Leemar Starphire 290
- Thread starter Kmooresf
- Start date
Enderturtle
Guest
Next time I'm just going to give apon money and have him buy the tickets for me.
This guy went home with NVR's grand prize!
This guy went home with NVR's grand prize!
Kmooresf
Supporting Member
Your coral is now spreading all over the tank. Kind of amazing all the odd spots I find it. It is such a beautiful pocillapora.
Kmooresf
Supporting Member
Thx man. I know you understand for sure. Lol!! Reef pains, ha! Wouldn't be fun if it wasn't difficult.
Kmooresf
Supporting Member
Lol! Thx Bob.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Damn Arnold, good thing you live in a small place,with all the tanks and other crap that you always win you'd practically be living in the ocean.
Kmooresf
Supporting Member
The update NO ONE WANTS TO GIVE!!! 
Hey all, it's been too long since I have posted on here, but things have been a bit.......well........CRAZY!!
So some of you know me a little bit, and might remember that I am a Paramedic. Have been for about 20 years. I have always worked on an ambulance, and LOVED it. HOWEVER.........the ultimate goal was always to be a Firefighter / Paramedic. If you know anyone that is, or has tried to become a firefighter, you will probably know that it is not too easy these days. You go and take a test with hundreds, often thousands of candidates, for maybe 20 positions. I have been testing for departments since I was 18......yada, yada.
Anyway, I FINALLY got my job as a firefighter / paramedic in August 2014!!! WOO HOO!! This required a 4 month academy........5 days / week......12-14 hour days. This was kind of brutal....physically and emotionally. It's what I have always wanted, but I had envisioned doing this in my 20's....or 30's. NOT my 40's. LOL!!
So I graduated the academy and then had to do 1 year of "probation." Basically you can be fired or "let go" for any reason during this time, and you are not gauranteed anything until you are OFF probation. The year went great, and I am happy and very proud to say that I made it off probation December 19, 2015 and am all official.
Sooooooooo, back to aquarium stuff. Needless to say, the job was, and had to be the most important thing for me over the last year and a half, so the aquarium took a backseat. I did my best to keep up, and it hung in there for quite some time without any issues. The acadamy was the worst, as I just didn't have the energy to even look at the tank, let alone keep up with water changes and testing, etc, etc.
All was well until I came home to a milky white tank one day. It was about 7pm when I got home........I had to be up at 0400 the next day for the academy and my calcium reactor had become clogged..........the PH dropped and once again the controller did NOT control (pinpoint PH controller) and the media melted and dumped into the tank. there was NOTHING I could do at that time. I started making water, I drained and took the reactor off line, I added filter socks, changed the carbon and went to bed. This was the first of several disasters that would happen over the next year.
I did my best to increase water changes, try to keep up with parameters, but essentially this tank that used to have DAILY attention / maintenance..........was now lucky to get weekly attention / maintenance. The corals had a slow and painful demise. I lost massive colonies of SPS that I had been growing for years. I tried desperately to figure out how to stabalize the situation, but so many things had gone wrong, over and over.
My heaters went out, I had powerheads getting jammed, one of my primary pumps was jammed.....it fed the GFO and carbon reactor. I have no idea how long that was out for. My refugium lights went out.....the list just keeps going and going. All of this would have been avoided with my normal daily check of the system, but nothing in my life has been "normal" over the last year. It got to the point that I was just depressed to even think about the tank.
To make matters MUCH WORSE........A few months into the academy, I was contacted by Len at Advanced aquarist magazine to feature my tank. He had seen the last video I did and was interested. This is an absolute DREAM of mine, and it was heartbraking to have to tell him that the tank was not doing well. I tried to get it back to health and just get some new growth so it would be photo worthy, but it wasn't happening.
Ultimately, about 3 months ago I finally got in the tank and tore out all the dead / dying corals. It was such a brutal day. Almost 4 years of work just cut out in a day.
Here are some shots of the slow demise......
And the aftermath........
These were just the ones that came out nicely. I had buckets of sticks and pieces.
