maxxII said:
Wow...sorry to hear about your troubles man....Its kinda creepy how similar our situations are.
I havent had the medical issues you've been dealing with, but...for the last couple of months, my tank has looked like crap.
Things have been going downhill, tissues receding, etc...
I was getting very discouraged. Then my fiance and I bought a house. During the tank move, a heater malfunctioned and some of my best pieces were fried. I've been slowly getting things back together, but its been rough.
All I can say is keep your chin up. Like Melev said, "We're rooting for you."
What really keeps me in the hobby is knowing that I can bounce back from this. I've got things that would be difficult at best to replace. And I know that eventually, I'd be getting back into the hobby again. And its cheaper to keep my stuff going than to try and replace it all later when I decide to come back.
Its kinda pollyanna-esque, but the bad times of this hobby make you really appreciate the good ones more and make me more satisfied with my little slice of the reef.
Nick
Sorry you are having such a bad run too, I know we all face trials in this hobby. It wouldnt be a challenge if there werent.
Good luck with getting all your stuff back in order as well.
I kind of agree with Melev. If things were working well for you before a certain way AND if you are having problems trying it a different way ... then the best and most obvious solution may be to put it back the way it was working before. Unless you really, really want to try and learn/experiment with this different technique.
It been VERY tempting to go back to a DSB, the only thing that is really stopping me is water flow. I have gotten used to a high flow in the tank, and I think it would just make a headach even worse at the moment to try and keep sandstorms under controll on top of everything else.
I have been considering that IF I do go back to a DSB, or even a SSB I might go with a larger grain size to help cut down on the sandstorm problem. But then there is the functioning issue. If you get too big of a grain size, then you are defeating the purpose of a DSB in the first place. So that leaves me at the moment considering the lesser of two evils.
On a side not, I was staring at a picture of my old 75 gallon just before I broke it down for some time tonight. Just about brought a tear to my eye.
I will not let a reef tank get the best of me, I mastered ( use that word loosely )

one for 4 years and I will get this one under control.
By the way, the ASM is still running, but there is a huge micro bubble problem. They are not leaking from anything, they are coming from the water outlet that adjusts the water height. This is something new, I am not sure what the problem is, but at least I have it running without stopping again. The impeller would just stop for no reason like it was jammed, but there was nothing in there. I would have to manually turn it to get it spinning again. I am not too sure that sedra pumps are all that great, same with the Seio's at this point.
I will keep you all updated as to what happens from here.
Thanks for sticking with me everyone, its a good feeling to know some of you care enough to give me some much needed support through this.
Chris