Stewgene
Community Member
Hello new friends on R2R.
Taking a moment to introduce myself and my current set up.
I figured that this site (and a few others) have given so much to me in regards to information and ideas that I'd take the time and write a little something back. (Albeit selfishly as well to keep a journal of sorts for my life in this wonderful hobby).
We've all been there late at night and finding that one awesome build thread to drool over and steal ideas. Or that exact answer you were looking for and letting out that sigh of relief. I hope that my experiences, mistakes and ideas can give just that little back to a fellow reefer.
I can't even count the amount of helpful ideas and answers this site has given me - so for that I thank you all. Great community of reefers out there.
Hope everyone is staying steady and safe during all this mess. Keep on reefing.
I apologize in advance for the long read, its late and I'm having fun reminiscing.
I've been at this hobby (freshwater as well) essentially my whole life and what better time than during quarantine to get back at it right?
A little bit about my past.
My first tank was waaaay back in the 80's when I was a child. If i remember correctly it was a 10 gallon in my room with a filter floss corner bubble filter and a couple tiger barbs.
A few 20's and 30's followed, African cichlids were always a fav. I will always have a soft spot for a freshwater tropical tank - my son has 8 guppies in a 10 gallon right now (they are all named butt and poo, he's special).
And then, my first saltwater tank. Yes! Parents were thankfully supportive at the time. It sure beat spending nights out smoking weed I guess.
I was probably 14 at the time. It was a yellowtail damsel and a panther grouper! A bloody panther grouper! It ate minnows! Live food! It was saltwater! It had a powerhead! It had a skilter (yup - skilter) It had live rock! I was in heaven. The hobby was born.
Fast forward to the 90's. My first job in high school was at a local fish store. I cleaned tanks, scrubbed ponds, bagged goldfish and most importantly, had access and a discount to anything aquarium.
I set up a 90 gallon with the help of my father. It was glorious. My co-workers and friends all had tanks, but this one was going to be grand.
- Hagen 90 gallon - 4ft / Starfire? what the heck is that?
- Nano tank? "But everything will die" - "Saltwater is 90 gallon and up only!"
- Diy canopy with fluorescents / not t8, not t5, not power compacts, the og fluorescent bulbs, 2 actinics, 2 whites
- Suction cupped Hagen? 802 powerheads / venturi option for that whirlpool effect that we all strive for
- air stone skimmer / replaced the airstone every month? nope.
- double u-tube overflow for you know, redundancy and safety / 30 gallon sump diy, could've used a bucket with better effect
- coralife salt / store bought rodi to initially fill, but tap water mainly..... it was glorious!
Livestock -
- everything in the 90's was big and brown.
Frags? You mean the rubble on the bottom of the shipment box?. Big colonies straight from the ocean. Hope that dip worked, nope - you knew you were getting some mad hitchhikers. Everything looked drab.
What's the name of that coral? - No idea, it was cheap.
Realistically, it was probably just my tank.
We all decided that I was going to be the guinea pig for the newest reefing idea / concept. The Jaubert method. Any og reefers out there may remember. It was a deeeeep sand bed with two layers of hoisted up egg crate and filter mesh. The eggcrate held the sand at least an inch off the bottom glass creating something called a plenum. A second eggcrate layer also lifted up from the original first layer created another plenum. This method resulted in a 6 inch! sand bed. It relied heavily on natural biological filtration and also without the use of expensive equipment like a big skimmer, which was tempting for a broke 15 year old discount or not. There's more method than my horrible 30 year explanation, so here is an article I found.
It didn't work. Things died, the house flooded once (half my fault), the tank looked atrocious. I was done with the hobby.
I travelled during the 2000's. But always tried to keep up with what the community was doing.
2012. It was time. I came back to Canada - got married and decided to start up another tank before any kids arrived.
I saw a 29gal Biocube on floor model clearance sale and had to have it. It sparked the joy i felt with reefing. This time it was all about the nano. I obsessed over nano tanks. The smaller the better, pico? bring it. A 5 gallon followed. One clam, maybe a zoa frag or two, a pj cardinal and daily water changes. What else did I have to do? So much free time before the kids amirite?
Power compacts / accent led strips (ecoxotic?) / no skimmer / in tank media basket / koralia powerheads baby! / magnet mounted!
It was only a matter of time before an actual tank would follow. Technology had grown, Leds were starting to rule and a powerhead with the motor on the outside????!!!! The love returned!
I'll try and remember all of this tank. Thank god for the wife and keeping every picture ever taken.
- 60 Gallon (Cadlights from a local distributor) 36 X 20 X 20 ish? / the worst stand ever made (a day from catastrophic explosion) / internal single drain overflow
- Skimz Skimmer / Mp10s / Vertex Illumina (awestruck with Led's from the start)
- Custom sump / who's this high roller all of a sudden?
- Tunze return pump
- Rodi Unit / Rodi water at home! (flood at home too)
I ran a fuge for the first time. Don't think I could do a tank without one.
Livestock
- This was a great time in reefing. There were a bunch of great lfs' around the Toronto area and wife and I would drive around on our day off, drink coffee, smoke cigarettes and look at corals. Great memories.
- Frags. The fragging culture was starting and I couldn't have been happier.
- My dear tailspot blenny - forever missed
- clams!
- a bleached out monti
- my love of acans started during this tank and continues
This tank was my pride and joy. It reminded me of why I love this hobby. Before a time of youtube videos, forums and social media. It was my escape, my end of day wind down, my tinkering, my fun. Thank god Netflix was yet a thing. A solid 18 month run with some really fun equipment to play with.
We had a fire. I lost everything (tank wise, no one was hurt). I took a break. It was a sad time.
Thanks for reading this far.
