iemsparticus
The Addiction is Real
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2017
- Messages
- 750
- Reaction score
- 860
- Location
- Fort Worth, TX
- What state or country do you live in
- Texas
Hey All,
So, I’ve been away from the forums for some time, and there are a couple reasons.
1) Life has been really crazy... I mean, there really needs to be 8 or 9 days in a week, at least, for me to get everything done that I need to get done. My wife and I recently had our 4th kid, and that’s stretched us even thinner.
2) My tank has been, frankly, embarrassing. It’s a very long story, but to try and be concise, I started it using ZEOvit, and gradually became more and more dissatisfied with it. As I was deciding on the best, and most stress free, way of weaning my tank off of ZEOvit, disaster struck: I lost my job. This is not a cheap hobby, and this was like a death knell. ZEOvit is not exactly the cheapest option out there, and there was no way I could keep it going and still pay for my mortgage and grocery bills while looking for a new job. So I had to pull my tank off ZEOvit, cold turkey.
It was, in a word, disastrous.
I had the absolute worst algae outbreak I have witnessed. GHA, and Cyano, spiraled our of Control. I lost at least 9 corals... to be honest, I stopped counting because it made me sick. I lost most of my inverts as well. I couldn’t afford salt, so I was forced to try and ration the salt I had, so weekly water changes were out of the question. I absolutely thought my tank was done for, and it depressed me to the point of giving up. I didn’t see much of a way out.
However, things have taken a turn for the better, and I wanted to share it with you all. I scrimped pennies together for some Carbon, and I was able to get that going. I did a few spaced out water changes, and I scrubbed the algae off of the rocks every chance I got. It was extremely time consuming and laborious work, but I pushed through it. At some point, I noticed that some of my corals started looking better as far as coloration, and then some of them started to grow. That was all I needed to see, and my depression turned into excitement. I redoubled all of my efforts. At this point, the algae is all but defeated, the water chemistry in my tank has found stability, and I am seeing improvement in most of my corals.
I am still job searching, and still can’t afford salt or anymore carbon, so I am not out off the woods yet. However, I am fully hopeful that the tides will turn... and as soon as I get steady income again, I will be able to get what I need to help the tank take off.
If you have made it this far, I’m impressed, and I want to encourage you that, no matter how bad things get, there is always something that can be done, and it is never worth giving up on. It’s your reef... get after it!
So, I’ve been away from the forums for some time, and there are a couple reasons.
1) Life has been really crazy... I mean, there really needs to be 8 or 9 days in a week, at least, for me to get everything done that I need to get done. My wife and I recently had our 4th kid, and that’s stretched us even thinner.
2) My tank has been, frankly, embarrassing. It’s a very long story, but to try and be concise, I started it using ZEOvit, and gradually became more and more dissatisfied with it. As I was deciding on the best, and most stress free, way of weaning my tank off of ZEOvit, disaster struck: I lost my job. This is not a cheap hobby, and this was like a death knell. ZEOvit is not exactly the cheapest option out there, and there was no way I could keep it going and still pay for my mortgage and grocery bills while looking for a new job. So I had to pull my tank off ZEOvit, cold turkey.
It was, in a word, disastrous.
I had the absolute worst algae outbreak I have witnessed. GHA, and Cyano, spiraled our of Control. I lost at least 9 corals... to be honest, I stopped counting because it made me sick. I lost most of my inverts as well. I couldn’t afford salt, so I was forced to try and ration the salt I had, so weekly water changes were out of the question. I absolutely thought my tank was done for, and it depressed me to the point of giving up. I didn’t see much of a way out.
However, things have taken a turn for the better, and I wanted to share it with you all. I scrimped pennies together for some Carbon, and I was able to get that going. I did a few spaced out water changes, and I scrubbed the algae off of the rocks every chance I got. It was extremely time consuming and laborious work, but I pushed through it. At some point, I noticed that some of my corals started looking better as far as coloration, and then some of them started to grow. That was all I needed to see, and my depression turned into excitement. I redoubled all of my efforts. At this point, the algae is all but defeated, the water chemistry in my tank has found stability, and I am seeing improvement in most of my corals.
I am still job searching, and still can’t afford salt or anymore carbon, so I am not out off the woods yet. However, I am fully hopeful that the tides will turn... and as soon as I get steady income again, I will be able to get what I need to help the tank take off.
If you have made it this far, I’m impressed, and I want to encourage you that, no matter how bad things get, there is always something that can be done, and it is never worth giving up on. It’s your reef... get after it!
