Hello again!!!! From Stafford this time...

[tonkadawg]

Hey everyone, it's been a while!  After a 10+ year break from the hobby for family, work and other things, I'm getting back into the hobby and I'm excited to see that wamas is still alive and kicking!

 

Right now, I'm in the planning stages for what I hope to be an SPS dominate reef tanks.  Narrowed it down to either an Innovative Marine 100 EXT or a Waterbox Infinia 125.  It's blowing my mind at how things have changed.

So far the equipment list is looking like the following:
Reef Octopus Regal 150INT

Radion G15XR Pros -x2

Apex controller w/ ATO and Trident (eventually)

Votech MP40s -x2

 

It looks like the old days of picking live rock for a cycle are gone and you now use man made rock with bottled bacteria?

 

Also - do people still use kalk and/or ca reactors for calcium/alk ?

 

Anyways I'll be lurking here trying to catch up on what I've missed.  If you have any advice/suggestions etc, please I'd love to hear from you!
 

[YHSublime]

Welcome back. I might be biased, but my first step back in would be to becoming a paying member of WAMAS, that $20 a year will pay for itself very quickly. 

 

Maybe I'm old school, but I still go for a natural cycle. 

Yes, people are still using kalk reactors and more so CARX. 

 

Cheers! 

[Origami]

Welcome back! As above, Kalk and calcium reactors are still used. However, it seems to me that there are a lot of people that have also moved to two-/three-part dosing, as well. I hope that you'll consider joining WAMAS again as a supporting member. The community has a lot to offer and you'll probably save a lot of money on frags, etc.

[ReefdUp]

Welcome! A lot has changed in 10yrs, but a lot still hasn't. I think the names of things have been the hardest for me to accept as a change (there are no more "Scolymia" corals anymore, and most Acanthastreas moved over into Micromussa. Crazy times.)

 

I've always been a dosing fan and probably will stay that way for some time. I also refuse to use man-made rock (I bought most of mine dry from quarries.) 

[wildcrazyjoker81]

Welcome back. As the others said above things really haven't changed too much per say. A lot of us use biomedia bricks/cubes/balls for added filtration instead of a ton of rock in the displays. 2 part/Kalk/CARX are all effective in their own ways. I too am in Stafford and you could come check out my 80 setup if you want. I will also be setting up a 220G Peninsula here soon too. 

 

Like ReefdUp said the names are really confusing and painful this day and age in the hobby. Soooooo many names for the same species of corals and classifications seem to have gotten all over the place for some species. What will really shock you is the price of certain corals like Torches and "high end" SPS.

 

[tonkadawg]

Thanks everyone!  

 

Started a build thread:  

 

@wildcrazyjoker81 - I'd catch up and see your tanks!  Let me know!

[wildcrazyjoker81]

@tonkadawgnice tank choice and absolutely need to catch up with you at some point. I am across from HH Poole Middle school.

[DFR]

Welcome back!  I look forward to following the journey of your system.