It Started with a Book.

[reefwiser]

Hello my name is Ed Wiser-Reefwiser on every Marine Aquarium forum around the world.
I started in the aquarium hobby at the age of 10 when I convinced my Mom and Dad I could take care of an aquarium by my self.

One like this one but with a slate bottom. I kept Black Mollies and swordtails. I kept this tank for many years. After many years I took the tank down and finish college and got married as most people do. When we bought a new home my brother came to see it and he said you need to set up your tank again. Well the old tank was too small so I purchased a big tank a 55 gallon tank. This was a real big tank back in the day. My younger brother was living in Florida and he was keeping a Saltwater tank. I was interested he said you should buy this book that just came out it will really help you learn about saltwater aquariums. So I went to the pet store and picked up the book.

I read it from cover to cover and it helped me get started on the right foot in the hobby.
I would hang out at the LFS GreenTree Pet Center South and meet other hobbyists. I met another hobbyist Jim McCubbins who was just as interested in the hobby as I was and we decided to start a local Marine club. I purchased a computer to access this forum called Fishnet on CompuServe.
There I interacted with other hobbyist as crazy about the hobby as me. I would become the person in charge to author talks on Fishnet each month we would have a author or someone on the forum give a "talk" which was a txt file that I would up load the file then moderate the talk. It was exciting times we where all learning about this thing called the Berlin method and Live rock. Fellow hobbyist like Julian Sprung, Steve Tyree, Larry Jackson and many others where there interacting and learning. Then in 1991 the 3rd Macna was held in New Jersey it wasn't called Macna because MASNA had not been started yet. At that conference I met all my friends I had talked to daily on Fishnet and several of us decided to start MASNA. I also was able to meet my hero Martin Moe.
An he signed my book.

Over the corse of the next 6 years I was on the board of directors of MASNA and our club LMAS held our first Macna in 1995 with two more in 1999 and 2003. I had to go tankless for a few years after a divorce and but once I was able to get a house again I had tanks in a basement and enjoyed the hobby again. Now I have moved into a Patio home without a Basement to be near my in laws to take care of them. So I have started with a new tank based on the room I have and the time I have to maintain it.
I purchased a Innovative Marine AIO 40 gallon.

This tank has been set up a year now and I have things under control with it now. This tank will be set up for 3 years and then I get a bigger tank when I retire and I will have more time to keep it up.
I will be posting more info about this tank. An the choices I make and all the DIY that I do for the up keep. An links to videos that inspire me and video's I do for R2R with fellow hobbyist and authors.
An aquarium is a journey of learning there are many ways to do a reef tank. I have tried every method over the years and so I have educated myself by reading and studying the reef environment.

 

[melypr1985]

Great journey! It's about time you started a build thread The tank looks great by the way!

 

[Aquarius]

Very cool indeed!

 

[reefwiser]

It's a start I really do put SPS in a tank for a year so it is just now getting to the point where I can have fun. My wife wants her big SPS colonies back in a tank. An she has been patient and she knows my process. I must first tweak all the equipment and stabilize the parameters. Before I do fun stuff.

 

[hybridazn]

Yaaay! You now have a thread! Haha

 

[dbl]

Great write up and story Ed. Looking forward to watching this one mature.

 

[reefwiser]

David I generally don't do build threads but people like them I guess. I don't build just one tank. An I am not about showing off I am about learning and helping others. The Hobby is really my "Hobby" I run a club I stopped for a while running the club and when I cam back two years ago to see how things where going it had stopped due to people dropping out of the hobby and no one else wanting to step up. So I started the club over again. We are building slowly and have a bunch of great people involved now. We had our first Frag(coral) show last fall and everyone had a great time so we have scheduled another one.My ultimate goal is for the club to hold our 4th Macna in the future. But that will require me to not work so I will have to do it when I retire in 3 years 160 days 12 hours an 30 minutes an 40 seconds.

 

[dbl]

Understood...I have one that hasn't really been updated since I started it...lol. I agree on the hobby part...I love just reading and learning something everyday.

It's terrific you're willing to put the extra effort into your local club. I would love to be more involved in mine but life seems to get in the way.

Glad you're not keeping track of your retirement day!!!

 

[reefwiser]

I work 7 days a week right now. I go to club meetings after I get off work. I make it work. The hobby is a release for me. It is important to my health.

 

[rayn]

Yeah, build thread! Following along this journey.

 

[reefwiser]

So why did I buy a AIO unit. Aren't they limiting,you don't have a sump ,you can't use all the cool equipment all the cool kids are using. [emoji3] Well I have a skimmer, algae scrubber,ATO, doser and if I wanted to a calcium reactor. An I am getting ready to install a zeolite reactor. I don't "fuge" as I found I needed a really big fuge to get benefits in the pass I had a 300 gallon "fuge" for my tank. The small ones are just cute the space they take could best be spent with algae scrubber. Went I build a system I go for the most efficient method for the size of the tank and the area I have to work with.
This tank has had low phosphate using an algae scrubber and protein skimmer. I do not get algae growth on the glass only coralline algae. That has just started growing on all the back plastic and just last week started on the glass.
So here is a DIY for this week.
In this home I had to use the upstairs bath room for my RO/DI unit. So I make my water upstairs and then lug a 5 gallon bucket down the stairs to do a water change or add water to the ATO container.
So I built this gravity bucket.

Here are the parts needed

I put a flashlight inside a piece of PVC so I could make where to drill the hole.
I also put the 90 degree firing on the end of the pipe so that I could get the fitting as low as possible on the inside of the bucket.

When done with the hole I used a deburring tool to clean the hole up.

Continue in next post.

 

[reefwiser]

You use Pam to spray o. The outside of the uni seal so it installs easy. Also spray on the inside as you incert the PVC. Make sure that you cut the PVC long enough so that when the 90 degree fitting is placed on the end of the pipe it is in the center of the bucket.

Glue the fittings together on outside of the bucket the inside 90 degree fitting does not need to be glued.
I used the boiler shut off valve so I could use a water changing hose.

Here is the test of the bucket.

An here is the bucket in use. Yea not more lugging buckets down stairs.

 

[reefwiser]

I had been noticing that I was having a popping sound coming from the skimmer. I got a notification that my 6 month skimmer cleaning was due. So while I was off today I took apart my Tunze 9004 and cleaned it. Lots of sponges and calcium spots covered the skimmer when I took it out. What a mess. It was fun to take apart and put back together had to break out the manual to read on how to do it. It really is easy once you figure it out.

 

[reefwiser]

Had Scott at The Alternative Reef make this new ceramic piece for my tank. To replace the Marco rock that I currently have. Didn't like coming home after a 12 hour shift finding corals knocked over by the crazy purple tank.

 

[reefwiser]

The Radion has been on the tank a year. So it's time to take it apart and clean the fan vents. It's an easy job and only took a few minutes. It's good to keep your cooling fans clean so you lamp will run cool.

 

[melypr1985]

That's a pretty clean light! No salt creep or anything!

 

[HolisticBear]

So I went to the pet store and picked up the book.

Thank you for posting a picture of this book, it brought back memories. I remember reading it over and over as a 4th grader in '86 while setting up my first tank. Back then it was starter damsels, undergravel filters, and those IO hydrometer.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

Good ole Sandy's pet shop...had to do a double take! Small world!

 

[reefwiser]

Yes, when I first went to Sandy's on Goss they didn't even carry marine fish. Helped them start carrying saltwater. If you have not joined LMAS please do. Check us out on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/328716020617540/

 

[revhtree]

Welcome to R2R Ed....