Brew's 187g slice of the ocean

Victoria M · Jan 1, 2021

We made a only barely used fancy 3 inch memory foam topper into Bellas new bed and gave her an old pillow too. Spoiled rotten.

It is folded over for a 6” thick bed. She loves it. I should record her groaning as she settles in at night. It is hilarious! I just change her sheet and pillow case.

Brew12 · Jan 1, 2021

saf1 said:
Must love dogs.

Absolutely! Not sure I could trust someone that didn't!

User1 · Jan 1, 2021

Brew12 said:
Absolutely! Not sure I could trust someone that didn't!

Agreed. Years ago when I was just a wee lad my Uncle told me a woman's best friend is a diamond and a man's is a dog. I'm sure he was kidding but looking back now maybe he wasn't

Loved my Aunts and Uncles.

cmaxwell39 · Jan 2, 2021

Brew12 said:
Thank you!

I have no idea what 2021 is going to bring. I thought I'd be looking at upgrading to a 300g system last fall or this spring but I need to do some home renovation first. Those plans have been delayed. There really isn't much more I can do with the current system other than letting things grow and cutting them back.

Not a bad place to be with a system, although for us that like to tinker it can be a rather boring stage of the aquarium journey as well.

Can't wait to see what the new system will be, but hope it will be a while based on the discussion of needing to be dog free. Lost our dog suddenly a little over a year ago, and while the new puppy from this spring is growing on us, it is just not the same. He is getting there, but his personality is a lot more challenging than our last dog.

Brew12 · Jan 3, 2021

cmaxwell39 said:
Not a bad place to be with a system, although for us that like to tinker it can be a rather boring stage of the aquarium journey as well.

Can't wait to see what the new system will be, but hope it will be a while based on the discussion of needing to be dog free. Lost our dog suddenly a little over a year ago, and while the new puppy from this spring is growing on us, it is just not the same. He is getting there, but his personality is a lot more challenging than our last dog.

Bailey is doing so well at this point I can see putting off the upgrade for at least another year. Hoping that is the case. I will say though, she is my last dog. She is the best little girl a person could ask for but I want to travel more and having a dog makes that challenging. Especially since she doesn't do well being boarded. Heck, she doesn't even like it when my son stays with her in the house and I leave.
The crazy thing about a mature system is that it takes more time and maintenance than one that is filling in. Before my mini crash this fall, I was going in the tank every 2 weeks and cutting out chunks of coral to stop shading issues and coral warfare. I didn't expect that for some reason.

cmaxwell39 · Jan 3, 2021

Brew12 said:
Bailey is doing so well at this point I can see putting off the upgrade for at least another year. Hoping that is the case. I will say though, she is my last dog. She is the best little girl a person could ask for but I want to travel more and having a dog makes that challenging. Especially since she doesn't do well being boarded. Heck, she doesn't even like it when my son stays with her in the house and I leave.
The crazy thing about a mature system is that it takes more time and maintenance than one that is filling in. Before my mini crash this fall, I was going in the tank every 2 weeks and cutting out chunks of coral to stop shading issues and coral warfare. I didn't expect that for some reason.

It is always something with our tanks. We want the little frags we got to grow into colonies because the tank looks so empty, but once they do we find out they don’t play nice with each other. You have done and are doing an amazing job with this tank.

Brew12 · Jan 15, 2021

I know I shouldn't because I already don't have enough free time, but I am incredibly tempted to set up another aquarium. Absolutely bare bones. Either a 40B or 55 using only power heads, lights, a heater, and an ATO so I can be lazy. No sump, no mechanical filtration, no skimmer.... and nothing but SPS, fish, and inverts.

Bronc · Jan 15, 2021

Brew12 said:
I know I shouldn't because I already don't have enough free time, but I am incredibly tempted to set up another aquarium. Absolutely bare bones. Either a 40B or 55 using only power heads, lights, a heater, and an ATO so I can be lazy. No sump, no mechanical filtration, no skimmer.... and nothing but SPS, fish, and inverts.

You should definitely do it! I WOULD recommend a refugium though. I use a hang on the back refugium on my new tank with a Tunze 8831 refugium light. I have those lights on both of my tanks.

Brew12 · Jan 15, 2021

Bronc said:
You should definitely do it! I WOULD recommend a refugium though. I use a hang on the back refugium on my new tank with a Tunze 8831 refugium light. I have those lights on both of my tanks.

If I do set it up, it will be more of a toy/proof of concept system. Just to show how minimal a system can be used to grow SPS.

Bronc · Jan 15, 2021

Gotcha. Ok then - one more piece of advice then - I've recently started using All-For-Reef and think this would be the perfect application for it as it will allow you to only dose 1 thing and keeps things super stabile. (And you can add it to your ATO!)

Brew12 · Jan 15, 2021

Bronc said:
Gotcha. Ok then - one more piece of advice then - I've recently started using All-For-Reef and think this would be the perfect application for it as it will allow you to only dose 1 thing and keeps things super stabile.

I was thinking that exact same thing! Or maybe even just using kalk and water changes

cmaxwell39 · Jan 17, 2021

It would be an interesting build and I would love to see you do it. I understand the time thing if you decide not to.

I would personally do a 40 breeder over a standard 55. The 12" depth for aquascaping is just such a pain on the standard 55. Better yet, jump up to a 75 and have the best of both worlds.

Zionas · Jan 17, 2021

Not a fan of the standard 125 if we’re talking about tanks. Also not a fan of the standard 150.

For a 125 I’d do 72” x 24” x 18” to give almost 130, for a 150 I’d go more for width: 72” x 28” x 18”.