10 years of reef keeping experience and alot of $$$

[petey]

hello all, fairly new to this message board but have had a reef system since 1991. so let me ramble here and maybe just maybe i can help someone out somewhere. i have been in the fish keeping for 35 years, started when i was 10. had every FW fish imaginable (catfish, guppies, bluegills, like i said ALL). first reef tank in 1991 60 gal also at the time ran a 180 gal salt fish only. graduated to a custom acrylic 180 gal w/ the old reef tank now my refugeum. rubbernmaid sump (cheap and great!) plumbed all myself. run a hamilton hood w/ 3 175 12k and 2 165 actinic blues. i will now tell you some horror stories that i hope no one else ever makes. would premix a LARGE amount of saltwater for changes. well on one lucky water change as i went out for a bit, had the over flow going and then put in the new water i did not realize that the pump for my mixing did not mix! can you say high salinity?? well that was a disater and now i make sure NEVER to just assume the top of the water is the same salinity as the bottom! especially in large water changes. always remeber to change the bulbs on your reef tanks, bulbs that are old will change things in your tank. when you have a refugeum, DO NOT let your calurepa in my case go to seed. NOT GOOD, slowly take some out so this never happens. a good refugeum is a great asset if you can do it. now for hair algae! had a terrible case of it when i did not check things and let the tank go to pot (me bad!) well after i did water changes and the refugeum kicked in, the hair algae literally died off in a matter of days BUT then guess what! tank parameters went nuts and now more water changes. my hint, pull as much hair algae out as possibly! when you add water in large quanities make sure your dump bucket is the same volume as the new water bucket! same out, same in! if anyone has any questions please email me. what makes me the proudest now is my teenage son is into this (greggy) and for cupid day his mother my wife gave us a $100 gift cert at our local fush store. tank is great now and shortly i will post pics. hope i didnt ramble too much! any questions ask away. i know the good, bad and ugly of this wonderful hobby. and as for how much i have spent? i dont want to count!
thanks
petey

 

[greggy]

As my dad might have said is that we havent had many problems with the tank lately. The main reason for this is that I have become involved and shown him what to do(like anyone believes me). I will remain in this hobby for a long time becuase it is very interesting and it is something I learned from my old man.
-Greggy <img src="graemlins//angel.gif" border="0" alt="[angel]" />

 

[deuce_bigalo]

Greggy,
What a great opprotunity for you!!!
That would have been awesome to learn reef keeping
when I was young. Probably would have saved me a ton of money! <img src="graemlins//yeahright.gif" border="0" alt="[yeahright]" />
Can't wait to see your pics!!!

 

[greggy]

Yes, I know i am very fortunate to have a father who taught me about his failures so i wont do mess up like him LOL. this will also help me save alot of money and i will someday pass it on to my little kids.

 

[iswimwithmyfish]

one word.....AWESOME