Hello everyone

Hello Iowa!

We've lived here a little over two years, and moved to West Des Moines from the Washington DC area. My wife is from Des Moines so it was an easy choice for a place to raise our family. I am returning to the hobby after a 20 year pause. In the past I had both 75g planted freshwater and ~100g saltwater aquaria, as well as several smaller ones working my way up.

To re-enter the hobby, I am starting a nano-reef. Technology has come so far in the last two decades, and I am impressed at both the popularity and success of these tiny reef tanks. My choice was a Fluval EVO 13.5gal aquarium, which has decent LED lighting and filtration, and most importantly a hood-I have a toddler and cats. I installed the dedicated mini-skimmer, and I've upgraded the filtration with a higher flow pump (a Hydor nano 260) and replaced the foam filter with a media basket from inTank. The tank has 15lb of live sand and five pieces of live rock, which I estimate at 10-12 lbs. It is currently two days into a fishless cycle.

I plan to add 2-3 additional pieces of live rock to build up around the back wall and make more caves and hiding places.

I travel frequently for my job, but look forward to some club events.

 

Yes one of the cats definitely knows something is up, and checks the tank frequently. The other...is oblivious

Thanks to everyone, it's good to be here, and I'll try to make it to some events. Dave, it took me a while to figure out what the DIY food event was all about. I was reading that thread and thought octopus, squid, fish, etc....oh in BAGS. For the fish, not me! I'll see if I'm in DSM on the 16th.

Thanks, and I'm sure I'll need some advice soon as my nano reef takes shape.