Hello from Ottawa, On. Canada

[Brent Shaver]

I am new to this site as I have only been into African Chiclids up to this point, which I have a 110 completed and now want to start a reef tank. I was refered to this site by Raf (admin from Malawi Mayhem).

I have a 50 gallon that I am going to start inorder to get a reef system. Will probably have the tank drilled for plumbing in the next couple weeks. I know this will be a slow process, not to mention being new everything is hours of reading before I even attemp the smallest of steps.

I guess I am wondering if I am smart going with a 50 gallon or should I sell it off and go with something closer to my 110? Cost or time isnt a factor as I know I will be at this a while before I see any results.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated, I dont mind spending money but hate wasting money on things that just wont do the job, spend once to enjoy for ever is my moto so here goes a new adventure.

Once I get the tank drilled I will start my journal.

Thanks in advance
Brent

[christyf5]

Welcome to Canreef!

Theres nothing wrong with a 50gal tank, its a great place to start. I'll just say this though. The reefers lament is always "I need a bigger tank". I would vote to go as large as you can. As you probably know with freshwater, the larger the volume of water the more stable your tank will be.

Looking forward to seeing your tank build :biggrin:

[PACMAN416]

Welcome fellow Ontarian:welcome:!!!! you and I are in the exact same boat. I have a cichlid tank!!!, albeit not as large as yours (75gall). I too have set my eyes on a 50 gallon reef tank!!!! Im new to this as well and staying up until 2am researching is definitely fun. (waking up is the unpleasant part!) how big will your sump be? my sump is going to be 15gals.

[muck]

Welcome to Canreef Brent!!
Lots of good reading on here for you.. :wink:

[Brent Shaver]

I have not decided on the sump size as of yet, I am still mulling over the idea of making my own. Once I find out my piping size I will probably make the sump as close to 40 gallons as I can. As Christy said, bigger is better, so will try to get the volume as large as possible.

As I was reading Christy's reply my wife walked in...damn
Her words were are you f'n crazy you already have covered 16 feet of wall in a 2 bedroom apt... Unfortenatley she knows I spent $2600 setting up my Chiclid tank and knows I am going to **** away another 2 week vacation (her words). So I guess I am staying with the 50. Only if she was into this, she would see one tank is like a mini vacation every day.

Well I am off like a herd of turtles in a snow storm to read some more...

[wickedfrags]

Welcome. Look forward to following the build.

[Leah]

As I was reading Christy's reply my wife walked in...damn
Her words were are you f'n crazy you already have covered 16 feet of wall in a 2 bedroom apt... more...

ROFLMAO!...

:yell::blah::ballchain:....Thanks for the laugh...you just made my day.:wink:
Oh and Welcome to Canreef how ever brief your stay may be.:redface::biggrin:

[bvlester]

Welcome fellow Ontarian:welcome:!!!! you and I are in the exact same boat. I have a cichlid tank!!!, albeit not as large as yours (75gall). I too have set my eyes on a 50 gallon reef tank!!!! Im new to this as well and staying up until 2am researching is definitely fun. (waking up is the unpleasant part!) how big will your sump be? my sump is going to be 15gals.
Hay for 75G you should have a larger sump like a 30g and thats rock bottom minimum size. You can do a 30g long.

Bill

[PACMAN416]

Hay for 75G you should have a larger sump like a 30g and thats rock bottom minimum size. You can do a 30g long.

Bill


Hey Bill, i think you misunderstood me. my 75G is a cichlid tank. i have a canister filter on that one.

I have decided to go with a new 50G tank as my first venture into saltwater, and with that, I have a 15 G all glass aquarium laying around I am going to use as a sump.

[PACMAN416]

ROFLMAO!...

:yell::blah::ballchain:....Thanks for the laugh...you just made my day.:wink:
Oh and Welcome to Canreef how ever brief your stay may be.:redface::biggrin:

great choice of emoticons Leah, they made me laugh!

[DCDN]

Welcome to canreef
I have a 50 gallon and I'm loving it, though I've only had it set up for like 4 months and I'm already thinking about what i could do with a bigger one.

[rayjay]

Welcome to the hobby and to the site.
50g as mentioned is a pretty good size.
However, if you are like most hobbyists, it won't be long before you regret going that small if you can afford larger.
If you have room for more tanks to add in the future then it's not a problem as I went from one system up to 10 systems within about 2 1/2 yrs.
If not, you almost certainly would be better to go bigger now.
The larger you can make your sump, the more total water in the system, and the more forgiving your set up will be if something gets out of wack, giving you a bit more time to straighten things out before losses set in.

[kat]

Great city to be in for starting a tank...lots of resources and great people to get you going...look up Ottawa Inverts and talk to Patrick or Trina, they will have everything you need...as for other marine stores, there is the big box Big Al's and then the LFS Marinescapes, Aqua Valley, Ottawa Inverts, and a private home one run by Ray...Look into checking out OVAS...google it!! you will find lots of help there too....Really looking forward to seeing the build...oh, one more thing...GO BIGGER!!! but not deeper!!! longer and wider front to back , but not too tall...

[Brent Shaver]

Thanks all for the warm welcomes, resources, suggestions and over all time to recommend things. As I put in my first responce I am going to have to stick to my 50 for now, we need a bigger place to host anything more. If I had my way I would have a 450 but then I would be divorced...lol (Still wieghing that option..grins)

I am already a member of the OVAS website and plan on joining as a full member as soon as I can get to one of the meetings. As for stores Big Als have been great for my cichlid tank but they dont seem to have reef tanks I would trust. I will be sure to check out all the other options when the time is right, as of right now I need to look into my plumbing and possibly making a new stand to house everything.

I know this is going to be slow as I wont put something in to just get done, I want it right the first time. There is an old saying "There is only 2 ways to do something, Right or Again and again costs money"

I will say there is a fear factor getting into this as the more I read I see people that have experience in this hobby stuggling and losing things all the time. So I am going to wait till I have the best I can build/make to at least help reduce the possiblity of having to write a horror story.

Again thanks for everything and as soon as I have enough information to build my plumbing I will start my journal. And yes I will make sure there is lots of pictures and explainations....

Thanks
Brent

[Parker]

Welcome!!

There is nothing wrong with taking your time, you might as well get used to it. :lol: Nothing but bad things happen fast in a reef tank..

I started my build thread two years ago and my tank still isn't complete, there are several other members that have builds that have taken years as well, so you're in good company.

[PACMAN416]

Again thanks for everything and as soon as I have enough information to build my plumbing I will start my journal. And yes I will make sure there is lots of pictures and explainations....


I can't wait!:clap2:

I will be following your journal!!!!!!!!:pop2: :ranger: :spy: