Chessmanmark

[chessmanmark]

Where do I start?

The beginning of course! Bear with me. I will eventually get up to the present. This is a blog after all.

I have lived in NY my entire life. As a kid my parents would bring me to Jones beach/Robert Moses, so technically speaking we were close enough to the ocean that we could take a day trip, although a lengthy one.

In 1984 they took me to Bermuda and on the last day of our vacation my dad and I went aboard the boat that is in the movie "The Deep" and I had the opportunity to snorkel in the crystal clear waters of the caribbean. This was no ocean like Jones Beach. This was incredible! Was I on the same planet?

When I got home I signed up for SCUBA lessons at the local lake. This murky lake would have to suffice in order for me to get certified. I was thrilled to be able to stay under the water even if there wasn't anything to see at that time.

A few days later I stopped in the pet store at the mall and bought a book on saltwater aquaria. I didn't understand a thing. A few years later I found "The New Saltwater Aquarium Handbook." I read it cover to cover but still just couldn't make sense of what it took to set up a saltwater tank. My dad bred guppies my whole life, and I had a community tank of freshwater fishes, but saltwater was the ultimate goal, especially now that I had experienced the waters of the caribbean. I discovered that the LFS carried blue damsels and it was like looking in the jewelry counter. The brighter lights made these fish sparkle.

In 2003 my first child was born and I came across "Saltwater for Dummies" in the bookstore. I read it in two days and then started my shopping spree at Walmart. I picked up a 29 gallon tank and stand. The rest of the equipment and dry goods I purchased at PetSmart. Then I bought my first damsels at Animal Kingdom. I had a budget in my mind of $500 which I quickly ran through and beyond. That's when I got my first lesson in the bad economics of this hobby. You have to truly love it because it takes up so much time and expense.

A few months into my first SW tank I discovered the website Reeflounge.com. This find was just what I needed. Now I could "talk" to other hobbyists and really learn what it takes to have a successful tank. All the knowledge I absorbed from "Saltwater for Dummies" was outdated. For example, I went with an under gravel filter because that's what the author used. From the website I just discovered they told me it was not the best way to go. That was a rude awakening for me. I contemplated it for a few weeks and then made the decision to rip the tank apart, chuck the crushed coral, and add a refugium. I couldn't get enough of this new knowledge I was gaining from the Internet. How the world had suddenly sped up! Knowledge is power and I now had access to it!

So here is a picture of that first tank, a 29 gallon Walmart tank, with a 20 gallon PerSmart refugium, with a gravity overflow made out of PVC back in 2003.

That's about it for my first entry. Next time I will blog about my experience purchasing my 90 gallon tank. Hope you enjoy my experience through this blog.

 

[johandagentile]

good read. cant wait to hear about ut 90 gal.

 

[dc]

[moved]...

 

[chessmanmark]

In 2004 I found ReefCentral. This website was busy! It was hard to keep up. I would write a post and later that day it was three pages back.

I was contacted by someone in my area on RC. He told me that there was a reef club that met monthly. The meetings were usually on Saturdays, which created a conflict for me. I am a chess coach for elementary school students and the tournaments are also on Saturdays. I rushed home from the tournament one Saturday and just as I got to the reef club meeting everyone was leaving. The host and one other member stuck around and loaded me up with frags. I couldn't believe it! I had purchased two corals before this, green star polyps and xenia, each at $50 a piece and now I was being given corals for free! I soon became a regular at the reef club, the Hudson Valley Reef Keepers of NY - hvreef.org.

Here is a picture of the first "large" tank I got to see at my first meeting. Tom had a 90 gallon tank in his dining room filled with large softies and LPS.

 

[chessmanmark]

I had tank envy. My 29 gallon tank just wouldn't cut it anymore. Besides, my first child was born and I was spending all my time in the basement. I started shopping for a tank. I was looking for a 75 gallon, but saw a 90 gallon with a nice stand at Animal Kingdom. So much for that $500 budget. The costs were blown wide open. The debate on most of the forums at that time was metal halides vs T5, and bare bottom vs sand. I went with a Hamilton fixture 2x250 DE with 2 x 110 VHO, and I was able to get ahold of some Southdown sand, which someone had stored in their basement for a few years.
90 gallon tank with stand and canopy - 2004

I went with a Mag 9.5 return pump and a ER knockoff skimmer in the sump. I made three sections, one for a refugium. I had also discovered Melev's website at this time. The sump was set up based on information I read that he posted.

