laezur
Well-Known Member
Well, I've had this tank about a year and a half now. I think it's about time I actually make a build thread. To be honest, the only reason I haven't made a thread thus far is because this tank has been through so many trials and tribulations and so many stages of ups and downs that I felt embarrassed to share it.
But, as time goes on, I have become more at peace with these swings and roundabouts, and accepted that running a reef tank isn't the easiest thing in the world and we all make mistakes. I realised this forum is here to help, and so I want to begin documenting my progress as a reefer, with all the ups and downs, as I'm sure someone else has experienced the same things.
This tank was put together in December of 2021. It's a second hand Red Sea Reefer 170, and all of the equipment I began using was second hand. This was a big mistake, and eventually came back to haunt me. Since then, I've learned the hard way, when it comes to Reefing equipment.. Go big or go home, we can't take shortcuts here and I've spent more money replacing parts and buying new equipment that I should have bought in the first place.
I went through ugly stages, cyano, algae, bryopsis, dino's. If it exists, this tank has been through it. Then, on top of all that, in October of 2022 I moved house into temporary accomodation and brought my tank with me. All of a sudden, the sump pipework was leaking. I closed the sump down, did what I could with the tank manually and slowly began to fall further and further behind with it. This was the toughest period of time this tank went through, I could barely see through the glass for the algae, I had a salinity swing and didn't realise and was running my tank at 1.017 for over a month, coral began to die... I was losing hope and falling out of love.
Fast forward to January 2023. I found a new job, a well paying job. I came out of a depression pit and began getting back to work on my tank. It was around this time I realised the condition of my tank is a direct mirror of my mental health. For better or worse. I purchased a Fluval FX2 to begin running on the tank temporarily while I worked out my sump issues. This helped with some much needed stability. I then purchased a good refractometer, a new return pump, bought some new O-rings to stop the leaking and pt the sump back into action. I then purchased two new flow pumps and some new rockwork and began almost a new journey.
Come to today, my tank is... Getting there. I'm happy with it. Granted, there's some hair algae hanging about on one of the pumps, and some stubborn algae on the glass, but it's come a long way.
Anyway, time for to stop talking. I'm going to update this monthly with progress pictures and updates. Thanks for reading!
April 2023:
youtube.com
But, as time goes on, I have become more at peace with these swings and roundabouts, and accepted that running a reef tank isn't the easiest thing in the world and we all make mistakes. I realised this forum is here to help, and so I want to begin documenting my progress as a reefer, with all the ups and downs, as I'm sure someone else has experienced the same things.
This tank was put together in December of 2021. It's a second hand Red Sea Reefer 170, and all of the equipment I began using was second hand. This was a big mistake, and eventually came back to haunt me. Since then, I've learned the hard way, when it comes to Reefing equipment.. Go big or go home, we can't take shortcuts here and I've spent more money replacing parts and buying new equipment that I should have bought in the first place.
I went through ugly stages, cyano, algae, bryopsis, dino's. If it exists, this tank has been through it. Then, on top of all that, in October of 2022 I moved house into temporary accomodation and brought my tank with me. All of a sudden, the sump pipework was leaking. I closed the sump down, did what I could with the tank manually and slowly began to fall further and further behind with it. This was the toughest period of time this tank went through, I could barely see through the glass for the algae, I had a salinity swing and didn't realise and was running my tank at 1.017 for over a month, coral began to die... I was losing hope and falling out of love.
Fast forward to January 2023. I found a new job, a well paying job. I came out of a depression pit and began getting back to work on my tank. It was around this time I realised the condition of my tank is a direct mirror of my mental health. For better or worse. I purchased a Fluval FX2 to begin running on the tank temporarily while I worked out my sump issues. This helped with some much needed stability. I then purchased a good refractometer, a new return pump, bought some new O-rings to stop the leaking and pt the sump back into action. I then purchased two new flow pumps and some new rockwork and began almost a new journey.
Come to today, my tank is... Getting there. I'm happy with it. Granted, there's some hair algae hanging about on one of the pumps, and some stubborn algae on the glass, but it's come a long way.
Anyway, time for to stop talking. I'm going to update this monthly with progress pictures and updates. Thanks for reading!
April 2023:
- YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
youtube.com
