Aquariums are great for PTSD

[1112-425XL]

 

[00W]

Wow! That tank is insanely groovy!
Thanks for everything you've done and welcome welcome to R2R!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[scdigby]

 

[steveschuerger]

Welcome to the R2R community! Thank you for your serb]vice! And yes, very nice tank. I think you’ll find that there are quite a few service vets here, in fact on the thread(s) I hang out on there are several that I know.

 

[paragrouper]

Yes they are quite therapeutic.

 

[Fish Styx]

Hey, Brian. As a fellow combat vet (68W), I couldn't agree with you more. Welcome, and thanks for sharing your story. Hit me up via PM if you ever want / need to chat.

 

[MnFish1]

Hey there,
My name is Brian and I am an Army veteran of Iraqi Freedom. I was a signal guy. My HV was hit by an RPG. 13 years later and I still have some issues relaxing sometimes.

My Aquarium, specifically a larger glass cylinder Aquarium, had been on my bucket list for years. My lovely wife helped make this happen.
Rarely a day goes by that I don’t tell my wife how much I appreciate this Aquarium.

It’s in AquaVim 165 gallon three-quarter round, glass Aquarium. It is a challenge to maintain due to how deep it is and the creativity involved in reaching the bottom with various PVC creations and zip ties etc. Also, the cabinet underneath is a little bit awkward for all The filtration equipment. With some creativity, I’ve managed to make it work fairly well.

I have a UV sterilizer, combined with a filter sock and a small pump. This pump is right next to the main return pump. Due to the cramped conditions under the cabinet, I was not able to place a filter sock in the logical place. It was just too hard to get to. , After trying several bypass PVC monsters on the main overflow, I decided to go ahead with some passive filtering. It doesn’t catch everything but it catches a lot. And the PVC return for that sock is made of several elbows that allow me to turn it for easy removal. I keep the sock over the Refugium, to give it a little more flow. Those softies like to drop babies and I am happy to put them in the downstairs until they grab something.

I had to go with a protein skimmer that had a base that was less than 5 inches square. I would prefer something much larger for the aquarium, but something is better than nothing. Had to build stilts for it, in order to be able to properly tune it in.

I have an adjustable pump for the main filtration, that allows me to dial it just down enough to not sound like a flushing toilet, lol. I’ve played with every dursa combination I could think of up top, but due to space challenges underneath in the sump I was unable to really modify that too much. I’ve seen some pretty cool designs. They just won’t fit.

I like the science behind their aquarium, but I lack the discipline and the skills to keep the water at parameters that would work for most stony corals. Nitrates stay a bit high. Soft corals work for me.
I do love them. I’ve had fish Aquariums my whole life, and this is the first attempt at corals and reef keeping.

Nice tank!!

 

[Jimbhoy13]

Welcome to R2R Brian

 

[MnFish1]

Nice tank!!

BTW - in some cases - tanks can also cause PTSD (No offense to the OP) - bad joke, I know