Considering shutting down my 90g - looking for advice/feedback

[ACBlinky]

I'm seriously considering shutting down my 90g reef. Before anyone gasps, I do have a good reason. I'm pregnant, and our baby is due in January. The tank is well established, but there's still a fair bit of daily maintenance and I'm the one who looks after the fish -- hubby knows the basics, but that's it; it's my hobby, and my responsibility.

I've already gone through periods where I neglect the tank (morning sickness and exhaustion - all I did for 12 weeks was sleep - I barely managed to keep the ATO reservoir full). I'm worried that a few days in the hospital, followed by post-partum exhaustion, are going to destroy my reef. I don't think I could live with myself if it crashed.

What I was thinking was that I'd remove & sell all the fish and corals, and I'd keep the remaining rock and sand but set the tank up with fresh water -- maybe African cichlids, which are pretty bomb-proof. If the LFS would take everything in trade, I'd get 50% - that would be more than enough to stock the tank with cichlids and maybe buy some rocks and more sand, and have credit left over.

I know that if I kept the majority of my LR it would become dead, and cycle horribly as all the bacteria and microscopic life died off, but some of my LR is nicely shaped and quite frankly I'm not up to removing and carting off 100lbs of rock, only to buy another 100lbs of dry rock to set up a cichlid tank!

I'd have a ridiculous amount of light, and it would still have a sump (that's okay with FW, right?), but I really don't want to sell off the lights, skimmer etc. -- if the day came when I wanted a reef again I could buy more LR, corals, fish, and I'd be up and running without spending a fortune.

Is this a dreadful idea? I know I'm asking on a reef forum, but I also know there are lots of parents here and some folks that have shut down their reefs temporarily or permanently. I'd love any and all feedback, suggestions, ideas; I don't want to make a drastic move without thinking it through and discussing it with people who understand what's at stake.

[wartskin]

I would just ask your self this:

#1 When the baby comes and I have to do all of the things that go with having a baby, will I want to have to deal with a tank that needs the daily attention as you stated.


#2 Am I feeling this way due to the hormones and changes that I am dealing with now and might not feel this way after the baby comes?

No one here wants to see a fellow reefer tear down a tank but we all know that it's a hobby. When I moved from Orange County back to Texas I had to tear down my 120, it almost brought me to tears. Only because of one fish, my blue hepatus tang. I had that fish for 4 years. It survived two tank crashings (every other fish died) A flight from Milwaukee WI to Orange County where my buddy put it in his tank until mine was up and running, so I can understand your reservations.

You are gonna have alot on your hands, so tearing it down for a year or two might not be so bad. You can always set it back up once the baby is older and you have more free time. Just my opinion.

Good luck and congratulations!

[zambavi]

If that's the way your going I'd sale the live rock/sand. People will come to your house and take it off your hands for you and you can get some of your money back. My freshwater experience is that the amount of rock will be significantly decreased if any. One of the nicest cichlids tanks I've seen had nothing but a large piece of driftwood, one flat rock and a bunch of tall Fresh water plants. I'd say... sell or trade in to a LFS reef/fresh everything that is living from sand up to fish. Clean and store all your reef hardware for your future itch and start your cichlids tank from scratch in your existing tank. ...anyway... that's what I'd do.

[binaryterror]

I doubt a reef tank needs as much care as a new-born baby.

Either way, I'd see if you could hire someone to take care of the tank until you can get back on your feet.

[Toddrtrex]

First, congrats.

But, how much daily work does your tank really need? Is there any way to make it simpler ?

I currently have 3 tanks, and right now they are on auto-pilot -- just had back surgery, not at long term as having a baby, but I really can't do anything to the tanks for the next 1-2 months. All I am doing now is topping off, feeding and adding 2 part, take as total of 20 minutes each day for all 3.

As for water changes, I have cut back on those, and have dad come over to my place to do those.

I am a little bummed about my back, second surgery in 4 months, but laying here on the couch and watching my 58 makes me feel better.

