Digimes
Well-Known Member
8/2023, Background:
So it began, around 1993/1994 with a passed down 55 gallon fresh water aquarium, while serving in the army. That lasted a few years and I later built out a small Koi pond post ETS after moving to South Florida.
Unfortunately, the pond idea was a little too established to move around. The local store had gone full blown into saltwater with the close proximity to the Atlantic and looking at the much more colorful fish was like a bug zapper.
My first Saltwater tank began in 1998. This was a used 40 gallon breeder tank that I purchased for a mostly fish quest. I soon met a neighbor who was running several 90 gallon grow tanks for softies. I was amazed and learned a lot during this time. He followed a principal of deep sand beds with internal plenum space and no water changes, ever. There was a bi-weekly check for RODI additions to maintain proper volume and periodically added salt to control salinity. Anything excreted from the tank was disposed. The basic principal was not to play with everything and let the balance maintain itself as much as possible. Seachem Reef Complete and Reef Builder were the only real chemical additions being used.
Over time, my tank flourished and after buying a home in 2001, I began the mini monster phase. I custom built a cabinet for my new 180 gallon extra long. It was 6 ft long, 2 feet tall and 2 feet front to back. There was no overflow for this tank and we utilized 2 Marineland Emporer 400s and 6 compact floresenct 96w bulbs crammed inside the lid. (Still.looking for the old pictures for this)
The tank ran very successful for the next 3-4 years. Most of this tank was softies, which I traded the grow out whenever possible for upkeep items from the local fish store. My favorites were my Flame Angel, Coral Beauty and Maroon Clown. The tank was brought down, parted put and sold due a sudden change in family status. I opted for a much smaller corner tank for the new single bedroom apartment and continued with whatever I could. Several years later, with a growing family and many moves, the corner tank was sold out and we stuck with a small goldfish bowl for the children. The end of the saltwater era was over for me around 2010. It had lasted about 12 years and about the same number of address changes.
In 2023, the wife and I decided to not buy another goldfish, after going to the local big box pet store and being grilled, yet again, by a teenage employee about all the ins and outs of our goldfish bowl. They wanted total water volume calculations to determine if the .98 cent fish, the kids picked out, would be the appropriate size for our container. This was after she asked if we had experience and I told her we had been keeping fish on/off for nearly 30 years. When I said this was to replace a fish that died, it triggered the entire dissertation that our bowl led to the demise. She didn't care that the last inhabitant had been won at a carnival 2 years prior and outlasted his expected lifespan by nearly 100x over.
So as a 49th birthday present to myself, we decided to pursue a nano-reef tank. These were becoming popular around the Y2K mark and were very niche at the time but I stayed far away until now. I wanted something small but not completely micro so we chose the Fluval EVO 5 gallon tank. I began collecting all the parts at the beginning of August and finally put it together around the middle of the month. My youngest daughter also shares my August birth month and had been the driving force for a new fish. I explained that she would get to pick out a much fancier fish if she learned some patients and let me set up saltwater.
10 lbs of live sand, about 8 lbs of live cultured rock, and 4ish gallons of water later, the pump was fired up. I cycled the tank for 2 weeks and waited for the indicators to come and go. We went through all the stages in about 15 days and added a few inexpensive frags. This was a mix of a few softies (pulsing xenia and green star polyps) and some basic sps (bird nest and montipora). At the one month point, I added several multi colored richordeas and some neon green star polyps. My daughter now wants a clown fish so we may be incorporating a Black Ice Clown fish very soon as well as a Pepermint Shrimp as tank companions.
Hopeful upgrade to the EVO5 is the Fluval Marine Nano led reef lighting but I want things well established before we start spending the cash. We had a small bottle of Coral Up to start but will be transition to the 3 part Red Sea nano products. In a year or two, I plan to start up a 30-40 gallon display tank and transition the 5 gallon to just grow some frags, possibly to trade.
In takeaway from my journey to date, I have learned to follow several important principals. 1) size does matter but proper equipment and stocking are more important. 2) operating tanks can be like directing traffic or herding wet cats, it's better to set things up and let them run themselves than continually changing the patterns. 3) Keeping it simple gives you more time to enjoy the benefits. 4) The future is truely brighter when the lights are on.
