What is a moment or memory you will never forget with your reef tank

[Gumbies R Us]

I feel like we all have that special memory with our tanks. Maybe it is the day we finally got to put water into our tank, maybe it is how fish interacted with each other, or maybe it is the day we upgraded our tank to something bigger and better. I am wondering, what is a moment or memory you will never forget with your reef tank!!

 

[exnisstech]

Unfortunately the most memorable moment for me is when velvet struck. I had a 150g and 180g sharing the same sump so it swept through both systems. I lost about 50% of my fish, some that had been with me for over 6 years. I did manage to save about half of them so considering the mortality rate of velvet I'll count it as a win and a learning experience, always QT even if only for observation. So a negative turned kind of positive I suppose.

 

[Dburr1014]

My first aptaisia

 

[1112-425XL]

My memory is how happy I was when the ugly stage ended. It seemed like it lasted forever (probably 6 mos.). So that definitely sticks out as a highlight.

 

[Stephen Glover]

Probably the 2 times I had to euthanize a fish. For some reason the bad times stick out and we tend to forget about the victories.

 

[iamacat]

Positive:
-clowns hosting their first clutch

- freight delivery watching my new tank be delivered.

negatives:
-pre RODI float switch floods, soggy socks in the morning. Took years of successful float switch usage before I could confidently step onto the basement carpet.

- the smell when my first skimmers motor burned out at midnight. The smell was very similar to when my ex let the dog in the house while saying “he got sprayed by a skunk”.

 

[FrugalReefer]

Not so much my current tank but with my previous 120 mixed reef was watching everything explode in growth after switching from LEDs to a T5 / supplemental Reef Brite setup. I wish I could do the same now with my current tank but it’s a nano.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Positive:
-clowns hosting their first clutch

- freight delivery watching my new tank be delivered.

negatives:
-pre RODI float switch floods, soggy socks in the morning. Took years of successful float switch usage before I could confidently step onto the basement carpet.

- the smell when my first skimmers motor burned out at midnight. The smell was very similar to when my ex let the dog in the house while saying “he got sprayed by a skunk”.

I could not imagine the smell of a skimmer motor burning out haha

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Not so much my current tank but with my previous 120 mixed reef was watching everything explode in growth after switching from LEDs to a T5 / supplemental Reef Brite setup. I wish I could do the same now with my current tank but it’s a nano.

Growth looks great in your tank

 

[nuxx]

Tearing it down and getting all the fish out in super murky water

 

[Reefer Matt]

When someone looked at my tank and said, "Whoa!".

 

[FrugalReefer]

Growth looks great in your tank

Thanks so much but this was my previous tank and was broken down in 2018.

 

[NaCl addict]

I feel like we all have that special memory with our tanks. Maybe it is the day we finally got to put water into our tank, maybe it is how fish interacted with each other, or maybe it is the day we upgraded our tank to something bigger and better. I am wondering, what is a moment or memory you will never forget with your reef tank!!

When I got through my second cycle, it looked like a swamp!

 

[Rick2024]

It’s always setting up the tank. It’s a special feeling that unfortunately only lasts a day or two when a tank is up for years beyond that. New spotless equipment, clean tank, rocks, sand, and essentially a furniture piece that changes the look of the room it’s in.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

The good:

20 years ago...had the most beautiful 15 gallon fully filled reef tank that I never used any test kits on and had amazing growth.

The nasty:
that amazing thriving tank came to a sudden end when my cat jumped on top and knocked my lights in the water while I was on the road. Instant electrocution! The breaker didn't trip and if it wasn't for my girlfriend's father popping in to check on things God only knows what would have happened. That was a time where you can buy beautiful Fiji live rock with loads of different kinds of life on the rock. Snails just fell to the sand bed and all of my little hermit crabs buried themselves as deep into the sand bed as possible to get away from the electricity.

2023 the good:

Found out on what I've missed the past 20 years and got a small Fluval tank up and running to make sure it was something I wanted to expand on. And to make sure it just wasn't a phase I was going through.

4 months later realizing how far this hobby has evolved and what is going to be delivered at the end of the month as long @Waterbox Aquariums sticks to their word and makes up for their error and deliver my new system by the end of this month. That will be some memory that will meld into the good memory back 20 years ago while I had success.

 

[flyfisher2]

The first time a fellow reefer commented “your tank looks great” on Reef2Reef
The first time I saw acros actually grow in my tank

 

[jabberwock]

The sound of water hitting the floor...

 

[Rusty_L_Shackleford]

For my current tank when my wife said: happy birthday, you can pick out a tank for your gift. Second: I'm in the fun part of tank setup: picking out corals. We went to myrtle Beach frag fest the other day and went a little crazy buying frags. But hey what great time.

 

[Petcrazyson]

Sadly the most memorable thing has been the loss of my rare Black Velvet/Poma hybrid Angelfish.

 

[dadnjesse]

When I came back from vacation to this.