My Reef Story -Aylmer Quebec

[Feivel]

Hey guys, as stated i would do a history on my Reef Addiction.

As a kid, i used to have 30g tank with goldfish, and i remember gazing at them and passing out many nights watching them swimming around.

So, One day many years later, my friend had a 50-55g long sitting that she was discarding. I threw it in my car and brought it home. That tank has seen many many inhabitants, like gerbils, snakes, hamsters, 6 turtles etc... etc...

So during one of its storage periods, my dad decided he wanted to incorporate it into the wall in the basement. That was a great idea and we got it did Slowly picked up a few things and set up the Freshwater tank, It quickly set up to be a nice planted tank with lots of swords guppies and a few angels. Everything did great, but I did not like the 6Inches of space around the tank. I kept my eyes open and found this 90g that fit the hole perfectly. (after measuring i found out it was only a 75g) It came drilled. So i switched the 50 for the 75. The 50 is the tank my daughter is gazing into,(notice the lack of trim) The 75 is the one on the right.

I then found a local fishy forum servicing Ottawa/Gatineau area. I started asking questions, meeting members trading plants etc. Its about this point I meet my friend Phil. Phil had a keen eye and was wathcing my upgrade process. He then asked me to turn to the reef side, I replied, NO WAY... Its WAY to expensive. THIS IS ALL YOU WILL NEED: he says. 50$ for these (2) tanks plumbing bit of sand and crapclone skimmer.

Well now, two tanks, drilled, I can either make a breeding tank for freshwater with this, or sell it and get double my money back.... So I gave it a try. I picked up the tank. I rinced and screened the sand, filled it with water but i did not like how tippy the stand was. At the time i was taking a welding course and decided to create a stand for the tank. I cut out 150 peices, sanded and buffed inside and out both sides to proect from slicing fingers, 2-3 hours to cut, 8-9 hours to clean. BUT it looked something like this:

To Be Continued .... (Out of picture space )

 

[spspirate]

Tuning in! Great story so far.....and very sweet looking stand!!

 

[Feivel]

So during the building process of the stand, I was told I was going to need a box of salt (70$) A refractometer (found used 20$) and a light (again, used 200$ with 2 month old bulbs)Tek Light Elite. OH and now your going to need a RO/DI To help reduce the phosphates that fuel algaes. (Used 80$)

So now my tank looks something like this: ** One of the fellow students was a granite guy, he had some chunks kicking around he donated to me. I used a Primer and then tremclad blue for the stand. It held up ok, but it was hard to get all the nooks and crannies.
OK Great, Phil says, Your off to a great start. NOW you need the basis of life, Live Rock, HERE, i got a GSP covered rock for you, 20$.

There you have it, i am now a PROUD owner of a reef,

I think this is the coolest thing on earth at this point in time, and its BARE EMPTY, but its VERY exciting to start a brand new tank, a brand new experience. As time progressed, i learned a lot about the eco system, the balance required, trace elements, test kits, choosing fish & Their compatabilities together, Finding my first pests and buying your first coral. A forum member was closing their tank, so i ran over with 200$ and bout the 70lbs of live rock, leather coral mushrooms and a few other beginner corals. I got myself a pair of Ocelaris Clowns,

I was told they were breeding pair, (52$) Never seen any eggs yet. Then a Banghai, Cleaner shrimp, Peppermint, Snails, Assorted hermits, and eventually after pod population, a dragonet (Waldo)

Now where getting somewhere.... Now I get to thinking, I bought a light, salt, tools, tests ro/di, Im up 600$(over about 2-3 months) .... What happened to "This is *ALL* you will need?" lol. So some time goes by, I pick up a few more corals here and there. I tried some SPS, LPS, Softies, I didnt loose much and it seemed they grew very well so I was happy. I would always religously do 10% weekly water change. My first crash was pretty fun, i switched salts to LFS recomendations and lost a white acro for one and my rainbow stylo... So now im up 200$ in corals and livestock, the tank is looking crowdeed, im hooked and I need more room :angel: Im browsing on kijiji, and a local (up the street to boot) is closing his 25g, So i grabbed the live rock from the tank, put the yellow tail in my main tank and started cooking the live rock. Then another tank shut down, i picked up 70lbs of sand, and 50lbs of rocks