Current tank continued on the next post....
Taking a moment to introduce myself and my current set up.
I figured that this site (and a few others) have given so much to me in regards to information and ideas that I'd take the time and write a little something back. (Albeit selfishly as well to keep a journal of sorts for my life in this wonderful hobby).
We've all been there late at night and finding that one awesome build thread to drool over and steal ideas. Or that exact answer you were looking for and letting out that sigh of relief. I hope that my experiences, mistakes and ideas can give just that little back to a fellow reefer.
I can't even count the amount of helpful ideas and answers this site has given me - so for that I thank you all. Great community of reefers out there.
Hope everyone is staying steady and safe during all this mess. Keep on reefing.
I apologize in advance for the long read, its late and I'm having fun reminiscing.
I've been at this hobby (freshwater as well) essentially my whole life and what better time than during quarantine to get back at it right?
A little bit about my past.
My first tank was waaaay back in the 80's when I was a child. If i remember correctly it was a 10 gallon in my room with a filter floss corner bubble filter and a couple tiger barbs.
A few 20's and 30's followed, African cichlids were always a fav. I will always have a soft spot for a freshwater tropical tank - my son has 8 guppies in a 10 gallon right now (they are all named butt and poo, he's special).
And then, my first saltwater tank. Yes! Parents were thankfully supportive at the time. It sure beat spending nights out smoking weed I guess.
I was probably 14 at the time. It was a yellowtail damsel and a panther grouper! A bloody panther grouper! It ate minnows! Live food! It was saltwater! It had a powerhead! It had a skilter (yup - skilter) It had live rock! I was in heaven. The hobby was born.
Fast forward to the 90's. My first job in high school was at a local fish store. I cleaned tanks, scrubbed ponds, bagged goldfish and most importantly, had access and a discount to anything aquarium.
I set up a 90 gallon with the help of my father. It was glorious. My co-workers and friends all had tanks, but this one was going to be grand.
- Hagen 90 gallon - 4ft / Starfire? what the heck is that?
- Nano tank? "But everything will die" - "Saltwater is 90 gallon and up only!"
- Diy canopy with fluorescents / not t8, not t5, not power compacts, the og fluorescent bulbs, 2 actinics, 2 whites
- Suction cupped Hagen? 802 powerheads / venturi option for that whirlpool effect that we all strive for
- air stone skimmer / replaced the airstone every month? nope.
- double u-tube overflow for you know, redundancy and safety / 30 gallon sump diy, could've used a bucket with better effect
- coralife salt / store bought rodi to initially fill, but tap water mainly..... it was glorious!
Livestock -
- everything in the 90's was big and brown.
Frags? You mean the rubble on the bottom of the shipment box?. Big colonies straight from the ocean. Hope that dip worked, nope - you knew you were getting some mad hitchhikers. Everything looked drab.
What's the name of that coral? - No idea, it was cheap.
Realistically, it was probably just my tank.
We all decided that I was going to be the guinea pig for the newest reefing idea / concept. The Jaubert method. Any og reefers out there may remember. It was a deeeeep sand bed with two layers of hoisted up egg crate and filter mesh. The eggcrate held the sand at least an inch off the bottom glass creating something called a plenum. A second eggcrate layer also lifted up from the original first layer created another plenum. This method resulted in a 6 inch! sand bed. It relied heavily on natural biological filtration and also without the use of expensive equipment like a big skimmer, which was tempting for a broke 15 year old discount or not. There's more method than my horrible 30 year explanation, so here is an article I found.
It didn't work. Things died, the house flooded once (half my fault), the tank looked atrocious. I was done with the hobby.
I travelled during the 2000's. But always tried to keep up with what the community was doing.
2012. It was time. I came back to Canada - got married and decided to start up another tank before any kids arrived.
I saw a 29gal Biocube on floor model clearance sale and had to have it. It sparked the joy i felt with reefing. This time it was all about the nano. I obsessed over nano tanks. The smaller the better, pico? bring it. A 5 gallon followed. One clam, maybe a zoa frag or two, a pj cardinal and daily water changes. What else did I have to do? So much free time before the kids amirite?
Power compacts / accent led strips (ecoxotic?) / no skimmer / in tank media basket / koralia powerheads baby! / magnet mounted!
It was only a matter of time before an actual tank would follow. Technology had grown, Leds were starting to rule and a powerhead with the motor on the outside????!!!! The love returned!
I'll try and remember all of this tank. Thank god for the wife and keeping every picture ever taken.
- 60 Gallon (Cadlights from a local distributor) 36 X 20 X 20 ish? / the worst stand ever made (a day from catastrophic explosion) / internal single drain overflow
- Skimz Skimmer / Mp10s / Vertex Illumina (awestruck with Led's from the start)
- Custom sump / who's this high roller all of a sudden?
- Tunze return pump
- Rodi Unit / Rodi water at home! (flood at home too)
I ran a fuge for the first time. Don't think I could do a tank without one.
Livestock
- This was a great time in reefing. There were a bunch of great lfs' around the Toronto area and wife and I would drive around on our day off, drink coffee, smoke cigarettes and look at corals. Great memories.
- Frags. The fragging culture was starting and I couldn't have been happier.
- My dear tailspot blenny - forever missed
- clams!
- a bleached out monti
- my love of acans started during this tank and continues
This tank was my pride and joy. It reminded me of why I love this hobby. Before a time of youtube videos, forums and social media. It was my escape, my end of day wind down, my tinkering, my fun. Thank god Netflix was yet a thing. A solid 18 month run with some really fun equipment to play with.
We had a fire. I lost everything (tank wise, no one was hurt). I took a break. It was a sad time.
Thanks for reading this far.
Current tank continued on the next post....
