<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8002965#post8002965 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Voltekker
Hows the LR at Reef life. ?
Hi everybody, I'm a lurker.
I haven't been in any stores in the last 14 or 15 months. When I was setting up my tanks, though, Reef Life (or at least a store called reef life over near Bass Pro) was my FAVORITE store of all.
The LR that I always picked there was aquacultured rock from Haiti (I believe). Sure, I bought pieces from everywhere to increase the biodiversity of my system, but I couldn't get enough of that stuff. I bought about 200 pounds total for my tanks and another 100 or so that I donated to a tank for a buddy's kids.
The corraline was purple, orange, and red. There were always tons of hitch-hikers on the rocks. You could NEVER tell what might end up in your tank, from urchins to nudibranchs to sponges. Sometimes, you'd even find LPS growing a couple of months later.
My favorite fish are tangs and I bought my first one there, an African named Myrtle. I bought my first hawkfish there and I always went there for snails and hermits.
The best creature I've ever had in a reef tank was purchased there (a strawberry crab that gave me years of entertainment).
Before you say I am apple polishing, Patrick didn't even like me. Mainly, he thought I was nuts for asking to buy some of the rubble and goo from the bottom of his LR tank (even offering to do the digging myself lol). So I'm not even a customer he likes and I had that kind of good dealings with him!
Anyway, just to give you some background, my name is Doug and I live in Broward County. I set up my first aquarium (75 gallon) in 2002 and, over time, it grew into one heck of a softies reef tank. I started colelcting corals and LR in early 04.
I added several tanks but, during the blackout after Wilma, I lost everything except for 5 fish. I was able to keep the tanks oxygenated but I couldn't control the temperature extremes. All of my corals and 15 different fish died over the course of two weeks.
Now, I have a 40 gallon bow front tank full of "bare" live rock where my corals were (at least the pods survived to keep my mandarin fed!), a 35 gallon "pod tank" with 2 clowns, a beautiful fish I have never identified (black "wedged" face/head and a purple body, and my first tank, which eventually became a 75 gallon "grazing tang" tank I grew Gracilaria in, The world's shyest yellow tang still lives there but the algae he grazed died off.
Let's say I was upset by the loss of everything and I've had less and less interest in the hobby. I rebuilt a Jeep. However, earlier this week, the bug bit againhard because I'm picking up a 180 gallon tank from a friend by the end of the month. I want my reef back, you know? And lots of tangs.
So that's my background. Hi everybody.
