The House of Orange

[Reeflix]

Fair 'nuff, I can relate. I see a vacuum in my future before tank maintenance can commence here anyway

that's the funniest thing ive heard all day

 

[Fish Styx]

This long intermission has been brought to you by Teddy Bear Johann:

 

[Fish Styx]

Okay, all: back to business.

After this thing was filled, life happened and all hell broke loose, but first, some background. After being retired from the Army, I stayed put in the DC area and made use of the GI Bill to go back to school. I subsequently completed degrees in social work and psychology and returned to work. My background was healthcare, both before and during my tenure in the military, where I served alongside the infantry as a combat medic (68W). My thought process in returning to school was that, if I can no longer work on the wounds that you could see, perhaps I can help heal the ones you can't. Well, i quickly realized that, due to my own unresolved issues, I would wind up doing more damage than good, so I went into administration. My focus was on aging services and gerontology, and I went to work for a very prominent continuing care retirement community in DC. My career exploded, and in a period of 5 years (2012-2017) I went from intern to Deputy Chief Operating Officer, and began pioneering international relationships with engineers and start up companies that were focused on bringing technological solutions to bear on healthcare delivery systems. One of the projects I spearheaded in partnership with the robotics engineering department at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland actually got the cover of a special edition of TIME magazine in November of 2019.

All of this came with a cost, however, as I was travelling internationally, working 18 hour days, on-call weekends, nights, holidays, etc. I had no life, except for the one that I was cultivating with The Dainty Dictator. It eventually caught up with me, as shortly after my new dream tank was filled, I collapsed at work and was taken out of the community in an ambulance. I once again found myself at Walter Reed, only this time it was after BRAC (base realignment and closure) and it had merged with, and was relocated to, the campus of Bethesda Naval.

This time, though, it wasn't a result of war, but rather bilateral pulmonary emboli in my lungs that nearly killed me. I was subsisting on a steady stream of nicotine, caffeine, and hate, and my lifestyle finally caught up with me. Fortunately, I survived (duh), but not without some significant lingering effects on my health. So, at the ripe old age of 42, I retired for a second time. Thankfully, some wise financial decisions coupled with my military retirement allowed me to do so. I often jokingly refer to The Dainty Dictator as the "sugar mamma". lol. I am truly fortunate and blessed, for a multitude of reasons, least of which my ability to be here contributing to this thread.

Why am I telling you all of this? I'm doing it because it gives some background to explain why, for the first two years of my system's life, not much was done with it, save for basic maintenance and life support. I don't have a lot of pictures or videos from this time, but I did find some that I will share. Brace yourselves, for the next several posts that get us caught up to where we are today, will be far less visual than those previously posted. My intent is not to bore you with tedium, I promise. Namaste.

 

[Fish Styx]

I spent the next couple of months recovering, though I would begin to heal from more than just the pulmonary emboli. Only, at this time, I didn't know it. You see, I had gone from moving at a million miles an hour for the better part of 20 years, to a dead stop-- almost literally. I had nothing but time on my hands. Time to sit, time to reflect, time to do almost anything I wanted. Only, I couldn't really bring myself to do anything. Deep depression set in. Depression that I had been ignoring and keeping at bay by throwing myself full speed into academic pursuits and then career building. I would come to find out later, through extensive therapy, that this is called "avoidance". You'd think that, given my background in mental health, I would have realized this, but no. The trees were obscuring the forest. What I once prided myself on, my work ethic, was actually a symptom of greater dysfunction. Who knew, eh? Certainly not me.

So, I had a lot of time to sit and stare at my aquarium. To nitpick every decision, to be sharply critical of everything, but most especially, the aquascape. I absolutely despised how sterile it looked. Having never started a tank with dry rock before, it just looked barren. I thought I was prepared for an extended period of "the uglies", but I was not. Probably because all I did was stare at it. lol

Anyways, after the cycle was over, I seeded it with everything I could get my hands on. Different strains of bacteria, grunge from GARF, copepods, amphipods, mini serpent stars, bristle worms, you name it. Then I began stocking. I introduced a few damsels, a coral beauty, a small shoal of anthias, a lavender tang, convict tank, and gem and yellow tangs (simultaneously). I also added a whole host of other inverts and a beefy clean up crew. Finally there was movement!

 

[Fish Styx]

The Dainty Dictator also got her "Nemos" <groan> and nem. Though, as I have always been a big fan of the Clarkii and Saddleback Complexes, I chose Sebae Clowns, which are a personal favorite of mine, along with an RBTA.

 

[Fish Styx]

Despite the movement, the aquascape still looked sterile and, given the abundance of time on my hands to sit and stare at it, I hated it. Now don't get me wrong, I put a lot of thought and work into that scape. I took into account the rule of thirds, ensured that the entirety of the structure was supported, there were a multitude of caves, overhangs, and enough texture to be "interesting". When I first made it, I was extremely proud. Now, though, I couldn't stand it. I decided that I was going to add live rock and placed an order with Live Rock and Reef for 50 lbs. As I was up and about now, I also picked up some interesting pieces from some local LFS's to increase diversity. It did just that, because not only did it introduce aiptasia to my tank, a few days later I had an outbreak of velvet. I lost my Melanarus Wrasse, all of the Anthias, and most unfortunately, my Gem Tang. It could have been far, far worse, though. I credit Ruby Reef Rally for being able to save the rest of my fish. They were in rough shape for awhile, but pulled through.

