jasonbelcher1762
New Member
I live in Princeton West Virginia and I have had a 30 gallon tank for 6 years this month. It has always been a tank full of softies and LPS. I've consistently kept a pair of clowns in it also. I'm actually a bit ashamed and discouraged to say that probably 4 or 5 out of those 6 years I have not kept good husbandry of the tank and I have not really dug into the hobby to educate myself or learn the way I should. I have finally gotten to the point where I decided I am either going to make this tank look great or I am going to break it down and get rid of it. All I have ever been able to consistently keep alive is green star polyp and a few mushrooms. I am basically starting over. Much to my amazement when I went to a reef store about a month ago and took a water sample, I learned that I had to calibrate a refractometer! Turns out, for 6 years my salinity has been running at 1.022 and causing everything in my tank to be out of whack and eventually die. All along I have tested and it read 1.025, but that was because I never knew I had to calibrate the crazy thing. Anyhow, I've let this guy at my local fish store basically take me under his wing and I'm trying to soak up all the knowledge from him I can. Currently my tank is doing good and has been for the last month. I have about 20 new various softie and LPS frags. I only use a hang on the back filter and my light is a Kessel 160 blue tuna. Fingers crossed this time!
