Just Saying Hi. A little about me

Hello all and thank you for the forum.

My actual involvement in saltwater aquariums stretch back to 1975, when I was given one of the Metal Frame, 10 gallon aquariums and set it up as a tropical, fresh water tank. Then a new LFS opened up not too far from my house, so I went in to talk to them. Well, I ended up getting store credit for the fresh, tropical fish I had in the tank and I went form there. I decided to give saltwater fish keeping a try. Needless to say the home saltwater aquarium hobby was VERY new and there were only a few booklets and maybe a few actual books on the subject.

I followed what directions there were to get the tank going. I started out with about 2 days of cycle time, just long enough to get the cloud out fo the water and then went shopping. My first buys were a clown fish, and anemone, a couple of Damsels, and we were off on a new adventure. About 3 weeks later I got adventurous and added a Volitan Lionfish, I think all went well for about 2 years and then a divorce allowed me to return home to California. I think I was without a saltwater aquarium for about 18 months. Well from there I have had times I got out of the hobby for one reason or another.

About 3 and 1/2 years ago I found a nice 92 gallon, Bow front setup on Craigslist and I was getting back into the hobby. Everything was going great. I had everything from Zoanthids to SPS corals and some of everything in between. I had a Flame Angle, Yellow Tang, Clowns, and others that I can't recall at this time. All were doing good and healthy and growing. Then in March of 2011 I complained to my Dr. about a strange headache I had, and after many tests they found that I had had a mild stroke and then a month later I had a mild heart attack. During the recuperating time I pretty much let the bow front go and lost everything except 2 clowns, a few snails and found that the micro bristle stars had multiplied worse than rabbits.

Two months ago I decided to try and bring back the tank, only it's a lot slower process this time around. Being disabled and can't over stress myself, I have to take it slow. The first thing I did was clean out the sump and add some new live rock and cleaned up the DT the best I could. I replaced the lighting with a fixture I bought off eBay. It is a 48" 324 Watt T5HO Hood LCD Timer Coral Reef 6 x 54 watt 10,000K Fluorescent and Actinic and LED moon lights. After this I have had an outbreak of green hair algae and now I'm working on getting rid of that problem. Water changes and PhosGuard in my ViaAqua PR 20/20 reactor.

While I'm getting things going again, I have become interested in propagating marine fish. Seems like everyone does some form of coral so I'd rather do some fish and if I can get to the point where I can afford some of the more exotic fish that would be even better.

So, there you have it, my involvement in the world of marine keeping.

 

Welcome to 3reef.

Your previous years in the hobby are an asset.

I think the hobby can be very therapeutic for most any condition be it physical or mental, excellent that you are getting it going again, I find it very motivating, congrats.

Look forward to your contributions.

Cheryl

 

Thank you for the warm welcome Cheryl. I'll contribute what and when I can. This is a hobby that everyone can learn something new, just about, every day.