Mr. Fancy Pants
Community Member
After loosing our last freshwater fish due to age, our tank sat empty for several months. A new LFS opened up by us and being people who like to support local businesses...we decided to stop in and "look around". We inquired about the saltwater fish & corals, asked questions, more questions and walked out empty handed. My wife & I did some research together (found this forum) and decided to give it a try, a birthday present to her. We also signed up for a couple free classes at our LFS.
Our tank was bought many years ago when we first got married. It's a 40gal with a stand. We emptied it out and did a complete cleaning. A couple days later we headed to the LFS. On the first trip, we picked up some live sand, salt and a hydrometer. I placed a plate down on the live sand and added filtered water (now know better). I added some salt and gently mixed with my wife's wooden kitchen spoon (was slapped for that lol). Turned on the filter and let it sit overnight. Took a reading and read 1.024. We let the tank sit for a week and took another trip to our LFS. This trip we picked up 15lbs of live rock, a power head and some API testing kits (Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate & PH). The tank then sat for three weeks to cycle as we took readings very often. This gave us some time to shop around for items we wanted.
We bought a Marineland LED Light w/ timer from Dr. Foster & Smith (great prices/highly recommend). Replaced the impeller in our filter (so much quieter). I found a Aqua C Remora Protein Skimmer on Craigslist locally for $40. Also, we bought a digital temp. gauge from Coralife and purchased a RO/DI system. Added a Marineland Max-Jet 900 as well for mixing water, etc. Picked up another heater as well for back-up and mixing. Now we waited for the brown truck to drop off our goodies.
Once our readings looked good to us, a bottle of water went with us to our LFS for their review. Got the green flag to proceed. We decided to get a pair of Clowns.
On the way home, we talked about what to name the fish and came up with the idea to name them after our friends/family. "Billy & Linda" was chosen based on a new friendship we have with another couple.
We added the Clowns and they have seemed to take well. I will admit, we were nervous lol. They seem to have made home under a arched stone (fake) and for the first couple days didn't eat too much or come out for that matter. Once we received the LED Light, that come out a lot more.
Fast forward a couple weeks. Another trip to the LFS resulted in a Gobi coming home with us. I like him a lot and his name is "Donny" after my buddy who likes to lay around a lot
.
The following week, we added some cleaners. A skunk shrimp named "Zac" after my daughters boyfriend because he is all over the place. Also, a couple hermit crabs named "Sheila" and "Debbie". Two of our friends who clean houses for extra money.
That brings us to current. We are really enjoying doing this together and are one lucky couple to share such a great hobby. Now we are absorbing all the info we can and doing our research. Ultimately, we want to start introducing Corals.
Some pictures & thanks for reading.
Our tank was bought many years ago when we first got married. It's a 40gal with a stand. We emptied it out and did a complete cleaning. A couple days later we headed to the LFS. On the first trip, we picked up some live sand, salt and a hydrometer. I placed a plate down on the live sand and added filtered water (now know better). I added some salt and gently mixed with my wife's wooden kitchen spoon (was slapped for that lol). Turned on the filter and let it sit overnight. Took a reading and read 1.024. We let the tank sit for a week and took another trip to our LFS. This trip we picked up 15lbs of live rock, a power head and some API testing kits (Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate & PH). The tank then sat for three weeks to cycle as we took readings very often. This gave us some time to shop around for items we wanted.
We bought a Marineland LED Light w/ timer from Dr. Foster & Smith (great prices/highly recommend). Replaced the impeller in our filter (so much quieter). I found a Aqua C Remora Protein Skimmer on Craigslist locally for $40. Also, we bought a digital temp. gauge from Coralife and purchased a RO/DI system. Added a Marineland Max-Jet 900 as well for mixing water, etc. Picked up another heater as well for back-up and mixing. Now we waited for the brown truck to drop off our goodies.
Once our readings looked good to us, a bottle of water went with us to our LFS for their review. Got the green flag to proceed. We decided to get a pair of Clowns.
On the way home, we talked about what to name the fish and came up with the idea to name them after our friends/family. "Billy & Linda" was chosen based on a new friendship we have with another couple.
We added the Clowns and they have seemed to take well. I will admit, we were nervous lol. They seem to have made home under a arched stone (fake) and for the first couple days didn't eat too much or come out for that matter. Once we received the LED Light, that come out a lot more.
Fast forward a couple weeks. Another trip to the LFS resulted in a Gobi coming home with us. I like him a lot and his name is "Donny" after my buddy who likes to lay around a lot
.The following week, we added some cleaners. A skunk shrimp named "Zac" after my daughters boyfriend because he is all over the place. Also, a couple hermit crabs named "Sheila" and "Debbie". Two of our friends who clean houses for extra money.
That brings us to current. We are really enjoying doing this together and are one lucky couple to share such a great hobby. Now we are absorbing all the info we can and doing our research. Ultimately, we want to start introducing Corals.
Some pictures & thanks for reading.
