Aquarius Marinus

I joined Reef Addicts when I was setting up my first "big" tank almost exactly four years ago. I just re-read my previous blog entries around the time I was setting up that tank. A lot has happened since then, I moved to a different state and got married! I have moved three times since 2010, and just bought my first house.

Unfortunately, my 180 reef is no more

During one of our moves (probably the most stressful one ever, our landlord changed our move-out date to a month sooner, leaving us a week to pack and get out) I set up my old 55 gallon tank in the garage and put all my livestock in it to give myself some time to set my 180 back up properly. As I mentioned, it was a very stressful move, and I didn't pay as much attention to some things as I should have. The heater that I put in the 55 gallon tank hadn't been used in a while, and failed ON sometime during the night. The next morning when I woke up to check on the tank, the water was around 100 degrees and most of the inhabitants were dead or dying. I rushed to set up a 10 gallon tank, and moved the remaining living inhabitants to it, but everything was gone by the end of the day.

I was completely heart broken, and since I had lost everything, decided not to set my tank back up. I didn't really know if or when I would get back into the hobby, but every time I thought about starting the tank back up my stomach turned a little. I didn't have much help when I moved the 180, just some people who helped physically move the tank. No one really felt comfortable helping with the fish, coral and rock. So I was pretty burnt out after the move, anyway. I had/have been pretty busy since we moved to Ohio and haven't gotten into a club or met any reefing friends yet.

I love the hobby, and I loved my tank. If even one of my fish or corals had survived, I would have found a way to push ahead. But with loosing everything, I felt like taking a break from the hobby was the logical choice.

A couple years went by and I ended up selling the tank, my skimmer and Apex controller. I still have my lighting system and Vortechs.

While I stopped posting on reef central and here (actually RA was new around that time so I hadn't posted much at all here!) I never stopped reading, and I continued to follow the hobby somewhat. I remember reading about melev's 280g leak, then planning of the new 400g, then the leaking 400, and finally the running 400! (yay!) Reading about eveyone else's reef still made me feel a bit empty. Plenty of times I wondered if it was a bad choice to sell my tank, or if I shouldn't have even "taken a break".

A couple weeks ago, my wife asked if I was going to start a tank back up. She mentioned how much she enjoyed watching all the fish and coral and all the little critters doing their things. This came as somewhat of a surprise to me because I never really thought she enjoyed the tank, I guess I incorrectly assumed that she didn't like it because of how much money I spent on it!

I thought about it for a while (actually it wasn't really that long...) and I ordered a Deep Blue Rimless Reef Ready 60g cube and stand (24x24x24) the same week! As much as I want a big tank again, part of me still doesn't feel comfortable with setting up a 6 foot tank and the amount of work that goes with it...at least not yet.

This time around, I'm going to try to be more active in the RA community. I've read an INNUMERABLE number of blogs and threads over the years but haven't written back or shared very many of my experiences. I find that when I do that, I feel more involved, not only in the community but in my own projects. Hopefully we can all help keep each other focused!

I'm looking forward once again to this fast paced, exciting hobby!