Just a good story: The start of my Reefing!

[CalsReef2020]

So I just wanted to tell you a little about my addiction to the hobby!

I guess this story starts a year before my first aquarium came home. My uncle has a 180 Gallon Reef Aquarium, one of the coolest aquariums I have ever seen.
One day I was visiting them (They live 12 hours from me) and they decided to take me to there local fish shop. And long story short, I was hooked! (No pun intended) The amazing colors of the fish, the awesome corals in the frag tank, I knew this hobby was for me.

Fast forward to 2020, I have plenty of animals, but the reef tank had to be added. We have 4 dogs, 5 cats, 31+/- chickens, 6 ducks, 2 guinea pigs, a bearded dragon, an african side neck turtle, and a partridge in a pear tree!

That Christmas my grandparents bought me my first tank, a 30 gallon basic aquarium. I tricked it out with everything I needed. I did tons and tons of research, was following a plan to do this. Then in March of 2021, I got my first saltwater creature, a saltwater dalmatian molly. I though that was the coolest thing ever. I was able to say that I had a saltwater tank!
A few weeks later I got my first corals, Greens Zoas, Pink Zoas, A kenya Tree, and pulsing zinnia! I was now super cool, I had something exotic.
Another week passed and the tank was getting a little brown, so I added a clean up crew, a few blue legged hermits, an emerald crab, a peppermint shrimp, and 2 feather dusters. Those were the coolest, I loved watching the feather dusters open up in the morning, it was so much fun.
Sadly a few days after the peppermint shrimp died. It was heartbreaking, but I wasn't giving up.
My parents then got me a watchman goby and a Banggai Cardinalfish, still 2 of my favorites. The tank was great, I would sit and watch for hours.

To be continued...

 

[bnord]

Great start to the story… do tell do tell…

 

[blaxsun]

Keep an eye on the pulsing xenias. They're fun to watch - but they spread like weeds. From a single plug over 2 months ago about 1/4 of my aquarium is now covered in them. GSP doesn't have anything on these!

 

[ZoWhat]

We have 4 dogs, 5 cats, 31+/- chickens, 6 ducks, 2 guinea pigs, a bearded dragon, an african side neck turtle, and a partridge in a pear tree

Wait....
You might be related to @OrchidMiss

.

 

[CalsReef2020]

Okay, going for part 2,

Saying that I loved this tank was an understatement, I would sit in front of the tank and do work, that is how much I loved it.

This all changed when the tank took a turn for the worst, the corals started to die and the rocks were COVERED in algae, to the point where it swallowed clean up crews. I tried everything and nothing was working. Until...
A I found a sea here, this thing was a life saver, it had that tank clean in no time, I got back to doing weekly water changes and the tank was good.
Then a two week vacation changed it, the fish were being fed but the tank was not on a strict regiment as it had been.
The tank got worse, school work piled on and I eventually lost all but 2 clowns.

I was not giving up there..

For my birthday my parents got me a 10 gallon JBJ cube (I LOVE that tank, one of my best.) for dwarf seahorses, I did the process over again but tweaked some things, water changes were being done weekly, all was good.

I finally was ready to add dwarf seahorses. Oh man, these guys were adorable, I was fortunate enough to get male and female, with some males carrying babies. That was awesome to see them thriving in my tank. I was keeping up on the tank and the seahorses were well cared for. I loved them, but when I was asked to join the Cross Country team, it was getting hard to take care of the tanks, I made the decision to rehome the seahorses, so I had the 30 with 2 clowns and the 10 with corals and macroalgae. Fine.

Fast forward.

I finally have more time on my hands and am able to keep up on the tanks.
The 30 gallon is a tank with no livestock, I am getting ready to turn it into a species specific tank.
Then ten gallon has a clown in it, with tons of corals. This is my favorite tank out of all the tanks.
I was asked to take care of my dad's nano tank because his work interferes with the schedule.
I am now working on my 55 gallon tank, a reef tank focusing on corals and peaceful reef fish.

I will keep posting as the tanks evolve and grow.
Thank you for reading.
Happy Reefing!!

 

[CalsReef2020]

After 2 years of dying corals and crashing tanks, I have finally had a stable tank, to the point where I am able to frag.

Today I dragged my first coral, although it was just green palys, it is super cool, moving up in the reef tank world!!