x19
Reefing newb
I wasn't sure where to put this, but I figured since I've not introduced myself this was as good a place as any.
My name is Eric and I live in Plainfield, IL a suburb of Chicago. I've had small freshwater tanks forever, and about 9 years ago I decided to make the jump to saltwater...but as a poor college kid I totally couldn't afford it. Fast forward to 3 weeks ago and my wife took our 8 month old to the Zoo where she was immediately enthralled by the fish kept in the Polar Bear tank....no interest in the Polar bear, but loved the fish. My wife, knowing I'd wanted to do this for a while, gave my daughter and I permission to build a saltwater tank as a father's day present.
Research began and I spoke with one of my close friends who moved from Colorado in Illinois about 5 years ago. In Colorado he operated a 300 gallon reef tank, and had great success...unfortunately he decided it was too difficult to move his tank the 2,000 miles to IL and left the hobby. He convinced me to go for a Reef tank instead of just fish.
I did a fair amount of research, but I move fast. Within a week the tank was setup and cycling. I've already made a few equipment mistakes, but the kind people on this forum have helped me correct the problems. I can't wait to put my first living creature in the tank be it a crab, snail, or fish. I'm hopeful that it will happen this week, but it all depends on the water quality of course...
Anyway, the other purpose of this post is regarding another hobby of mine which is writing applications for iPhone/iPod/iPad (I've got three apps on the store now). One of the first things I did when beginning the hobby was to look for Reef apps for the iPhone and was pretty disappointed with what I found, basically just simulations but nothing to help me maintain my reef. So, I'm going to write one.
It will probably take me about 2 months to write the first app (I have no programming background, so there is a lot of learning as I go along) but version 1.0 of the app will offer water quality tracking of:
pH
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
It should also be able to graph the levels over time.
My question for the forum is what other features should I plan on adding to subsequent releases?
Thanks in advance, I haven't decided if the app will be ad-supported or paid but either way it'll be free to members of the forum :-)
My name is Eric and I live in Plainfield, IL a suburb of Chicago. I've had small freshwater tanks forever, and about 9 years ago I decided to make the jump to saltwater...but as a poor college kid I totally couldn't afford it. Fast forward to 3 weeks ago and my wife took our 8 month old to the Zoo where she was immediately enthralled by the fish kept in the Polar Bear tank....no interest in the Polar bear, but loved the fish. My wife, knowing I'd wanted to do this for a while, gave my daughter and I permission to build a saltwater tank as a father's day present.
Research began and I spoke with one of my close friends who moved from Colorado in Illinois about 5 years ago. In Colorado he operated a 300 gallon reef tank, and had great success...unfortunately he decided it was too difficult to move his tank the 2,000 miles to IL and left the hobby. He convinced me to go for a Reef tank instead of just fish.
I did a fair amount of research, but I move fast. Within a week the tank was setup and cycling. I've already made a few equipment mistakes, but the kind people on this forum have helped me correct the problems. I can't wait to put my first living creature in the tank be it a crab, snail, or fish. I'm hopeful that it will happen this week, but it all depends on the water quality of course...
Anyway, the other purpose of this post is regarding another hobby of mine which is writing applications for iPhone/iPod/iPad (I've got three apps on the store now). One of the first things I did when beginning the hobby was to look for Reef apps for the iPhone and was pretty disappointed with what I found, basically just simulations but nothing to help me maintain my reef. So, I'm going to write one.
It will probably take me about 2 months to write the first app (I have no programming background, so there is a lot of learning as I go along) but version 1.0 of the app will offer water quality tracking of:
pH
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
It should also be able to graph the levels over time.
My question for the forum is what other features should I plan on adding to subsequent releases?
Thanks in advance, I haven't decided if the app will be ad-supported or paid but either way it'll be free to members of the forum :-)
