Or "Everyone Else is doing a build thread, I don't wanna get left out!"
or "How I learned to stop worrying and love the crash"
or ... yeah, it's literally the worst movie you can ever imagine, but it's my tank build thread!
TL;DR, I learned a lot from reddit, so this series will be divided into two sections
The first section will be the current tank, and how it progresses day after day.
The second section will be the biography of my reefkeeping history, the tanks I've kept, my successes, failures, and what I learned from them!
The second section will be in italics, because why not.
Day Three! (Yes, it's just like Momento, you don't get to see how it started until the end!)
Journey log 01/02/2020 Salt has been added to the aquarium... an eerie fog hangs over the... wait, that's not fog, it's underwater... it's Precipi.....
... tation. Yes, it's true, while adding salt, I goofed on the mixing time, so I went from crystal clear in the 55 gallon brute, to a blizzard of epic proportions in the display tank.
Speaking of which, the display tank is a 75 gallon reef ready by All-Glass, remember them? I wish I didn't!
Supporting cast and credits
Lighting!
2 Chinese Black Boxes, now fully upgraded with custom spectrum, Meanwell drivers, and better fans!
1 Storm LED Controller (With a nicely 3d printed case, and 0-10v add on board)
Plumbing!
Two Jebao SLW-20
Jebao DCQ-10000 The second of the brand new items to this build!
Reactor!!! No, it's not nuclear, or even GFO, it's a sulfur reactor. It's ugly, but it's mine and it works!
(Well, worked, during this reboot I've had to open the flow to it far beyond what it normally takes, and as such annihilated the anoxic zone within)
The reactor had to go. I'm happy that it provided a bacterial seed while the tank was down, but there was just too much bad stuff going on inside it to bother with.
Somatic 60s Sump
Somatic 60s Skimmer that came with the sump... (Insert ominous grumbling here about cordite and skimmer pumps)
Livestock!
Rock!
118 LBS of various and sundry rock collected through a 20 year tank lifespan!
Following with the movie premise of this build thread, I decided last October to start my tank up again. It had sat idle in the basement since 2015. I haven't been without a tank since 92 when I started the hobby with the help of my LFS in Lombard, IL. Through their guidance, I started a mixed reef in a 29 gallon, which, at the time, seemed downright unthinkable. The technology just wasn't there. LPS and Soft corals in a 29 gallon was like saying you're going to start the great barrier reef in a dixie cup. So I cycled, added live rock, and started, slowly, adding corals to the smallest saltwater tank anyone nearby had dared. I subscribed to Advanced Aquarist. I had Thiel's book, "Marine Fish and Invertebrate Aquarium", Nick Dakin (And Julian Sprung) put out a book right after I got into the hobby, in fact, right after I was done cycling the 29 gallon, which was titled "Book of the Marine Aquarium"
So now I had two books, a subscription, a tank, and I had a whole four people to ask about reefkeeping!
90's era me was THRILLED!
90's era me was also a 16 year old kid with a commodore 64, the 300 baud modem, and a curious streak.
90's era me found entire Bulletin Boards based on reefkeeping!
So 90's era me joined a cult... I mean... a reefkeepers online discussion board.
6 years of success with the 29, and one year after finding this bulletin board, I was tearing everything apart.
Jaubert!!!! We had discovered Jaubert!
Well, not technically, Jaubert had been around since before I started reefkeeping. Deep Sand Beds with plenums just hadn't been used at the time. They became repopularized in 1999. This is about the time I remember reefkeeping exploding. It's also about the time I remember reefkeeping becoming more work than enjoyment! I mean, up until that point, my only worry was nitrate, and calcium. My fish and corals looked healthy, even in my 29 gallon slice of the ocean (Which, yes, I looked! I tried to find old pictures, I could find none!).
Now with all these new ideas, these better ways of reefkeeping, these monumental breakthroughs in technology and innovation my 29 gallon was in grave danger of a tank crash! All the local stores, and local reefkeepers, and the experts said so! It must be true! Thus the 75 gallon Reef Ready was bought. Tank and stand and glass covers, eurobrace in the center. Big durso standpipes. It was everything I'd ever dreamed of... Well, everything I'd ever dreamed of if you completely ignored the Perfecto 220's on the other side of the store with a clearance price that makes them almost as much as my 75 gallon. But no... alas, I lived in an apartment at the time, and would never dream of leaving my apartment. a 75 gallon will be the perfect size forever and always....