Hamilton light

And a Tunze Stream

Southdown

 

[chessmanmark]

My kids have taken over the family room and the TV. Might as well get back to this blog.

So as you can see, I needed a sump for the 90 gallon tank. I decided to use my 29 gallon Walmart tank as the sump for the 90 and I transferred all the contents of that tank into the refugium, a 20 gallon long which was now the display (in the basement) for the corals I had acquired so far. I was now running two tanks. This hobby really is an obsession.

The new tank is an All Glass Reef Ready 90 gallon tank, but it is the stand that ate up the bulk of the cost. A lot of people in my reef club make their own stands to cut down on costs, but I wanted something that looked like a good piece of furniture being it would be placed in our family room.

I bought my live rock from Liveaquaria.com. I purchased the large show pieces and I'm glad I did. I supplemented this with some large plating pieces I got when a friend took me to a wholesaler.

Here are some early pictures-

 

[chessmanmark]

A look inside the light

The skimmer was effective when it was new

 

[chessmanmark]

At this point I attended every reef club meeting that I could. I made sure to buy raffle tickets each time and also see what people were giving away. I was on the computer every day on multiple reef related websites gaining knowledge and sharing my new found successes.

Somewhere at that time, in mid 2004, I learned about planaria, flatworms. Being I took corals from everyone and anyone I had gotten flatworms. I did the research, bought some Salifert Flatworm eXit, treated my tank, and got rid of them. I learned that any incoming corals had to be treated/dipped for flatworms before placing them in my tank. The first of many lessons about pests that were to follow.

Picture of the 20 gallon tank in 2004

 

[chessmanmark]

Meanwhile the 90 gallon tank was filling up fast. I was getting in on group buys from club sponsors, places like Reefermadness.com and Yourreef.com. I was trading with fellow club members. I even bought my first coral on RC in the propagated corals section. I purchased a Tyree green sacrophyton for $100. I bought one again just last week for $15.

Picture of the 90 circa 2004-2005

Tyree toadstool

 

[chessmanmark]

The hobby was getting a lot more expensive than I had anticipated. The xenia I had bought was growing like a weed so I brought some into the LFS hoping to get at least a $30 credit. I gave a bag with three frags to the clerk and he told me he would give me $100. I couldn't believe my ears. I basically had a free pass to the fish department. I traded my xenia for whatever corals looked nice. I took any LPS that came in from the wholesaler. Here are a few pieces.
My first coral with xenia credit.

and then

and next

 

[chessmanmark]

The tanks that I got to see at my fish club were getting better and better. SOmewhere around 2005-2006 I saw my first SPS dominant tank. It was a 120 gallon room divider. It was so cool because as a room divider it was like having two tanks, on on each side. Here are some pictures of this really nice tank.

 

[chessmanmark]

I was bitten by the SPS bug. I wanted to start stocking SPS. I bought the book Ultimate Reef Aquariums by Mike Paletta and I was just blown away. The colors of the corals were incredible! None of the LFS near me carried SPS. The option I was given was to get in on a group buy from Reefermadness.com.

The deals seemed good. What I didn't know at that time was that this place was basically a clip and ship shop. You would drool over the macros they posted. The frags came in with some decent color but either died or lost the color. They stated on their website that they kept their corals under 400w MH 20K and I figured my 250 w 14K wasn't doing the job.

Then a friend of mine from the club gave me my first tank raised frags that did really well and looked good. The first two pieces I got were a purple polyp birdsnest and an ORA green birdsnest.

 

[chessmanmark]

Soon after this I started to buy LE frags. I bought a Tubs Alien Eye from a friend who got his directly from John himself.

I bought a cyphastrea decadia and a piece of Blood Red Eyes

 

[chessmanmark]

Then my reef club had a big event. Anthony Calfo came to talk about his greenhouse coral propagation business, and give a fragging demonstration. Many hobbyists and businesses donated corals and frags which were auctioned off. I bought anything that came from SPS Stoner. I picked up a montipora confusa

Here is a picture of a nice acro from Tony after it grew out a little.

I came home with some real gems from that event in 2006. The best piece that I won in the auction was a Rastafarian Watermelon Chalice. Tony had the nicest stuff that I had ever seen back then!
It was small but grew in nice.