Oddly, I had a few SPS that remained, and even thrived during the year. The LPS were also quite happy, and looking great. Softies were fine, and most of my chalice coral looked fantastic. So, I moved stuff around, so it didn't look so devastating. As I was doing this, I decided I wanted to open up some more space, and removed about 80-100lbs of Rock from the display. Then I moved some of my larger pieces around to change up the look of the tank. This actually came out nice, and created a nice flow that the fish seemed super stoked about, especially my 4 large tangs. They were not too upset that all that branchy coral was now gone, and they had a super speedway through the tank. My LPS, Softies and remaining SPS were much more visable and up front, and once again, I have fallen in love with my tank.
The recovery..........Sorry, just iphone pics last week. Hoping to get a new video and high res pics soon.
I have all my parameters in line, and am pretty much back to my regular maintenance schedule. It's not possible to be on it daily, as I work 24 hour shifts now, and often do 2 or 3 days in a row. So I am still worried about possible disasters, but at the moment, things are looking great. I have tons of new growth, and the SPS has colored back up again.
Huge thank you to Alfred "Neuro." We have exchanged many corals over the years, and he had most of the corals that I had lost and gave me lots of frags to get me back on track. Even got some new ones. That is what these clubs are really about, and I really appreciate it. Thanks Alfred!
So, sorry for the lack of updates, I will try to get back on track again. I am actually very excited about the new look of the tank. It seems promising, and I can't dwell on the past. There are some really cool angles that I can't get with just an iPhone, so hopefully I can get some good shots up soon. Thanks.
Hey all, it's been too long since I have posted on here, but things have been a bit.......well........CRAZY!!
So some of you know me a little bit, and might remember that I am a Paramedic. Have been for about 20 years. I have always worked on an ambulance, and LOVED it. HOWEVER.........the ultimate goal was always to be a Firefighter / Paramedic. If you know anyone that is, or has tried to become a firefighter, you will probably know that it is not too easy these days. You go and take a test with hundreds, often thousands of candidates, for maybe 20 positions. I have been testing for departments since I was 18......yada, yada.
Anyway, I FINALLY got my job as a firefighter / paramedic in August 2014!!! WOO HOO!! This required a 4 month academy........5 days / week......12-14 hour days. This was kind of brutal....physically and emotionally. It's what I have always wanted, but I had envisioned doing this in my 20's....or 30's. NOT my 40's. LOL!!
So I graduated the academy and then had to do 1 year of "probation." Basically you can be fired or "let go" for any reason during this time, and you are not gauranteed anything until you are OFF probation. The year went great, and I am happy and very proud to say that I made it off probation December 19, 2015 and am all official.
Sooooooooo, back to aquarium stuff. Needless to say, the job was, and had to be the most important thing for me over the last year and a half, so the aquarium took a backseat. I did my best to keep up, and it hung in there for quite some time without any issues. The acadamy was the worst, as I just didn't have the energy to even look at the tank, let alone keep up with water changes and testing, etc, etc.
All was well until I came home to a milky white tank one day. It was about 7pm when I got home........I had to be up at 0400 the next day for the academy and my calcium reactor had become clogged..........the PH dropped and once again the controller did NOT control (pinpoint PH controller) and the media melted and dumped into the tank. there was NOTHING I could do at that time. I started making water, I drained and took the reactor off line, I added filter socks, changed the carbon and went to bed. This was the first of several disasters that would happen over the next year.
I did my best to increase water changes, try to keep up with parameters, but essentially this tank that used to have DAILY attention / maintenance..........was now lucky to get weekly attention / maintenance. The corals had a slow and painful demise. I lost massive colonies of SPS that I had been growing for years. I tried desperately to figure out how to stabalize the situation, but so many things had gone wrong, over and over.
My heaters went out, I had powerheads getting jammed, one of my primary pumps was jammed.....it fed the GFO and carbon reactor. I have no idea how long that was out for. My refugium lights went out.....the list just keeps going and going. All of this would have been avoided with my normal daily check of the system, but nothing in my life has been "normal" over the last year. It got to the point that I was just depressed to even think about the tank.
To make matters MUCH WORSE........A few months into the academy, I was contacted by Len at Advanced aquarist magazine to feature my tank. He had seen the last video I did and was interested. This is an absolute DREAM of mine, and it was heartbraking to have to tell him that the tank was not doing well. I tried to get it back to health and just get some new growth so it would be photo worthy, but it wasn't happening.
