just getting started

[littlemutt]

thanks D12monkey and others for the welcome, am looking foward to many pleasant experiences with this new hobby. all your help is appreciated and this seems like a great forum, you guys make someone feel right at home - thanks again

the reason for the setup i have is the limited research i have done so far. i started by buying a 24 gal nanocube which i had hoped to setup and start out in saltwater in a small way. figured i could learn from that and go larger when i had some experience. but the more i read the more i realized that small is not always good, that the more water you have the easier it is to maintain a stable system. i then saw a site where a guy built his own sumps and refigiums, it looked like fun so i gave it a try. since the spot i had for the tanks is not that big i had to keep things small. first i built an 18 gal sump/refugium, it was fairly easy and a lot of fun and when i finished it i realized that i had just enough room for an additional tank which is a 17" cube and holds 20 gals, both turned out great and i would recommend that anyone interested give it a try, it was a very rewarding experience.

i was afraid of putting a sump under my tanks in case of pump failure or power outages so i decided to keep them all on one level interconnected with u-tubes and so far this has worked out well. if there should be a power failure the water levels remain the same and there would be no flooding. i also liked the idea of having 2 seperate tanks because it allows me to have different types of fish and inverts without the risks of one eating some of the others and the work of maintaining them is about the same as 1 bigger tank but i have the benifit of 2 different reefs.