Reefer M4dness
Community Member
My wife and I decided to jump into the Reef hobby about 13 months ago and along the way we have learned many things. We started out by purchasing a used set up for a reasonable price and were immediately tossed into the fire as the set-up had a substantial fish population, a good amount of corals, and included everything needed to run and maintain a reef tank.
On the night of the purchase we were up til the wee hours of the morning figuring out how the hell that goes together and what needed to be plumbed where, eventually we made enough RODI saltwater to replace the water we were unable to transport and put all the inhabitants back in and hoped for the best.
Since that long evening, the reef has been by far the coolest feature of our home and is always captures the intrigue of our house guests. In the months after purchasing the tank we learned a wide variety of lessons ranging from the suicidal tendencies of a goby to just how many fish a single condy anemone can eat. We have also battles almost every type of algae out break possible and have expanded our livestock population to replace the losses as they occurred. We upgraded the lighting to a fancy LED fixture, purchased quality testing kits, and watched everything in our tank thrive.
Fast forward to summer and the tank seemed to quietly sink to the back burner. Water changes slowly became less frequent and testing pretty much fell off, and for about 2 months I would just bring up fresh RODI to top off the system as it evaporated from the system. After a few months of this I discovered that my protein skimmer had almost completely stopped working and were were slowly getting the dreaded green tide that made us tear out our hair earlier in the year.
Now, summer is officially over and it is time to get back to brass tacks and get the tank back in fighting shape. By doing a few very large water changes and a very labor intensive breakdown of the tank we have managed to get the tank almost back to its former shape. We have re-scaped the rock work and purchased a handful of crabs and snails to replace the losses we suffered and it would seem both my wife and I have a rejuvenated sense of motivation.
Today we returned from the hardware store with everything needed to build a new custom stand, big enough to house the 90g we are planning on upgrading to as well as all the components to fully automate the water change process. No longer will I be lugging 5 gallon buckets of water up from the basement but rather will be hitting a remote switch to pump up fresh seawater from our new 44 gallon holding tanks.
We also picked up a few supplements that will help us maintain the water parameters needed to facilitate healthy coral growth. It also goes without saying that while we were at the store we also purchased a nice new coral piece to decorate with.
We are going to try and use this thread to document our efforts as we upgrade our systems in preparation for the jump from 60g to 90g as well as show off some of the reef related projects that we are building. We look forward to any advice and insight we can get from all you experienced reefers as we m go forward.
On the night of the purchase we were up til the wee hours of the morning figuring out how the hell that goes together and what needed to be plumbed where, eventually we made enough RODI saltwater to replace the water we were unable to transport and put all the inhabitants back in and hoped for the best.
Since that long evening, the reef has been by far the coolest feature of our home and is always captures the intrigue of our house guests. In the months after purchasing the tank we learned a wide variety of lessons ranging from the suicidal tendencies of a goby to just how many fish a single condy anemone can eat. We have also battles almost every type of algae out break possible and have expanded our livestock population to replace the losses as they occurred. We upgraded the lighting to a fancy LED fixture, purchased quality testing kits, and watched everything in our tank thrive.
Fast forward to summer and the tank seemed to quietly sink to the back burner. Water changes slowly became less frequent and testing pretty much fell off, and for about 2 months I would just bring up fresh RODI to top off the system as it evaporated from the system. After a few months of this I discovered that my protein skimmer had almost completely stopped working and were were slowly getting the dreaded green tide that made us tear out our hair earlier in the year.
Now, summer is officially over and it is time to get back to brass tacks and get the tank back in fighting shape. By doing a few very large water changes and a very labor intensive breakdown of the tank we have managed to get the tank almost back to its former shape. We have re-scaped the rock work and purchased a handful of crabs and snails to replace the losses we suffered and it would seem both my wife and I have a rejuvenated sense of motivation.
Today we returned from the hardware store with everything needed to build a new custom stand, big enough to house the 90g we are planning on upgrading to as well as all the components to fully automate the water change process. No longer will I be lugging 5 gallon buckets of water up from the basement but rather will be hitting a remote switch to pump up fresh seawater from our new 44 gallon holding tanks.
We also picked up a few supplements that will help us maintain the water parameters needed to facilitate healthy coral growth. It also goes without saying that while we were at the store we also purchased a nice new coral piece to decorate with.
We are going to try and use this thread to document our efforts as we upgrade our systems in preparation for the jump from 60g to 90g as well as show off some of the reef related projects that we are building. We look forward to any advice and insight we can get from all you experienced reefers as we m go forward.
