Triggerjay's experience....

[Triggerjay]

Hello, I have been "playing" for a while now, but my past experiences have all not turned out well. I'm going to use this thread to document my current tank, as well as go into my history in the hobby a little. I will start off by saying I have made a lot of poor decisions in the past, and bought a lot of "sub-standard" equipment from the pressure of LFS sales people saying "Its what you need". I am fairly new to RS, and am very grateful for the help and advice I have gotten here. I have asked a lot of basic questions that have been asked time and time again, im sure. But there is always someone out there ready to give their advice. For that I want to say thanks!
Feel free to add to this thread with your comments, or suggestions. I am not an english major, and i'm sure there will be spelling errors.. so please bear with me..

Ok, on to the story!

When I was 10 or so years old, I lived in Southern California. My father bought me a 10g aquarium for my birthday! I was so excited. We set it up that night, with all the colorful gravel, and fake plastic plants. It had a corner filter, with a small air pump. I could not wait to get some fish in it. Dad said we must wait 24 hours before getting fish. It seemed like forever for a 10 year old to have to wait that long. Two days later, we went to the LFS, and I decided I wanted to buy two Oscars. I named one Blazer, and the other Rocky. Sometime between this time, and my birthday the next year, Blazer killed Rocky, and I had also battled several bouts of Ich brought in with the feeder fish that year. Blazer had severly outgrown his 10g tank by this time. Dad decided to buy me a 55g that next birthday. Once again, that night, we set up the 55g,.. He did not purchase a stand for it though, because of the cost. We made a makeshift stand from cinder blocks, and particle board shelves. It had two shelves. One on the top for the tank to sit on, and another between it and the floor. If I remember right, it had a total of 6 cinder blocks to support the stand. The blocks were turned up on end, so they were taller, with one on each end, and one in the middle, then the shelf, then three more blocks, also turned up on end, in the same configuration. We filled the tank, and I went to bed awaiting transfering Blazer to his new spacious home. Sometime in the early AM,.. I woke up. It was very early as it was still dark outside. I glanced over at my new tank, and it appeared the water was VERY cloudy. I stepped out of bed to go see why my water was cloudy, and heard a squish under my foot. It was water. The carpet in my room was saturated with water. I went and woke my father up. The stand had failed to be sufficent. With the weight of the water, the concrete conder blocks had settled into the carpet, making the top board on the stand bow badly. The tank had cracked right across the middle on the bottom. My father got what water he could out of the carpet with the shop vac, and let me tell you, cleaning up 55 gallons of water from a carpet is no easy task. The next day, we went back to the LFS to purchase a new tank, as wel as a stand. We had learned from our mistakes, and were not going to chance that again. We left the new tank and stand at the LFS though, as my carpet was still wet. In the following days, we peeled my carpet back, one corner at a time, and let it dry. I have never smelled a smell so horrible as the mildew set in. You could smell it as soon as you opened the front door to enter the house. A couple weeks, and a few cases of air freshener later, we picked up the new tank and stand. This time things went well, and Blazer got his new home. Four years went by, and Blazer was five years old, and succomed to a bad case of Ich. He was a great fish and will always be remembered. I have a photo somewhere of him that will be scanned and posted at a later date. I then decided to turn the 55 Gallon into a terrarium. I was starting a new venture, of lizzards, frogs, salamanders, and the like. I glued two peices of glass at about a 45 degree angle towards the middle of the tank, and used potting soil on each side, and planted some plants there. The middle section, I used a small powerhead in and stacked rocks to create a waterfall. I added toads, frogs, salamanders, and a millipede to the tank. I also bought some feeder guppies, and added them to the water part of the tank. I was very happy with it, and this was the first time I had done anything to the tank all by my self. The toads were apparently happy too,.. they laid eggs in the tank, which hatched, and later turned into several hundred baby toads. There were large size diferences between the baby toads, and many became meals for the other ones. I soon there after lost interest, and sold the tank and stand to a friends father. About a year later, I was 16, and we moved to Pomme De Terre Lake, in Missouri. I fit right in there, with so much to do.. I fished, walked in the woods, and made lots of great friends. It was a place I have fond memories of. Boy how life has changed since that era...

To be continued....

Jason

[Triggerjay]

