Initial build post - January 20, 2023
Tank and equipment
Livestock
Upcoming projects
First reef tank - February 2020
After a dramatic end to a terrible marriage, my two-year-old son and I moved in with my parents. I brought my little 5 gallon freshwater tank with me, and trips to the fish store for that tank plus needing a project to distract me from my life led me to set up a 45G AIO. This tank had ups and downs (I never could keep LPS alive) but was overall successful until I bought a house of my own and left the tank with my parents (who never signed up for taking care of a reef tank but were nice enough to feed the fish for me). It slowly became covered with bubble algae as it sat with no maintenance for months and months.
The first move - April 2021
The house I bought came with a 220G in-wall cichlid tank that had been there since the 1980s. I almost kept it, but the glass was scratched up beyond repair, the seams made me nervous, and a 220 was too tall for me to do maintenance easily. The cichlids had been rehomed, but I left the tank filled and filter running (without a heater) for the first two months I owned the house... so imagine my surprise to find a baby fish swimming around in the sump one day. Poor thing survived two months with no food and no heat (it was December-January in Connecticut and we had the heat on just enough to keep the pipes from freezing). I managed to catch it and put it in my 5G, planning to take it to the LFS, but woke up the next morning to find it had jumped through a slit in the lid to its death - after all that.
I gave away the 220 and ordered a 180 to take its place. My favorite LFS, Wet Pets, installed it with a basement sump (awesome!). I went to the CT Frag Farmer's Market and won a box of live rock straight from Australia and three huge boxes of LifeRock arches in their raffle. This plus some mature rock from my 45G led to a great start... I never had major uglies or other issues. I did lose a couple of fish moving them from the 45G - in retrospect, they were not very healthy to begin with due to poor water quality and a single-food diet in the neglected tank, and I rushed through catching them and moving them without a proper acclimation process.
The tank did well, and I added some fish rehomed from another hobbyist. I lost a couple of fish here and there for unknown reasons. I didn't add much coral because around this time I met my future husband, and his hour-long commute from my house to his job raised the specter of another move.
The second move - December 2022
The future husband and I got engaged and bought a house closer to his job (and with a horse barn for my horses). I put my house up for sale with the tank included if the buyers wanted it. It went under contract quickly, and the buyers wanted the tank. At this point I started to have major seller's remorse, and I started badgering my agent for information about the buyers... had they had fish before, had they had a reef tank, and so on. I found out they only wanted the tank because "they didn't want a hole in the wall." So I nearly blew up the house deal and amended the contract (and the price...) to take the tank with us.
I had a custom stand and bookcase made, originally to be agains the wall of our new den, but my dad had the idea of rotating it to make a room divider. This had the added benefit of creating an office for me.
The tank move was... an ordeal. On the advice of Reef Assist CT (thank you!), I set up a 150 gallon stock tank at the new house and carefully moved my rock, coral, and fish into it. This time I properly acclimated them, and they were fat and healthy and coming from decent quality water. Wet Pets moved the tank and redid the plumbing for me. When it was ready for livestock, the final move went without a hitch - I didn't lose a single fish or coral.
Things were going ok - but the tank was LOUD. There was no way I could use the office area for videoconferencing over the sound of the return pump. I started researching soundproofing and planned to line the sump cabinet with some kind of sound absorbing material. It was expensive though and I wasn't sure if it would work, so I called Reef Assist CT for some help. Matt suggested swapping out the return pump for a quieter one - now even standing right next to it I swear I can't hear the pump! Amazing difference. He also suggested swapping my mesh filter socks for media cups with silencers and poly to reduce water splashing sound (which I'll be doing once things are back in stock). I wanted the cabinet to look more built in and the tank more framed, so Matt (who is also a carpenter) added moldings and made everything look absolutely beautiful. Since the cabinet was supposed to be against the wall, it had no back - Matt built doors that attach with magnets so I can still access the sump from both sides.
Corals (even a Duncan!) are doing well despite depleted "big 3"... I hadn't been testing, thinking softies and a single Duncan wouldn't need much. Oh how wrong that was - so I bit the bullet and bought an Apex and Trident and will be setting up automated dosing.
So that's how we got here - hopefully where we'll be for a good long time.
Tank and equipment
- 180 gallon Lifetime Aquariums custom tank with ultra clear side panels and black sides and glass lids
- Trigger Systems 36" Tideline sump
- Shadow overflow
- Vectra L2 return pump
- Two ReefBreeders 32 V2 Pro Photon lights
- Two MP40s
- CoralBox D700 skimmer
- Apex A2 with Trident (plus two Dos units not set up yet)
- Two 500w Finnex heaters with HC-810 controllers
- ReefBreeders Prism ATO
Livestock
- Hippo tang
- Sailfin tang
- Foxface
- Pair of Ocellaris clowns
- Tiger pistol
- Sunset Strip BTA
- A few rock flowers
- Purple brush gorgonian
- Various zoas
- Devil's hand and a few babies it has dropped
- Various frags including green nephthea, giant sea fan, gold plume sea fan, purple blade sea fan, Koji Wada pink nepthea, and purple cespitularia
- Cleanup crew: Trochus snails, Nassarius snails, Cerith snails, and one scarlet reef hermit
- Rock: LifeRock arches and live rock from Australia - won at the Frag Farmer's Market raffle!
