Dthug421 Come on out!

flower

Well-Known Member
LOL...Dthug is a young man I met at the petland by my house. He has been sending me PMs but not posting...He says he has been finding the answer to questions without talking to anyone. He has a 55g tank and here are his pictures. He wants some feed back and I think some encouragment to come on and post.







 

mproctor4

Member
Dthug---come on out and play! Your tank looks great, you might as well brag about it. Tell us how old it is, what you have in it, what you would like to put in it someday. We all like details. Welcome to the site11
 

meowzer

Moderator
Dthug...we will welcome you to the site with arms wide open, and an abundance of good info
Nice tank
 

flower

Well-Known Member
See dthug...nobody bites and you don't have to ask any questions...Just talk about your tank....Hello..anybody out there?
 

scott t

Active Member
Very nice tank you got there and we will all welcome you, I don't think anyone bites, some may growl a bit, but not bite =)
 

flower

Well-Known Member
I guess he wants to wait before getting on line. I thought I could get him to come on out...oh well. I looked at his peofile and I see some supplements like iodine, calcium and purple up...I wrote and told him to test for stuff before adding it to the tank...so he may be busy. I'm sure petland talked him into all kinds of stuff. Which is why I talked to him at the counter, the petland guy is a real dictionary of misinformation.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
all I can do not to tell the customer the right info when I hear those guys telling somebody something that could be catastrophic
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jstdv8 http:///forum/thread/386400/dthug421-come-on-out#post_3393862
all I can do not to tell the customer the right info when I hear those guys telling somebody something that could be catastrophic
Petland is most guilty of getting you to buy stuff you don't need. Like iodine supplements, PH booster and such. The only skimmer in the store is that sea clone. Their tanks are loaded with algae, brown and hair algae. Cyano is everywhere. I wouldn't buy a coral from them. I have purchased a shrimp, he did well. I get some equipment from there like filter pads or spray bars, power heads and such. They are the only SW store close by. ***** is accross the street but that one doesn't carry much for SW tanks.
I go to Fox lakes "Something Fishy" for critters, but 99% of any coral or fish I purchase is online. There is a small store that trades tanks and equipment in Antioch, the next towm over...I love that place. He only has one SW tank and that's where he puts any SW critters (not much) for anyone to buy. But he has a ton of dry rock, fish tanks and stands, stuff like that. They carry the fish food I like and will order anything I ask for, everything at a really good price. That's where I got that awesome bright red pipe organ coral skeleton.
You can't really get people to listen to you when the store people SOUND like they know what they are talking about. It's as bad as religion, everyone has an opinion of what they believe is the best thing to do in a situation. To a beginner it seems the owner/manager of the fish store should be the experts, not the fat lady standing at the counter.
Maybe I should take a picture of my tank so the new folks can see what a tank looks like without cyano, brown goo hanging off the side of the corals they sell and no hair algae. Once the beginner can see who has the better tank..maybe they will listen then....LOL...I would be banned from the store I'm sure.
 

dthug421

New Member
Holy cow! Hello everyone! And thank you for the welcome!
Sorry I have not been online the past two days. I have been super busy at work (You know, try making money to pay for this money pit addiction of Reef Keeping) I also have an Ant problem in my house currently that is driving my wife and I crazy, since we are clean freaks. This is the first time, I have had some down time to gif you all of the follow:
So this all started way back in college when I got my first 125 Gallon tank and I made every single mistake you can think of with a reef tank. From not enough LR, blindly adding supplements, wrong types of fish, using plain old Tap water, listening and buying everything the LFS said. This was mostly due to the fact that I was in college and was broke, the other driving factor was that the females thought it was "cool" and I would then do whatever possible to gain "their" attention.
After a few years into this disaster, my roommate had a party one evening, needless to say when I came home the next day there was no longer water in the tank, instead it was all over the entire first floor of my apartment complex, so management said the tank goes or I go. And then modified the T's and C's on their leasing agreement.
So I told you that story to tell you this one about this tank:
I have been wanting to get back in to the reef thing ever since. A Coworker got divorced and the ex never came to get his 55 gallon saltwater set up. She asked my wife first if it was "OK." After getting clearance from the tower, I dove in head first. After doing some minor prep work, deciding on the spot for it, install the RO unit, ect... I went over the get this thing.
Being an expert in rejection but keeping a positive outlook I am always thinking I am going to catch a break or get a really good deal! This type of thought process has proved to be debilitating.......
After getting everything home my wife and I decided to get a new stand because the one I got was an eyesore. After closer inspection of the LR, it was covered with GHA. The Skimmer was cracked and so was the sump. The light had obviously fallen in the tank at some point.
The decision to replace these items did not all happen at once but over a three or four week period, it was a worm hole or quicksand effect, the whole "At this point, what's another 100 bucks?" I was able to find a used Hamilton Light fixture and a brand new set of bulbs pretty cheap. Everything else was ordered online.
size: 10pt">After two months or so everything was humming right along cycling beautifully. Then it happened, the front of the tank was starting to bow and the brace on top was cracking! This sent me into panic mode, as I just finished installing my new hardwood floor this past fall! So after collecting and thoroughly rinsing all as many 5 gallon buckets I could find I tore everything down, got a band new tank, and put everything back. Took all day!
So I have essentially replaced everything that supposed to be “free.”
Earlier this summer I added a chiller and upgraded my heater to a nicer digital model. I know the chiller is over kill but I just took a look on craigslist and sure enough there was one for sale brand new in the box never been used. Five minutes away from my house. It was fate, I got it for about a fourth of the cost of one brand new, and guess what it actually works!
I also added a GFO reactor this spring. I was relatively inexpensive and my phosphate levels seem to be lower or whenever I do that test I go color blind and tell myself they are.
I will be adding a few more fish in the coming months so I added a whisper filter, with just a sponge that way I can set up an instant HT for acclimating. I am also running Seachems Purigen through that, kind of a cool product.
I am taking it slow this time around.
I am getting some new coralline algae growing on the power head and return, which is very exciting. There is also a crap ton of sponges all over the glass.
All Parameters in the water column seem to stay very stable, I test it (or play the color game with my daughter) twice a week. I do a 10% water change one a month. I change the GFO media, once a month. And I “recharge” the purigen ever 6 weeks or so.
I have been pretty conservative with the trace elements. I do not know how you test for amino acids, vitamins and iodine.
I guess once I aquaculture some plant in my fuge that cures cancer, I can market my own reef supplement.
Now that I am here, ask away!
 

