Okie Pride
New Member
Hi, my name is Jacob and I live in Moore, Oklahoma. A few months ago we were hit by one of the most devastating tornadoes in U.S. history. The tornado missed me and my home by less than 200 yards. I work for a pet store here in town and have been an avid freshwater aquarist for several years. I left work at 2:40 p.m. on May 20th and raced home because the monstrous storm was rolling in and my dog, Pattie the cairn terrier, was outside in the hail and I didn't want her getting hurt. The trip normally takes me 10 minutes but, on this day, it took longer than 30 minutes because of the amount of parents racing to get their children from the day care facilities and schools that I drive by every day. By the time I made it home and turned on the tv to get a weather update, the tornado was already on the ground in my town and was almost a mile wide. I collected my dog and emergency bag and headed back to my car but I was unable to get out of my neighborhood because of the abandoned vehicles on the street belonging to people who went into homes to try to find shelter. I went back to my home and the last thing I saw on the tv before the power went out was that if you couldn't get underground for this tornado, you probably were not going to make it. I found a motorcycle helmet and my heaviest winter coat and put them on and went to my backyard and saw the tornado barreling down on my home. I watched it until the point that I got hit by some debris and finally decided to take my dog and bury us under a mattress in a central closet in my daughter's room. I fully expected to die.
I didn't. In fact, my home was relatively untouched but the people up the street were not. As soon as I knew the coast was clear, I ran to my refrigerator grabbed as many bottles of water as the pockets in my jacket could hold, threw on some gardening gloves and hoofed it on up the street to see if there was anyone I could help. There were plenty who needed it and I did all that I could to keep my mind distracted from the terrible thought that my 6 year old daughter was at school and the reports on the radio were that a couple of elementary schools had been hit. Cell phone services were completely gone so there was no way I could call anyone to find anything out so I just kept my head up and did all I could to help the people that needed it until my fiance' finally found me and told me that our daughter was safe. I finally broke down and went home to be with my family. As night drew nearer, the national guard came door to door to tell us that they recommended we leave our neighborhood so, we left that night and went south to stay at my mom's house. We encountered baseball sized hail on the way to her house which shattered our windshield but I kept trudging through as best as I could. I just wanted to get my family to somewhere safe. Once we got there, the emotions I had been holding in check all day finally caught up with me and I fell into hysterics. Mom wanted me to go to the hospital to be given something for anxiety but, I refused. In the end, the thing that finally calmed me down was the African cichlid tank that I had set up for my mom.
Flash forward a couple of weeks and I'm still having difficulty dealing with all the trauma of everything that had happened and my fiance' and I decided that we would finally buy that saltwater aquarium that we had always wanted for our daughter (What little girl doesn't want a Nemo tank?). So, we went to the LFS that we had gone to for years for our cichlids and purchased a JBJ Intermediate LED 28g NanoCube, 30 gallons of premixed saltwater, and 21 pounds of live rock. My tank has been running since then. Thank you for reading this catharsis of mine. Here are the pictures in chronological order.
The first hitchhiker I noticed on the 2nd day, I believe he was a bristleworm, I removed him.
The largest aiptasia I noticed after a week of running. I purchased 3 peppermint shrimp to end it.
The first full tank shot before the dinoflagellates took over.
The dino in full force and the yellowtail damsel I purchased when I got the shrimp.
Dino close up before I removed the live rock from the tank to dip in a peroxide and saltwater mixture in order to get rid of it.
The tank a week after the peroxide dip. It was a bit much for 1 of the shrimp, I lost him.
The yellow watchman goby I purchased paired with a pistol shrimp. The shrimp didn't make the trip home because he crushed himself when he popped a hole in the bag on the car ride. I lost the goby a few days later and so I returned the damsel to the LFS and vowed off any livestock other than clean-up crews until I was sure my tank was fully mature.
The tank now. I added a few more pounds of live rock to the top of what I had and was able to come up with a structure I was much happier with. I love my tiger conch sifting the sand front and center.
Thanks again for your time. Your suggestions or comments are welcomed and encouraged. Thank you.
Cheers
I didn't. In fact, my home was relatively untouched but the people up the street were not. As soon as I knew the coast was clear, I ran to my refrigerator grabbed as many bottles of water as the pockets in my jacket could hold, threw on some gardening gloves and hoofed it on up the street to see if there was anyone I could help. There were plenty who needed it and I did all that I could to keep my mind distracted from the terrible thought that my 6 year old daughter was at school and the reports on the radio were that a couple of elementary schools had been hit. Cell phone services were completely gone so there was no way I could call anyone to find anything out so I just kept my head up and did all I could to help the people that needed it until my fiance' finally found me and told me that our daughter was safe. I finally broke down and went home to be with my family. As night drew nearer, the national guard came door to door to tell us that they recommended we leave our neighborhood so, we left that night and went south to stay at my mom's house. We encountered baseball sized hail on the way to her house which shattered our windshield but I kept trudging through as best as I could. I just wanted to get my family to somewhere safe. Once we got there, the emotions I had been holding in check all day finally caught up with me and I fell into hysterics. Mom wanted me to go to the hospital to be given something for anxiety but, I refused. In the end, the thing that finally calmed me down was the African cichlid tank that I had set up for my mom.
Flash forward a couple of weeks and I'm still having difficulty dealing with all the trauma of everything that had happened and my fiance' and I decided that we would finally buy that saltwater aquarium that we had always wanted for our daughter (What little girl doesn't want a Nemo tank?). So, we went to the LFS that we had gone to for years for our cichlids and purchased a JBJ Intermediate LED 28g NanoCube, 30 gallons of premixed saltwater, and 21 pounds of live rock. My tank has been running since then. Thank you for reading this catharsis of mine. Here are the pictures in chronological order.
The first hitchhiker I noticed on the 2nd day, I believe he was a bristleworm, I removed him.
The largest aiptasia I noticed after a week of running. I purchased 3 peppermint shrimp to end it.
The first full tank shot before the dinoflagellates took over.
The dino in full force and the yellowtail damsel I purchased when I got the shrimp.
Dino close up before I removed the live rock from the tank to dip in a peroxide and saltwater mixture in order to get rid of it.
The tank a week after the peroxide dip. It was a bit much for 1 of the shrimp, I lost him.
The yellow watchman goby I purchased paired with a pistol shrimp. The shrimp didn't make the trip home because he crushed himself when he popped a hole in the bag on the car ride. I lost the goby a few days later and so I returned the damsel to the LFS and vowed off any livestock other than clean-up crews until I was sure my tank was fully mature.
The tank now. I added a few more pounds of live rock to the top of what I had and was able to come up with a structure I was much happier with. I love my tiger conch sifting the sand front and center.
Thanks again for your time. Your suggestions or comments are welcomed and encouraged. Thank you.
Cheers
There is the Aquatic Life skimmer that would be perfect for this tank.