Upcoming projects
- Finish putting handles on the cabinet doors when they arrive
- Set up the two Dos units
- Organize wires/equipment
- Replace mesh filter socks with media cups with silencers to reduce splashing sound
First reef tank - February 2020
After a dramatic end to a terrible marriage, my two-year-old son and I moved in with my parents. I brought my little 5 gallon freshwater tank with me, and trips to the fish store for that tank plus needing a project to distract me from my life led me to set up a 45G AIO. This tank had ups and downs (I never could keep LPS alive) but was overall successful until I bought a house of my own and left the tank with my parents (who never signed up for taking care of a reef tank but were nice enough to feed the fish for me). It slowly became covered with bubble algae as it sat with no maintenance for months and months.
The first move - April 2021
The house I bought came with a 220G in-wall cichlid tank that had been there since the 1980s. I almost kept it, but the glass was scratched up beyond repair, the seams made me nervous, and a 220 was too tall for me to do maintenance easily. The cichlids had been rehomed, but I left the tank filled and filter running (without a heater) for the first two months I owned the house... so imagine my surprise to find a baby fish swimming around in the sump one day. Poor thing survived two months with no food and no heat (it was December-January in Connecticut and we had the heat on just enough to keep the pipes from freezing). I managed to catch it and put it in my 5G, planning to take it to the LFS, but woke up the next morning to find it had jumped through a slit in the lid to its death - after all that.
I gave away the 220 and ordered a 180 to take its place. My favorite LFS, Wet Pets, installed it with a basement sump (awesome!). I went to the CT Frag Farmer's Market and won a box of live rock straight from Australia and three huge boxes of LifeRock arches in their raffle. This plus some mature rock from my 45G led to a great start... I never had major uglies or other issues. I did lose a couple of fish moving them from the 45G - in retrospect, they were not very healthy to begin with due to poor water quality and a single-food diet in the neglected tank, and I rushed through catching them and moving them without a proper acclimation process.
The tank did well, and I added some fish rehomed from another hobbyist. I lost a couple of fish here and there for unknown reasons. I didn't add much coral because around this time I met my future husband, and his hour-long commute from my house to his job raised the specter of another move.
The second move - December 2022
The future husband and I got engaged and bought a house closer to his job (and with a horse barn for my horses). I put my house up for sale with the tank included if the buyers wanted it. It went under contract quickly, and the buyers wanted the tank. At this point I started to have major seller's remorse, and I started badgering my agent for information about the buyers... had they had fish before, had they had a reef tank, and so on. I found out they only wanted the tank because "they didn't want a hole in the wall." So I nearly blew up the house deal and amended the contract (and the price...) to take the tank with us.
I had a custom stand and bookcase made, originally to be agains the wall of our new den, but my dad had the idea of rotating it to make a room divider. This had the added benefit of creating an office for me.
The tank move was... an ordeal. On the advice of Reef Assist CT (thank you!), I set up a 150 gallon stock tank at the new house and carefully moved my rock, coral, and fish into it. This time I properly acclimated them, and they were fat and healthy and coming from decent quality water. Wet Pets moved the tank and redid the plumbing for me. When it was ready for livestock, the final move went without a hitch - I didn't lose a single fish or coral.
Things were going ok - but the tank was LOUD. There was no way I could use the office area for videoconferencing over the sound of the return pump. I started researching soundproofing and planned to line the sump cabinet with some kind of sound absorbing material. It was expensive though and I wasn't sure if it would work, so I called Reef Assist CT for some help. Matt suggested swapping out the return pump for a quieter one - now even standing right next to it I swear I can't hear the pump! Amazing difference. He also suggested swapping my mesh filter socks for media cups with silencers and poly to reduce water splashing sound (which I'll be doing once things are back in stock). I wanted the cabinet to look more built in and the tank more framed, so Matt (who is also a carpenter) added moldings and made everything look absolutely beautiful. Since the cabinet was supposed to be against the wall, it had no back - Matt built doors that attach with magnets so I can still access the sump from both sides.
Corals (even a Duncan!) are doing well despite depleted "big 3"... I hadn't been testing, thinking softies and a single Duncan wouldn't need much. Oh how wrong that was - so I bit the bullet and bought an Apex and Trident and will be setting up automated dosing.
So that's how we got here - hopefully where we'll be for a good long time.
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