Now remember that 75g in the wall? Well I did My parents neglected the tank and my brothers were no help. The plants died off, so i decided to take back my drilled 75, and replace the easier to maintain 55g (Wich eventually ended up with 1 male and 4 female convict ciclids and now 30ish babies 1", acurate as of today) i traded the ciclids for some coral frags about 4-5 months ago. ) Now rewind back to the story, end of March 2012 I switched the 75 for the 55(in the wall) Brought it home, placed the rocks and sand to keep them live and enough water to start a cycle. Found a 4 foot tek light for 150$.

The idea was to get the cycle started, I had a maxi jet pumping the water into a sock held in the bucket, i would rustle up the sand bed everytime I would see it was clear. I still had lots of work to do to get this onto a stand.

To be Continued ..... ** Revised and edited pictures.... The original post crashed on me

 

[Feivel]

So now im out of school, im in an ALL aluminum productions shop for truck accesories (Tool boxes, Cab Sheilds, Fenders etc...) with a shear, a break, and Me as one of many welders in the shop. I talk to the bender, and became good friends with him over time, We were actually planning a designing a wicked crazy aluminim checkerplate stand

with struts for the canopy, doors and sliding trays for the sump, we sampled the canopy cover to see what type of tolerances and sizes I liked, we used the scrap peices and returned them to the pile when done (There was actually litterally a ton of scrap sheet aluminim made everyday it was ridiculous, Always recycled back to the manufacturers)

When we were good and ready I bought the 2 blanks I needed (was like 5$) and bent them and brought them home for temporary use, as I had nothing to hold my current light. Unfortunately when i asked the boss permision to build the stand (was going to be like 900-1200$ all said and done hinges door handles struts materials etc etc etc,) He declined me resoning that if he said yes to me, then he had to say yes to everyone, then no one would ever want to go home. So i went to home depot that night and bought I think it was 2-2x6, 1-2x4 and 2-1x6. I had a full sheet of sanded plywood (that I cherry picked from a pile) i had it pre-cut at home depot (no table saw) and i missed my calculation for the top by an inch but no ones ever going to notice and its not structural. The squareness and flatness is impecable I measured corner to corner like an "X" used ratchet straps till squared and screwed the lid down. ZERO wobble. I placed a 2" pink styrofoam (from construction field dumpster) under the tank to absorb the vibrations and stresses that may be caused.

To Be Continued.... im off to bed for tonight

*Hint* I do have an up to date reef video on the site Should be too far from this one in the tank build section.
Cheers and thanks for reading

 

[Feivel]

YAY, so now I have set-up my tank pininsula style, 3Side viewable. This part took me a bit of time. I moved as much old water as possible while leaving enough water for the 30g to run untill i make the transfer. I placed the rockwork, Let the dust settle, I was keeping the old W/C Water and filling the 75g with it. made 30% new water, Adjusted the water temp, and placed a few corals to see their reaction.

I left everything sit for a few hours. Then i started Placing all the corals from the small tank. Got myself a better return pump, and about 500$ Later, The 75 g is set-up and running

The part might get a bit picture heavy As pictures say a million words At this point, I have TONS of room to fill. I started buying a frag per week, 10-30$ per week. I would visit each of the LFS around. At this point, I was looking for a new fish, i had enough corals for my liking at this point. I ask the LFS owner of my favorite LFS about the fish he has in Too bad, now I shop out in Montreal, or Kingston, each 2 hours away in the oposite direction respectively

 

[Feivel]

I then acquired a Clam and my FIRST (Of many) Acans

The old semi rinced sand created an algae bloom. Made some CRAZY cyano. I had listened to the advice of my LFS and didnt rince it completey, i figured the life in the sand would help my tank, but effectively its like shaking an ant farm and expecting them to be alll OK....

Got myself some new equipment,GFO and Bio-Pellets Reactor. to help remove phosphates and nitrates

This is a few weeks later, after the Cyano outbreak disapeared and a few more corals stocked.

