nim6us
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 22, 2017
- Messages
- 507
- Reaction score
- 374
- Location
- UK
- What state or country do you live in
- United Kingdom
When I first got into reefing several years ago I was seduced by the gorgeous tanks I would see on R2R and other forums, I thought "I want that in my living room!". I bought a 55" tall with a canister filter second hand, it came with the standard 2 clowns and some chromis and I was off! I didn't keep anything difficult coralwise, just some leathers and shrooms, but it was all going well enough and I decided it was time to invest and I bought my RS Reefer 425!
I was in love, I bought the dry rock and worked on my aquaucape, watched all the videos, labored over my custom plumbing, it must have been 3-4 months before I even put water in it. I thought about my tank day and night, it was SO exciting! I turned on the lights.. and that's when the fun stopped.
I think the 55" was a cake walk because it was an established tank, I expected my brand new dry rock build to be the same, but it was definitely NOT. The next 2 years were filled with pain, and death, and a battering to my bank account. I had all sorts of fish disease, coral disease, GHA, bubble algae, vermitids, cyano, and of course DINOS.. three GD TIMES! Along the way I bought every product, potion, and gadget that the internet told me I needed. But no matter how much time I put into it, the tank always looked like a disaster. My wife asked me numerous times "how long are you going to keep this up, I want that thing gone."
This thing I loved, that I obsessed over, it was now a millstone around my neck. Of course I had some brief success here and there to sustain me. But for the most part it sucked all my time, and money, and energy and at the end of the day I would sit there looking at it, disappointed in it, and feeling like a failure.
But I'd put too much in to turn back. I got a fish QT and a coral QT. I began testing the big 6 every week. I mapped out my PAR and started charting quarterly ICP results. I kept reading and learning from my mistakes. And I can't say exactly when it happened, but I was sitting on my couch the other evening noticing there wasn't a spec of algae on the rocks, the sand was white and beautiful, my fish were fat and happy, the corals had actually doubled and tripled in size.. oh my god.. my tank was beautiful! I finally had that gorgeous reef tank I dreamt about all those years ago!!
I know after 3 years most people would have bigger corals, and giant colonies, that the tank still has a long way to go. But I wanted to share this for everyone else who is close to throwing in the towel. And to say it may be YEARS just to reach intermediate success, but it will happen! Now I'm not fighting my tank, I do my WCs, I service my equipment, and test my water. That's it! The rest of the time I turn off the TV and just watch as this beautiful ecosystem grows and flourishes.
I was in love, I bought the dry rock and worked on my aquaucape, watched all the videos, labored over my custom plumbing, it must have been 3-4 months before I even put water in it. I thought about my tank day and night, it was SO exciting! I turned on the lights.. and that's when the fun stopped.
I think the 55" was a cake walk because it was an established tank, I expected my brand new dry rock build to be the same, but it was definitely NOT. The next 2 years were filled with pain, and death, and a battering to my bank account. I had all sorts of fish disease, coral disease, GHA, bubble algae, vermitids, cyano, and of course DINOS.. three GD TIMES! Along the way I bought every product, potion, and gadget that the internet told me I needed. But no matter how much time I put into it, the tank always looked like a disaster. My wife asked me numerous times "how long are you going to keep this up, I want that thing gone."
This thing I loved, that I obsessed over, it was now a millstone around my neck. Of course I had some brief success here and there to sustain me. But for the most part it sucked all my time, and money, and energy and at the end of the day I would sit there looking at it, disappointed in it, and feeling like a failure.
But I'd put too much in to turn back. I got a fish QT and a coral QT. I began testing the big 6 every week. I mapped out my PAR and started charting quarterly ICP results. I kept reading and learning from my mistakes. And I can't say exactly when it happened, but I was sitting on my couch the other evening noticing there wasn't a spec of algae on the rocks, the sand was white and beautiful, my fish were fat and happy, the corals had actually doubled and tripled in size.. oh my god.. my tank was beautiful! I finally had that gorgeous reef tank I dreamt about all those years ago!!
I know after 3 years most people would have bigger corals, and giant colonies, that the tank still has a long way to go. But I wanted to share this for everyone else who is close to throwing in the towel. And to say it may be YEARS just to reach intermediate success, but it will happen! Now I'm not fighting my tank, I do my WCs, I service my equipment, and test my water. That's it! The rest of the time I turn off the TV and just watch as this beautiful ecosystem grows and flourishes.
