Back in action after 15 years

[Riffraffreef]

I was heavily involved in the early days of home reefing back in the early 90s while living in west-central Florida. 10 or 15 years ago I gave up all my gear to a good friend and took a job in Chicago. I am now in St. Louis and went to the LFS a couple months ago and walked out with a clearance sale 30g all-glass half-moon tank. Since then I picked up an 8g Nuvo AIO (awesome) and a classic standard 55g to setup as a frag tank. The 30 and the 8 will be mixed reefs. I also picked up a 6ft long acrylic cube display with 7 or 8 one gallon cubes to be used for bonded pairs of clowns, shrimp, and freshwater conversions. I will use this RC blog to keep track of progress (or lack there of) on different projects as well as tips and DIY gadgetry from the old and new school of reefing. I hope I can give back a fraction of what I have learned here over the years of reading these forums. Pics and vids to come.
:beer:

 

[Riffraffreef]

more sun...

more sun...

Some sun corals we put in the Nuvo 8g

 

[Riffraffreef]

 

[dc]

Moved you out of the blog area, those are automatic blogs.

Congratulations on the comeback.

 

[Riffraffreef]

Moved you out of the blog area, those are automatic blogs.

Congratulations on the comeback.

Thanks Deb:beer:

 

[cr2jones]

Hello, Riffrafreef.

I am doing the excat same comeback. i am in the process of gathering new equipment. Good luck and I am subscribed.

 

[JohnniG]

Nice suncorals

 

[Riffraffreef]

Hello, Riffrafreef.

I am doing the excat same comeback. i am in the process of gathering new equipment. Good luck and I am subscribed.

Thanks and good luck to you too.

It's really wild to see how the hobby and the aquaculture industry itself has evolved. We now have a whole new selection of absolutely rediculous products and services. I remember when a small wet/dry sump with a rotating spraybar, 2 gal of Bio-balls and a roll of blue/white poly was $1,500, and I went up to the LFS everyday to stare at it...We handmade everything, we had to, everything was so expensive. We even made the protien skimmers. I was so into it back then, I built a gigantic Protien Skimmer for my swimmimg pool. It foamed so much, the nieghbors called hazmat because huge foam tumbleweeds were floating around the nieghborhood. I also realized that all my chlorine was removed by the skimming process! I then went into the chlorine free swimming pool industry and invented some nice copper/silver ionizers and used them in conjuction with ozone just so I could use gigantic protien skimmers on swimming pools....my god man, this hobby will drive you to insanity! and its great to back!:headwalls:

 

[Riffraffreef]

My First all PVC HOB Overflow System on new 55 frag tank

My First all PVC HOB Overflow System on new 55 frag tank

Nice suncorals

Thank you Johnny, more to come.


Setting up the 55 frag tank tonight. First time I am going to use an all PVC HOB overflow as I cant drill this new 55. Should be flood proof, silent, stealth, high flow, fully adjustable flow and water level, no-break siphon, scalable for more flow or multiple systems...It's a frankenstien made up of methods used by all those guys who dominate the DIY Silent Overflows....herbie, hobs and durso...you know those guys...
I will post pics, cost and results...

 

[msaba]

Welcome back! I also have just gotten back into reefing after being in 'heavy' in the 90's, it is truly remarkable the improvement in lighting and equipment in general since then. The evolution of the 'frags' and cultured corals as well. WIll be wathcing your thread with much interest

 

[Riffraffreef]

Update: Rods Onyx Breeding/Spawning Pair Aquired

Update: Rods Onyx Breeding/Spawning Pair Aquired

Yesterday we took a ride to a new LFS we had been wanting to visit for over a year. I am not sure if I am allowed to mention the name, so PM me if you need info. The store clerk showed us a pair of Rods Onyx Clowns he aquired from his wholesale source breeder. The breeder was a woman who claims to work for Rods Foods and breeds fish as a sideline using Rods premium broodstock. The pair he had in the store are supposedly from a spawning of Mamma and Pappa Onyx, one of Rods most notable breeding pairs over the years. I am requesting some written documentation or at least some contact info so I can start to confirm this if possible. After observing the pair for an hour and requesting a feeding, we decided to take the pair home for the $150.00 asking price. The pair spent the nite in a pre-quarantine hold while we refined the salinity and temp of the empty, cycled, 75 gal. spawning system. I will post photos and specifications of the system and the new pair ASAP. Any comments regarding the Rods Onyx Line is welcome.