Now im sitting at about 1800$ In total that i have spent on everything for my tank, its been about a year and a half since I have started my Reef Addiciton. Thinga are looking great. And This is where things get put into High Gear, :xd:

 

[Feivel]

I got an anemone for the clowns, They travel a lot. I thought I picked a good spot for him, I guess I was wrong.

He has traveled and settled.... for now The Hand Leather (Left side) Has started to not open properly, It looses fingers all the time, My monticap is turning Blue and i have NO idea whats going on.

I asked a bunch of questions on my Local Forum, and didnt get any clear answers. I know know its a lack of Magnesium that caused ths, but at the time i hadn't a clue and was told that a bigger water change will do the trick, or a better salt micture. So i purchase a bucket of DD H2Ocean, Because i was using Reef Crystals, I was told I could just switch, NOW, Basing myself of previous experiences, I didn't just straight switch, I would slowly put more and more. I needed to add 5 gallons to my sump to plug in my new skimmer (Reef Octopus bh1000) So i made 5g of the new salt and topped off then did my 10g water change (10% new salt) And i think i added the bio- pellets reactor at this point with 100g of media (I know i mentioned it earlier, but i think the BP was purchased at this point to help control the re-occuring cyano outbreaks) So something triggered my Hydnophora at this point, It strung out a bunches of warfare tentacles and took out my BEAUTIFULL blue Mili (or acro) my first purchased SPS that lived thru a lot of stress at ths point A few crashes, a bleaching and still living.... Sigh, havent found/seen one like it since.

Another tank shut down scored me 2-4 foot reefbrights for 180$. Im happy I bought both of them and not just one, because of the 3 side viewable. If it was a standard tank, I could have gotten away with just one.

 

[Feivel]

 

[Feivel]

Now that The GSP Is growing strong, i didnt want it to invade my tank, so I set it off to its own island.

My Clam Siting pretty

Half FTS. Look at that progress :wink:

ReefBright

Night Shot

 

[Feivel]

The Kole Tang passed away, not sure what happened to him. So I got myself a Scoopas tang. For those actually following, this is the fish the LFS told me to know what i wanted to come for, and that was the last time i set foot in his store, i felt SO insulted.

So, another kijiji tank tear down, the add reads: Free to good home. Again for those following, (its been entioned already) This is the yellowtail Damsel and tank shut down i got.

The damsel shinning beautifully in the main.

I traded something off and got a pair of clownfish and a stack of multi colored zoas for trade.

In the small tank it goes. Then somebody asks me to help them move some tanks and get stuff at a far location. I Offered my services because i have a truck. That was the trip I got Nemo and Dory That turned into quite the event, but not the story for today long story short, i got a wicked skimmer but the lady kept the pump and refused to give it to me, on top of the GREAT deal i gave her, it actually cost me money to help her, and she thinks i got a good deal.... HAHAHAHA lol Anyways.... I put nemo in with the pair of clowns, dory in the small tank temporary untill I figure if he is compatible with Scoopas. I eventually dumped them together and they have been Fine ever since.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Tank looks great!

 

[Feivel]

Thanks Rev, Im not done my story yet, been a bit busy today to continue it, but thanks for the encouragement. This will lead to a pretty long picture heavy thread by the end Im just getting to the Acan Addiction part Secret cheater trick for cameras and your eye you will not believe (You, Rev, have seen my pictures and probably know my trick ) im about 1.5-2 years into a 3 year story and many more years to come Also my future build ideas. This is actually really fun remembering and remenissing about all my problems and issues

Cheers
P.S. Heres some pics just for fun

^FTS

^Rainbow Monti

^Pay particular atention to the valida in the far right of the rock work, for a later point in time (Growth)

^ATO Bracket, made out of hockey puck board (also used for 18 wheeler wind deflectors under the trailers, youve seen them)

^Clam, Enough Said :tongue:

 

[Bjohn]

Nice tank! You should drop by Burlington sometime!! Also Mississauga and Toronto have some really wicked places, though that would be a long drive for you.

 

[Feivel]

Now, At this point, we were having remodeling issues in our local forum. They were not favoring the salty side of things. So me and a friend started our own local fish help forum on facebook. It was previously just a weekly email about anything cool going on, and we recruited the members on facebook. WOO HOO A Whooping 18 members. We got up to about 40, I then went to Niagra Falls with the family, And on the return way home I stopped at a LFS in Ganonoque. It was about 9:30pm when I finally found his place. He was very friendly, kind and generous of his time and didnt mind the late appearence. I had a chit chat with him, he was telling how he likes to help the hobbiests acquire what they need for a fair price. I then spotten a beautifull tri-color open brain. Looking at it and referencing the LFS at home, I was expecting a minimum of 80-140$ for this peice. e looks at me and says:"All the brains are 35$ except for those 2, there 45 cause there bigger. I was like:"WhAt?!!? No wow factor pricing?, The more you go OOOOooooo and AAAAaahhhhhh, the more the price goes up.

So after a few group order with that LFS, we were up 150 local members, one of the members was moving, he had a 29cube and a frag rack. I went and purchased the frag rack for like 100$

To the exception of the Raibow monti in the corner, thats pretty much the score Just above the monti is an orange acan with a green face. The LFS was charging 50$ for that specific peice (as its from that lfs) so i was very happy with my FIRST acan
Now with all the tank break downs, cycled Live rocks and a drilled tank in storage, I reset my 30g.

There you go folks, thats how EASY it is to get MTS, Multiple Tank Syndrome.... Yup.... shortly enough, i was getting tired of doing 2 seperate watcer changes, My brother wanted the tank so I "Ahem" Sold it to him as it sits for 400$.... needless to say 8 months later, he moved back to moms after his gf left him, and the tank came back home.... But thats kinda getting ahead of ourselves a bit here Theres not much story left, BUT There are a lot of nice progress pictures to come and the visual aids trick

^My nem before it decided to move and split on me.

^Starfish out and about. Yeah the glass did need to be cleaned

 

[Genesis Corals]

Looking great, looking forward to hearing the rest.

 

[Feivel]

Some Random Pics (Before I found my visual aid trick) :tongue: ... Its comming

^ YES, Tang Police, That is a 6"ish Hippo (Dory) Tang in a 30gallon tank. Remember the part of the story were I had to find out if he was compatible with my Scoopas Tang in the main tank. He was there for about a day. Figured it was better living arrangements than being shipped, or cared for by a neglectfull and not setup caretaker with not a clue about how the saltwater tank works .... So Fine ME e

^See that digitata in the background? It was a lost cause from a friends tank, It was 90% dead when i got it, it grew, and grew, AND GREW,(See post 7 and 10) that thing would be considered a weed in the backyard I made 10 frags off it and it didn't even show a week later.

^MicroDot mushrooms.... now these would have been a hit in the 60's :xd:

^ Anyone want to go tanning???

^ I was liking the pictogram look at the time

 

[Feivel]

^Ya know, sometimes its fun when you move pumps that have been there for a while. Peek-A-Boo, I see You LOL

^ Ahhh the best 60$ i could have spent. I hooked up all my reactors, my main tank, Bio-Pellets reactor and a tank drain line, if you need another outlet, just add it. Nothing is glued just teflon and screwed in. Saved me just about a full power bar worth of pumps. Mag9.5 return. One thing that was brought to me by an experienced plumber/aquarist, is that in the long run, those types of ball valve will fail (twist type) The ones you want are the tap type (screw valve) the are more precise and reliable, not to mention longetivety. so keep that in mind next time you build one of these, or replace the failed parts with whats right.

^This was advertised to me as a White Tonga Torch. I dont know if it was just stressed and bleached, but it didnt last very long. Mind you im sure there was a parameter fluctuation at around that point that could have explained that lol Too Bad....

^ Just pay attention to the Aussie Duncan for a later date closer to today whats that got like 4 heads? (its up to about 20-25 today pics will be when i get to todays part of the tank Big plans BIG PLANS)

^Everybody get together, lets try to love one another Notice the Valida's growth from the first picture? The Nem was pretty comfy there for a bit, but he did move once i replaced my rock work. (thats probably what did in the white tonga.... who knows lol)
The Ever so Toxic Hydnaphora. My BEAUTIFUL Green acro with about 20 towers growing BEUATIFULLY .... Im in LOVE