My Y2K 75 - A Retro Build Thread

[Retro Reefer]

I still have so many bio balls in my garage lol thanks for sharing!!

Still have them and still use them, both my reefs have bio balls in the sump and I just put a bag full in the sump of my new tank I’m cycling.

 

[Fin]

This is a better picture of the way the overflow was plumbed.

The filtration eventually ended up like this. A 29 high tank for the sump. A Euro-Reef Skimmer with a Mag 9.5 return pump.
Behind the stand was what I believe made this reef successful. I built a 30 gallon refugium that was plumbed into the system.
It was packed with caulerpa and was lighted with some plain fluorescent tube Grow Lamps. I built a stand for the refugium and
it just gravity fed back to the sump. A small dedicated pump supplied water to the refugium.

 

[Fin]

My favorite picture of the tank...

 

[Mark Gray]

Wow I need to get in my Attic and get my old photo albums out and see if they will scan ;Watching Looks great wish I had them on digital lol

 

[Fin]

Wow I need to get in my Attic and get my old photo albums out and see if they will scan ;Watching Looks great wish I had them on digital lol

I do have some photos of older tanks, but they weren't that interesting.

This was my 200. I know, funny looking by today's standards. This was like 1983. Fish only with bleached coral skeletons. And you can see we even used eggcrate back then. That was a jump fence to keep the fish in, because i got tired of cleaning the glass tops. There are some fish in there, there was just a lot of hiding places.

 

[Mark Gray]

I do have some photos of older tanks, but they weren't that interesting.

This was my 200. I know, funny looking by today's standards. This was like 1983. Fish only with bleached coral skeletons. And you can see we even used eggcrate back then. That was a jump fence to keep the fish in, because i got tired of cleaning the glass tops. There are some fish in there, there was just a lot of hiding places.

I still have some of my old bleached coral that was the thing back then

 

[Fin]

I still have some of my old bleached coral that was the thing back then

Yeah, we had to look far and wide to find just the right pieces. My wife's grandparents had a shell shop down around Galveston and she got some nice pieces for me. I had a ton of it. I do still have some of it, but a lot of it went with tank when I sold it.

 

[Mark Gray]

Yeah, we had to look far and wide to find just the right pieces. My wife's grandparents had a shell shop down around Galveston and she got some nice pieces for me. I had a ton of it. I do still have some of it, but a lot of it went with tank when I sold it.

Oh yes I remember looking everywhere for the right pieces I bet we are close to the same age I am 56 but still think I am in my late 20's

 

[Fin]

Oh yes I remember looking everywhere for the right pieces I bet we are close to the same age I am 56 but still think I am in my late 20's

I wish. I am 63, but have never grown up.

 

[Redleg]

Those Oceanic tanks were top of the line back then. I always wanted one, but everytime I saved up the cash we had another baby.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I had a oceanic 200 gallon back in 93. Took six grown men, including me, to move it! Best built tank I've ever owned!

 

[Fin]

Those Oceanic tanks were top of the line back then. I always wanted one, but everytime I saved up the cash we had another baby.

I had a oceanic 200 gallon back in 93. Took six grown men, including me, to move it! Best built tank I've ever owned!

You will hate me when I tell you what I paid for that tank. I bought it from a LFS that was going out of business and the owner was a friend. The tank was new in stock there and he needed to unload it. He sold it to me for $300 - and threw in a large Eheim canister - plus had his employees deliver it to my house. And yeah, that sucker was heavy.

 

[Fin]

A few pics from the old tank...

Early on

Filled up

This was my favorite SPS frag. I got it from GARF in a roundabout way. It was only called a
"Blue Hairy Acro" by them. It was a slow grower and the growing tips were extremely soft. If
you touched the tip it would "dissolve." It did have some mad polyp extension. I would sure like
to find another piece of this - if I ever get water in the new tank.

My first Copperband for aiptasia control. He also liked to nip at my clam though and the clam
would no longer open up all the way.

 

[dantimdad]

I remember the Thiel Platinum filters, and also the wet dry's from JP Burleson, who also distributed Tunze and Actinic 03's to America.

That's the name of the company I was trying to remember that advertised in FAMA!

Thanks for posting this!

 

[NY_Caveman]

I am loving this thread. Funny how different a show stopper tank looks now than 2000. Or than 1990, for that matter. When I see a nano tank with 40 1” frag plugs I just feel like they are missing something about what the goal is in reefing. I am old though.

 

[count krunk]

that tank looked amazing! i love the cbb, it has come to be my fav fish. keeping one successfully is a testament to your husbandry and they are stunners

 

[Fin]

A few more pics. Kinda sad looking back on all of these images. The tank did not have a good ending. On September 24th, 2005 there was a storm named Hurricane Rita. One month past Katrina and it hit the western part of the Louisiana / Texas coast. We did not get any flooding here, although the storm surge pushed water inland to within 7-8 miles of my house - well away from the coast. Hurricane force winds and tornadoes here for much of the day. We were under a mandatory evacuation and not many stayed after seeing what had happened with Katrina only weeks before. The storm destroyed the power grid here. It was a month before some people got their power back. We were lucky, it only took two weeks before ours was restored.

Needless to say, the tank perished in our absence and the lack of power in 95° heat. The authorities blocked all entrances to the city and did allow us a "look and leave" period about a week later to inspect our property and make any emergency repairs. I used the time to drain my tanks and move them outside. Luckily my house was not badly damaged. It was a sad day for me though. Six years of caring for this tank and it turned into a black stinky soup. I hope I never have to smell anything like it again. Anyway some pics from better days...

 

[NY_Caveman]

A few more pics. Kinda sad looking back on all of these images. The tank did not have a good ending. On September 24th, 2005 there was a storm named Hurricane Rita. One month past Katrina and it hit the western part of the Louisiana / Texas coast. We did not get any flooding here, although the storm surge pushed water inland to within 7-8 miles of my house - well away from the coast. Hurricane force winds and tornadoes here for much of the day. We were under a mandatory evacuation and not many stayed after seeing what had happened with Katrina only weeks before. The storm destroyed the power grid here. It was a month before some people got their power back. We were lucky, it only took two weeks before ours was restored.

Needless to say, the tank perished in our absence and the lack of power in 95° heat. The authorities blocked all entrances to the city and did allow us a "look and leave" period about a week later to inspect our property and make any emergency repairs. I used the time to drain my tanks and move them outside. Luckily my house was not badly damaged. It was a sad day for me though. Six years of caring for this tank and it turned into a black stinky soup. I hope I never have to smell anything like it again. Anyway some pics from better days...

Sad ending. Glad you and your family were okay!