[ChuckLawson]

I'd agree with Jeff and Cindy -- you're going to have an awful mess of dying pods, bacteria and whatnot if you just change the existing rock and sand to fresh -- or an even worse cleanup job than changing it all... Advertise the rock and sand locally, and tell them that they've got to extract it themselves -- maybe even offer to trade the live sand in exchange for someone replacing it with an equivalent amount of clean dry substrate :)

Instead of using the sump (might as well not hassle with the increased evaporation / top off, and other routine maintenance), put it all away and use some of the live rock profits to get a good canister filter -- Eheim Classics work well and can be neglected for years on end in a cichlid tank (you shouldn't, but believe me, you can :) ), along with a bit of good looking decor -- some driftwood, some decent fake plants (live plants don't work well with african cichlids) and maybe a rock or two.

Once the tank and filter are set up and cycled, there's really not a lot to do other than top it off occasionally, scrape algae, and enjoy watching the fish.

Stash the rest of the rock proceeds away to buy some dry reef rock and a bit of seed rock for when you go back to the reef -- you may not get the same shapes, but selling ready-to-go rock and buying dry you'll probably end up getting as much or more rock than you started with, even after paying for setting up the cichlid tank.

Anyway, that's my $0.02 of advice :) -- best of luck!

[ACBlinky]

Thank you all for the thoughtful replies. I've just talked to my hubby, and he agrees it's probably a good idea to sell the livestock & rock before the baby comes -- neither of us will be in any shape to give the reef the TLC it deserves.

I do have a decent canister (FilStar XP2) sitting in the closet, from my FW days, so we could always shut the sump down and use that -- I hadn't even thought of that as an option.

[runningstix]

what about making it into a fowlr salt water tank? Sell your corals run half the lights.

[pledosophy]

I would look at how much work you are actually doing on the tank, and see if any or all of that can be minimized.

I have a tank that other then feeding the fish, I spend less then 10 minutes a week on. I wipe off the glass, and fill the reservoir.

If your tank could be made simpler to the point you would enjoy it then maybe a compromise on what if any corals to keep, things along those lines. There are many corals that are extremely low eminence, you could do trades for simpler stuff.

If you really wanna a chiclid tank go for it. But you are still going to be caring of a tank just the same.

BTW Congrats on the baby. ;)

[secrest]

I think you should keep the tank and give it a shot. I recently had a baby (well my wife did) and I am able to deal with my tanks fine. I know I'm a guy and on the other side, but my wife is back at work during the night so as soon as I'm off work.....it's just me and baby so I have to do tank stuff and deal with baby. It's not as hard as it sounds.......you find a way to squeeze in fun stuff (shes sleeping on me while I type this lol)

congrats!

[ACBlinky]

Thank you guys, for the thoughts, and for the congrats :)

We've posted some ads -- we'll see if we get any takers, and go from there. I think if we haven't had any success with online ads within a week or two, we'll call some of the larger LFSs in Toronto and see if we can do some trade-ins (I doubt one store will take an entire tank's worth of livestock!)

It makes me sad to even think of tearing it down, but at the same time we're both feeling stressed and it would be somewhat of a relief to go back to easy-peasy freshwater -- no dosing, no crying when a $100 fish surfs or goes missing, no feeling like a mad scientist when I do water tests every week. We've got goldfish in the bedroom, and they're just so SIMPLE, right about my speed ATM. I know for certain I'll want to reef again, but I think it's just time to put it on hold for a bit.

[the_rider]

I had a friend who was going to the same process has you but she finally kept the tank. She was happy to have kept it because she could do something else not baby related and could relax while doing it. Also, her baby feel asleep really fast when she was holding it in front of the tank. Also he was really calm and practiclly never cried near the tank, maybe the sound of water I don't know.

It's sure that she did not touch the tank the first 2 weeks but little by little she could work on the tank while baby was asleep and etc. etc.

Maybe this little "story" can show another side of having a tank

Congrats