For the next few years I had no aquarium. I finished High school at Hermitage High, in Hermitage MO. The day I graduated, I moved to Indiana with my older brother, who had already been living there. For the next couple months, I worked at the local Burger King, then on to Radio Shack. When working at Radio shack, I got interested in CB radio. I did not have any friends in the area, and thought it would be a good way to meet people. It turned out I was right. I met several people that are still friends to this day, including my wife of 8 years, Ruby. We moved in together, and I got a better paying job building machines for industrial use. My wife had a son from a previous marrage, (she got married at 16, divorced at 17) and Brian was the only blessing that came from it. So, I went from not knowing anyone, except my brother in the state of Indiana, to having several great friends, and a wife. We had our marrige the simple way, and went to the local courthouse to tie the knot. Soon after, our first daughter was born. We named her Megan. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I remember walking outside at the hospital with a HUGE grin on my face. Life couldnt be better. Following megans birth, we decided to have another child. So, we were pregnant again! I found this out on christmas day, 1998. While my wife was pregnant, sales went way down at my work, and most of the workforce was either laid off, or cut in hours. I worked only 20 hours a week, for almost a month and we were barley able to scrape by. My older brother also decided he had enough of indiana, and moved back to Missouri to be close to family. We also decided to sell the house, and follow. My wife was seven months pregnant, when we sold the house, loaded everything on a moving truck, and headed to Missouri, with no place to live, and no job. We parked the moving truck at my cousins house in Springfield MO, (The location we decided would have the best chance of having work close to the lake my parents live at). The next day, we went house hunting. We ended up having to rent an old house, with no air conditioning, and the floors nearly falling through.. but we had a roof over our head. That first night in our rental shack, my wife and I sat there and cried. It was so depressing going from what we did have in Indiana, to where we were. The next day, I was determined to go find a job, so we could move from the shack (for lack of better words). I went to a temp employment service, and they placed me in a plastics factory doing maintenance. It was sooo hot that summer, and my poor wife having to sit in the "shack" with no air conditioning. My father bought us a window air conditioner, that brought one room in the house down to a "bearable" temperature. I felt so bad for her... Then august arrived, and my second daughter Hailey arrived. We took her home, and made a vow to never live like we did in that house. I only made enough money while living there, to put food on the table, pay the rent, and buy diapers. Once I started to figure out where things were in Springfield, I applied at several other factories that paid better. I got hired at a factory doing maintenance where they made cardboard boxes, at a much better rate of pay. We moved to a real house (also renting) and life got better. I started to get the "fish itch" again, so I bought a 29g aquarium and stand. We kept cichlids in it at first, but I wanted more. I had been told by the LFS that I needed a bigger tank to have a successful saltwater aquarium. So I bought a 55g, NO "saltwater bulbs", a fliudized bed filter, sand, and salt. I got it all set up, went and bought 55lbs of live rock, and a skilter 250 they said I had to have. I managed to kill everything I bought, Including the cycling damsels. I decided I didn't know enough to have a salt tank, so I kept the sand, sold the LR, and switched it to a planted freshwater tank with angelfish, and mollies. I had the tank that way for a couple months, and sold it. I kept everything I had bought for saltwater, and we moved to another house, where I currently reside. The saly bug bit me again, and I decided to go all out. I built a multi tank setup using my 29g as a centerpiece, and two 10g drilled tanks above it, with a 10g sump. I bought black heater hose to do all the plumbing, and managed to kill most everything I put in the tank. Here is a photo of that setup :







I had four seahorses in the top left tank, my "mini" reef in the top right tank, and a morray eel in the middle 29g tank. I also converted some mollies to saltwater and had them living and breeding in the sump. The babies would end up all over the system, and provide food for everyone. I would also feed them Mysis shrimp. After most everything died, I put my two clown fish in a 10g tank for a short period of time, and tore down the multi tank setup. Soon after, I moved the clowns to the 29 gallon tank, with the skilter 250, on a metal stand, with crushed coral, and pretty much frogot about them (other than feeding them).I also got a different job, as an engineer for the twinkie maker, IBC. I work in one of their bread plants. It was another pay raise as well. I still work there today. My grandmother was staying with us during the ice storm earlier this year and asked me if there was anything alive in the tank. You could not see in it due to all the hair algae in it. I cleaned up the tank, and did a massive water change. My little clown fish loved it. I had not seen them swim much for a while. This got my interest sparked again, and I went to the LFS, and bought some snails, new lighting (Sattellite 65wx2w/moonlight), got rid of the crushed coral, and started my refuge from the multi tank setup back up. I also bought a sea-clown skimmer, and was on the road to recovery. I had decided I wanted a reef tank, and once my water was good enough, bought a zoa colony. I had no idea there were so many different things to test for in saltwater. In the past, I had only checked the "big 3" Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates. It was a new world to me. I decided I wanted a bigger tank, so I started keeping my eye out for a good deal, and found one on craigslist. A salt ready tank, with CPR 100 overflow, 65wx6 PC lighting, and stand for $200? I really wanted a bigger tank, but could not pass up this deal. My new venture begins!

To be continued........

Jason

[Triggerjay]

Kind of funny. I am sitting here, typing about past bad experiences, and forgot that I had a 5g bucket sitting under my ro/di filling.. My daughter went running into the kitchen and about the time I remembered it, she slipped and fell... The whole floor was wet. It filled MUCH faster than I thought it would! lol....

Jason

[Woodstock]

Time flies when you're having fun!!

Great story!!

[Triggerjay]

Its just the beginning!... Grab a cup! its gonna be a long one! lol...

Jason

[Woodstock]

k... ya turned off the ro/di, right?

[Triggerjay]

Dont mean to bounce around the timeline, but I forgot to post a pic of the 29gallon tank shortly before I moved to the 55..:




Jason

[Triggerjay]

Back to the story.....

I E-mailed a response to the craigslist ad, this was on a Sunday, and the owner is a student, and he was studying for mid-terms. He said it would be wednesday before I could come look at the tank. I E-mailed him my phone #, and told him to call me to set up a meeting time. The next day, he called me and told me he had some time to spare. We met up and I purchased then tank. He upgraded to a beuatiful 130g, and just wanted the 55g out of his way. We talked salt talk for a few, and he pointed me to a new LFS that had just opened in our area, and also learned there is a local club in our area. I thanked him for the great deal, and took the tank home and started to get ready for the switchover....:


to be continued....

[Triggerjay]

Cool! I got the neat member icon now!

Jason

[Triggerjay]

So, I set up the new 55g. Got plenty of buckets ready, and mixed up about 40g of saltwater. The next day, I drained the 29g, carefully placing all critters, and LR in buckets of water from the 29g tank. I moved the rest of the water to the 55, as well as my sand. My sand was fairly new, and I did not think I had enough for the 55, (40lbs) but it was plenty. I then filled the tank 1/2 way, and put my live rock, and critters in. At that point my critters consisted of one snail, two clowns, and my new zoa colony. I then filled the tank the rest of the way, and moved my 10g fuge into the new stand. The stand was too small to house the fuge, and skimmer both, and the design of my fuge would not allow the use of the cpr overflow. The hose would not flex enough to make it to it. I remembered that a co-worker of mine, had an old 29g in the garage, and he was about to owe me a favor. He had just bought 2 55g tanks, and needed a stand built. I told him I would build the stand if he gave me the 29g. The next day, we were in my basement hammering out (or screwing rather) a new stand for him. I took him, and his new stand to his house, and picked up my new fuge. That night, I cut acrylic panels for the new fuge design, and glued them in. Some say silicone wont stick to acrylic, but my trusty 10g fuge was built the same way... so I used it.. I had a problem though. There was NO WAY the new 29g fuge would fit under the new stand :

I had two choices. Either put it in the closet next to my tank, or behind it. It would not fit behind it without moving the tank, and I didnt think my wife would think too kindly of me drilling large holes in the outside wall of the closet, so I opted for choice #2. Move the tank... I got out my trusty 45g sterelite container, and started draining the main tank. I drained it about half way, and the tank slid on the floor easily. I only had to pull it out about another 4" from the wall for the 29g to fit. Now, I have room for the skimmer, a larger fuge, and can use the CPR-100.

These are some front shots of it taken through the stand:



After setting up the new tank, it looked empty. I went out and bought some purple shrooms, a sand sifting star, and a goby. The goby was burying the shrooms, so I moved them to a higher location in the tank. He had built his home under it, and was very upset I moved them. So upset in fact, he decided to go for a wild ride, and ended up in my fuge. I tore my tank all apart looking for him... twice! then we found him down in the fuge. that must have been a crazy ride. I then returned him to the main display and he has been happy since.:


Here are my new purple Shrooms:



So now the new fuge is online and doing great, and I do not have to look at the ugly skimmer anymore. My wife thinks the tank looks funny pulled away from the wall so far, but I am happy with it. Now, we are at present day. I had an accident last night, and decided to run carbon. Apparently I put it in the wrong place. Heres what the tank looked like this morning :

Lesson learned : Do not put your carbon sock under an 800GPH overflow!
Heres what the water looked like I took out of the tank:

The clean water was new sw, ready for a 10g water change. I added filter media to my HOB filter, and put the sponges back in my overflow, and on my skimmer intake. The tank is clearing up fast. At this exact moment in time, thats where I am with the progress of my new 55g. I would like to add more live rock in the next couple of weeks, and the club has a frag swap in about a month, so I should be able to get some new additions.

to be continued!........The long part is over!

Jason

[Triggerjay]

Just got back from the LFS. I couldnt resist. I bought 10lbs of hand picked LR for $2.99lb. I got mainly small stuff for fragging, but it all looks nice. Now all I need to do is buy Woodstock a ticket so she can come aquascape it....(I can never get it to look right!). I did however get one piece that fits the corner of the tank perfect. It could not be a better fit. Heres a couple of shots..:







Jason

[vdituri]

Love the history. I may have to start my own chronicle from fresh to salt. There and back again, a gobies' tale?

[lcstorc]

Great story. Thanks for sharing it with us. I look forward to future installments as things progress.

[Triggerjay]

Thanks! I just did a little aquascaping. I do not have Woodstocks talents, but here goes!... Before:




And after......:


Right side..

Center

Left Side


And any new rock additions will be somewhere in the middle. I kind of like the "open" look. Man, I need a background! I should have painted it before I set it up.

Jason

[lcstorc]

Looking good.