New Guy. Victoria, B.C.

[Johnny Reefer]

Well I can't sleep 'cuz I'm so PO'ed from my first post attempt not taking, so let's try again.

Hello out there...
A new guy from Victoria, B.C. here. Also new to the internet forum thing, of any nature, so please bear with me as I stumble along.
A few of you I have met already as my LFS of choice is Safari Pets, Victoria and I met you there. (Read on to find out who!!! Oooo the suspense!)

Kept a 60 gal. FW tank as a teenager in that 70's decade. (Also tried SW, very briefly, in a 20 gal. tank). Started partying. Graduated HS. Partied some more. Lost interest in aquariums. Sold tanks. Partied.
Worked various jobs until finding work with current employer in '84. My job is relevant because it takes me away from home on a 4 week rotation. (Gone for 4 weeks, then 4 weeks off.) I had regained interest in aquariums, from time to time, but had always assumed that what with going away all the time that it was not possible. (No "significant other" to tend to things while away. The tank would be on its own for 4 weeks.)

Then, in '94 I thought, "heck!, they got autofeeders available now. Why don't I give it a shot?" So I went out and bought a 90 gal. and set it up for SA Cichlids. It was an expensive gamble, but I figured if it didn't work it wouldn't be the end of the world and I could always resell everything. My only concerns, really, were feeding and evaporation. The feeding didn't go so good the first time away. I used flake food and the autofeeder was a cheapo Penn-Plax thing. It had basically jammed and it looked like it had done so very shortly after I had left. (All the fish lived but they were pretty thin!) As for the evaporation...not a problem. After 4 weeks, evaporation amounts to about 3" water loss at the most. The filters I had bought I made sure had nice long lift tubes that would extend well into the tank. So it was just a matter of solving the feeding issue. I bought two new autofeeders. A Hagen Nutramatic and a cool Japanese autofeeder, that I found at Main Aquaria in Vancouver, that still works like a charm. The next time I went with pellet food and I did a substantial test run also, before going away again. When I came back home the second time everthing looked fine. The feeders were empty. The filters were still running. And the fish were happy. So, I figured , "Hey. This is gonna work".

So I've been back in the hobby for 11 years now with nary a major problem, (touch wood), and have actually expanded to 5 tanks total. 2 x 135 gal. tanks; 90 gal. Discus tank; 70 gal. African Cichlids tank; and a 45 gal. tank. I know. That's alot of tanks.
But in those 11 years I've kept only FW and never even considered SW based on the assumption that the evaporation occuring while I'm away at work would be enough to adversely affect the specific gravity of the SW.
Then, last November, I met Rob, at Safari Pets, and we got to talkin' about what all we both had runnin'. (I think he said he has 7 tanks so he's got me beat there.) I told him that I had 5 tanks but that they were all FW and I had concerns with SW because of the evaporation and potential SG fluctuations. To that he said...well maybe keeping a reef tank wouldn't be possible, but a fish only tank was probable because most SW fish are quite tolerable of a fairly wide range of changes in SG. Really? You mean I can get into Marine? Well that was all I needed to hear, daddio!!! The gears started turnin' then!!! I bought "The New Marine Aquarium" by Michael Palletta and started reading up on it and planning it. I wasn't going to buy a new tank, but rather, I was going to convert one of the 135's. But still, it was going to cost a fortune and I needed to wait for a collective bargaining agreement retro paycheque to help make this a reality. (Those kind of cheques come only about once every 4 years so it was relatively good timing in that respect).

So, in the meantime, I read up on it, planned it, and talked to Japarto at Safari Pets about it. Japarto suggested that I could probably even get involved in some reefkeeping aspects such as some easy soft corals and maybe even some LPS's. Really? Ya think so? Well by this time, I can hardly wait...but wait I do and the $$$ finally comes in late January. So I did the conversion in the first week of February. (I actually had holidays during this time, too, so I had longer than 4 weeks to play with it. Everything just kinda fell into place nicely.)

