Hello, new to the forum as I’ve just jumped back into the hobby from a long hiatus. I started in saltwater around 2007 my girlfriend at the time and now my wife bought me my first tank. We were a bit younger, had no experience in saltwater and truthfully just couldn’t afford the hobby. Eventually falling out of it for a long while. I’ve always had a tank running since 2007. Mostly nano puddles. Simple filter less tanks with softies and a clown or 2. Up until we had our first child, our daughter! I was running a 7 gallon Softie tank with a mated pair of Picasso Clowns.
One morning my wife had just returned home from work. I was in the bedroom talking with her when I noticed the silence. As I rounded the corner I saw her. One after another handfuls of cat litter from the cat box. Straight into the tank. I pulled the clowns and the few rhodactis and threw them in a 1.7 gallon I had laying around. After far too long I decided to move the clowns to a better system.
During this time we also had our second child, our son! Then Covid-19 hit and we were stuck inside. My wife is an ICU nurse and has direct contact with Covid patients. So we isolated a bit more extreme than most people did. As we were at a much higher probability of contracting and spreading. Our inner bubble was basically just us and limited drive by distance visiting.
Due to a multitude of stress factors and then the pandemic on top of it. My mental health was not in the best place. One activity that really helped me through my inner strife is aquarium husbandry. I started to jump back onto the forums and realized how much the hobby has changed. I started to get MTS. What was only going to be another pair of clowns has turned into 4 tanks. 1 Species specific system 2 mixed reefs and a frag tank. These are all nanos as that is what I prefer at the moment and have had the most success with.
I’m lucky to say that I have a great wife who is also my absolute best friend. We have great communication with one another. She is the only reason I am even able to have this build; it's as much hers as it is mine.
Sorry for the long rant.
Nice to be here and look forward to being a part of this community.
Andy ~ DaddyHook
One morning my wife had just returned home from work. I was in the bedroom talking with her when I noticed the silence. As I rounded the corner I saw her. One after another handfuls of cat litter from the cat box. Straight into the tank. I pulled the clowns and the few rhodactis and threw them in a 1.7 gallon I had laying around. After far too long I decided to move the clowns to a better system.
During this time we also had our second child, our son! Then Covid-19 hit and we were stuck inside. My wife is an ICU nurse and has direct contact with Covid patients. So we isolated a bit more extreme than most people did. As we were at a much higher probability of contracting and spreading. Our inner bubble was basically just us and limited drive by distance visiting.
Due to a multitude of stress factors and then the pandemic on top of it. My mental health was not in the best place. One activity that really helped me through my inner strife is aquarium husbandry. I started to jump back onto the forums and realized how much the hobby has changed. I started to get MTS. What was only going to be another pair of clowns has turned into 4 tanks. 1 Species specific system 2 mixed reefs and a frag tank. These are all nanos as that is what I prefer at the moment and have had the most success with.
I’m lucky to say that I have a great wife who is also my absolute best friend. We have great communication with one another. She is the only reason I am even able to have this build; it's as much hers as it is mine.
Sorry for the long rant.
Nice to be here and look forward to being a part of this community.
Andy ~ DaddyHook