Been a lurker for 5 years, finally gained enough confidence to join
Gumbies R Us
Certified Noob
Welcome to Reef2Reef!!!
dlsorensen
Active Member
Poseidon03
Well-Known Member
Hi y'all
I have been reefing (unsuccessfully…more on that later) for the past 5 years trying to figure out all the intricacies of this incredible hobby so I can someday reach my goal of keeping a thriving tank that i can be proud of, and I have to say this community has been such a big part in helping me through this journey.
My background...
I‘ve always been fascinated by aquatic life and its beauty. My childhood summers were spent visiting the maritime aquarium in Connecticut or at my local library renting out encyclopedias and vhs' of national geographics on the ocean. Deep ocean life and coral reefs were my favorite topics. In my teen years, climate change became main stream and dying coral reefs was a prevalent topic being discussed in science class and tv. I didnt have an environmentalist perspective but curious nonetheless. One of my life goals is to visit the reefs in Okinawa Japan, still is.
Fast forward 15 years Im a husband and a father of one, watching The Office on netflix every night to pass the time and not much else. One day after coming back from a visit to the aquarium with my family, I randomly started researching if there were ways to keep jellyfish at home. While browsing youtube, i found someone had posted about making money selling coral frags. Up until that moment I had no idea that keeping corals in your home was a thing. A slice of the ocean right in my living room. It blew my mind. After researching a bit more into keeping corals, I visited an LFS near me and thus started my journey.
5 Gallon
My first tank was a Fluval EVO 5 peninsula that i set up in my office. Since I spend most of my time there I thought it would be perfect... NOPE.
Ended up frequently staying late because, being a newbie meant that you take 2 hours doing routine testing and a simple water change. Eventually I moved the tank to my apartment where I had it in a less than ideal location (poor accessibility) which I feel is one of the reasons why I failed.
I had no idea of what was going to happen. All I was told to do was "cycle" the tank. Got dry rock, wet sand and some pieces of shrimp. Took about 2 weeks to finish the nitrogen cycle.
Added CUC comprised of a few snails, hermit and cleaner shrimp along with what my LFS told me were beginner friendly coral. GSP, Candy canes, Zoas and Xenias. And a clown. I also attached a HOB refugium with chaeto.
Got impatient and added a few (cough cough) acros. Swapped the stock light with an AI prime and upgraded return pump. Installed an ATO. Added Sicce powerhead to add more flow...
Oh how I wish to go back and tell myself about all the mistakes I was making.
Never dipped a single piece of coral, tank not established enough, not testing ALK/CAL/MAG/PO4, dosing two part without testing... the list goes on for infinity. All the warnings I had read about. I was being ignorant, and lazy.
The tank went down hill from this last pic. All the SPS perished. I lost all hope and algae soon took over. Took down the tank after 6months when I had to move out of my apartment into another unit. The Clown, shrimp, CUC and the corals that were alive were dropped off at my LFS and tossed the fluval tank.
This first tank experience taught me a lot.
But not enough.
Spoiler alert, I failed at four more attempts.
5 Gallon v2.0
After settling down from my move, I felt the urge to start another tank.
Purchased a marineland 5 gallon portrait off amazon. I wanted a tank that would be compatible with my AI prime.
To minimize light spillage, I built a custom lid and attached a cooling fan. Also installed a chaeto reactor. Used the same dry rock, wet sand approach and nitrogen cycled around 2 weeks. Again, ignoring the ugly algae phase (more like being oblivious) I immediately put a few frags in with a similar CUC and a yellow clown goby.
Clown goby set out nipping at my acropora so he went straight back to LFS.
The damaged frags RTNed and my hope was dashed yet again.
Soon after that my second child was born and daily life took priority. I neglected the tank, and down it went. It sat on my desk, full of algae until we had to move again to another apartment.
13 & 2 Gallon
My third tank was a Fluval EVO 13.5.
This time, I went bare bottom with dry rock and Dr.Tims method. Also went a step further by adding pods after cycling. Purchased a Mame glass skimmer and upgraded the stock lighting to an AI hydra. I put a black and white DaVinci clown paired to an RBT nem with some frags and LPS like torches and hammers.
Tried a bare bottom to see if I could control nutrients better. But that was useless since I didnt even know how to control my feeding schedule. There was a slime algae outbreak, which I learned gets worse with water changes...
The tank on the right side is a Fluval Spec III that I had previously kept a betta in which I converted to a backup / QT tank.
Soon after I took this pic, covid happened. For most, this would have been a great opportunity to spend time at home with the tank but for me it was the opposite since I was considered an essential worker.
In short, the 13 gallon failed and I moved the clown and a few zoa rocks that were alive to the 2 gallon.
With basic water changes, that 2 gallon thrived for the next year. It even survived the cold snap and statewide power outage that happened in Feb.2021.
Looking back now, I think the 2 gallon did well because it went through the full ugly phase and stabilized.
25 Gallon
Having this bit of success and wanting to move my clown to a bigger tank, I went ahead and upgraded the 2 gallon to a 25 gallon chinese tank I got from an LFS. I felt the same naïve confidence as three previous tanks. This time, I thought I was ready. Getting a reef maintenance scheduling app, a doser for AB+ and an auto feeder.
I tried yet again to get some acros growing...
And yet again, I failed.
I added a pair of cardinal fish, a tailspot blenny, and paired a candy cane pistol with a yasha gobi.
Only the yasha gobi and shrimp pair survived after an ick outbreak decimated everyone else. By the time I started polyplab medic treatment, it was too late.
Adding salt to injury, my apartment unit was broken into and my family had to move again to another unit. The neglect that followed during the move killed off any remaining sps and lps.
I took the 25 gallon down and transferred the yasha gobi shrimp pair and CUC to the 2 gallon tank I previously had, along with a toadstool leather that braved the move.
2 Gallon
After the 25 gallon tank was taken down, I put reefing to the side. I was beat.
Because of the small tank size, taking care of the gobi / shrimp pair and a toadstool leather was real easy. A weekly 50% water change and a few feedings a week became routine.
I let the algae grow and cleaned it out once in a while which helped me export nutrients naturally.
Gradually, this tiny tank which was now over 6 months old got encrusted with coraline.
I had never seen any coraline grow in any of my previous tanks.
It got me thinking about what I did right in this tank that I had not in all the preceding tanks.
The answer was the most simplest of things.
I left the tank alone doing only what was necessary.
This gave me a different sense of confidence.
One with much more caution and care.
This is that resulting 2 gallon today.
The millepora frag on top right unfortunately didnt do so well after getting shipped, but other than that the tank is doing pretty well.
I'll be posting a build thread on this tank later for anyone interested in following.
Think it'll be a great way to keep myself on the right path if I can get support from this community, and maybe even contribute to someone's success by sharing mine.
Well, for anyone that read through this hellishly long HELLO post,
I truly thank you.
Toyo
Welcome to R2R! You shoulda joined in the beginning and I'm sure a lot of people would have enjoyed helping you through all your problems!
Btw, watch out for the toadstool. It can release toxins and kill sps and anemones (from personal experience)
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