A Reefkeepers Journey (Short Story)

[Fish_Sticks]

(long ago)
My father and I wait patiently at the PetSmart checkout line on a cold, cold February afternoon. Among the smells of dog food, dandruff, and wood shavings I manage to keep my focus on the prize. Friends and family have dogs and cats, but fish is the only color I see. That 10-gallon tiger barb tank at your grandma’s house with a 15 month old hang on back filter pad? I wish I was your grandma cause that sounds cool. But I’m making a purchase so big it will make golden retrievers old news. The 75 gallon saltwater tank.

It had been two hours since we had first entered the store. My decision to get a 75 gallon -- all improvisation, for I had originally set out for a second 55 gallon tank to house an array of the finest freshwater petstore fish. Midway through choices my father asked me the question that every aquarist eventually comes to, "Why don’t you do a salt tank?"

I had never seen a saltwater tank before, nor even knew you could even keep corals. But everyone knows that clownfish are cool.

My dad always told me stories of when he had kept emperor and koran angelfish, triggers, and tangs during high school and college during the 70s and 80s. How hard could it be?

I had come a long way from that 55 gallon I got on my birthday years ago. With the knowledge of the nitrogen cycle, I was unstoppable. As an avid fisherman, I spent years keeping local pond minnows, very small arrays of catfish, bass, bluegill and sunfish. I had a choice, freshwater petstore fish, or saltwater petstore fish. Without hesitation, I proclaimed salt!

After handing 300$ in cash to the clerk, the sliding doors opened and the cold air filled the store. Together we loaded up a 75 gallon tank onto the truck and embarked on the reef keeper’s journey.

The end.
(can write more about this tank or how I comically set it up if anyone is interested.)

 

[Crabs McJones]

Welcome to R2R! Great story and we look forward to joining you on your journey

#WelcometoR2R

 

[Billldg]

Welcome to R2R!!! Start a build thread and tell us about it!!!

 

[DLHDesign]

Welcome to R2R! Please keep the story going - we love to follow along!

 

[dbl]

Welcome to R2R and thanks for signing up.

 

[Seawitch]

Welcome. We're delighted to have you. We even have a sub-forum for build threads: here. Tell the whole story from soup to nuts.

 

[KJ]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[Fish_Sticks]

(part 2 sarcasm abound)

I had been keeping fish since I was a little kid. The nitrogen cycle, chlorine, and ph, were common knowledge to me by now, but salt was a whole new deal.

It was time to do some research...

I grew up with the internet. It was the go-to source for information. Many nights were spent researching the best way to set up a saltwater tank. Game plan in pocket, I went to the most knowledgeable saltwater store around, the local Petco. Familiar smells of wood shavings, dog food and smelly ferrets abound, but a new smell emerged... salt! My cart filled up with instant ocean, black Hawaiian sand, and what the clerk proclaimed to be the most precise tool used for measuring salt levels, a swing arm hydrometer...


20 gallon saltwater display tanks lined the center display of the pet store. I knew not the names of any fish they had, and no clownfish in sight. An affordable and colorful fish caught my eye. Beautiful deep blue scales, a yellow tail, and a spinney dorsal fin. Yellow-tail damselfish -- Chrysiptera parasema. The fish had to wait, for I had an empty glass box sitting in my second-floor bedroom. Pet perks number in hand, I threw more cash at the clerk and flew home to begin the task of cycling the tank.

(this story could go on forever)

 

[Fish_Sticks]

Warm hat, warm gloves, warm coat, I tossed a highlighter orange extension cord out my second-floor bedroom window. No way was I going to carry 75 gallons of water from tap to tank. The hose would get the job done fast. I shut the window quick and down the stairs and out the door to the spicket I went. A length of frozen extension cord in hand, I slung it around the hose, turned on the water, and headed back up to my room so could hoist up the hose with the extension cord. A dark underwater sandstorm turned about as the tank filled to the brim with ice water. Full at last, the sand still stirring violently inside a silent room, I added the final ingredient... Salt! I thought to myself, now I have a saltwater tank.


The indecisive lever swung and tottered about. One thing was certain, the water was salty. With some final tweaks, the arm settled near 1.024, the number of the ocean. A few pinches of fish food went into the tank. Not food for fish, but food for the cycle and growth of bacteria. Now that the recipe was complete, it was time to let it toil about and for the cycle to run its course for the next few months.

 

[C-Reefer]

Great story! I can't wait for the next parts. Welcome to R2R!

 

[JasonK84]

Keep going!

 

[Fish_Sticks]

“I’ll have those three yellow-tail damselfish, these three green chromis, and that azure blue damelfish please.” The poor Petco clerk began chasing fish around the store in an attempt to fill my order. I had plenty of time to look around at some of the other items for sale, dosing supplements, poor quality fish food, and many tanks far smaller than mine. By now I didn’t need anything else, my tank was great, and I only needed fish. A final price of 40$ for 7 fish seemed fair, but I was busy thinking about the acclimation process, even on the drive home.


The bags of fish bobbed about the top of my aquarium. The fish huddled together inside the capsule, peering down at the unexplored territory below. A Martian land of rocks, black sand, and bedroom was waiting for them. They must be deciding on what their strategy will be, as this is surely not their first time being in a bag. A gust rushes around them from above, the water around them feels strangely familiar. A higher salinity reminiscent of the ocean and not the pet store, an absence of copper. A wave of memories flows through their minds, their journey in their reef, from the boat, to the warehouse, to the airplane, to the warehouse, to the petstore, and now, another cursed bag. Their acclimation complete, I scoop each fish out of the bag and into the tank. They quickly begin finding hiding spots. Within an hour they’ve each claimed their chunk of territory within the tank.

