yingling
07/03/2007, 09:22 AM
So I was given a 55g tank and stand with a wet / dry bio-ball setup. Little did I know that over the course of 2 months I would cause marital distress and financial difficulties with this so called “free” aquarium. Initially, this tank was set up as a FO system that my father managed to kill every fish he put into it, then it sat for the next 2 years, stagnant, and became an experiment in algae production. When it was given to me, it took 3 hours to scrub it clean and get the smell out. I was concerned about any left over contaminants so before I put any life into it, I ran it with tap water and ½ cup of bleach for 2-3 weeks.
One day, my wife’s birthday to be exact, I decided it was time to test the water and start it up! pH nominal, Chlorine 0, etc. Next comes the disaster.
I go to the LFS and buy everything all at once; substrate, salt, supplements and fish, 5 Blue Devils and 1 Yellow tail Damsel. I ask the employee how long the fish will last in the bag and was told about 1 hour or so. So, I hurry home. The bag of IO says it makes 50 gallons, I have 55 so I dump the bag into the tank. Very cloudy, but hey, I have another 30 minutes til the fish need to come out of their bag. After mixing the water for a bit, I check SG 1.030 or so and I panic, rush to the sink, and start diluting it out. Close to the 1 hour mark the fish don’t look happy, so I dump them into a bucket and start adding tank water to extend their survivability. Well, now that the SG is down to optimal, the fish are in a bucket and I have bags of Aragonite that need to go in the tank as well. Had I read the bag, I would have seen the note to rinse it off first! So in it goes and I now have a tank full of milk.
Taking a look in the bucket, I notice the poor fish aren’t moving and I think to myself, “Well you’ve sure gone and boned this one! Sink or swim fellas,” and in go the fish. For the next 5 hours I’m staring at this opaque mess in my living room just knowing that I’ve killed the fish, but not sure because I can’t see them.
Eventually I do make out some movement, sort of blue shadows occasionally swimming past the glass, so at least 1 is still alive. The next day, the water became clear enough that I could see that all the damsels had made it through the night. The following day, a blue devil succumbed and his body was committed to the porcelain deep, much to my 4 year old daughter’s dismay. Every day for the next 2 months I test the water, do water changes using tap water, and worry that any day everything will die.
At the 1 month mark I get diatoms and the wife goes nuts about how dirty it is and that I need to clean it out. Nope, not gonna do it. I go get a Sea Clone 150 and realize what a P.O.S it is, return it and hope for the best. Finally, I find a LFS that actually has folks who know something or two about this stuff and I’m pointed to WWM, Reef Central and GARF. Oh the Humanity!! What have I done to these poor creatures! New LFS sells me a protein skimmer and some hermit crabs and snails (cycle is complete by this point) and off I go to try to make up for my mistakes. Over the next month or so, the tank gets cleaned up and after reading just about everything I can find, I discover I’d like to do a reef tank.
Woe, woe to my bank account!
Lights, live rock and corals oh my.
In go the corals. They look ok for a few days. Then I find out how bad my tap water really is and no matter what 2 part or conditioner or supplement I put in, the water is not good enough.
Woe to the bank account again, this time for an RO/DI unit!
To make a long story end, I have managed to not lose any other livestock since that first damsel. The corals are growing and finally I have relaxed enough to actually enjoy this hobby. I hope that those of you reading this aren’t too hard on me for being ignorant throughout this ordeal, but I can assure you that the information and knowledge I’ve gained from this and other sites has helped my aquatic friends survive their trials.
“Husbandry,” what a neat concept, too bad I didn’t know what it was at the beginning. I’ve been extremely lucky and now that I have friends interested in starting their own tanks, I’m forcing them to read as much as they can before they even get a tank. Hopefully they’ll get it right from the get go. I'll post some pics later to show this averted disaster at the 4 month mark. Thanks for listening to a noob’s tale.
One day, my wife’s birthday to be exact, I decided it was time to test the water and start it up! pH nominal, Chlorine 0, etc. Next comes the disaster.
I go to the LFS and buy everything all at once; substrate, salt, supplements and fish, 5 Blue Devils and 1 Yellow tail Damsel. I ask the employee how long the fish will last in the bag and was told about 1 hour or so. So, I hurry home. The bag of IO says it makes 50 gallons, I have 55 so I dump the bag into the tank. Very cloudy, but hey, I have another 30 minutes til the fish need to come out of their bag. After mixing the water for a bit, I check SG 1.030 or so and I panic, rush to the sink, and start diluting it out. Close to the 1 hour mark the fish don’t look happy, so I dump them into a bucket and start adding tank water to extend their survivability. Well, now that the SG is down to optimal, the fish are in a bucket and I have bags of Aragonite that need to go in the tank as well. Had I read the bag, I would have seen the note to rinse it off first! So in it goes and I now have a tank full of milk.
Taking a look in the bucket, I notice the poor fish aren’t moving and I think to myself, “Well you’ve sure gone and boned this one! Sink or swim fellas,” and in go the fish. For the next 5 hours I’m staring at this opaque mess in my living room just knowing that I’ve killed the fish, but not sure because I can’t see them.
Eventually I do make out some movement, sort of blue shadows occasionally swimming past the glass, so at least 1 is still alive. The next day, the water became clear enough that I could see that all the damsels had made it through the night. The following day, a blue devil succumbed and his body was committed to the porcelain deep, much to my 4 year old daughter’s dismay. Every day for the next 2 months I test the water, do water changes using tap water, and worry that any day everything will die.
At the 1 month mark I get diatoms and the wife goes nuts about how dirty it is and that I need to clean it out. Nope, not gonna do it. I go get a Sea Clone 150 and realize what a P.O.S it is, return it and hope for the best. Finally, I find a LFS that actually has folks who know something or two about this stuff and I’m pointed to WWM, Reef Central and GARF. Oh the Humanity!! What have I done to these poor creatures! New LFS sells me a protein skimmer and some hermit crabs and snails (cycle is complete by this point) and off I go to try to make up for my mistakes. Over the next month or so, the tank gets cleaned up and after reading just about everything I can find, I discover I’d like to do a reef tank.
Woe, woe to my bank account!
Lights, live rock and corals oh my.
In go the corals. They look ok for a few days. Then I find out how bad my tap water really is and no matter what 2 part or conditioner or supplement I put in, the water is not good enough.
Woe to the bank account again, this time for an RO/DI unit!
To make a long story end, I have managed to not lose any other livestock since that first damsel. The corals are growing and finally I have relaxed enough to actually enjoy this hobby. I hope that those of you reading this aren’t too hard on me for being ignorant throughout this ordeal, but I can assure you that the information and knowledge I’ve gained from this and other sites has helped my aquatic friends survive their trials.
“Husbandry,” what a neat concept, too bad I didn’t know what it was at the beginning. I’ve been extremely lucky and now that I have friends interested in starting their own tanks, I’m forcing them to read as much as they can before they even get a tank. Hopefully they’ll get it right from the get go. I'll post some pics later to show this averted disaster at the 4 month mark. Thanks for listening to a noob’s tale.