Hi Everyone!
I've been meaning to make an intro thread for a few weeks now... finally getting to it
First off, I want to say how excited I am to be part of such a unique and cool community you have here. I'm glad I found it and I look forward to meeting new people and getting more involved.
A little background: i've been out of the hobby for about 10 years now. Back in high school I had a few smaller reef tanks and worked in a LFS. I broke down my tanks when I moved to CO for college and have been wanting to get back into the hobby ever since. I convinced my wife that a reef tank would look great in our house as a piece of "living art." As I started to research tanks, I realized that while some technologies change and some ideas and methods have gone out of fashion, at the core of this hobby is a bunch of genuine and good people.
I settled on a IM Nuvo 38 gallon AIO tank that fit nicely in our home - I like the uncluttered look of the tank and its manageable size. The tank is sitting on a bar, so to compensate for the lack of storage below the tank, I cut a small hole in the wall to route cables and the ATO into our furnace room - this has helped immensely so far. I've been taking things slow and trying to do it right the first time. The tank was established two months ago and now has a CUC and a few different corals, but no fish yet. I've had a few challenges so far, but nothing too discouraging.
I am trying to minimize my impact on coral reefs around the word and keep the hobby sustainable, so I will be buying captive propagated fish and coral whenever possible. I am really excited to participate in the DBTC program - it's brilliant! I am eager to have a thriving tank that will allow me to spread my corals to others in the area.
I think my most pleasant surprise so far in this process has been how engaged and interested my wife has been. It's great to hear her point out corals by name when we go to a fish store and excited to see something new going on in our tank.
I look forward to seeing fellow reefers' tank builds and tapping into the knowledge base of this club. Unfortunately I was out of town for the last two meetings, but I have blocked off my calendar for the October meeting at Aquatic Art. I hope to see everyone there!
I've been meaning to make an intro thread for a few weeks now... finally getting to it
A little background: i've been out of the hobby for about 10 years now. Back in high school I had a few smaller reef tanks and worked in a LFS. I broke down my tanks when I moved to CO for college and have been wanting to get back into the hobby ever since. I convinced my wife that a reef tank would look great in our house as a piece of "living art." As I started to research tanks, I realized that while some technologies change and some ideas and methods have gone out of fashion, at the core of this hobby is a bunch of genuine and good people.
I settled on a IM Nuvo 38 gallon AIO tank that fit nicely in our home - I like the uncluttered look of the tank and its manageable size. The tank is sitting on a bar, so to compensate for the lack of storage below the tank, I cut a small hole in the wall to route cables and the ATO into our furnace room - this has helped immensely so far. I've been taking things slow and trying to do it right the first time. The tank was established two months ago and now has a CUC and a few different corals, but no fish yet. I've had a few challenges so far, but nothing too discouraging.
I am trying to minimize my impact on coral reefs around the word and keep the hobby sustainable, so I will be buying captive propagated fish and coral whenever possible. I am really excited to participate in the DBTC program - it's brilliant! I am eager to have a thriving tank that will allow me to spread my corals to others in the area.
I think my most pleasant surprise so far in this process has been how engaged and interested my wife has been. It's great to hear her point out corals by name when we go to a fish store and excited to see something new going on in our tank.
I look forward to seeing fellow reefers' tank builds and tapping into the knowledge base of this club. Unfortunately I was out of town for the last two meetings, but I have blocked off my calendar for the October meeting at Aquatic Art. I hope to see everyone there!