BuddyBonButt
Well-Known Member
Started off with months of research. Came to a conclusion that I wanted a 90 gallon tank with eventually having a mixed Reef and a very specific set of livestock that has of course changed over the course of setting up the tank. I went in knowing NOTHING except that I knew I wanted to be a marine biologist. I loved the ocean and its alien-esk world.
I've had ups and downs from stalled cycles to fish death and sickness to dinoflagellate plague to tank teardown and reset and after countless calls to my lfs (they now recognize my voice instantly, I do feel bad for them lol) Only to now be back on top? Maybe? I'm due for my first coral soon months after setting up my tank.
I've got plenty of videos on my tiktok:
@BuddyBonButt (trust me I hate tiktok for the most part but it's a good sharing platform) this is where you'll see how bad the dinos were and how close I was to a total tank wipe out. My clowns were on deaths doorstep
And here's my notes from the begining, I've since moved to a different non-vitrual method of note taking
I started off with a budget of around $2500 and quickly realized going new was not an option. I turned to Facebook Marketplace and I found some pretty great deals. I bought basically an entire system for $300
It included tank, stand and canopy, glass lids, wavemaker, crappy lights (replaced), return pump, sump, protein skimmer, UV sterilizer, algae scraper, power strip, and fan for lights.
I had to replace the tank because when I took it to get resealed, the store broke the tank. I had a long fight with them and eventually just gave up. They gave me some store credit but once I used up that I didn't go back. And the new tank had a defect and had to replace it (giant bubble in the glass, I only discovered AFTER setting the tank up, you'll see a drastic change in rockwork. That was after I discovered the defect) I went through 3 tanks. Looking back, it feels like something was telling me not to do this lol.
I also have a closet turned fish room with my qt, testing, storage, and whatever else. See the last included pics of that.
I've had ups and downs from stalled cycles to fish death and sickness to dinoflagellate plague to tank teardown and reset and after countless calls to my lfs (they now recognize my voice instantly, I do feel bad for them lol) Only to now be back on top? Maybe? I'm due for my first coral soon months after setting up my tank.
I've got plenty of videos on my tiktok:
@BuddyBonButt (trust me I hate tiktok for the most part but it's a good sharing platform) this is where you'll see how bad the dinos were and how close I was to a total tank wipe out. My clowns were on deaths doorstep
And here's my notes from the begining, I've since moved to a different non-vitrual method of note taking
I started off with a budget of around $2500 and quickly realized going new was not an option. I turned to Facebook Marketplace and I found some pretty great deals. I bought basically an entire system for $300
It included tank, stand and canopy, glass lids, wavemaker, crappy lights (replaced), return pump, sump, protein skimmer, UV sterilizer, algae scraper, power strip, and fan for lights.
I had to replace the tank because when I took it to get resealed, the store broke the tank. I had a long fight with them and eventually just gave up. They gave me some store credit but once I used up that I didn't go back. And the new tank had a defect and had to replace it (giant bubble in the glass, I only discovered AFTER setting the tank up, you'll see a drastic change in rockwork. That was after I discovered the defect) I went through 3 tanks. Looking back, it feels like something was telling me not to do this lol.
I also have a closet turned fish room with my qt, testing, storage, and whatever else. See the last included pics of that.
