Returning to the game

DBrinson

DBrinson

Member
Long time aquarist, dating back to the mid 80's, watched the evolution of undergravels, wet/drys, live rock, MH lighting, reef tanks, skimming, and wavemakers. My last tank incorporated an inline seagrass bed and produced coralline growth while carrying an extravagant bioload that should never be attempted.

Sadly, in 2004 Hurricane Ivan literally released the inhabitants of my last tank "into the wild". I was fully insured, but didn't have the stomach to start over.

Then I made the biggest mistake of my life and purchased a television to replace my old system. I had never had a TV in my living room before, never needed one. I had a kindergartener who could recite the scientific names of most of my aquarium specimens and perform maintenance on my tank all by himself. Somehow all of that got lost into the "boob tube".

Well, I have seen the error of my ways, and I'm rebuilding my "entertainment system" come hell or high water.

I am a bit rusty though, a lot seems to have happened in 6 years. Walt Smith isn't around, Monty packed up Reefer Madness :nopity:, and merchants actually carry Turtle Grass now, no more fishing "eel grass" out of Escambia Bay. (which was legal, if you had a fishing license and kept it under 20 plants/day) And hey, what's with these LED's?

Anyways, nice to meet you all.

And back to lurking.

:eye::eye:
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
welcomefish.gif

to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members
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and welcome back to the game !
 
DBrinson

DBrinson

Member
Jeremy0322 said:
Welcome back to the addiction, you have any pictures of the old systems?
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Thanks Jeremy.

That's part of the driving force to get back in, I got nothing.

My house was covered by water, I lost hard drives, videotapes, and most of my photos. Never managed to track down a few people I emailed photos to.

It didn't matter much then, most people I knew had seen my old system, (you could see it literally down the street, it covered half of the front window of my house) and the pics didn't do the real thing much justice anyways. Now one of my three boys can't even remember our tank at all.

I do have the insurance claims, however. Haha.

Get flood insurance people. "Hurricane" insurance covers wind, and if your house gets blown down, it's probably already "drowned".
 
Jeremy0322

Jeremy0322

Active Member
yea, I have been looking into flood insurance more and more as I live in NC longer. In PA it wasnt an issue, and for the first few months I was down here I figured renters insurance covered water damage, but I found out that was not the case when a friend of mine had their apartment flood and nothing was covered.

Do you have any ideas for what the new system will be? Size, livestock, all that good stuff?
 
DBrinson

DBrinson

Member
Jeremy0322 said:
yea, I have been looking into flood insurance more and more as I live in NC longer. In PA it wasnt an issue, and for the first few months I was down here I figured renters insurance covered water damage, but I found out that was not the case when a friend of mine had their apartment flood and nothing was covered.

Do you have any ideas for what the new system will be? Size, livestock, all that good stuff?
Click to expand...

It's a 50% improvement on my old system all around, given using the same tank for the sea grass bed.

280G 72x30x30 Precision Custom Aqrms acrylic display/180G glass 30" high 48" long seagrass bed/120G 60" long 12" high Tenecor sump
Lighting: hanging icecap 3x250W MH + actnic/moonlights, VHOs for the sea grass| Reef Dynamics INS 450 Skimmer and Calc reactor | Dolphin Diamond Marine Abrasive 4750 main pump | 3xSea Swirl | 1/2 HP chiller | RO/DI | Neptune Aquacontroller | Ultralife Ozone supply connected via ORP meter | Automatic 1G/day water change (using a horse watering tank I had from before)

I am mostly plumbed and supplied, just waiting on the "main tank" to add rock and water. (It is still under construction) Open to any and all thoughts!
 
Jeremy0322

Jeremy0322

Active Member
Looks like you have a pretty good handle on everything, I wasnt expecting the whole equipment list and all of that haha

How much rock are you looking to add?
 
DBrinson

DBrinson

Member
Jeremy0322 said:
Looks like you have a pretty good handle on everything, I wasnt expecting the whole equipment list and all of that haha

How much rock are you looking to add?
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I was going to go with about 500 lbs of Fiji rock, as it is being "airlifted" again ... though I didn't know they stopped airlifting it. (If I get extra pieces there is always room in the sump.) Honestly, I was hoping to locate some good rock by reading these boards, I learned before to never trust live rock that wasn't Walt Smith, and it appears he is not supplying it anymore. :down:

I'd even drive 300 miles or so to pick it up myself if I can find a good supplier of fresh Fiji rock on the Gulf Coast.

The seagrass bed will be "potted" with a bottom layer of Miracle Mud and a top layer of fine Aragonite, I had success using this method before, it enabled me to supply ample iron to the sea grass without leeching too much of it into the water.

That's all about a month out though.

You got some great minds on these boards, plenty of good reads. There seems to be a lot more consensus on issues than there was just 6 years ago.
 
DBrinson

DBrinson

Member
Jeremy0322 said:
Welcome back to the addiction, you have any pictures of the old systems?
Click to expand...

I know it's an old thread, but I have only just now recovered pics of my last system.

Link

In case anyone is wondering, it's more than just "coincidental" that I recovered the pics just as my new system is starting up. Until now, pics of my old system were kinda hard to deal with. Now that I'm back "in the game", I see them in a different light. :)
 
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