Since I got it up and running I have basically been following Japarto's advice, the key of which is PATIENCE! Attention Safari Pets patrons!!! Listen to this man when he offers you advice!!! He pretty much knows what he's doing, IMHO. In the 4 months that my reef tank has been running everything has been going smoothly. I started out with a measly 34 lbs. of Live Rock and 6 Green Chromis. The ammonia, nitrite and nitrates never spiked because just that 34 lbs of Live Rock was enough to provide all the nitrates the tank needed at that time. The tank had basically cycled immediately! Slowly, over the next two months, I added more live rock. The final batch was 57 lbs of which I scored from Brad (aka Reef_Raf?) in late March whom I had just met by chance at Safari Pets. Great rock, Brad, if your reading this. Thanx so much. Lots of stuff on it and quite a few sponges popping up. It had Aiptasia (I think) but hey, that was good cuz I got to learn about Aiptasia and Joe's Juice and how to deal with it. That Joe's Juice is great. Also got some Peppermints later to keep it in check.

So the Live Rock was complete and the Green Chromis were down to 5 as one had died in mid February. Ya, I got brown algae. But it went away, just like any new tank. Ya, I got ugly filamentous green algae also. But it went away too. Just like Japarto said it would. Because all I had in there was the Live Rock and 5 Chromis. A low bio-load to start off with! Even what I thought might have been a small bit of Cyano vanished. I cringe at the thought of the way things might have gone had it not been for Japarto's advice.

Anyhoo, come April and it was time for me to go to away to work. So this would be interesting. I was very much anticipating how much the evaporation would change the SG. This was still a very big in my own mind. After 4 weeks away the evaporation amounted to 13% and that changed the SG a mere 0.0015. (1.022 to 1.0235). This was very good news. I was expecting more. Like 0.004. I had wanted to get the SG down to 1.020 before leaving so that it would not go above 1.024 on return home.

So now, in May here, I have been having a blast getting some new fish and corals and mobile inverts and generally getting the tank slowly on its way to a wonderful new addition to my aquarium hobby. Marine is so much more interesting than FW and I am very much looking forward to future discussions through this forum to learn more.

I just want to say thanx to Rob, if your reading this. Without your suggestion that it is possible (re: around the work sched), well I simply wouldn't have done it! Hallelujah! I am converted!! I have seen the promised land, er sea, er whatever! Sorry, bad joke.

Anyhoo, I don't have a digital camera, yet, (next month), so no pics, but I can tell you...
135 gal. tank. 6L x 2H x 1 1/2W
185 lbs. Live Rock. (128 Bali; 57 Fiji)
120 lbs sugar Aragonite.
40 lbs. coarse Aragonite.
1-SeaStar lightstrip. (4x30W PowerGlo's)
1-Coralife Lunar Aqualight. (2x96W whites; 2x96W actinics; 6x3/4W
lunars)
2-Fluval 403 canister filters. (Yes, the old ones!)
1-Prizm Pro Deluxe skimmer.
1-Rainbow Lifegard 600 Fluidized Bed.
4-MaxiJet 1200 powerheads.
2-200W Rena heaters.
No sump. No R/O. No D/I. No Ca reactor. No 'fuge.
Fish:
5-Green Chromis.
1-Yellow Tang.
1-Powder Blue Surgeonfish.
1-Flame Angel. (In quarantine)
2-Ocellaris Clowns. (In quarantine)
1-Lawnmower Blenny. (In quarantine)
Mobile Inverts:
4?-Peppermint Shrimp. (L. wurdemanni)
1-Cleaner Shrimp. (L. amboinensis)
1-Boxing Shrimp. (S. hispidus)
2-Sand Sifting Starfish. (Archaster typicus)
6-Blue Legged Hermit Crabs.
2-Conch.
1-Blue Tuxedo Urchin.
1-Cowrie.
Sessile Inverts:
1-Featherduster.
3-Zoanthids. (1 Yellow Polyp Zoo)
2-Hairy Mushrooms.
1-Open Brain.
1-Lobed Brain.
1-Branching Hammer.
1-Bubble.
1-Green Star Polyp.