(Editors Note! I SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT THE 220!!!!)
We will continue this journey in tomorrows edition of Worst. Movie. Ever.
or "How I learned to stop worrying and love the crash"
or ... yeah, it's literally the worst movie you can ever imagine, but it's my tank build thread!
TL;DR, I learned a lot from reddit, so this series will be divided into two sections
The first section will be the current tank, and how it progresses day after day.
The second section will be the biography of my reefkeeping history, the tanks I've kept, my successes, failures, and what I learned from them!
The second section will be in italics, because why not.
Day Three! (Yes, it's just like Momento, you don't get to see how it started until the end!)
Journey log 01/02/2020 Salt has been added to the aquarium... an eerie fog hangs over the... wait, that's not fog, it's underwater... it's Precipi.....
... tation. Yes, it's true, while adding salt, I goofed on the mixing time, so I went from crystal clear in the 55 gallon brute, to a blizzard of epic proportions in the display tank.
Speaking of which, the display tank is a 75 gallon reef ready by All-Glass, remember them? I wish I didn't!
Supporting cast and credits
Lighting!
2 Chinese Black Boxes, now fully upgraded with custom spectrum, Meanwell drivers, and better fans!
1 Storm LED Controller (With a nicely 3d printed case, and 0-10v add on board)
Plumbing!
Two Jebao SLW-20
Jebao DCQ-10000 The second of the brand new items to this build!
(Well, worked, during this reboot I've had to open the flow to it far beyond what it normally takes, and as such annihilated the anoxic zone within)
The reactor had to go. I'm happy that it provided a bacterial seed while the tank was down, but there was just too much bad stuff going on inside it to bother with.
Somatic 60s Sump
Somatic 60s Skimmer that came with the sump... (Insert ominous grumbling here about cordite and skimmer pumps)
Livestock!
Rock!
118 LBS of various and sundry rock collected through a 20 year tank lifespan!
Following with the movie premise of this build thread, I decided last October to start my tank up again. It had sat idle in the basement since 2015. I haven't been without a tank since 92 when I started the hobby with the help of my LFS in Lombard, IL. Through their guidance, I started a mixed reef in a 29 gallon, which, at the time, seemed downright unthinkable. The technology just wasn't there. LPS and Soft corals in a 29 gallon was like saying you're going to start the great barrier reef in a dixie cup. So I cycled, added live rock, and started, slowly, adding corals to the smallest saltwater tank anyone nearby had dared. I subscribed to Advanced Aquarist. I had Thiel's book, "Marine Fish and Invertebrate Aquarium", Nick Dakin (And Julian Sprung) put out a book right after I got into the hobby, in fact, right after I was done cycling the 29 gallon, which was titled "Book of the Marine Aquarium"
So now I had two books, a subscription, a tank, and I had a whole four people to ask about reefkeeping!
90's era me was THRILLED!
90's era me was also a 16 year old kid with a commodore 64, the 300 baud modem, and a curious streak.
90's era me found entire Bulletin Boards based on reefkeeping!
So 90's era me joined a cult... I mean... a reefkeepers online discussion board.
6 years of success with the 29, and one year after finding this bulletin board, I was tearing everything apart.
Jaubert!!!! We had discovered Jaubert!
Well, not technically, Jaubert had been around since before I started reefkeeping. Deep Sand Beds with plenums just hadn't been used at the time. They became repopularized in 1999. This is about the time I remember reefkeeping exploding. It's also about the time I remember reefkeeping becoming more work than enjoyment! I mean, up until that point, my only worry was nitrate, and calcium. My fish and corals looked healthy, even in my 29 gallon slice of the ocean (Which, yes, I looked! I tried to find old pictures, I could find none!).
Now with all these new ideas, these better ways of reefkeeping, these monumental breakthroughs in technology and innovation my 29 gallon was in grave danger of a tank crash! All the local stores, and local reefkeepers, and the experts said so! It must be true! Thus the 75 gallon Reef Ready was bought. Tank and stand and glass covers, eurobrace in the center. Big durso standpipes. It was everything I'd ever dreamed of... Well, everything I'd ever dreamed of if you completely ignored the Perfecto 220's on the other side of the store with a clearance price that makes them almost as much as my 75 gallon. But no... alas, I lived in an apartment at the time, and would never dream of leaving my apartment. a 75 gallon will be the perfect size forever and always....
(Editors Note! I SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT THE 220!!!!)
We will continue this journey in tomorrows edition of Worst. Movie. Ever.
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