Pig
New Member
I'm new to the site, and forgot decorum on my first post. So here we go:
Started small and got massive in Utah between 95-2014 when we moved, but there was another reason I got out of the aquarium life. After growing to a 400 gallon with a 90 refugium I was large and in charge of my salt water world (with a lot of help from The Aquarium in Sandy Utah over the years). Unfortunately on one business trip out of state I fell to the trappings of a Professional Aquarium Cleaner (advertised as licensed and bonded). My strict instructions were not to touch the corals, or rearrange my live rock. As I was retuning from the airport and driving down our road, I passed his truck after leaving the house. Excited to see the tank, say hello to my now full grown and very expensive collection, I walked in and was shocked. My layout had been entirely modified/moved, and my levels were out of wack. I called the guy and he simply said he had to move "stuff" to do a proper clean.
While about to sit down for dinner we heard a very large crash, so I got up thinking something outside had fallen. Nope, the live rock had fallen forward, hit the front glass, and gave us a water free tank with a glass arch from corner to corner. Some of my rocks came out, all of the fish were washed out, and hydraulic'd under our relatively new carpet. There was no saving my peppermint angel, my 6" black tang, or candy basslet, and I was incubating a 3" interruptus, to name a few of my most cherished and expensive fish.
I was not able to simply pick up the fish and put them in the refugium for obvious reasons and did not have an alternate or rescue tank having (within the past year) sold my 60 and 90 show. My corals were lost, outside of a 5 gallon bucket that I rushed to the fish store in Midvale, all was lost. When I called the guy who did the job, when he answered he sounded mad, so what I laid on him was in anger, and not tempered anger. Short of saying that sucks, this time he said he did not touch anything, so my trip to his host store in Midvale on Cherry Street was sure to be an ugly confrontation. When I got to the store, they told me he no longer works for them, and said he was not insured by the store, and as far as they new he did not have any private insurance (he told me this over the phone after previously saying he did). They did not stand behind his work as an employee and suggested by them as the best in the area. So within 18 months they had gone out of business.
Funny how when you screw over folks who know folks, things tend to get a little choppy.
So after a 13-14 year hiatus, and finally getting to the point of trusting I remember something of the hobby, and relocating to N. FL, I'm back in it with baby steps.
My first tank, mid April 26 was and is a 55 Corner Bow Front (secondhand from FB $80 - very clean). It is in its first month of being established and is playing host to 9 African's, 6 rosy barbs, and two corey cats. It's an eclectic mix, but it seems to be working. Today I started standing up a Oceanic BioCube 24 (? it's 20x20x16 tall, so I had to do a gallon by gallon fill to get this close). Right now all I'm doing is circulating the salt I added, don't have sub-straight, obviously don't have live rock or anything else. Light is on the way, still head-scratching about a skimmer, Reactors are new to me so I'll have to read up. I want more corals than fish, but I hate the thought of making a "Nemo" pun tank. I will be using Fuji Pink for my sub, and we don't have anyone near with live rock. So my salt adventure is up in the air.
In reading there is more information on this sight than my 65 year old brain could possibly absorb, but I'm buckled up, hands and feet in the vehicle, and browsing Amazon for a safety helmet just in case things go south again.
Thanks for having me and hosting the site.
Started small and got massive in Utah between 95-2014 when we moved, but there was another reason I got out of the aquarium life. After growing to a 400 gallon with a 90 refugium I was large and in charge of my salt water world (with a lot of help from The Aquarium in Sandy Utah over the years). Unfortunately on one business trip out of state I fell to the trappings of a Professional Aquarium Cleaner (advertised as licensed and bonded). My strict instructions were not to touch the corals, or rearrange my live rock. As I was retuning from the airport and driving down our road, I passed his truck after leaving the house. Excited to see the tank, say hello to my now full grown and very expensive collection, I walked in and was shocked. My layout had been entirely modified/moved, and my levels were out of wack. I called the guy and he simply said he had to move "stuff" to do a proper clean.
While about to sit down for dinner we heard a very large crash, so I got up thinking something outside had fallen. Nope, the live rock had fallen forward, hit the front glass, and gave us a water free tank with a glass arch from corner to corner. Some of my rocks came out, all of the fish were washed out, and hydraulic'd under our relatively new carpet. There was no saving my peppermint angel, my 6" black tang, or candy basslet, and I was incubating a 3" interruptus, to name a few of my most cherished and expensive fish.
I was not able to simply pick up the fish and put them in the refugium for obvious reasons and did not have an alternate or rescue tank having (within the past year) sold my 60 and 90 show. My corals were lost, outside of a 5 gallon bucket that I rushed to the fish store in Midvale, all was lost. When I called the guy who did the job, when he answered he sounded mad, so what I laid on him was in anger, and not tempered anger. Short of saying that sucks, this time he said he did not touch anything, so my trip to his host store in Midvale on Cherry Street was sure to be an ugly confrontation. When I got to the store, they told me he no longer works for them, and said he was not insured by the store, and as far as they new he did not have any private insurance (he told me this over the phone after previously saying he did). They did not stand behind his work as an employee and suggested by them as the best in the area. So within 18 months they had gone out of business.
Funny how when you screw over folks who know folks, things tend to get a little choppy. So after a 13-14 year hiatus, and finally getting to the point of trusting I remember something of the hobby, and relocating to N. FL, I'm back in it with baby steps.
My first tank, mid April 26 was and is a 55 Corner Bow Front (secondhand from FB $80 - very clean). It is in its first month of being established and is playing host to 9 African's, 6 rosy barbs, and two corey cats. It's an eclectic mix, but it seems to be working. Today I started standing up a Oceanic BioCube 24 (? it's 20x20x16 tall, so I had to do a gallon by gallon fill to get this close). Right now all I'm doing is circulating the salt I added, don't have sub-straight, obviously don't have live rock or anything else. Light is on the way, still head-scratching about a skimmer, Reactors are new to me so I'll have to read up. I want more corals than fish, but I hate the thought of making a "Nemo" pun tank. I will be using Fuji Pink for my sub, and we don't have anyone near with live rock. So my salt adventure is up in the air.
In reading there is more information on this sight than my 65 year old brain could possibly absorb, but I'm buckled up, hands and feet in the vehicle, and browsing Amazon for a safety helmet just in case things go south again.
Thanks for having me and hosting the site.
