ChickenHawk
New Member
2020 has been a crazy year for all of us and with that, I believe it is important to invest in the things that bring us joy and an outlet for creativity and passion. That being said, my husband and I have decided it is about time to jump back into the wonderful hobby of reefing!
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A little background about myself.. in 2013 I was given a bunch of bits and pieces of a salt water tank by a family member who had upgraded his tank. I fell in love with the idea of being able to crate something so beautiful and full of life. As most of us do, I dove into the depths of the internet to find out just how exactly to do such a thing. There was so much information to sift through, but in the end I jumped right in and started all of the trials and errors that we go through. It was great. I had a 29 gal reef that stayed up for 3 years and in that time I got my boyfriend, now husband, hooked. I helped him start a 10 gal nano reef which we kept up for over a year. We got married and then set out to thru hike the Appalachian Trail, where we spent just over 5 months hiking up the east coast. This is where my name “Chicken Hawk” comes from. My husband is Dregs. When we got back, we both had the itch for reefing again. We set up a 55 gal that didn’t last super long as we decided to move to Colorado. It’s been 4 years settling down here, but now we have a house and some stability and when you know it’s time, then it’s time. So for Christmas, my wonderful husband suggests that he get me my dream tank and support me through this journey. He is highly involved in this process with me as we work well as a team, but I still get the final say on the tank as it is my gift ; )
.
So here we are, just starting 2021, and man is there more clear and concise information out there than when I started. I drive for a living and so I have had much time to listen to BRS TV Podcast, amongst other informational sources. It’s been so much fun relearning about reefing. We ordered a Red Sea Reefer 350 from a shop in Denver and drove the 2 1/2 hrs to pick it up. We live in nowhere, so nothing is close or easy to do. Just him and I had to carry the big box of tank from our car into the house during a snow storm in the dark and I thought my arms would be ripped off. Through the grace of God, I did not drop it and we made it in! Over the next days, we got the stand built and the tank up. I set up an area to make my aquascape on our kitchen table and configured the rocks in numerous ways over the course of a week ( worth the space sacrifice). What I ended up with was an aquascape that has many visible “hiding spaces” for the fish, rock only as high as about half way up for sps growth, tunnels that allow for good water circulation, space enough for a siphon around all sides and between the two rock structures, and some quarks that make me happy such as a small balcony that I hope a future fish will perch in nicely one day. I glued it all together with some extra thick super glue and insta-set, let it dry for a day, rinsed it off and placed it in the tank. Then I added Carib Sea Special grade sand and BAM! Beautiful
.
I loaded up on BRS’s two part and magnesium, got all the initial test kits, set up our 5 stage ro/di system, got some Brightwell Neo Marine salt, 2 ice cap gyro powerheads, titanium heater, multiple kinds of fish food, and a big ol UV sterilizer.
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some issues that need resolving before adding water include adding supports under the house as the beams run horizontally and there is a weird vent covered by carpet apparently directly under the stand. We will need to disconnect that vent so that the temperature of the tank isn’t affected when our heat comes on.
.
Sorry for the long post, future posts will be shorter with updates. Next to come is some RedSea LED90s. Keep you posted,
Chicken Hawk
.
A little background about myself.. in 2013 I was given a bunch of bits and pieces of a salt water tank by a family member who had upgraded his tank. I fell in love with the idea of being able to crate something so beautiful and full of life. As most of us do, I dove into the depths of the internet to find out just how exactly to do such a thing. There was so much information to sift through, but in the end I jumped right in and started all of the trials and errors that we go through. It was great. I had a 29 gal reef that stayed up for 3 years and in that time I got my boyfriend, now husband, hooked. I helped him start a 10 gal nano reef which we kept up for over a year. We got married and then set out to thru hike the Appalachian Trail, where we spent just over 5 months hiking up the east coast. This is where my name “Chicken Hawk” comes from. My husband is Dregs. When we got back, we both had the itch for reefing again. We set up a 55 gal that didn’t last super long as we decided to move to Colorado. It’s been 4 years settling down here, but now we have a house and some stability and when you know it’s time, then it’s time. So for Christmas, my wonderful husband suggests that he get me my dream tank and support me through this journey. He is highly involved in this process with me as we work well as a team, but I still get the final say on the tank as it is my gift ; )
.
So here we are, just starting 2021, and man is there more clear and concise information out there than when I started. I drive for a living and so I have had much time to listen to BRS TV Podcast, amongst other informational sources. It’s been so much fun relearning about reefing. We ordered a Red Sea Reefer 350 from a shop in Denver and drove the 2 1/2 hrs to pick it up. We live in nowhere, so nothing is close or easy to do. Just him and I had to carry the big box of tank from our car into the house during a snow storm in the dark and I thought my arms would be ripped off. Through the grace of God, I did not drop it and we made it in! Over the next days, we got the stand built and the tank up. I set up an area to make my aquascape on our kitchen table and configured the rocks in numerous ways over the course of a week ( worth the space sacrifice). What I ended up with was an aquascape that has many visible “hiding spaces” for the fish, rock only as high as about half way up for sps growth, tunnels that allow for good water circulation, space enough for a siphon around all sides and between the two rock structures, and some quarks that make me happy such as a small balcony that I hope a future fish will perch in nicely one day. I glued it all together with some extra thick super glue and insta-set, let it dry for a day, rinsed it off and placed it in the tank. Then I added Carib Sea Special grade sand and BAM! Beautiful
.
I loaded up on BRS’s two part and magnesium, got all the initial test kits, set up our 5 stage ro/di system, got some Brightwell Neo Marine salt, 2 ice cap gyro powerheads, titanium heater, multiple kinds of fish food, and a big ol UV sterilizer.
.
some issues that need resolving before adding water include adding supports under the house as the beams run horizontally and there is a weird vent covered by carpet apparently directly under the stand. We will need to disconnect that vent so that the temperature of the tank isn’t affected when our heat comes on.
.
Sorry for the long post, future posts will be shorter with updates. Next to come is some RedSea LED90s. Keep you posted,
Chicken Hawk
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