So at risk of being click-baity and overly dramatic, it's honestly not as extreme as the title sounds. A quick backstory, then onto the things you guys really care about.
I got bit by the bug long ago. I don't know the exact moment that spurred it, although, maybe I do. I remember visiting a friend from High School that I hadn't seen in years, and walking into his house with this gigantic saltwater tank. I had endless questions, and endless fascination with it. I was watching his fish, looking at coral and just in awe about what could be kept right next to a Lazyboy. I think I might have annoyed him with how interested I was in his fish and how little I was catching up with him! I left and bought books and started researching. I chuckle now, checking out the "other" reefing forum and see I signed up for an account about 8 years ago, but just lurked.
I bought a house 7+ years ago. There was a distinct place in the house that made perfect sense for a tank. I gave it a lot of thought and started planning and scheming. I wanted to make it work, but circumstances at the time held me back. I think back then I was paralyzed by overwhelming amount of information and the fear of "doing it wrong". It's something I've worked on fixing all my life, overcoming perfectionism. I'm far from perfect, but I hate half-assing things.
Fast forward to 3 weeks ago, freshly back from our wedding in Hawaii and snorkeling with tropical fish, I had to make this happen. Luckily I have the perfect lady by my side who's just as into fishys as I am. I browsed craigslist and facebook and stumbled on this.
It was a 2 year old Red Sea Max 500. The tank was needing moved by the weekend, and after a quick negotiation we locked it in. I debated if i was getting in way over my head with this and if i should start with something a lot smaller. It all happened so fast, but i knew with my personality that I'd just end up going big in the long run anyways. Might as well fire off with a bang.
OK so now we're in rush mode. We decided we needed to paint the room before the big heavy tank came home.
You can see the wall to the left of the stepladder is the designated location.
Moving day
Cleaned the sump, and rinsed out the sand.
Tank in it's location.
So in the tank was just a few corals and life, including some xenia, kenya tree, GSP, an anemone and a tomato clown.
Our German Shepherd likes the blue glow.
I got bit by the bug long ago. I don't know the exact moment that spurred it, although, maybe I do. I remember visiting a friend from High School that I hadn't seen in years, and walking into his house with this gigantic saltwater tank. I had endless questions, and endless fascination with it. I was watching his fish, looking at coral and just in awe about what could be kept right next to a Lazyboy. I think I might have annoyed him with how interested I was in his fish and how little I was catching up with him! I left and bought books and started researching. I chuckle now, checking out the "other" reefing forum and see I signed up for an account about 8 years ago, but just lurked.
I bought a house 7+ years ago. There was a distinct place in the house that made perfect sense for a tank. I gave it a lot of thought and started planning and scheming. I wanted to make it work, but circumstances at the time held me back. I think back then I was paralyzed by overwhelming amount of information and the fear of "doing it wrong". It's something I've worked on fixing all my life, overcoming perfectionism. I'm far from perfect, but I hate half-assing things.
Fast forward to 3 weeks ago, freshly back from our wedding in Hawaii and snorkeling with tropical fish, I had to make this happen. Luckily I have the perfect lady by my side who's just as into fishys as I am. I browsed craigslist and facebook and stumbled on this.
It was a 2 year old Red Sea Max 500. The tank was needing moved by the weekend, and after a quick negotiation we locked it in. I debated if i was getting in way over my head with this and if i should start with something a lot smaller. It all happened so fast, but i knew with my personality that I'd just end up going big in the long run anyways. Might as well fire off with a bang.
OK so now we're in rush mode. We decided we needed to paint the room before the big heavy tank came home.
You can see the wall to the left of the stepladder is the designated location.
Moving day
Cleaned the sump, and rinsed out the sand.
Tank in it's location.
So in the tank was just a few corals and life, including some xenia, kenya tree, GSP, an anemone and a tomato clown.
Our German Shepherd likes the blue glow.
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