 

[xaflatoonx]

Genuinely enjoyed your post - it was awesome. You have a skill.

Welcome to R2R.

 

[mike werner]

Welcome

 

[kschweer]

Welcome to R2R!!

 

[Salty Lemon]

Welcome to R2R! My first reef tank was a 75 gallon too! I loved it. Glad you joined us. Be sure to get a build thread started.

 

[hdsoftail1065]

Welcome to R2R!!! Enjoyed reading your story!

 

[Muttley000]

(long ago)
My father and I wait patiently at the PetSmart checkout line on a cold, cold February afternoon. Among the smells of dog food, dandruff, and wood shavings I manage to keep my focus on the prize. Friends and family have dogs and cats, but fish is the only color I see. That 10-gallon tiger barb tank at your grandma’s house with a 15 month old hang on back filter pad? I wish I was your grandma cause that sounds cool. But I’m making a purchase so big it will make golden retrievers old news. The 75 gallon saltwater tank.

It had been two hours since we had first entered the store. My decision to get a 75 gallon -- all improvisation, for I had originally set out for a second 55 gallon tank to house an array of the finest freshwater petstore fish. Midway through choices my father asked me the question that every aquarist eventually comes to, "Why don’t you do a salt tank?"

I had never seen a saltwater tank before, nor even knew you could even keep corals. But everyone knows that clownfish are cool.

My dad always told me stories of when he had kept emperor and koran angelfish, triggers, and tangs during high school and college during the 70s and 80s. How hard could it be?

I had come a long way from that 55 gallon I got on my birthday years ago. With the knowledge of the nitrogen cycle, I was unstoppable. As an avid fisherman, I spent years keeping local pond minnows, very small arrays of catfish, bass, bluegill and sunfish. I had a choice, freshwater petstore fish, or saltwater petstore fish. Without hesitation, I proclaimed salt!

After handing 300$ in cash to the clerk, the sliding doors opened and the cold air filled the store. Together we loaded up a 75 gallon tank onto the truck and embarked on the reef keeper’s journey.

The end.
(can write more about this tank or how I comically set it up if anyone is interested.)

Welcome to R2R! Best intro ever!

 

[KrisReef]

(long ago)
My father and I wait patiently at the PetSmart checkout line on a cold, cold February afternoon. Among the smells of dog food, dandruff, and wood shavings I manage to keep my focus on the prize. Friends and family have dogs and cats, but fish is the only color I see. That 10-gallon tiger barb tank at your grandma’s house with a 15 month old hang on back filter pad? I wish I was your grandma cause that sounds cool. But I’m making a purchase so big it will make golden retrievers old news. The 75 gallon saltwater tank.

It had been two hours since we had first entered the store. My decision to get a 75 gallon -- all improvisation, for I had originally set out for a second 55 gallon tank to house an array of the finest freshwater petstore fish. Midway through choices my father asked me the question that every aquarist eventually comes to, "Why don’t you do a salt tank?"

I had never seen a saltwater tank before, nor even knew you could even keep corals. But everyone knows that clownfish are cool.

My dad always told me stories of when he had kept emperor and koran angelfish, triggers, and tangs during high school and college during the 70s and 80s. How hard could it be?

I had come a long way from that 55 gallon I got on my birthday years ago. With the knowledge of the nitrogen cycle, I was unstoppable. As an avid fisherman, I spent years keeping local pond minnows, very small arrays of catfish, bass, bluegill and sunfish. I had a choice, freshwater petstore fish, or saltwater petstore fish. Without hesitation, I proclaimed salt!

After handing 300$ in cash to the clerk, the sliding doors opened and the cold air filled the store. Together we loaded up a 75 gallon tank onto the truck and embarked on the reef keeper’s journey.

The end.
(can write more about this tank or how I comically set it up if anyone is interested.)

Please do continue with this story, and Welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[Fish_Sticks]

Thanks All. Heres a bit more

Each of my fish had a very distinct personality. Especially the yellow tail damsel, Tonka, who excavated sand and built himself burrows along the reef. The fish divided the tank into three equal territory regions, left, middle, and right, one for each yellow tail damsel. The three green chromis swam about in the upper half of the tank, not getting involved in any of the blue damsel’s negotiations. The little azure damsel held out in a small bit of rock that Tonka seemed not to care to much about. These fish were great, and overtime I acquired a peppermint shrimp, emerald crabs, and a clean up crew.


The next winter was already approaching, a year spent enjoying my aquarium. By now I had learned of another local saltwater fish store, Seafari. My visit was unforgettable, there is no smell of dog food, just salt. The store illuminates in its own actinic glory. I set out to purchase a six line wrasse, or a clownfish, but they were not in stock. Towards the back of a store was a shallow tank with so much actinic light, it would turn your clothes blue permanently. This is where it all started, the frag tank. A salty clerk stumbles over buckets on their way from the back of the store.


By this time, I had only ever cared about fish, but maybe my damsels would enjoy having coral too. I was still running the single four foot t8 bulb that came with my 75 gallon tank. An empty frag rack with one 5$ plug with a red mushroom coral caught my eye. The clerk still sorting his buckets back assures me that “you don’t need fancy lights to grow mushroom coral. You could grow mushrooms in a toilet!” Then one frag of the red mushroom coral it is!