criticalencore
New Member
Hello, my name is Scott. I have was pretty heavy into the hobby for a long time but after some personal issues i had took a 4 year or so break... I started with a 55g like in 2008, which turned into 4 tanks running, which turned into me making a 550g plywood tank in the wall of my house... I'm pretty sure i have a build thread somewhere but I'm new to this site. I had went all-in during my addiction to reef-tanking even to the point of building a 22x24 room attached to my house for the fish tank filtration to get some of the humidity out of my house. Before leaving I had a reef that I was really happy with and I loved the fish just as much as the coral. Part of the reason for building the 8' tank was because I had purchased a baby Vlamingii tang from a LFS because someone was looking to buy it for a small tank and I knew how big they got so I committed to it (He ended up 16" before I shut my tank down). Ill have to dig up a bunch of pics at some point but my Instagram is CriticalEncore.
Anyways I sold and gave away a lot of my equipment, but I did save a bunch that I just kept stored in my fish room. I would see alot of the stuff when I would go into the room and always thought about my old tank. Recently a friend of mine picked up a setup from someone getting out and after about 2 hours of talking with him, I decided to set up a drilled 40b I had left. I already had a stand I had built for it and a sump. I still have prob 600+ of rock, my old Apex, a Tunze ATO and pretty much everything I needed but alot of the equipment is way too big for a 40b so I did have to order a DC pump since the mag7 I had laying around was louder then I wanted in my living room. I grabbed a couple of the 165w Leds I had over my old tank and ordered the filters for my SpectraPure RODI. I even had 2 boxes of salt mix.
So now Ive had it cycling for awhile but still havent added anything to the tank. I have a lot of finishing touches that I need to do but Im not rushing anything. When I had my big tank going it had almost became a part time job instead of a fun hobby and with this new tank I have the feeling of looking foward to maintenance. I still actually have the 550g in my wall because I have always planned on starting it again so eventually Im going to fill it back up and make sure everything is 100% when I do decide Im back into full-blown reef addiction... I stay near Wilmington, NC and havent even been into any of the (2 i think) LFS around here. Ill be creeping around this forum every once in awhile...
Anyways I sold and gave away a lot of my equipment, but I did save a bunch that I just kept stored in my fish room. I would see alot of the stuff when I would go into the room and always thought about my old tank. Recently a friend of mine picked up a setup from someone getting out and after about 2 hours of talking with him, I decided to set up a drilled 40b I had left. I already had a stand I had built for it and a sump. I still have prob 600+ of rock, my old Apex, a Tunze ATO and pretty much everything I needed but alot of the equipment is way too big for a 40b so I did have to order a DC pump since the mag7 I had laying around was louder then I wanted in my living room. I grabbed a couple of the 165w Leds I had over my old tank and ordered the filters for my SpectraPure RODI. I even had 2 boxes of salt mix.
So now Ive had it cycling for awhile but still havent added anything to the tank. I have a lot of finishing touches that I need to do but Im not rushing anything. When I had my big tank going it had almost became a part time job instead of a fun hobby and with this new tank I have the feeling of looking foward to maintenance. I still actually have the 550g in my wall because I have always planned on starting it again so eventually Im going to fill it back up and make sure everything is 100% when I do decide Im back into full-blown reef addiction... I stay near Wilmington, NC and havent even been into any of the (2 i think) LFS around here. Ill be creeping around this forum every once in awhile...
