SockMonster
New Member
Hi, after years of stealing single socks in the dryer I was burned out. It was time for a change of life for me. I am now a RN in Arizona and have been for 11 years. My mom always had fish tanks in the home as long as I could remember and I use to love going to the mall to buy new fish. My first job was working at a local fish store in the area. I started my own saltwater tank in my 20s but it did not go well at all and was a huge heart break for me. I have dreamed about having fish for years but that first event was extremely discouraged and felt it was just to tough for me to get into with my busy life. I have a disabled child and for years when we go to bed we watch fish videos on Youtube, and one day I saw an add for HelloReef pop up. After thinking about it for awhile I finally decided to pull the trigger as they were a AIO but also put at the videos to walk you through each step. So, here I am not finding my way to this site looking to learn and connect. This journey has been far far more stressful, yet rewarding, than I could have imagined. I do not like the fear of trying to keep the torch my wife bought me as a gift alive despite my lack of experience, but I love that he is still doing ok after 3 months. I am enjoying the science of it all so deeply and its my own tiny little planet to care for. I wish my new Rainbow Anemone would not sit directly between my 3 Kenya Trees, but here we are. My best bud is Jeff Lee the Kung Fu skunk shrimp, and my tail spot blender who I am pretty sure was plotting against me until I got him a Green Tip Mushroom. I have almost killed them all 3 times now due to lack of 02, nitrates of 66 due to delayed cycle, and a death in the tank that created a huge phos trigger. I just fought of Dynos and now my crew are valiantly battling some red algae, and I truly believe they will win. I bought from a questionable fish store 2 hours away and have already had to glue 2 baby Aiptasia, even after dipping the way I learned from Youtube. With all that said, they are my gang and we are going to get through this together. And no matter how stressful my day is at work, or with my sick child, that FLOW always brings me calm. DEAR BUDDHA that flow, such elegance that I have never appreciated before. My system has been up and running for 6 months but I am already looking for a 100 to 125 system online, still not sure used or new. I promised myself I would manage this for 1 year before jumping in deeper, and it has taught me a lot about patience. So, from Jeff and me, thanks for the help, and thanks for this site, its hard to manage an ocean in the northern high deserts of AZ alone.
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