So it began, around 1993/1994 with a passed down 55 gallon fresh water aquarium, while serving in the army. That lasted a few years and I later built out a small Koi pond post ETS after moving to South Florida.
Unfortunately, the pond idea was a little too established to move around. The local store had gone full blown into saltwater with the close proximity to the Atlantic and looking at the much more colorful fish was like a bug zapper.
My first Saltwater tank began in 1998. This was a used 40 gallon breeder tank that I purchased for a mostly fish quest. I soon met a neighbor who was running several 90 gallon grow tanks for softies. I was amazed and learned a lot during this time. He followed a principal of deep sand beds with internal plenum space and no water changes, ever. There was a bi-weekly check for RODI additions to maintain proper volume and periodically added salt to control salinity. Anything excreted from the tank was disposed. The basic principal was not to play with everything and let the balance maintain itself as much as possible. Seachem Reef Complete and Reef Builder were the only real chemical additions being used.
Over time, my tank flourished and after buying a home in 2001, I began the mini monster phase. I custom built a cabinet for my new 180 gallon extra long. It was 6 ft long, 2 feet tall and 2 feet front to back. There was no overflow for this tank and we utilized 2 Marineland Emporer 400s and 6 compact floresenct 96w bulbs crammed inside the lid. (Still.looking for the old pictures for this)
The tank ran very successful for the next 3-4 years. Most of this tank was softies, which I traded the grow out whenever possible for upkeep items from the local fish store. My favorites were my Flame Angel, Coral Beauty and Maroon Clown. The tank was brought down, parted put and sold due a sudden change in family status. I opted for a much smaller corner tank for the new single bedroom apartment and continued with whatever I could. Several years later, with a growing family and many moves, the corner tank was sold out and we stuck with a small goldfish bowl for the children. The end of the saltwater era was over for me around 2010. It had lasted about 12 years and about the same number of address changes.
In 2023, the wife and I decided to not buy another goldfish, after going to the local big box pet store and being grilled, yet again, by a teenage employee about all the ins and outs of our goldfish bowl. They wanted total water volume calculations to determine if the .98 cent fish, the kids picked out, would be the appropriate size for our container. This was after she asked if we had experience and I told her we had been keeping fish on/off for nearly 30 years. When I said this was to replace a fish that died, it triggered the entire dissertation that our bowl led to the demise. She didn't care that the last inhabitant had been won at a carnival 2 years prior and outlasted his expected lifespan by nearly 100x over.
So as a 49th birthday present to myself, we decided to pursue a nano-reef tank. These were becoming popular around the Y2K mark and were very niche at the time but I stayed far away until now. I wanted something small but not completely micro so we chose the Fluval EVO 5 gallon tank. I began collecting all the parts at the beginning of August and finally put it together around the middle of the month. My youngest daughter also shares my August birth month and had been the driving force for a new fish. I explained that she would get to pick out a much fancier fish if she learned some patients and let me set up saltwater.
10 lbs of live sand, about 8 lbs of live cultured rock, and 4ish gallons of water later, the pump was fired up. I cycled the tank for 2 weeks and waited for the indicators to come and go. We went through all the stages in about 15 days and added a few inexpensive frags. This was a mix of a few softies (pulsing xenia and green star polyps) and some basic sps (bird nest and montipora). At the one month point, I added several multi colored richordeas and some neon green star polyps. My daughter now wants a clown fish so we may be incorporating a Black Ice Clown fish very soon as well as a Pepermint Shrimp as tank companions.
Hopeful upgrade to the EVO5 is the Fluval Marine Nano led reef lighting but I want things well established before we start spending the cash. We had a small bottle of Coral Up to start but will be transition to the 3 part Red Sea nano products. In a year or two, I plan to start up a 30-40 gallon display tank and transition the 5 gallon to just grow some frags, possibly to trade.
In takeaway from my journey to date, I have learned to follow several important principals. 1) size does matter but proper equipment and stocking are more important. 2) operating tanks can be like directing traffic or herding wet cats, it's better to set things up and let them run themselves than continually changing the patterns. 3) Keeping it simple gives you more time to enjoy the benefits. 4) The future is truely brighter when the lights are on.
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