Hello from Rockwall, TX

My name is Sam and I am 34. I have had fresh water aquariums all of my life because I traveled so often. For the last ten years I have researched and planned my reef aquarium and recently I started one.

I moved to Rockwall from San Diego, CA last July, bought a house and the project is underway.

I started a 20 gal two weeks ago. It is sustaining about 10 crabs right now. I also have a 125 gal custom shallow tank with a 55 gal refugium that I will be starting in the near future. I have about 50 lbs of live rock and currently 20 lbs of sand curing.

I joined this site to meet people in the area that are into coral reef tanks.

Hi Sammy, welcome to the "tank".
I see you have been blinded by the "salt water" bug.... there is hope for you..."Come to the dark side, love a Cichlid".

Until you find the "darkness"....we want pichers! Lots of pichers....even as a FW fan I love seeing the development of SW tanks (as a total novice in the alchemy of SW) and I am intrigued by your custom shallow tank, so pics really will be interesting.

I will be sure to get pictures up soon.

I say shallow only comparitively, the deminsions are 18' tall, 60' wide and 24' front to back. I do not plan on a tall rockscape, more of a frag tank in the end.

I failed to mention that we also have a 55 gal fresh water tank also. I still love the FW.

That almost sounds like what I would have called a "rock pool" style of tank, as seen on the coast of the UK, an area which is tidal, but never has the coastal rock pools dry out during low tide, i.e. where I would go crabbing and exploring for what I could find. Dam to think of all those cold water (guys think UK North Sea or Irish Sea temps) anemones I could have "tanked" home for free!

Welcome to the forums! I'm excited about seeing your tank setups. I really like the tank size you chose as well. Very interested in checking it out.

Welcome!

Welcome to the forums Sammy!!