Mark Goode
Well-Known Member
Hello! I'm in the process of putting together a reef outfit. I'm not a complete newbie, but I'm hoping to have more success this time than on my previous attempts.
I had my first marine aquarium in 1978, a 4' x 18" x 18", with an undergravel filter and no live rock. I put a couple of small damsels in to start things off, but my wife hated it so much I had to return it to the store (at a considerable financial loss).
Ten years later, now a single man again, I had another go. I bought a second hand tank setup and added a small volitans lionfish and a Picasso trigger. The trigger grew slowly, the lion grew quickly... Soon it was clear the trigger was living on borrowed time, so I traded him for a spanish hogfish two or three times his size. The hogfish probably lasted a whole minute before disappearing in a single gulp - he was the first fish I killed. His replacement was a lyretail wrasse too big to fit down the lion's throat. If the room lights were off and the tank lights were on, the lyretail would go absolutely berserk trying to attack his own reflection, and one evening I came home to find him dead, and the skin of the lion's spines clearly torn. I assumed there had been a collision while the wrasse was thrashing about (but probably wrong). Next was a sailfin tang, and peace returned. Eventually they both outgrew the tank and I sold them and changed over to fresh water fishkeeping for a while.
My first reef tank was in around 1996. It had a trickle filter that always made me want to pee and tube lights. The internet being in its early days, there were no resources such as this forum, so I relied on the man in the shop for advice. I should have known that was a mistake after he sold me a colony of christmas tree worms and an arrow crab. I kept a few soft corals, none of which I remember killing, but I had a disaster when I discovered some dead fish one morning. I didn't lose them all, about half were still swimming about, so I put them all in a large bucket and took them to the fish shop and said if he saved them he could have them. This disaster was entirely of my own making, but in my defence the LFS, knowing i was a rookie, should perhaps have spent a little more time and gave me some advice.
Still, fourth time lucky, eh? I've a Red Sea 525 G2 in my living room which the wife and I are in the process of aquascaping. Assuming we can find an arrangement we can agree on I'll probably put water in it at the weekend. I'll cycle it without fish, and I'm in no hurry to put livestock in it - I'll wait until it's ready (I really don't want to kill anything else).
I had my first marine aquarium in 1978, a 4' x 18" x 18", with an undergravel filter and no live rock. I put a couple of small damsels in to start things off, but my wife hated it so much I had to return it to the store (at a considerable financial loss).
Ten years later, now a single man again, I had another go. I bought a second hand tank setup and added a small volitans lionfish and a Picasso trigger. The trigger grew slowly, the lion grew quickly... Soon it was clear the trigger was living on borrowed time, so I traded him for a spanish hogfish two or three times his size. The hogfish probably lasted a whole minute before disappearing in a single gulp - he was the first fish I killed. His replacement was a lyretail wrasse too big to fit down the lion's throat. If the room lights were off and the tank lights were on, the lyretail would go absolutely berserk trying to attack his own reflection, and one evening I came home to find him dead, and the skin of the lion's spines clearly torn. I assumed there had been a collision while the wrasse was thrashing about (but probably wrong). Next was a sailfin tang, and peace returned. Eventually they both outgrew the tank and I sold them and changed over to fresh water fishkeeping for a while.
My first reef tank was in around 1996. It had a trickle filter that always made me want to pee and tube lights. The internet being in its early days, there were no resources such as this forum, so I relied on the man in the shop for advice. I should have known that was a mistake after he sold me a colony of christmas tree worms and an arrow crab. I kept a few soft corals, none of which I remember killing, but I had a disaster when I discovered some dead fish one morning. I didn't lose them all, about half were still swimming about, so I put them all in a large bucket and took them to the fish shop and said if he saved them he could have them. This disaster was entirely of my own making, but in my defence the LFS, knowing i was a rookie, should perhaps have spent a little more time and gave me some advice.
Still, fourth time lucky, eh? I've a Red Sea 525 G2 in my living room which the wife and I are in the process of aquascaping. Assuming we can find an arrangement we can agree on I'll probably put water in it at the weekend. I'll cycle it without fish, and I'm in no hurry to put livestock in it - I'll wait until it's ready (I really don't want to kill anything else).