Cheers.

[Rikko]

Welcome! (No [welcome] tag? )

Sounds like you've got everything pretty under control! If you're looking for more corals, I'd really recommend more green Euphyllia corals (You have a hammer already, but the torch and frogspawn look awesome in green) - they're pretty forgiving of water conditions and look great.
If you want a few titles of great reference books let me know - I've made a point to collect all the books that get good reviews and read them.. Some of the "fatter" books are about as cutting edge as they come, and when you just want to know stuff without knowing that you wanted to know it (still with me?) they'll beat the 'net any time.

Good luck with your tank!

[bluetang]

Welcome to the board

I'd be PO'd too if I had to re type that book you wrote above

Rob

[Johnny Reefer]

Thanx for the welcome.

I've already been continuing the reading with "Aquarium Corals" by Borneman; "Natural Reef Aquariums" by Tullock; and am currently reading "Reef Invertebrates" by Calfo & Fenner. I've also got "Marine Fishes Pocket Expert" by Michael and Baensch Marine Atlases Vol. 1-3, although the latter was a waste of money IMO. You have to be a scientist to understand alot of what they say and also they are incomplete in regards to specimen reference. Where are all the fish!
Other titles I plan on getting in the future are Calfo & Fenner's Vol. 2 Reef Fishes and Vol. 3 Cnidarians.
Any other books you can recommend would be greatly appreciated.
What about Delbeek & Sprung's books? Are you familiar with those? Any good?
I hear ya about books versus 'net. Being middle aged, (I guess), I'm somewhat technologically challenged. Plus, I'd just rather have something in my hands that I can flip thru. With the net if you don't print it it's kinda like..."where did I see that again?" sometimes.
Thanx for the coral suggestions. I'll research those.
BTW...I grew up in North Van. (Lynn Valley).
Cheers.

[IslandReefer]

Welcome Johnny,
Sounds like you need a float valve and a 4 weeks worth RO tank
Good reefing!

[Ken]

Welcome Mark. I read the whole story with great interest. This is the second long story to come out of Victoria, are there anymore? I just recently, actually last week put away the christmas decoration in the crawlspace. I came upon a saltwater book still in good shape dated 1965. Imagine me in the crawlspace with a flashlight skimming through a 1965 saltwater book with black and white pictures drawing of fish. A far cry from suggesting use of a air pump and airstone to todays standard. Regards Ken

[aquariumgirl]

Welcome to CanReef!! I'm glad reefing is working out for you. I also just recently started a reef tank (this being my first SW aquarium). Look forward to seeing pictures and updates of your 135!

AG

[Scavenger]

Hi Johnny and welcome. But damn now you have me designing a DIY frozen food feeder. God, could I be more lazy??

[Chaloupa]

Hey! Good to meet you...I am also new at this but have help from a really good SW couple here in Campbell River; Ken and Linny...K if anyone wants to see a tank....whooooo their's is to die for...500 gallons of bliss! And the help they give you is absolutely AMAZING! Their stock is fantastic and they are just plain nice people. I have also gotten advice from Japarto who is also absolutely fantastic...and even checks up on your tank from time to time if he hasn't heard from you and knows the troubles you have had. ( and boy have we had troubles! ) Just tough with him so far away! So any newbies closer to C.R. this is a couple to meet! And I as well have learned from Japarto, Ken and Linny that PATIENCE is absolutely, positively the key to the hobby.

[Doug]

Hi Mark;

Welcome to Canreef

Sounds like you need some form of auto top-off. Better yet, someone to watch over your tank while your away.

Heck, some of are afraid to go away for a weekend.