Eienna
5000 Club Member
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- Feb 9, 2013
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- Location
- Eddyville, KY, USA
- What state or country do you live in
- Kentucky
Well, it's 4:45am, and - being completely unable to sleep - I'm starting our tank thread now. This is "my" tank, which I call the Treasure Chest. Since the first one by that name broke and this is the next try, I'm dubbing it the Treasure Chest Mark II. This is a video from a few days after setting up, which was 2 weeks ago.
[video=youtube;7HzNkLw5H-Q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HzNkLw5H-Q[/video]
It's only partially my tank, because my husband has decided it's his and he's letting me use it, but I can live with that. I'm probably going to buy it from him sometime in the near future (or save up for a brand shiny new one), just so I have full control, but for now this is okay.
There's kind of a long story to this, something some of you already know. Skip ahead if these things bore you, but I'd like to give some history of how I got here. I started keeping aquariums approximately 2-3 years ago...my memory of dates is a little sketchy, so please forgive that.
I started with a used glass 29g, which I still have for quarantine purposes, in fresh water. I had read up like crazy and could hardly wait to get started! My then-fiancee had to go to the psych hospital for a while, so I was grateful for something constructive to do, and scrubbed the heck out of it. I then cycled it with ammonia. Here's my first video of that tank.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NaH0PSN8Hg
Once it cycled, I got a school of zebra danios. Beautiful fish, but dang, they are hyper!! They drove my mom nuts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaIOyY4-Iwk
A few short months later (my Dad rolled his eyes when I mentioned it - "Aaand it begins..." He knew where I was headed, haha!) I found a lovely used 50g on Craigslist and convinced my mom (and Dad, ha actually paid half the price for the tank, bless him!!) to let me upgrade. I loved that tank. I had my share of craziness with it, but I was a totally derpy beginner. Here is that tank at what I feel was my first peak, a time when I was really happy and content with my tank.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEs64RtpRRg
That was just before the big, horrible crash caused by contaminated tap water, and then another from Levamisole...you'd have to visit my old threads on fishlore.com/fishforums for that whole disaster, but I'll put up a link if someone wants to read more. My best way to get over heartbreak is to come back better than ever, so here's some time after the crash.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBpufLAGEko
While restocking after the crash, my mom fell in love with a green spotted puffer at a local pet store. I did some research and we brought him home. That turned into an interesting sort of adventure, because we found out a little late that he had to be acclimated to brackish conditions as he got older. I had been under the impression that he could remain freshwater. Nope. They die young if kept in fresh water. At this point I was still afraid to try a marine tank, as I'd heard they were extremely difficult and expensive. As time went on, though, we finally decided to go ahead and make him full marine. That opened up an array of possibilities, which leads me to my next crazy decision....
We went to MAX that year, just for fun. I was hoping to pick up some goodies for Kirby (the puffer), and we did, but - and it's my fault for buying a 20g just before the show - I also ended up with two clowns, live sand, a few corals, and only a vague idea of what I was doing.
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/nano-reefs/115211-max-insanity-20g-tall.html
Eventually, I acquired a 125g for my freshies to go to, so I tried to get a 125g acrylic for my saltwater fish. Didn't work out. I sank $400 into it, but the tank had a broken center brace and bowed so bad that we were advised to dump it before it dumped us. My salt fellas went into the 50 (with a few non-reef-safe guys in the 29g, which we considered Mom's tank at that point.)
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/member-tanks/131071-eiennas-50g-reef.html
I got things to go okayish, but I needed a drilled tank and I needed to learn.
Aaaand then we moved. Or rather, I moved. And then moved again. And again. Nothing went right for a while. You don't even want to know about all that family drama. And PAIN. My fibromyalgia made all that excruciating.
When I finally got resettled, I dealt with my 50 for a while but was, again, having a hard time with it. I was gifted a 100g acrylic and was sooooo happy - until the bottom seam ruptured. I'm just thanking God it happened when I was right there and there was no water damage to the house.
Then we bought a 125 acrylic, because my reef fish were stuffed in the 29g (having already moved Kirby in with them.) That one didn't work out either. It turned out to be impossible to plumb properly. We had to give up on it.
Then we FINALLY got the 165 we have now. Between it, elbow grease (my hubby and I made the stand), way too much money and the equipment we saved from the failed tanks, we finally have a functioning reef tank. I am beside myself. <3 And I will tell you I have never been so happy to see diatoms and a dry stand in my entire life.
We are having our problems with this one, but it is a functionable setup. It needs time to mature and some practice on my part, but it's going to be beautiful. I've got a nasty cyano outbreak but I have only one surviving coral frag from this whole experience, so I'm not panicking...just working on it.
I did have to get creative with our skimmer last night because a part kept popping out. Observe.
Poor Kirby. We love him very much, but we finally got our cleanup crew in thanks to my Dad (repaying me for caring for his goldfish while I try to help him get an aquarium set up)...and Kirby started eating it. We're not getting rid of him, but he lives in the sump now. I'd set up another tank for him, but we're not allowed to where we're living right now. I'm barely getting away with my wannabe reef and freshwater 125. He seems happy enough. I think the eel that came with our current tank was intimidating the poor fellow anyway.
