- Joined
- May 6, 2020
- Messages
- 83
- Reaction score
- 84
Newer to the site, but 16 years in and out of the hobby.
Been a long road. Started in salt water a long time ago. Funds were tight, career was fresh and life was just different. We started with a 55 gallon. Put it across two end tables with a 3 foot space with nothing in the middle of the tank. Posted and picture on an older site that was popular back then and was quickly informed that is wouldn't work. First of many times we would go back to the drawing board. I wish I still had that photo, truth be told it is probably floating around on some photo hosting site I have long since lost the login for.
We built our first stand with some 2x4's and 1x2's. Completely over built it, installed hinge assembly that quickly rusted and ceased to function, but we were darn proud of that stand. Sanded and stained to match the trim in our first house we filled the tank with tap water and salt. So there's that...Cycle started and as you would guess algae wasn't long after. RO system, no DI purchased along with some power compact lights and we were on the road again. Everything was hang on the back and was the cheapest stuff, but we could afford it; sort of. That tank lasted about a year and we found a deal on a 110 tall tank. Insert cringe here.
110 tank came with a stand and we sanded it down and stained it to match...again. Turned the 55 into a sump and we were on the road again. That tank while providing a ton of swim room was an absolute nightmare to maintain. Hang on the back everything again and some kind of squid return that rotated flow to each side of the tank. Had that tank for another year and a half or so but suffered many algae out breaks, fish die offs and poor coral growth. I believe weak lighting and depth of the tank really caused us to suffer the losses. When it was clean and running well it was a pretty tank, but we were still young, funds were always tight and it just didn't work. Decided to sell the tank and everything on a "fire" sale and dropped out of the hobby for awhile. Swearing to never return.
Several years later we moved to from a mid-size city to a large metro area; Kansas City. Got settled in to the new house and while venturing around the area stumbled upon a salt water fish store. Opps- here comes the bug. By now Craig's List is all the rage and we found a 72 gallon bow front tank with sump and all the equipment ready to run. Made some good friends that we have since lost touch with and typing this reminds me that I need to send him and email and see how they are doing; how's that trip down memory lane...
Along with the 72 we also decided to build my wife a BioCube 32 gallon, because why not? Funds were much better by now and both tanks did pretty good. We sailed along for a couple of years and were happy in the hobby. Kept all softies and some fish and had some good luck. Reading some more on the internet got me bit by the big tank bug and we decided to build a 220 setup with a custom 55 gallon sump. Along with this tank came some really nice G4 Pro lights and some other very good equipment. The 220 ran great for about a year and half and I got bored in the hobby. The tank was downstairs in the basement and with it just being the two of us we did not spend a ton of time downstairs. The tank began to suffer for this and rather than kill off everything we donated the fish back to the LFS and gave away most of everything else. Gave the wife the task to sell of the expensive equipment, lights, reeflink and power heads. She did an awesome job, except she couldn't sell one G4 Pro light. It got placed in the back of a closet.....
Stay tuned, but I am assuming you know where this is going.
Been a long road. Started in salt water a long time ago. Funds were tight, career was fresh and life was just different. We started with a 55 gallon. Put it across two end tables with a 3 foot space with nothing in the middle of the tank. Posted and picture on an older site that was popular back then and was quickly informed that is wouldn't work. First of many times we would go back to the drawing board. I wish I still had that photo, truth be told it is probably floating around on some photo hosting site I have long since lost the login for.
We built our first stand with some 2x4's and 1x2's. Completely over built it, installed hinge assembly that quickly rusted and ceased to function, but we were darn proud of that stand. Sanded and stained to match the trim in our first house we filled the tank with tap water and salt. So there's that...Cycle started and as you would guess algae wasn't long after. RO system, no DI purchased along with some power compact lights and we were on the road again. Everything was hang on the back and was the cheapest stuff, but we could afford it; sort of. That tank lasted about a year and we found a deal on a 110 tall tank. Insert cringe here.
110 tank came with a stand and we sanded it down and stained it to match...again. Turned the 55 into a sump and we were on the road again. That tank while providing a ton of swim room was an absolute nightmare to maintain. Hang on the back everything again and some kind of squid return that rotated flow to each side of the tank. Had that tank for another year and a half or so but suffered many algae out breaks, fish die offs and poor coral growth. I believe weak lighting and depth of the tank really caused us to suffer the losses. When it was clean and running well it was a pretty tank, but we were still young, funds were always tight and it just didn't work. Decided to sell the tank and everything on a "fire" sale and dropped out of the hobby for awhile. Swearing to never return.
Several years later we moved to from a mid-size city to a large metro area; Kansas City. Got settled in to the new house and while venturing around the area stumbled upon a salt water fish store. Opps- here comes the bug. By now Craig's List is all the rage and we found a 72 gallon bow front tank with sump and all the equipment ready to run. Made some good friends that we have since lost touch with and typing this reminds me that I need to send him and email and see how they are doing; how's that trip down memory lane...
Along with the 72 we also decided to build my wife a BioCube 32 gallon, because why not? Funds were much better by now and both tanks did pretty good. We sailed along for a couple of years and were happy in the hobby. Kept all softies and some fish and had some good luck. Reading some more on the internet got me bit by the big tank bug and we decided to build a 220 setup with a custom 55 gallon sump. Along with this tank came some really nice G4 Pro lights and some other very good equipment. The 220 ran great for about a year and half and I got bored in the hobby. The tank was downstairs in the basement and with it just being the two of us we did not spend a ton of time downstairs. The tank began to suffer for this and rather than kill off everything we donated the fish back to the LFS and gave away most of everything else. Gave the wife the task to sell of the expensive equipment, lights, reeflink and power heads. She did an awesome job, except she couldn't sell one G4 Pro light. It got placed in the back of a closet.....
Stay tuned, but I am assuming you know where this is going.