PPBlimpy
Valuable Member
Thinking about getting out... Has crossed my mind to many times lately... this is going to be long. Just need to get it out there to like minded people.
I have not enjoyed the hobby in months.
Back story - up until 4 month ago I had a thriving 125G mixed reef, that i could sit in front of for hours and enjoy while making dinner and watching tv with the family.
5 months ago bought a new house, our dream house, checked all our boxes, original half of the house was built in 1759, second half was added in 1890. We are still in love with this place.
Instead of just moving the 125G my wife suggested I upgrade to an 8' tank and we just transfer everything to the new tank at the new house.
I loved this idea, put the 125G up for sale so it could be picked up from the old house the day i took it down and i didn't have to move it, I thought this was pretty logical thinking.
Hunt was on! came across a 300g shallow. Built a stand, moved into new house and crap hit the fan.
The plan was
The fish , and some rock went into a 45G frag tank- 4 tangs, 3 dwarf angels, juvenile emperor angel porcupine puffer, 2 clowns, mandarin, and a foxface. originally figure they would be okay for 2-3 days but definitely not ideal.
corals and rock went into a 50G horse trough with a power head, heater and a makeshift light
House needed way more work to even live in. Instead of adding the bracing to the floors to hold the new tank and finishing the tanks plumbing. I had to basically redo all the plumbing in one bathroom and part of the kitchen.
Fish were still in the frag tank at 22days. mandarin was the first to go, then others. lost all the angels, and my powder brown tang, 1 clown.
same thing with the corals. I just didn't have time and they suffered.
finally got the 300 in place and 150g of water in it, still had not braced the floor. Transferred fish, rock and corals. just got them in there. Set up a makeshift light bar, put my skimmer in, two wavemakers, a heater and a Fx6. Was another 7-10 days before I could brace the floor and start filling the tank properly.
I will say it had been 1.5 months before the tank was running on its own sump. Was never able to get sand in the tank or even aquascape like I wanted but I did see the light finally, got to enjoy the tank here and there for the next 2 months playing with it and adjusting thing. Then I started finding salt creep in weird areas. A bulkhead for the closed loop was leaking, but I couldn't reach it because of how I plumbed the tank being in a hurry and not waiting for unions to come in. it was a very slow leak. A drip every 20 minutes. I could have lived with it for a long time but i came across my current tank. decided to sell the 300, remembered why i didn't like acrylic tanks and went to back to glass.
3 weeks ago I spent the whole weekend transferring tank again. Got the new tank up and running but still haven't fully installed anything, everything is make shift. I just dont have time.
Thinking about letting it all go. One swoop sell it all. spend money/time fixing my car, start paying off some of my CC debt that has accumulated because of repairs on the house. Our family has lots of other animals that we also tend to daily- horses, goats, dogs cats tortoise lizards axolotls but the saltwater is mine. I have a 1940 buick I want to restore that was my great grandfathers.
Anyways if you have made it this far i applaud you for reading thru my woes.
Ken
I have not enjoyed the hobby in months.
Back story - up until 4 month ago I had a thriving 125G mixed reef, that i could sit in front of for hours and enjoy while making dinner and watching tv with the family.
5 months ago bought a new house, our dream house, checked all our boxes, original half of the house was built in 1759, second half was added in 1890. We are still in love with this place.
Instead of just moving the 125G my wife suggested I upgrade to an 8' tank and we just transfer everything to the new tank at the new house.
I loved this idea, put the 125G up for sale so it could be picked up from the old house the day i took it down and i didn't have to move it, I thought this was pretty logical thinking.
Hunt was on! came across a 300g shallow. Built a stand, moved into new house and crap hit the fan.
The plan was
The fish , and some rock went into a 45G frag tank- 4 tangs, 3 dwarf angels, juvenile emperor angel porcupine puffer, 2 clowns, mandarin, and a foxface. originally figure they would be okay for 2-3 days but definitely not ideal.
corals and rock went into a 50G horse trough with a power head, heater and a makeshift light
House needed way more work to even live in. Instead of adding the bracing to the floors to hold the new tank and finishing the tanks plumbing. I had to basically redo all the plumbing in one bathroom and part of the kitchen.
Fish were still in the frag tank at 22days. mandarin was the first to go, then others. lost all the angels, and my powder brown tang, 1 clown.
same thing with the corals. I just didn't have time and they suffered.
finally got the 300 in place and 150g of water in it, still had not braced the floor. Transferred fish, rock and corals. just got them in there. Set up a makeshift light bar, put my skimmer in, two wavemakers, a heater and a Fx6. Was another 7-10 days before I could brace the floor and start filling the tank properly.
I will say it had been 1.5 months before the tank was running on its own sump. Was never able to get sand in the tank or even aquascape like I wanted but I did see the light finally, got to enjoy the tank here and there for the next 2 months playing with it and adjusting thing. Then I started finding salt creep in weird areas. A bulkhead for the closed loop was leaking, but I couldn't reach it because of how I plumbed the tank being in a hurry and not waiting for unions to come in. it was a very slow leak. A drip every 20 minutes. I could have lived with it for a long time but i came across my current tank. decided to sell the 300, remembered why i didn't like acrylic tanks and went to back to glass.
3 weeks ago I spent the whole weekend transferring tank again. Got the new tank up and running but still haven't fully installed anything, everything is make shift. I just dont have time.
Thinking about letting it all go. One swoop sell it all. spend money/time fixing my car, start paying off some of my CC debt that has accumulated because of repairs on the house. Our family has lots of other animals that we also tend to daily- horses, goats, dogs cats tortoise lizards axolotls but the saltwater is mine. I have a 1940 buick I want to restore that was my great grandfathers.
Anyways if you have made it this far i applaud you for reading thru my woes.
Ken
