Growing Pains

[glaekenjz]

I've been keeping freshwater for years, and I've always wanted to get into reef-keeping, but just never had the chance to get into it. I recent'y bought a used aquarium, 125 gallon, full of live sand and rock that was established for over two years, and it sounded like a great deal. But if you read some of the other boards, it has been a rough ride so far. I almost all of my fish due to a disease. As soon as I the tank recovered from that, my lighting system went dead Now I have to replace the whole thing. And this is after buying my first stock of corals. Oh, and the my heater exploded and eletrocuted everything in my tank. My last damsel that has survived through it all is still shook up over that one. So, now I have a tank with one recovering damsel, a ghetto flourescent rig, because I can't afford my new lighting system yet, and no heater, so the water is a measly 70 degrees. And due to other financial obligations, there is nothing that I can do about this problem at the moment. Hmmm. Well I feel better now, thanks. Does it get better? Or am I doomed to struggle to maintain my tank forever?

 

[trainfever]

Well when you buy your new heater, spend a few extra bucks and buy a titanium one. You wont have to worry about it exploding. Make sure you buy one bigger than what you need. It wont have to turn on as often. Another thing, buy a power strip with a built in GFCI, ground fault circuit interrupter. It will trip the moment any water hits it. If you cant find one, then at least have the outlet in your wall replaced with a GFCI outlet. If you had one of those(and everyone should), you wouldnt have lost anything. A few bucks more spent would have saved you a lot more.