Joe's (Jdeb101) Reef Journal and Build Thread

[jdeb101]

I've been wanting to start a personal journal/build thread for quite some time as it'd be nice to track progress which will hopefully be years of enjoyment. I've actually been in the hobby for 10+ years, and been pretty active on the forum but probably none of you know me since, just like in school growing up I kinda just sit in the background quietly and take everything in. I've also been following Paul B's thread and recently picked up his book (highly recommend!) which inspired me to do this even more. I'm a lazy writer so please be with me as I force myself to do this! I'm going to start with a bit of my history in the hobby, but if you're only interested in the build (currently an Elos Midi 36) then please subscribe and stay tuned!

My history in reefkeeping...
Back in 2006 my girlfriend (now wife) decided she wanted to get a pet Maltese dog. I figured I would get a pet with her and decided on a fish tank, so we hit up our local Petco. I could be wrong, but I believe this was around the early start of when Petco started carrying saltwater fish. So basically I walked into Petco with plans on buying nothing more than maybe a 10 gallon fish tank and some easy freshwater fish, but ended up walking out of there with a 40 gallon tank, stand, canopy that barely fit in my 1998 Olds Alero backseat. I've kept freshwater fish in the past, but this was my first dip into salt and I had no idea how much more involved it can be, nevertheless that I was starting an addiction!

So I bought home the foundation of my first reef tank that day, and then soon after took another trip to the only saltwater store I knew of, which was on the main road in Salem NH (Sea World?). At that visit is where I first spoke to a so called "reefer" and learned that my approach to a reef tank was going to have to be much different than what I've know in the past with freshwater. It's also quite funny as I know look back at it and realize my experience there is likely why half of LFS's don't last very long. Often times your talked into a product, a so-called better way of doing this or that, or "that's not how you do it, buy this and do it my way! It's how your SUPPOSED to do it and it works!". The same however can hold true, if not more so, from forums such as this (no offense BRS community!). Anyways, so I end up leaving the LFS with a handful of products and another few hundred dollars less in my pocket. It was probably at this point also that my girlfriend realized when I start a hobby the depth of involvement I put into it is absurd, at least in her eyes.

Well like I said, I'm lazy so I'm going to stop here for now and just post a pic I recently found of the beginning of my reef addiction, I mean... er... passion? Nothing wrong with a stick on background image, bobble thermometer, can filter, and cycling with 3 yellow tail damsels right?

 

[aresangel]

Oh no! You did it all wrong.. This is how you go back in time and how you are suppose to do it! Step 1- build a time machine, step two, buy a dog (they are cheaper!). Make that 20 dogs (still cheaper). [emoji6]

I love that computer set up! Brings me back to my childhood.

I looks forward to the evolution you went through with that many years in the hobby!


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[Chris A.]

I cycled my first tank with a yellow tail damsel, then almost completely dismantled it to catch it lol

 

[Archit]

That monitor in the picture made me click! Lol!

Nice and entertaining write up though! I'm sure many of us can relate! Following for updates!

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[One Eye]

Haha. In 1997 it was a 45 gallon tall, fluorescent tubes, crushed coral substrate, hob filter (a whisper I think) 45 lbs of nasty live rock, 2 yellow tail damsels, a bucket of salt, glass heater and a hydrometer.

The guy at the store sent me home on day one with that as a package deal! He told me to put the crushed coral in the bottom, stack my rocks, don’t worry about the smell, it’ll go away in a week. Mix the salt with warm tap water. Add the water then wait an hour or two before I put the Damsels in. Come back next week and we can get a nice green goniopora to put in there, maybe a nice flame scallop too!

 

[jdeb101]

I cycled my first tank with a yellow tail damsel, then almost completely dismantled it to catch it lol

Yup! I'm pretty sure I had one that was the spawn of Satan.

Haha. In 1997 it was a 45 gallon tall, fluorescent tubes, crushed coral substrate, hob filter (a whisper I think) 45 lbs of nasty live rock, 2 yellow tail damsels, a bucket of salt, glass heater and a hydrometer.

The guy at the store sent me home on day one with that as a package deal! He told me to put the crushed coral in the bottom, stack my rocks, don’t worry about the smell, it’ll go away in a week. Mix the salt with warm tap water. Add the water then wait an hour or two before I put the Damsels in. Come back next week and we can get a nice green goniopora to put in there, maybe a nice flame scallop too!

Oh yes, I forgot to mention the double fluorescent tube fixture I had under the hood, one actinic one daylight and also just salt mixed with some dechlorinated tap.

 

[jdeb101]

Well I guess I'm not as lazy as I thought, since I'm already following up to my first post in this thread. So as I mentioned, my first tank was the 40 breeder which I actually kept for 7-8 years. It still is one of may favorite widely available footprints and I think it was a great starter tank for sure. As for the yellow tail damsels, lets just say I got rid of those bastards once I realized how aggressive they are. I started with three, but it didn't take long for the aggression to begin. Two of them met their fate in my tank, and just like Chris A. mentioned, I had to basically tear apart my rockwork to net the last one. He went back to Petco where he probably murdered a few more innocent fish. I remember feeling somewhat bad for him however when the Petco kid just basically dumped him into one of their displays, no need for acclimation at Petco I guess!

If it wasn't the aggressive damsels, I would say the next part of my story is the first of my many frustrations with this hobby. Now that I had an empty tank I needed a new fish, and I new I wanted a clownfish. I did my research this time (or so I thought), and figured clownfish will be good as they are not an aggressive/territorial fish which will be good to intro before any other fish, they are hardy, and they are reef friendly which I knew I'd eventually want to transition my pile of rock into. I went through I think two percula clowns but they quickly demised for reasons I couldn't figure out as I did everything right as far as acclimation, etc. Here's one of them...

I was determined to have a clownfish and despite not having clear answer as to why they kept dying on me, my next and final attempt was with my maroon clownfish which I still have to this day. He is now somewhere around 10 years or so old. Needless to say, he holds a lot of sentimental value to me as he's been through many many ups/downs with me in this hobby and has literally lived and survived all of them. Many people say to stay away from maroon due to their history of aggressiveness, but I like to think mine is not like the others. I've rarely if ever witnessed him being aggressive towards the many many tank mates I've introduced through the years, and he has only nipped at me a few times when I was deserving as I was removing or reaquascaping his home at those times. He's also been the victim once or twice and survived the attacks from a sixline wrasse I had at one point that was really giving him a beating. That's another fish I don't want to talk about as it was probably worse than the damsels as far as how aggressive he turned and netting him was a royal pita. I wanted to flush him once he was caught, but I think he ended up in a Petco display as well. My maroon also survived a power loss I had a few years ago when the tank temp dipped down into the 60's, and he is currently surviving in a 10 gallon "swamp" he's been living in for the past year while we did some home construction and I work on getting my new Elos setup.

So despite my attachment to him, I've never given him or any of my fish a name. I don't know, I just feel funny giving a fish a name. I know it's a pet, but a fish is a fish in my eyes. It's not like a dog where I can call him by name and he listens. I have witnessed people that do this and they automatically go into my crazy person bucket. I do sometimes feel that he is trained better than my wifes Maltese dog, which I guess is also mine now since we all live together. I just wish my wife would clean my tank once in a while since I do often have to clean and care for the dog. It's only fair right? hmm.... Well until next time, here's a picture of no-name maroon clown. The pic is a few years old, but I can assure you he looks just as happy in his current living quarters.