kenaneu
Supporting Member
Alright folks, I'm trying to get the hang of all this BAR stuff, and tired of feeling discouraged from DBTC and other activities where folks are wanting tank journals, etc.
I'm not great at posting stuff about myself or my hobbies, or keeping things like social media updated. I'd rather be enjoying my tank and family than on the keyboard here. And honestly, I don't expect anyone to read any of this.
That said, I'll give this a go so folks know my reef and I are real.
This tank journal is starting about 9 months after the fact. I lost a 45g reef of almost 20 years during the CZU fire in 2020. So yeah, I live in the woods in the Santa Cruz mountains. Thankfully our home narrowly escaped demise during the fire, but we were evacuated for 6 weeks and the 45g tank was without power for over a month. The tear down of the dead reef broke my heart for the hobby for a few years and I took a long break.
When my wife and I bought our house in the woods, we shared a dream of upgrading the 45g reef to something that could be a more prominent part of our living room one day. So despite the loss in 2020, the dream of a hidden reef deep in the woods was still bouncing around in the back of my mind. I had an old second hand bow front tank tank I had intended to set up in this house, but it needed a complete tear down and re-seal. I don't know what brand it is/was, but it looked like an oceanic to me. I don't know the exact gallons, but it was sold to me as a 250g. I don't know or care if that's true, but it's about 80lx27wx30t at the fattest point of the bow. I don't think oceanic made that as a stock dimension so who knows?
Wedding, baby, remodeling projects, fire, life, fear of DIY silicone seal failure and all manner of other things pushed the un-fun tank rehab project to the back burner for almost seven years. Last year I got serious, and by the end of June, the tank was re-sealed, plumbed up and fresh water was in for leak testing. After a couple of weeks and a few minor setbacks, fresh water was out, pump was on and salt water was in... Many thanks to my wife for being patient with a big empty tank gracing our living room for so many years prior to that point.
I'll take some time to go back through old photos and events of the build out, and growth process, but I'm dubbing the tank "The Lost Reef In The Woods" in memory of the 45g and its inhabitants who were lost in the woods in 2020.
Tank Basics
I'm not great at posting stuff about myself or my hobbies, or keeping things like social media updated. I'd rather be enjoying my tank and family than on the keyboard here. And honestly, I don't expect anyone to read any of this.
That said, I'll give this a go so folks know my reef and I are real.
This tank journal is starting about 9 months after the fact. I lost a 45g reef of almost 20 years during the CZU fire in 2020. So yeah, I live in the woods in the Santa Cruz mountains. Thankfully our home narrowly escaped demise during the fire, but we were evacuated for 6 weeks and the 45g tank was without power for over a month. The tear down of the dead reef broke my heart for the hobby for a few years and I took a long break.
When my wife and I bought our house in the woods, we shared a dream of upgrading the 45g reef to something that could be a more prominent part of our living room one day. So despite the loss in 2020, the dream of a hidden reef deep in the woods was still bouncing around in the back of my mind. I had an old second hand bow front tank tank I had intended to set up in this house, but it needed a complete tear down and re-seal. I don't know what brand it is/was, but it looked like an oceanic to me. I don't know the exact gallons, but it was sold to me as a 250g. I don't know or care if that's true, but it's about 80lx27wx30t at the fattest point of the bow. I don't think oceanic made that as a stock dimension so who knows?
Wedding, baby, remodeling projects, fire, life, fear of DIY silicone seal failure and all manner of other things pushed the un-fun tank rehab project to the back burner for almost seven years. Last year I got serious, and by the end of June, the tank was re-sealed, plumbed up and fresh water was in for leak testing. After a couple of weeks and a few minor setbacks, fresh water was out, pump was on and salt water was in... Many thanks to my wife for being patient with a big empty tank gracing our living room for so many years prior to that point.
I'll take some time to go back through old photos and events of the build out, and growth process, but I'm dubbing the tank "The Lost Reef In The Woods" in memory of the 45g and its inhabitants who were lost in the woods in 2020.
Tank Basics
- 250g (?) glass bow front tank
- Custom dual overflows and returns w/ funky bean animal setup via creative in-tank plumbing between the pre-existing drilled holes (it's weird, but works great and is silent)
- Jebao DCP-20000 return pump
- Trigger Triton 44 sump (not actually running Triton method, but liked the big fuge chamber)
- Eshopps skimmer of some sort
- Redsea ReefATO+
- Redsea ReefDose
- Dual titaniam heaters and controllers (inkbird and finnex) with redundant probes
- Maxspect xf280 gyre (bought a looooong time ago and sat in the box, will likely replace with something more efficient/modern/quiet when it dies but it does move a lot of water)
- 4x Kessil a360x's (so far)