1guydude

Well-Known Member
Quote:
YAYYY He's real
LMAO

now that hes here and told his life story i dont really have any Q's lol
 

dthug421

New Member
Yes, I hope I am real!
SFlower has asked me a few questions about my set up specifically what I have going on in my fuge/sump.
For some reason I can't send any private messages it says I have hit my two message allotment for the day, I have not sent any today.
So any way, all the hoses a secured in shape or form and they are all under the water line to reduce splashing and salt creep.
The water you see splashing down is the return from the protein skimmer. Yes, it is a Sea Clone 100 or 150, I know not the greatest but I needed something fast and that was all I could find. I do not trust it that is why it is in the sump like that for fear that it will bubble over, like it did during the break in process when it was hanging on the outside of the tank! It is also very inefficient and spits a lot of air bubbles back in the tank.
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by dthug421 http:///forum/thread/386400/dthug421-come-on-out#post_3394308
Holy cow! Hello everyone! And thank you for the welcome!
Sorry I have not been online the past two days. I have been super busy at work (You know, try making money to pay for this money pit addiction of Reef Keeping) I also have an Ant problem in my house currently that is driving my wife and I crazy, since we are clean freaks. This is the first time, I have had some down time to gif you all of the follow:
So this all started way back in college when I got my first 125 Gallon tank and I made every single mistake you can think of with a reef tank. From not enough LR, blindly adding supplements, wrong types of fish, using plain old Tap water, listening and buying everything the LFS said. This was mostly due to the fact that I was in college and was broke, the other driving factor was that the females thought it was "cool" and I would then do whatever possible to gain "their" attention.
After a few years into this disaster, my roommate had a party one evening, needless to say when I came home the next day there was no longer water in the tank, instead it was all over the entire first floor of my apartment complex, so management said the tank goes or I go. And then modified the T's and C's on their leasing agreement.
So I told you that story to tell you this one about this tank:
I have been wanting to get back in to the reef thing ever since. A Coworker got divorced and the ex never came to get his 55 gallon saltwater set up. She asked my wife first if it was "OK." After getting clearance from the tower, I dove in head first. After doing some minor prep work, deciding on the spot for it, install the RO unit, ect... I went over the get this thing.
Being an expert in rejection but keeping a positive outlook I am always thinking I am going to catch a break or get a really good deal! This type of thought process has proved to be debilitating.......
After getting everything home my wife and I decided to get a new stand because the one I got was an eyesore. After closer inspection of the LR, it was covered with GHA. The Skimmer was cracked and so was the sump. The light had obviously fallen in the tank at some point.
span style="font-size: 10pt">The decision to replace these items did not all happen at once but over a three or four week period, it was a worm hole or quicksand effect, the whole "At this point, what's another 100 bucks?" I was able to find a used Hamilton Light fixture and a brand new set of bulbs pretty cheap. Everything else was ordered online.
After two months or so everything was humming right along cycling beautifully. Then it happened, the front of the tank was starting to bow and the brace on top was cracking! This sent me into panic mode, as I just finished installing my new hardwood floor this past fall! So after collecting and thoroughly rinsing all as many 5 gallon buckets I could find I tore everything down, got a band new tank, and put everything back. Took all day!
So I have essentially replaced everything that supposed to be “free.”
Earlier this summer I added a chiller and upgraded my heater to a nicer digital model. I know the chiller is over kill but I just took a look on craigslist and sure enough there was one for sale brand new in the box never been used. Five minutes away from my house. It was fate, I got it for about a fourth of the cost of one brand new, and guess what it actually works!
I also added a GFO reactor this spring. I was relatively inexpensive and my phosphate levels seem to be lower or whenever I do that test I go color blind and tell myself they are.
I will be adding a few more fish in the coming months so I added a whisper filter, with just a sponge that way I can set up an instant HT for acclimating. I am also running Seachems Purigen through that, kind of a cool product.
I am taking it slow this time around.
I am getting some new coralline algae growing on the power head and return, which is very exciting. There is also a crap ton of sponges all over the glass.
All Parameters in the water column seem to stay very stable, I test it (or play the color game with my daughter) twice a week. I do a 10% water change one a month. I change the GFO media, once a month. And I “recharge” the purigen ever 6 weeks or so.
I have been pretty conservative with the trace elements. I do not know how you test for amino acids, vitamins and iodine.
I guess once I aquaculture some plant in my fuge that cures cancer, I can market my own reef supplement.
Now that I am here, ask away!
Well Hi there!...and I'm so glad you came on line before everyone started laughing at me.
First, you really don't need to worry at all about trace elements if you keep up on your water changes. Just watch your PH, alk or KH, calcium, nitrates and phosphates. The new saltwater has the necessary elements in them already, like iodine and such...if you plan on a reef get the salt mix made for reefs and you will be just fine.
I really had to laugh at your story....free is such a funny word in the world of saltwater fish tanks, as you have learned. I got into the hobby because some guy offered us some free live rock. I saw worms and bought my own rock.
What brand of tests are you using?
 
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