Greetings fellow reefers!
Wanted to finally post up a build thread. I joined BAR a few months ago. I've been keeping aquariums for about 25 years, since i was in middle school. Started of course with freshwater community, then african cichlids, then a reef tank while in high school. Had a 50g reef and 125 FOWLER in college in early 2000's. Then out of the hobby for a few years while working and moving around, then when settled down had a ~20g reef for a few years, then "downsized" to a freshwater 60g corner with an awesome flowerhorn.
Fast forward to living in san francisco about 5 years ago resurrected the 60g corner with a flowerhorn. The new guy had HLEE forever, and after spending a fortune trying to cure him, donated him to the store and switched tank to african cichlids. That tank was very successful, even had spawning and an offspring that somehow lived to be an inch long until i broke the tank down and sold the fish off.
In the interim the saltwater bug bit hard again and i convinced my wife to get a innovative marine nuvo 10 AIO with an anemone and clown. This tank has been up and running almost 2 years now and been very successful - biggest issue was a bout of dino, which was eventually beaten by removing the cool AWC system i had built and using UV for a while. That tank is still up and running.
Eventually also convinced wife to set up a "big" tank - a 75g innovative marine 75int. The plan was for it to be a FOWLR, but i got the but and it became a reef. It's done quite well, was set up about 1.5 years ago (6 months after the im10)
Fast forward to a month ago and we're moving to Novato. Now i get to set up an actually BIG tank. I wanted to just migrate the reef and set up a big fowler (always wanted a queen angel more than any other fish), but there isnt room in the house for a big tank AND the 75g reef. So i settled on upgrading the reef and accepting that i won't be getting a queen angel (tears).
I had the 125 gallon (acrylic) tank in storage since about 2005, so figured i'd use that as the new reef! After buying the house and moving money is tight!
Plan was to just move the 75g and then later upgrade to 125. But when I was mid move, i figured that was dumb - why essentially move the animals twice.
So i scrambled to refinish the stand for the 125, and build out the filtration etc. I had a couple days off to do the move, so adding this was.... some work.
I also took the opportunity to stick some new fish in quarantine, since with the fish moving and rocks changing the aggression should be scrambled and it would be a good time to intro new fish.
Today the new tank (and the IM10) are doing great. Just need to finish refinishing the doors to the 125 stand.
That's the summary, now I'll add some posts going back to the IM10 setup, thru 75g setup, and then the move!
Coming in and out of the hobby, especially reefing, has been interesting! in the 90's and early 00's i had metal halide and a ton of DIY. I had a "ATO" that was a repurposed hospital iv pump. built skimmers. etc. These days with LED lights and really nice pumps and all the rest it's pretty cool. It's a shame though that KNOWLEDGE is still so scarce - maybe even worse now with the forums. Back in the day you could read sprung/delbeek's The Reef Aquarium series and be off to a good start. Still have my copies!
Wanted to finally post up a build thread. I joined BAR a few months ago. I've been keeping aquariums for about 25 years, since i was in middle school. Started of course with freshwater community, then african cichlids, then a reef tank while in high school. Had a 50g reef and 125 FOWLER in college in early 2000's. Then out of the hobby for a few years while working and moving around, then when settled down had a ~20g reef for a few years, then "downsized" to a freshwater 60g corner with an awesome flowerhorn.
Fast forward to living in san francisco about 5 years ago resurrected the 60g corner with a flowerhorn. The new guy had HLEE forever, and after spending a fortune trying to cure him, donated him to the store and switched tank to african cichlids. That tank was very successful, even had spawning and an offspring that somehow lived to be an inch long until i broke the tank down and sold the fish off.
In the interim the saltwater bug bit hard again and i convinced my wife to get a innovative marine nuvo 10 AIO with an anemone and clown. This tank has been up and running almost 2 years now and been very successful - biggest issue was a bout of dino, which was eventually beaten by removing the cool AWC system i had built and using UV for a while. That tank is still up and running.
Eventually also convinced wife to set up a "big" tank - a 75g innovative marine 75int. The plan was for it to be a FOWLR, but i got the but and it became a reef. It's done quite well, was set up about 1.5 years ago (6 months after the im10)
Fast forward to a month ago and we're moving to Novato. Now i get to set up an actually BIG tank. I wanted to just migrate the reef and set up a big fowler (always wanted a queen angel more than any other fish), but there isnt room in the house for a big tank AND the 75g reef. So i settled on upgrading the reef and accepting that i won't be getting a queen angel (tears).
I had the 125 gallon (acrylic) tank in storage since about 2005, so figured i'd use that as the new reef! After buying the house and moving money is tight!
Plan was to just move the 75g and then later upgrade to 125. But when I was mid move, i figured that was dumb - why essentially move the animals twice.
So i scrambled to refinish the stand for the 125, and build out the filtration etc. I had a couple days off to do the move, so adding this was.... some work.
I also took the opportunity to stick some new fish in quarantine, since with the fish moving and rocks changing the aggression should be scrambled and it would be a good time to intro new fish.
Today the new tank (and the IM10) are doing great. Just need to finish refinishing the doors to the 125 stand.
That's the summary, now I'll add some posts going back to the IM10 setup, thru 75g setup, and then the move!
Coming in and out of the hobby, especially reefing, has been interesting! in the 90's and early 00's i had metal halide and a ton of DIY. I had a "ATO" that was a repurposed hospital iv pump. built skimmers. etc. These days with LED lights and really nice pumps and all the rest it's pretty cool. It's a shame though that KNOWLEDGE is still so scarce - maybe even worse now with the forums. Back in the day you could read sprung/delbeek's The Reef Aquarium series and be off to a good start. Still have my copies!
