Softies to SPS (My Journey)

Mock

Mock

Saltwater Junkie
I have been bitten...

I have been bitten by this angry little bug that makes you tear down perfectly good tanks and turn them into other worldly creations.

When I first started with this hobby I was fascinated by everything. I got hooked when I started college and got a job working for a LFS. I had never kept a fish alive for longer than it took me to get it home and clean it so that I could eat it. Man did this job change my life.

Forty breeders, Thirty longs, Fifty Fives and Seventy Fives, I had them all. But, there was always this one area that I didnt touch. Sadly most of my tanks would kill this little three letter word before I could even purchase one. Money was tight as a student. Then I grew up.

I was out of the hobby for 4 years after school. Apartment here and apartment there, no fish allowed signs everywhere. Then I moved into my current house. It all went down hill from there. I started with this tank:

IMG_2373.jpg


I outgrew it fast... But.. Still that little bug hadnt surfaced... I swore that I would never have a tank that I had to stand on top of and test every day and do water changes on all the time....

Then this happend:

IMG_2477.jpg


This tank started off so well.. It was going to be my SPS tank. I thought I had been bitten by the bug but found out, as in my past experiences, I was not worthy...

Then the winter past gave me time to think. I planned it all... I took every step I knew... Put it all together in a nice little proposal and handed it to the wife. She took the bait...

And so it began:

Wall.jpg


It shall go here!

Time passed and the build started. I took down all my other tanks, moved them all to the larger aquaworld in the garage and then... My leathers stopped growing. :headwally:

I just knew something was going on so I enabled help of my buddies from the local club and we all came to the conclusion that my water was just too clean... The toadstool wouldnt hardly open, Finger leathers would just sit there and the devils hands and such would be a mear lump. But this happend.

This:
IMAG0093-1.jpg


Went to this:
IMAG0419-1.jpg


In about three months time.. Now... I had been bitten. I started posting sale items. Leathers for half price, the whole lets make a deal thing. I suddenly had turned this:

IMAG0428.jpg


Into this:

IMG_5024.jpg


Here is to a new year. An all SPS 2012 we shall have..
 
Nice setup. Have any equipment pics?? Good luck on you sps journey and well come to the addiction that is SPS.
 
Very nice. I cant wait until I move into a larger house so I can build a fish room with a large display tank.
 
Haha, I know the feeling all too well!! There are dips, interceptors, etc for all parasites ON sps, but .... I have yet to find one for the "sps bug' that has bit, and stayed with me for some time now. Great set-up and start, and good luck on your journey!! I hope to see some photos and updates , new ideas and findings. By the way, perhaps I am ignorant to the apartment regulations, but.... is it that frowned upon to have an aquarium in aptments in your area ? ( I can understand if they frowned on anything 100 gallons or more, but.... )
 
your hooked now....no going back.

Dont worry it's the natural progression..... nice system by the way.

Keep us updated on your progress.
 
defchild84 said:
Haha, I know the feeling all too well!! There are dips, interceptors, etc for all parasites ON sps, but .... I have yet to find one for the "sps bug' that has bit, and stayed with me for some time now. Great set-up and start, and good luck on your journey!! I hope to see some photos and updates , new ideas and findings. By the way, perhaps I am ignorant to the apartment regulations, but.... is it that frowned upon to have an aquarium in aptments in your area ? ( I can understand if they frowned on anything 100 gallons or more, but.... )
Click to expand...


lol... I am glad I have a place where I can share with people that know the feeling.

As far as the apartment thing. My first place didn't mind me keeping tanks and I had a few under the first landlord that was over the place. I had a small 30 long that I had set up. They didnt mind it but wouldn't let me have anything else once they discovered it.

Later I took a job across town and had to move to a different place. It was a no tolerance policy there. No animals or fish or rats or snakes or anything...

Some places let you have them but most see them as a flood problem if its anything more than a 10 gallon.
 
SPS doesn't really require that much testing. Once you get everything stable and dialed in, a lot of folks don't have to test that often. Congrats on the change, SPS is rewarding and addictive
 
I really have gotten a routine down now days and it doesn't seem that bad at all... I get home about an hour before the wife does so while the kids are doing their home work I get enough time to play. I am getting the Hanna Alk, Calc, and Phos, testers next month. I will also be getting two of the dosing pumps to keep up with dosing so that I don't have to stand over it every day. I am excited to watch this grow and to start collecting.
 
I just wanted to update this thread a little, My tank has changed a LOT since the last photo almost 10 months ago... (has it really been that long?)

IMG_5732.jpg
 
HHIreefer843 said:
Looks amazing!!! I love to see you still have the sohal and is looking good!!!
Click to expand...



Him and the purple have been running around with me for the better part of two and a half years now.... Wife will not dare part with him. That is HER fish and she will tell anyone that walks in the house... LOL
 
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