to mess up LR as long as your
not trying to. and the longer you go before adding things higher up the food chain the
more chance you give the population of those lower down a chance to get really stable

In the land of rec.aquaria.marine.reefs the word of the Lord came to
Eddy and verily he spoke saying:

This post is all you need!

http://tinyurl.com/266nn

OK, I lied, not even close, this guy obviously did a lot of homework
before even starting this thread but it's a great success story that
will encourage you and help you get an idea of what your getting into.

BTW, it is going to cost you a lot more than think even for that small
tank. Whatever number you had in mind, triple it at least! You may
think I'm kidding but if so do this, write down today on a piece of
paper what you expect to spend and if you are still in the hobby this
time next year read the number and have a good chuckle ;^)

Hey have fun and good luck! By the way, specific questions will be met
with a LOT more helpful information that the typical "can you tell me
how to do everything" post.

Here's an overview:
http://www.vividaquariums.com/troubleshooting.asp#6b

I would go to a local fish store and ask them to show you around a
system and find out what it means to cycle a tank. There's a great
book called The New Marine Aquarium. It's big, thin, and easy to read.
If you want
fish, I would also read up on fish disease. It's interesting and
good to know. I have a book called Diseases in Marine Aquarium Fish.
It talks about causes and prevention.

Dated, incomplete coverage, but you need to understand
everything you find here to start...

http://fins.actwin.com/reefkeepers/

***********************

Here's a pretty good "getting started" article:

http://www.reefcentral.com/modules.php?s=&name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=1

Regards,
Ross

-- Ross Bagley       http://rossbagley.com/rba
"Security is mostly a superstition.  It does not exist in nature...  
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."  -- Helen Keller

Hi Eddy,

Take a look at this page please:

http://www.melevsreef.com/overview.htm

Marc

--
Personal Page:     http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page:     http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist:   http://www.melevsreef.com