 

[Fish Styx]

With the addition of the live rock, I couldnt get the scape to look the way I wanted it, and kept playing with it. I moved things around, pulled rock out, shifted this, turned that. It was frustrating, and would continue to be until very recently. It is finally where I want it to be and I'm happy with it... ...for now. lol. We'll get to that later though. I wound up moving most of the rock that I had pulled from the DT to the refugium section of the sump. I wasn't really using it as a refugium anyways, as I have the display fuge to the right of the DT. The bio bricks I placed down there had disintegrated <waste of money>, and so I created a cryptic / benthic zone down there. Which, for note, is now loaded with sponge, feather worms, and a ton of pods. yay!

 

[Fish Styx]

About a year in, and at this point my health (both physical and mental) had improved significantly. Things were looking up, and since one of us wasn't hyper focused on our careers, The Dainty Dictator and I decided that we would begin family planning and have a baby. It didn't take long <go me>, and before I knew it, "we" were pregnant. Literally the next day I was sitting in front of the aquarium when I heard a loud crash come from the kitchen. What the f&%×?!? I went in to discover this:

 

[Fish Styx]

Now, since purchasing the house in 2017, I had been renovating and remodeling, albeit slowly given my crazy schedule. Since I was doing all of the work myself, I'd do a little here and a little there. Most of the house had been builder grade when I acquired it, and the home was built in '91, so it needed doing. I had finished most of the first floor and the bedrooms upstairs, but didn't get to the bathrooms upstairs, to include the master. As it would turn out, there was a leak from the shower pan that had seeped under the tile and between the subfloor, going completely unnoticed until the ceiling in the kitchen caved in. ***. I went upstairs and opened the wall to discover that the builder had cut so many corners that it was a miracle that it took this long to fail. I had to gut it completely, take it down to the studs, and do mold abatement. This included demoing the walk-in closet in the master, which was mine since I had converted one of the bedrooms upstairs into a closet / dressing room for The Dainty Dictator.

 

[Fish Styx]

I went to work rebuilding it and the kitchen downstairs, which you've already seen. Since it was all open, I reclaimed some of the space from the walk-in to build a bigger shower. Here's some pics of when the work was in progress, in no particular order:

 

[Fish Styx]

...and here is the finished product. It is by no means perfect, but I did it with my own two hands, and my chest swells with pride every time I poop in there. Or, maybe it's indigestion. One can never know for sure.

 

[Fish Styx]

During the time of the construction and renovation, I didn't have much time to devote to the tank. Or extra cash, given the unbudgeted expense of having to do more reno work. Simple maintenance and feeding was about all I could manage. It was limping along, and so was I. Now that renovations were done and things were in order, it was time to relax a bit and enjoy, right? Right? No. We lost the baby.

 

[Fish Styx]

Don't mean to leave it off on a sour note, but I'm gonna stop here and call it a night. I need a break, emotionally. I'll be back with more tomorrow, and hopefully, be able to get caught up so we can start having some real fun!

Namaste.

 

[907_Reefer]

Man, you have been through the wringer. Appreciate you sharing your epic story here though. No rush of course!

Namaste!

 

[Reeflix]

I spent the next couple of months recovering, though I would begin to heal from more than just the pulmonary emboli. Only, at this time, I didn't know it. You see, I had gone from moving at a million miles an hour for the better part of 20 years, to a dead stop-- almost literally. I had nothing but time on my hands. Time to sit, time to reflect, time to do almost anything I wanted. Only, I couldn't really bring myself to do anything. Deep depression set in. Depression that I had been ignoring and keeping at bay by throwing myself full speed into academic pursuits and then career building. I would come to find out later, through extensive therapy, that this is called "avoidance". You'd think that, given my background in mental health, I would have realized this, but no. The trees were obscuring the forest. What I once prided myself on, my work ethic, was actually a symptom of greater dysfunction. Who knew, eh? Certainly not me.

So, I had a lot of time to sit and stare at my aquarium. To nitpick every decision, to be sharply critical of everything, but most especially, the aquascape. I absolutely despised how sterile it looked. Having never started a tank with dry rock before, it just looked barren. I thought I was prepared for an extended period of "the uglies", but I was not. Probably because all I did was stare at it. lol

Anyways, after the cycle was over, I seeded it with everything I could get my hands on. Different strains of bacteria, grunge from GARF, copepods, amphipods, mini serpent stars, bristle worms, you name it. Then I began stocking. I introduced a few damsels, a coral beauty, a small shoal of anthias, a lavender tang, convict tank, and gem and yellow tangs (simultaneously). I also added a whole host of other inverts and a beefy clean up crew. Finally there was movement!

if you would of gotten a black tang then you would have my absolute FAVORITE tang group! looking super good! so sorry about all that you went through... just horrible

 

[Fish Styx]

if you would of gotten a black tang then you would have my absolute FAVORITE tang group! looking super good! so sorry about all that you went through... just horrible

That which doesn't kill you, right?

 

[Fish Styx]

Man, you have been through the wringer. Appreciate you sharing your epic story here though. No rush of course!

Namaste!

More than some, less than others, for sure. It's been a long road, but I've found peace.

 

[Reeflix]

dang thats so bad... and i thought that velvet was the worst thing that can happen... i was way wrong

 

[Reeflix]

More than some, less than others, for sure. It's been a long road, but I've found peace.

Thats great!

 

[Reeflix]

peace is important