western MASS mentor/club!

Ok, I have been here for almost a year now. I started without a mentor and almost blind folded.I've been looking for a club/mentor around my area and have not found any as of yet. Must stores I've goen the owners seens to disagree in a lot of stuff. I was hoping I can find someone that can't help me get to where I would like to be with my tank and kind of sorta helps me keep my stress level down(I know there's always stress) I live in western MASS, near springfield. If there's anyone here and can help me or anyone that will like to get together and help each other out will be fantastic.

 

I guess there's not to many people from Mass. on 3reef

 

Im in western MA, but, I can not be a mentor.

 

Are you new to this like I am?

 

Read deep and long young Padawan. There are many who dive in head first and flounder quite wildly, but to truly enjoy something often has stress and trials of failure and triumph. It isn't common you'll find someone who can literally hold your hand through the plunge, but here's a tip I've picked up over my years of aquarium keeping.

When in doubt. Ask questions, there is no such thing as a stupid or lame or silly question nor is a question wrong... An answer can be wrong but not a question.
Read as much information about the subject at hand till your brain is about to pop. Reason with yourself about what your looking for. Are you wanting fish only? do you want it colorful, schooling, dangerous, predatory? Do you want to go with corals? Easy corals such as softies are the best. They don't require a lot and often they spread like wildfire so in any case of slight die back you can toss the dead and keep on going with the living. (try not to kill softies but some times things just happen)

Don't Jump in to the water till ya know how deep it really is, if your jumping from a curb in to a puddle then your likely safe, if your high diving in to the same puddle... You might be in a world of hurt.

As many here will tell you.. Go slow, Let it grow.
As with many live things if you push too hard or go to fast it will turn back and bite you. Or get over stressed and then every ones gonna have a bad time.

You say you've got some stress and your tank isn't up to the par you'd like... Relay some info to us and perhaps we can share our wisdom!

Life alone is hard, but life in the community is just dandy =P

I started with freshwater got comfortable then upgraded.... I made a lot of mistakes some of them rather expensive but the good thing is that With my mistakes I've learned about my self, the hobby, this community, and those within this community. Everyone is willing to help. You just have to ask.

 

i live in somerville myself and i like Boston Reefers Society Online Community BUT NOT A MUCH AS 3REEFS, im brand new also head first but so far so good i think lol

 

Thank you Caspian! I have to say, I really don't need a person to hold me by the hand but rather serve as a guide and maybe answer some questions. You are right saying there's no right or wrong questions but sometimes the questions get misunderstood. On my short experience I have only seen one saltwater tank setup on a house and that is mine. I seen couple of fresh water tank but the people that have them don't know half of the stuff I know. I've been reading since before I decided to start my tank and that's probably why I got confuse so much(LOL) but I keep reading when I can. If you look back on my threads you can see some of the stuff I have and done. At some point I got overwhelm(I guess) and its taking me longer to be where I would have hope to be by now(but that's how it is) it sucks for me that I have two LFS near and I can't get a clear answer from neither.


I will ask this but before I'll give you an scenario. I have a 60gal cube and an empty 10 gallon tank inside the stand. Can I use that tank as a sump/refuge? If so, how big or small I need my pump to be?

I have two hydro koralia a 1400gph pump and one 1050gph. I also have one Aqueon 75 HOB filter. I want to get rid of the filter and will like to know the equivalent or the minimum amount of return I need to do so properly.

Do I got too much/too little circulation on my tank?

I got one two bulb T5 light and I will like to house some corals at some point but I guess I can't do it right now.

What you guys think?

 

Boston reefers... I was referred to them by a member but got denied... I love 3reef, think is a better community then the "center" one.

 

Sounds like you still need to design a plan before you can step fwd with sure success.

We're here to help, just ask!

 

FB hit all the points above. I run a 46 gal bow front that pushes 22 inches from top to the sand so about 24 inches from the light I don't have any high light demanding LPS corals mostly because i love Euphyllia (frogspawn like LPS) I have a two bulb T5 and everything is quite happy. I use to have a canister filter but never again... Other than making a lot of noise and eventually springing a leak it was still a huge waste of time as the damn thing produced a lot of nitrates.

Most cubes aren't that deep BUT they can be. if he's around 24 or less inches a two bulb will get you started with some easy LPS... If you thinking SPS your a bit out of luck with out upgrading...

As far as the 10 gal... Yeah it's too small The only time Id say a 10 gal is acceptable as a sump would be if the tank on the stand above was like a 15gallon... and even then a 20 or 29 tall would be preferred... You have to remember if the power goes out that sump/fuge has to be able to handle the excess water that would be overflowing from the Display tank. HOB overflows are risky business as they can cause issues. Not only if they break siphon but if they Don't break siphon and the pick up is too low and the power goes out or the return pump fails for whatever reason? Your DT will quickly end up in your sump/fuge if it isn't set up right.

As far as circulation it's all dependent on what you want to have live in your tank. Softies really don't like to be pushed around much, while SPS Cant live with out it... LPS can handle a bit but too much and they'll bust a polyp or they'll just never come out, and then bad times will be had. I run two koralia 750s on my 46 and again it's all kinds of happiness.