More later. Hopefully some photos/a new video. PLEASE COMMENT or ask questions!! I love a lively discussion. <3 <3 <3
I don't want to share my params right now because, quite frankly, they're embarrassing. I know what's wrong, though, and aim to fix it ASAP.
[video=youtube;7HzNkLw5H-Q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HzNkLw5H-Q[/video]
It's only partially my tank, because my husband has decided it's his and he's letting me use it, but I can live with that. I'm probably going to buy it from him sometime in the near future (or save up for a brand shiny new one), just so I have full control, but for now this is okay.
There's kind of a long story to this, something some of you already know. Skip ahead if these things bore you, but I'd like to give some history of how I got here. I started keeping aquariums approximately 2-3 years ago...my memory of dates is a little sketchy, so please forgive that.
I started with a used glass 29g, which I still have for quarantine purposes, in fresh water. I had read up like crazy and could hardly wait to get started! My then-fiancee had to go to the psych hospital for a while, so I was grateful for something constructive to do, and scrubbed the heck out of it. I then cycled it with ammonia. Here's my first video of that tank.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NaH0PSN8Hg
Once it cycled, I got a school of zebra danios. Beautiful fish, but dang, they are hyper!! They drove my mom nuts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaIOyY4-Iwk
A few short months later (my Dad rolled his eyes when I mentioned it - "Aaand it begins..." He knew where I was headed, haha!) I found a lovely used 50g on Craigslist and convinced my mom (and Dad, ha actually paid half the price for the tank, bless him!!) to let me upgrade. I loved that tank. I had my share of craziness with it, but I was a totally derpy beginner. Here is that tank at what I feel was my first peak, a time when I was really happy and content with my tank.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEs64RtpRRg
That was just before the big, horrible crash caused by contaminated tap water, and then another from Levamisole...you'd have to visit my old threads on fishlore.com/fishforums for that whole disaster, but I'll put up a link if someone wants to read more. My best way to get over heartbreak is to come back better than ever, so here's some time after the crash.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBpufLAGEko
While restocking after the crash, my mom fell in love with a green spotted puffer at a local pet store. I did some research and we brought him home. That turned into an interesting sort of adventure, because we found out a little late that he had to be acclimated to brackish conditions as he got older. I had been under the impression that he could remain freshwater. Nope. They die young if kept in fresh water. At this point I was still afraid to try a marine tank, as I'd heard they were extremely difficult and expensive. As time went on, though, we finally decided to go ahead and make him full marine. That opened up an array of possibilities, which leads me to my next crazy decision....
We went to MAX that year, just for fun. I was hoping to pick up some goodies for Kirby (the puffer), and we did, but - and it's my fault for buying a 20g just before the show - I also ended up with two clowns, live sand, a few corals, and only a vague idea of what I was doing.
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/nano-reefs/115211-max-insanity-20g-tall.html
Eventually, I acquired a 125g for my freshies to go to, so I tried to get a 125g acrylic for my saltwater fish. Didn't work out. I sank $400 into it, but the tank had a broken center brace and bowed so bad that we were advised to dump it before it dumped us. My salt fellas went into the 50 (with a few non-reef-safe guys in the 29g, which we considered Mom's tank at that point.)
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/member-tanks/131071-eiennas-50g-reef.html
I got things to go okayish, but I needed a drilled tank and I needed to learn.
Aaaand then we moved. Or rather, I moved. And then moved again. And again. Nothing went right for a while. You don't even want to know about all that family drama. And PAIN. My fibromyalgia made all that excruciating.
When I finally got resettled, I dealt with my 50 for a while but was, again, having a hard time with it. I was gifted a 100g acrylic and was sooooo happy - until the bottom seam ruptured. I'm just thanking God it happened when I was right there and there was no water damage to the house.
Then we bought a 125 acrylic, because my reef fish were stuffed in the 29g (having already moved Kirby in with them.) That one didn't work out either. It turned out to be impossible to plumb properly. We had to give up on it.
Then we FINALLY got the 165 we have now. Between it, elbow grease (my hubby and I made the stand), way too much money and the equipment we saved from the failed tanks, we finally have a functioning reef tank. I am beside myself. <3 And I will tell you I have never been so happy to see diatoms and a dry stand in my entire life.
We are having our problems with this one, but it is a functionable setup. It needs time to mature and some practice on my part, but it's going to be beautiful. I've got a nasty cyano outbreak but I have only one surviving coral frag from this whole experience, so I'm not panicking...just working on it.
I did have to get creative with our skimmer last night because a part kept popping out. Observe.
Poor Kirby. We love him very much, but we finally got our cleanup crew in thanks to my Dad (repaying me for caring for his goldfish while I try to help him get an aquarium set up)...and Kirby started eating it. We're not getting rid of him, but he lives in the sump now. I'd set up another tank for him, but we're not allowed to where we're living right now. I'm barely getting away with my wannabe reef and freshwater 125. He seems happy enough. I think the eel that came with our current tank was intimidating the poor fellow anyway.
More later. Hopefully some photos/a new video. PLEASE COMMENT or ask questions!! I love a lively discussion.
<3 <3 <3I don't want to share my params right now because, quite frankly, they're embarrassing. I know what's wrong, though, and aim to fix it ASAP.
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It's gonna take a lot of work to whip this suckerfish into shape, but....that's part of the fun!
