FlaNoob
New Member
Howdy all, New to this forum, and while i cannot say i am entirely new to aquariums i have been away for over 16 years.
Started into aquariums in high school with a single 10g tank plastic corner filter operated by air, and a ss hood w incandescent lights, over the next few years i grew this to a collection of 6 10g tanks using one for hospital, one for fry ( was breeding Green Swords ), two with live plants.
A short hiatus while in the Army, well ok i did two stints in the Army so it was not so short, Then returned to civilian life in '77, and restarted my Aquariums with a new 10g frameless, Plastic hood with Fluorescent light, That was High tech to me then, looked good even started back into a couple of live plants.
As things usually do, i soon ended up with a 30g, outfitted it with a sparse sprinkling of live plants, and the usual staple fish, nothing fancy, but did like working on what i guess you all now refer to as "aquascaping". I really liked working towards a natural appearance.
All this led me into my first foray with Marine aquariums, I really liked the colors, and settings, maintained a pair of Scallops, a pair of Candy Cane Shrimp, pair of Clown fish, and a pair of Blue Damsels, and my favorite, my Voltains Lion. Now fully outfitted in a new 55g newest lights and ugf's
Xmas of 82 brought that all to a screeching halt, I lived in N.H. and had gone to visit with Sister and Family for a few days, and while gone, the power went out for 4 days. Total devastation.
A year later, reset the 55g for tropical and then stumbled onto a McD's that had remodeled, and had a 300g sitting in storage taking up space, I offered them 150.00, and they accepted it YES !!! a complete 300g setup for 150.00 cash Sweet.
Well 91, single again w 2 kids, Moved to Fla sold all the tanks and equip. and have been without ever since.
New Wife had offered to buy me a new tank for last B-Day, and finally she did for Xmas of this year, so now i have a new 55g rect under the tree ( hmmm wonder what that is ??? ) now unbeknownst to me, my daughter who is now herself in the Army ( and in Iraq ) gets the bright idea remembering my tanks, so i get a nice acrylic 50g corner pent. tank from her.
So now i have two brand new complete tank set ups
Time to start reading up, WOAH things have changed a bit over the last 16 or so years.
T5 Flour, CFL, Metal Halides, Watts per gallon requirements, color temp requirements, Cannister filters,UGF both standard and reverse, Bio wheels,Bio Balls, Sumps, protein skimmers, GPH requirements, Water turnover and flow rates, CO2 reactors and injectors, Light sequencing, Lunar lights, Special substrate, Chillers etc etc etc, damn the list goes on and one.
While i may not be entirely new, i sure feel like it all of a sudden.
So here i sit two brand new tanks, still in their boxes, I do have a basic idea of what i desire to see as a completed set up as far as fish and contents, i have yet to fully flesh out the exacts yet, this is where you all will come in hopefully.
I expect to have many questions, some on the level of a raw beginner, but requiring the whys of a more experienced aquarist.
so bear with me, point me towards some pictures as well, links etc. And talk with me, explain to me why's, why nots etc etc etc
Started into aquariums in high school with a single 10g tank plastic corner filter operated by air, and a ss hood w incandescent lights, over the next few years i grew this to a collection of 6 10g tanks using one for hospital, one for fry ( was breeding Green Swords ), two with live plants.
A short hiatus while in the Army, well ok i did two stints in the Army so it was not so short, Then returned to civilian life in '77, and restarted my Aquariums with a new 10g frameless, Plastic hood with Fluorescent light, That was High tech to me then, looked good even started back into a couple of live plants.
As things usually do, i soon ended up with a 30g, outfitted it with a sparse sprinkling of live plants, and the usual staple fish, nothing fancy, but did like working on what i guess you all now refer to as "aquascaping". I really liked working towards a natural appearance.
All this led me into my first foray with Marine aquariums, I really liked the colors, and settings, maintained a pair of Scallops, a pair of Candy Cane Shrimp, pair of Clown fish, and a pair of Blue Damsels, and my favorite, my Voltains Lion. Now fully outfitted in a new 55g newest lights and ugf's
Xmas of 82 brought that all to a screeching halt, I lived in N.H. and had gone to visit with Sister and Family for a few days, and while gone, the power went out for 4 days. Total devastation.
A year later, reset the 55g for tropical and then stumbled onto a McD's that had remodeled, and had a 300g sitting in storage taking up space, I offered them 150.00, and they accepted it YES !!! a complete 300g setup for 150.00 cash Sweet.
Well 91, single again w 2 kids, Moved to Fla sold all the tanks and equip. and have been without ever since.
New Wife had offered to buy me a new tank for last B-Day, and finally she did for Xmas of this year, so now i have a new 55g rect under the tree ( hmmm wonder what that is ??? ) now unbeknownst to me, my daughter who is now herself in the Army ( and in Iraq ) gets the bright idea remembering my tanks, so i get a nice acrylic 50g corner pent. tank from her.
So now i have two brand new complete tank set ups
Time to start reading up, WOAH things have changed a bit over the last 16 or so years.
T5 Flour, CFL, Metal Halides, Watts per gallon requirements, color temp requirements, Cannister filters,UGF both standard and reverse, Bio wheels,Bio Balls, Sumps, protein skimmers, GPH requirements, Water turnover and flow rates, CO2 reactors and injectors, Light sequencing, Lunar lights, Special substrate, Chillers etc etc etc, damn the list goes on and one.
While i may not be entirely new, i sure feel like it all of a sudden.
So here i sit two brand new tanks, still in their boxes, I do have a basic idea of what i desire to see as a completed set up as far as fish and contents, i have yet to fully flesh out the exacts yet, this is where you all will come in hopefully.
I expect to have many questions, some on the level of a raw beginner, but requiring the whys of a more experienced aquarist.
so bear with me, point me towards some pictures as well, links etc. And talk with me, explain to me why's, why nots etc etc etc
to TFF.
No doubt with past expreience though, you'll soon get back into the swing of things 
What I would surgest though, is using the rectangular tank for Discus and the corner unit for a planted tank. This is because it is best to buy Discus as a new Discus keeper at arround 4", and grow them on. They settile better at this size and are harder to stunt... As they approach adulthood, they become rather boisterous with each other. They will need the length to run from each other at times, and a corner unit of 50g won't provide them with the broken sight-lines they will need to avoid eachother, without a lot of decoration - something to avoid with imature Discus, as dirt accumulates arround decor, reducing water quality and increasing the chances of stunting them... 
