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BoatMan27

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So, this is an introduction, so the welcome message says.

I grew up on Florida's Gulf Coast in North West Florida. I have had aquariums since I was a kid, I'm 60 now. Of course I started with fresh water tanks, and that is what I had until about 10 years ago. I did a Air Force career and my wife and I travelled from Florida to Alaska and then back across the country. We always had a aquarium, eventually having a 55 gallon rectangular tank. I had taken a look at doing a salt water tank in the 80's, but at that time it was pretty intense to start and keep one, so I let it go. Then, in the early 2000's I took another look at it. By then setting up and maintaining a saltwater tank had been made much simpler. So I converted our 55 gallon to a salt water tank. It did okay, though I tried to keep some challenging fish and that didn't work out all that great. But I was hooked. Started reading more and learning more. Then I went into my local salt water store and found that they had a used 150 gallon tank for sale at a great price. So, after a couple of weeks of going in and looking at it, I finally bought it. It came with a 20 gallon sump built from a 20 gallon aquarium. After I got it home and in the garage, I decided the stand wasn't good enough, so after watching a few youtube videos I built a new stand for it. It turned out pretty good to. I finally got to set it up and it came out pretty good. If I can find some of the pictures of it I'll post them sometime. So now I needed to cycle it and start stocking it. I probably rushed the stocking and I lost some fish I shouldn't have. But it was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. Now it get's more interesting. I had become pretty good friends with my fish store guy and one day he called me. Said he had run into some bad luck and was going to be leaving the area. He was also going to be living in an RV and had to get rid of almost all his personal aquariums and supplies, and would I like to see if there was anything I wanted and really good prices. So I went over. He had a Fluval 90, with canister, a 75 gallon with sump, and a 60 gallon freshwater. He had lots of live rock and dry rock, As well as the live stock in the 75. I told him I only had about $300 that I could spend and just said "I know how much you're getting into saltwater aquariums, you can have it all for that". I about feinted. So, suddenly I had three more aquariums, one of which was stocked. At that time I took down the 150 and sold it. My main aquarium became the 75 and I put the 90 in my classroom. Did I tell you I am a 6th grade teacher? Anyway, for several years those are the aquariums I spent my time on. The Freshwater aquarium I traded to my son's daycare for credit towards that expense. And that was how things stood for several years. I continued to learn more, acquired more equipment, RO/DI purification to make my own water and such. By now the fish that had come with the 75 gal had moved on and I had a Yellow Tang, a Clown and some Green Chromes in the tank. My tank at school had a couple of clowns, a couple of Pajama Cardinals and Lawnmower Blennie, as well as a Six Line. And then on October 10, 2018 Hurricane Michael came to see us. Before it moved through my house was, in large part, destroyed. When we came out of the bathroom we had sheltered in, most of the ceilings were on the floors. I couldn't even see the 75 gallon. It was several days before I could dig it out and get the ceiling and insulation off of it. I really didn't expect to find anything alive, but when I finally got it uncovered and daylight shown in, after a minute or two I see fish easing out of the rocks. They were all good. My corals, some Duncan and finger corals and polyps were all good to. So I hooked the pump and lights up to my generator and everything worked. My tank at school was not as lucky. It was two weeks before I could get to it. The power had been off since the storm and would not be back on for several weeks. Everything in the tank died. But the tank was good. So, because my house was not going to be livable for months, when they got power back to the my classroom I went and cleaned out that tank and transferred everything from the 75 to the 90. And that is how things have been for the past year or so. Except, due to mold being discovered in my classroom I had to move rooms. But I kept the 90 there. Recently I decided to, for the first time, purchase a brand new 75 gallon and sump and set it up in my current room I will be starting a build thread to document that. And that's how, through many tanks and live stock, I am still going with saltwater. Pretty long I guess, but once I get started...lol
 

Bryn

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Hello and welcome to R2R...And thanks for being a teacher, I job I could not do.


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Peace River

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Welcome to Reef2Reef!!!

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vetteguy53081

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fishguy242

Cronies..... INSERT BUILD THREAD BADGE HERE !!
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hi welcome to the reef going to love it here!!
lots of fun/info/fun/help/fun....
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 66 37.3%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 59 33.3%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 14.1%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 27 15.3%
  • Other.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
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