Hello everyone it is good to find a community that is helpful and friendly to help me enjoy this great hobby. I have wanted to start this thread for some time but I keep putting it off, but today being an extremely slow day at work with hardly anyone around gives me a great chance to at least get it started.
As you can see I am new to on-line reefing, but have found it a very nice addition to helping me expand my knowledge of the hobby and keeping my tank enjoyable. I wanted to start off this thread with a bit of history about my tank and me so please forgive me as it may get long and boring, but I feel it is a must to let you all know how I got started and where I am at in this adventure.
The History:
First off while I am new to on-line forums I have been in the hobby for some time off and on. I first got my 75g back in 2001 totally clueless about the hobby. I purchased a custome stand and canopy for my tank at the same time I bought the tank. The tank is came pre-drilled with intake and return in the back left corner. When I first set it up I used the cheapo sand you had to rinse for several hours before putting it into the tank (oh the joy comes back to me of rinsing). I started slowly not because i was told to but rather because I did not know anything or what to do.
Sufice to say I got everything up and running and doing well. All the information I got back then were from a couple books and mostly the lfs owner (who we became good friends). Looking back he gave me some good advice but still there was some stuff he was trying to make a buck on, but overall he helped me out a great deal.
I kept many fish, softies, and lps corals for years with just plain dumm luck. I ran only a 120g rated wet/dry with bio-balls and sponges. The only 2 things I tested for was ph and salinity, which I was told to keep at 1.023. I ran a small skimmer rated for a 75g tank, a heater (not sure the wattage), and maybe one cheapo walmart powerhead that I could never keep running or stuck to the glass. lol I almost forgot my tank is a standard rectangle 75g measuring 48" long 18"wide and 24" tall (at least I think is it will double check when I get home). My return is a Mag 5 with a 4 ' of head loss knocking it down to about 230ish gph (will double check this as well).
The lighting I ran was 2 48" PC fixtures with 4 bulbs in each. I replaced these with a 4 VHO (2x Super Atinic and 2 Atinic white) running on a 660 ballast some time in 2002.
I ran this system for close to 4 years with good success until the disaster struck. My wife and I took a 4 week trip late 2004 to backpack across France, Itally, and Switzerland leaving my friend housing sitting and watching the tank. About the 3rd week into our trip I get an email from our friend that the AC went out in the apartment and the temp shot up to about 95-100 F. He had been opening windows and placing ice in the tank to try and keep the temp down. The rental company sent out a repairman to fix the unit. Upon arriving home we found the guy had not fixed the problem and the unit was still not working correctly. I had lost alot of awesome corals to this heat wave. My friend did a great job keeping the temp down but the damage was done. I went into recovery mode doing water changes etc to try and save the tank. I had some mild success saving a couple of the fish and some of the corals, however my tank would never retrun to its former glory after this and had a string of problems there after.
I fought has hard as I could and money allowed to get the tank back like I had it, but nothing seemed to work. So one day in 2006 when my last clown died I shut the timer off and just let the tank sit in the corner only keeping the water filter running and topping it off after evaporation had taken place. I never tried to sale it as I knew one day I would restart the tank as I truley enjoyed the hobby and the beauty of my tank. So letting it sit like this for about 3 years due to having a son, wife becoming ill, and a string of bad luck I never restarted the tank.
Fast forward to December 2008:
My son who is now 4 like my tank and said he remembered my fish (not sure if he does nor not) wanted me to start the tank up again. My wife who enjoyed the tank as much as I (since she did not have to do any work on it) also wanted me to restart the tank. So in December we were having the floors redone and I had to take the tank down and move it so they can do the floors. During this time I thought this is a great time to restart my tank! So that is what I have done.
I took my 2 brutes loaded all the rock in them with some water from the tank and some freash SW. I cooked them for several weeks while the floor was being done and I worked on getting the tank ready for restart. With the tank empty except about .5" (if that) of water to keep the SSB covered I took a sponge and hot water an cleaned the inside glass. I took the wet/dry apart and cleaned the bio-balls and the we/dry chambers.
Once the floor was done I replaced the tank, reinstalled the wet/dry (with bio-balls and sponges), filled with a freash batch of SW. The rock was not fully re-cured so I placed it in the tank and let it run to cycle the tank. It ran like this for a couple weeks with algea blooms and all.
Once the cycle had completed I added 7 fish, which I made a huge mistake in doing. It is not that I added them early but rather I put too much in at once and the system was not ready. I lost 2 fish right off the bat., I was extremely disappointed! So after this I vowed to not make this mistake again. I have been slow going since. I did lose one more fish after this but that was due to bullying in the tank.
List:
2x yellow tail damsels
2x Tank raised Percula
1x firefish goby
1x sand sifting star
The mistake I made is I let my wife and son talk me into getting the damsels and starfish, which I did not want. I would soon remove the SSS and replace him with a Serpent Star. I am still working on catching the Damsels (the terrors of the tank) after they were found picking on the FF Gobi to which it died and seen picking on one of the clowns. So I am left with 4 fish now and I refuse to add any more until the damsels or out of the tank. I have slowly added snails to the tank to help with the clean up. They are doing great so far. I have only put about 20 in keeping a good mix between Cerith, Nassarious, Astrea, and Turbo. The live rock is doing well know and coming back in full color.
So this is basically where I am at right now. I have made some changes to the tank but this is the general history of the tank to present. I am going to post some specifics like dates, equipment, etc when I get home (or get a chance to do so at home but this starter I believe is long enough for now lol. I hope I did not bore any of you.
Here are a couple old pics I took and I believe they are dated to give you a time of reference on the restart.
Thank you all for such a great community and wealth of knowledge an support!
Atlantus/Clint
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks