New journey has begun !!!!

[Abhishek]

Great setup @Abhishek ! Went through your old build thread entirely today and loved the journey. Very interesting and engaging write-up. I am very new to this hobby and learning a lot each day from this great forum. Keep sharing and inspiring.

Welcome to the greatest hobby known to mankind @Aveek B . Hope you become addicted for many years to come !
Learning is the only thing we all do in this hobby each and every day .
Please don’t hesitate to ask any question you have in the forum and no question is ever dumb to ask .
We have amazing vendors out here to fuel your addiction .
Lastly , thank you so much for reading my last build thread and following me here .

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[Bonsai reef]

Welcome to the greatest hobby known to mankind @Aveek B . Hope you become addicted for many years to come !
Learning is the only thing we all do in this hobby each and every day .
Please don’t hesitate to ask any question you have in the forum and no question is ever dumb to ask .
We have amazing vendors out here to fuel your addiction .
Lastly , thank you so much for reading my last build thread and following me here .

Regards,
Abhishek

Thank you! I am already addicted and hoping to enjoy this hobby for long. I do ask whenever i have doubt / questions and i find great ppl always wanting to help here. I think reef keeping is a continuous challenge which makes this hobby so engaging. Though the most challenging part so far has been hiding the cost from my wife

 

[Abhishek]

Thank you! I am already addicted and hoping to enjoy this hobby for long. I do ask whenever i have doubt / questions and i find great ppl always wanting to help here. I think reef keeping is a continuous challenge which makes this hobby so engaging. Though the most challenging part so far has been hiding the cost from my wife

Lol !!! Oh yeah .. welcome to the club ! Doesn’t matter if you are reefing for 20 years or 20 days - hiding cost from wife is always an ongoing struggle my friend

 

[Bonsai reef]

Welcome to the greatest hobby known to mankind @Aveek B . Hope you become addicted for many years to come !
Learning is the only thing we all do in this hobby each and every day .
Please don’t hesitate to ask any question you have in the forum and no question is ever dumb to ask .
We have amazing vendors out here to fuel your addiction .
Lastly , thank you so much for reading my last build thread and following me here .

Regards,
Abhishek

It was a pleasure going through your thread. Fascinating to know you had a reef tank back in India. I have never seen/noticed any other than some marine fish-only tanks in my city LFS. I used to have F/W tank during my school days and marine was a dream. Held back on my dream being busy with work n family until recently when i thought of giving salt water tank a try. Went to an LFS one day and was spellbound seeing how beautiful reef tanks can be! And the journey started..I took a plunge

 

[Abhishek]

What do my tangs do all day ???

Not a great quality but shows the battle ground

 

[Abhishek]

It was a pleasure going through your thread. Fascinating to know you had a reef tank back in India. I have never seen/noticed any other than some marine fish-only tanks in my city LFS. I used to have F/W tank during my school days and marine was a dream. Held back on my dream being busy with work n family until recently when i thought of giving salt water tank a try. Went to an LFS one day and was spellbound seeing how beautiful reef tanks can be! And the journey started..I took a plunge

Well I should write up about my journey 12 years back in India for reef tanks sometime . I have gone to every extreme possible trying to get my hands on reefing equipments and corals in India !

Worked cleaning filthy aquarium shops in return of hope for trade for saltwater fishes mostly clowns , roamed for hours in 110 -120 degrees hoping from houses to houses maintaining aquariums in rich guys houses , carried **** loads of aquarium sands , rocks and what not unloading legal and illegal stuffs at docks and airports , bribing and everything possible just to earn a little extra cash to buy some expensive pumps and lights ! By expensive I meant like Tunze stream 1 and not Vortechs . I remember even taking a loan to afford my first chiller in India . Oh boy - some days I had .
Some days not even enough money to pay electricity bill . So started skipping one time meal to pay electricity bill for running halides ...

I never ever thought I could have the opportunity to come to US and pursue my dream . But guess God thought I ought to get one shot to keep reef tanks like kings do !!!

I still remember the small boy who left home 12-13 years back from India for US and I still carried my Tunze 6055s in my backpack as I couldn’t sell them since I saved up for over 1 year to buy them from Germany !!!! I gave up everything for 6 years here but somewhere deep in my attic still had my first tunzes bought with every penny I had .

I should definitely do a write up ..

Today we fight over an acro that costs 500$ like a home wrecker and there was a time when that was my yearly salary

That’s why sometimes and only sometimes I smile in my alone time sitting infront of my tank thanking God and saying that I would go through all the hardships again gladly if I knew He had this opportunity for me in store !!

 

[Bonsai reef]

Well I should write up about my journey 12 years back in India for reef tanks sometime . I have gone to every extreme possible trying to get my hands on reefing equipments and corals in India !

Worked cleaning filthy aquarium shops in return of hope for trade for saltwater fishes mostly clowns , roamed for hours in 110 -120 degrees hoping from houses to houses maintaining aquariums in rich guys houses , carried **** loads of aquarium sands , rocks and what not unloading legal and illegal stuffs at docks and airports , bribing and everything possible just to earn a little extra cash to buy some expensive pumps and lights !

I never ever thought I could have the opportunity to come to US and pursue my dream . But guess God thought I ought to get one shot to keep reed tanks like kings do !!!

I still remember the small boy who left home 12-13 years back from India for US and I still carried my Tunze 6055s in my backpack as I couldn’t sell them since I saved up for over 1 year to buy them from Germany !!!! I gave up everything for 6 years here but somewhere deep in my attic still had my first tunzes bought with every penny I had .

I should definitely do a write up ..

Today we fight over an acro that costs 500$ like a home wrecker and there was a time when that was my yearly salary

That’s why sometimes and only sometimes I smile in my alone time sitting infront of my tank thanking God and saying that I would go through all the hardships again gladly if I knew He had this opportunity for me in store !!

That is amazing! You definitely should write about that journey and share with us where passion can drive a person. Looking forward to it. It would be the most interesting thread to read I am sure.

 

[Abhishek]

Today when I see the frustration of people for petty things like not able to buy Trident or constant complaints about salt killing whole tank - makes me wonder how ignorant we are of the real problems so many unfortunate ones face that also want to pursue their dreams !

Forget testing and doser and calcium reactor - I could only afford kalkwasser dosage by hand at one time and had to learn to read how corals react to swings

 

[Abhishek]

That is amazing! You definitely should write about that journey and share with us where passion can drive a person. Looking forward to it. It would be the most interesting thread to read I am sure.

You have stirred up a lot of emotions and old memories my friend !
Today when I sit back and think - my skimmer alone costs more than what I earned in a year at one point in India but that never stopped me from keeping a reef tank even back then

 

[Bonsai reef]

You have stirred up a lot of emotions and old memories my friend !
Today when I sit back and think - my skimmer alone costs more than what I earned in a year at one point in India but that never stopped me from keeping a reef tank even back then

I can relate and understand your emotions

 

[Fudsey]

What do my tangs do all day ???

Not a great quality but shows the battle ground

Love the interaction between these 2 ! ! ! Vying for supremacy ;Woot;Woot

Tank looks FANTASTIC ! ! !

 

[Abhishek]

Love the interaction between these 2 ! ! ! Vying for supremacy ;Woot;Woot

Tank looks FANTASTIC ! ! !

Thank you and appreciate it a lot you following the build .
The tangs were all qted and introduced at the same time and same sizes . I think that definitely helped with aggression . Both the acanthurus are still the same size and they still can’t figure out who’s the actual king !

 

[JCOLE]

Looking good! Welcome back to R2R!!

 

[Abhishek]

Looking good! Welcome back to R2R!!

Thank you ! I never left R2R though not the hobby in this recent move .

 

[MrsBugmaster]

@Abhishek I think it is great you have a pair of copperbands! I am currently attempting a "pair" themed tank in my 180. Not planning on breeding, just thought it would be cool to watch them interact as they would in the wild.

My husband came from India with nothing but a suitcase and less than $300 some 30 years ago. And look at us now. He has a Ph.D. and is vice president of a company, and a comfy life. But we always remember where we came from and give back!

 

[Abhishek]

@Abhishek I think it is great you have a pair of copperbands! I am currently attempting a "pair" themed tank in my 180. Not planning on breeding, just thought it would be cool to watch them interact as they would in the wild.

My husband came from India with nothing but a suitcase and less than $300 some 30 years ago. And look at us now. He has a Ph.D. and is vice president of a company, and a comfy life. But we always remember where we came from and give back!

Thank you for following my thread . Please do not hesitate to share videos of your pair of CBBs . I would love to see the interaction and hopefully the pairing works out .

Much respect to you and your husband to have worked your way through the struggles and made it big .

 

[MrsBugmaster]

Thank you for following my thread . Please do not hesitate to share videos of your pair of CBBs . I would love to see the interaction and hopefully the pairing works out .

Much respect to you and your husband to have worked your way through the struggles and made it big .

I don't have a pair of CBB's yet. I have a pair of Pakistan's, Indian Vegabond and a pair of Interruptus Anglefish

 

[csb123]

Hey Abisheck, tell us about your cryptic refugium and it’s benefits. Also, why did you skip a macro algae refugium?

 

[Abhishek]

Hey Abisheck, tell us about your cryptic refugium and it’s benefits. Also, why did you skip a macro algae refugium?

Hi Sean ,

Think I wrote in detail in this post of mine about my cryptic refugium

Build Thread - New journey has begun !!!!

Looks real nice. Wish I could shut down mine and GO BIG.

www.reef2reef.com

Low flow and minimal to no light is the key for a true cryptic refugium .
I find macro refugiums a lot more maintenance and easy to let nitrates and phosphates drop way too low for an acro dominated tank . Coupled with the investment in quality light .
Many macro refugiums run into other issues like asexual reproduction of calurpa or have to be removed when dosing medications for acropora bugs that might impact them .

Cryptic refugiums with all the growth from tunicates , sponges serve a pretty good job once matured in dealing with high nutrient issues and is of minimal maintenance .

In my limited experience I have always found that a tank with matured bio diversity and excellent sponge and filter feeder growth also can maintain acroporas much easily with vibrant coloration and growth . Not that its the only way but just makes it easier comparatively .

 

[csb123]

Hey Abishek, can you provide any links, as to how to build a cryptic refugium. I’m getting rid of my macro algae. Are there proportions of sand/small rubble/large rubble to follow? How do you manage detritus build up, if at all?