Ultimately, about 3 months ago I finally got in the tank and tore out all the dead / dying corals. It was such a brutal day. Almost 4 years of work just cut out in a day.
Here are some shots of the slow demise......
And the aftermath........
These were just the ones that came out nicely. I had buckets of sticks and pieces.
Oddly, I had a few SPS that remained, and even thrived during the year. The LPS were also quite happy, and looking great. Softies were fine, and most of my chalice coral looked fantastic. So, I moved stuff around, so it didn't look so devastating. As I was doing this, I decided I wanted to open up some more space, and removed about 80-100lbs of Rock from the display. Then I moved some of my larger pieces around to change up the look of the tank. This actually came out nice, and created a nice flow that the fish seemed super stoked about, especially my 4 large tangs. They were not too upset that all that branchy coral was now gone, and they had a super speedway through the tank. My LPS, Softies and remaining SPS were much more visable and up front, and once again, I have fallen in love with my tank.
The recovery..........Sorry, just iphone pics last week. Hoping to get a new video and high res pics soon.
I have all my parameters in line, and am pretty much back to my regular maintenance schedule. It's not possible to be on it daily, as I work 24 hour shifts now, and often do 2 or 3 days in a row. So I am still worried about possible disasters, but at the moment, things are looking great. I have tons of new growth, and the SPS has colored back up again.
Huge thank you to Alfred "Neuro." We have exchanged many corals over the years, and he had most of the corals that I had lost and gave me lots of frags to get me back on track. Even got some new ones. That is what these clubs are really about, and I really appreciate it. Thanks Alfred!
So, sorry for the lack of updates, I will try to get back on track again. I am actually very excited about the new look of the tank. It seems promising, and I can't dwell on the past. There are some really cool angles that I can't get with just an iPhone, so hopefully I can get some good shots up soon. Thanks.
Enderturtle
Guest
Kris and anyone else reading.
I am interested in large dead acropora skeletons. I want to spray paint them for decorations. Let me know if you have any you dont want.
Sorry about the coral deaths! Glad to hear things are looking better.
I am interested in large dead acropora skeletons. I want to spray paint them for decorations. Let me know if you have any you dont want.
Sorry about the coral deaths! Glad to hear things are looking better.
Kensington Reefer
Supporting Member
K-man
I too have interest in you coral corpses
My congratulations on such a large corpse
Holler when you get a chance
From the pics...your tank is BANGIN!
I too have interest in you coral corpses
My congratulations on such a large corpse
Holler when you get a chance
From the pics...your tank is BANGIN!
Kmooresf
Supporting Member
They are actually pretty cool......although a sad reminder.
Actually my partner Ron wants to mount them to wood for an artsy kind of thing. I'll see how serious he is about it, and if I can give some up, I'll let you know. Thx.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Kmooresf
Supporting Member
LOL! I had no idea they would be so popular. Ha! Same as above, let me talk to Ron.
Looks like we could benefit from a Berkeley run anyway. I'll be in touch.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Kmooresf
Supporting Member
Thanks Jim. I'm at Station 21, near Haight / Ashbury. It's a great spot, and I am very fortunate. Armando is on the other side of town, near the ballpark.
Appreciate it, I surely hope to get this back to what it was, or something just as cool / beautiful.
Workin on it. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Kmooresf
Supporting Member
I feel your pain. My monsters are now part of the rockwork, but when some of the small ones get bigger, maybe I'll be able to frag them and send some your way.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Kmooresf
Supporting Member
Thank you. I was lucky to have so much survive. It made me appreciate those corals a bit more.
One funny thing I noticed, is that most of the remaining SPS are pieces I picked up from members over the years.
The pocillipora from Arnold (apron) is still kicking butt in several places.
The red tabling acro in the center of the tank (pinkish/purple with a nice green base now) is from Mike (coralreefer).
The dark blue piece above the acans was from Jon (Jar).
I lost most of my torte's, but the "myagi" torte I got from someone on here a few years ago is doing better than ever.
Large, blue tipped stag I got from Dan (Tr1gger).
I still have a small living piece of green slimer from Alfred (neuro).
It just struck me as kind of cool that those were the survivors. This is a cool club, with a lot of talented reefers. Thanks to all.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk