Boomski
Community Member
Hello all, this will be the back story to my current 50G SA cube.
Back in Aug of 2020 my daughter wanted a pet, I was working 50+ hours a week so a dog was out of the question and I'm allergic to cats pretty badly so both of the obv childhood pets where unavailable to us. So she decided on fish and we started down the freshwater router with a beta.
As my daughters initial interest faded, I found myself more and more taking care of and enjoying the hobby. This quickly evolved into heavy planted, CO2, canister filters, etc.
Which inevitably lead to my first purchase of a used salt water system. I've always loved established salt water tanks, and was enjoying freshwater greatly so I thought Id give it a shot, With my first cube at 30g and sump at 10g. Having little to know actual experience but a ton of online research I decided going used was the right option.
Dry rock and sand, cheap powerheads (Hydor) and an Ehime heater and return pump. T5 lights that came with and the cycling began.
I put some live rock and mangroves down in the sump, this was my first major update to the equipment that was given to me or bought cheaply.
I added my first fish (pair of clows) and coral (Xenia and some other LPS) as well as a CUC (Cleaner shrimp and snails) about 45 days later
Added a few others a few weeks later
I upgraded power heads and lights, as well as added a few new members to the community
Things where going generally well, I managed to get through the 'ugly' stage relatively easily, no major algae breakouts, or diseases.
Back in Aug of 2020 my daughter wanted a pet, I was working 50+ hours a week so a dog was out of the question and I'm allergic to cats pretty badly so both of the obv childhood pets where unavailable to us. So she decided on fish and we started down the freshwater router with a beta.
As my daughters initial interest faded, I found myself more and more taking care of and enjoying the hobby. This quickly evolved into heavy planted, CO2, canister filters, etc.
Which inevitably lead to my first purchase of a used salt water system. I've always loved established salt water tanks, and was enjoying freshwater greatly so I thought Id give it a shot, With my first cube at 30g and sump at 10g. Having little to know actual experience but a ton of online research I decided going used was the right option.
Dry rock and sand, cheap powerheads (Hydor) and an Ehime heater and return pump. T5 lights that came with and the cycling began.
I put some live rock and mangroves down in the sump, this was my first major update to the equipment that was given to me or bought cheaply.
I added my first fish (pair of clows) and coral (Xenia and some other LPS) as well as a CUC (Cleaner shrimp and snails) about 45 days later
Added a few others a few weeks later
I upgraded power heads and lights, as well as added a few new members to the community
Things where going generally well, I managed to get through the 'ugly' stage relatively easily, no major algae breakouts, or diseases.
