janson
New member
11 years ago I was 4 years deep into a 75 gallon mixed reef tank. I was finishing my second round of college and switching careers from journeyman electrician > automation which has, now, finally landed at software engineering position at ALC. (AutomatedLogic Corp). 11 years ago - I was on day zero of adding the water to my newly formed 160g build that was in-wall, and thousands of dollars dumped into when - my wife of 12 years said she wanted a divorce. Well, that was a sad day on many fronts.
2022 - I have remarried and about 6 months ago started thinking about saltwater tanks again. After all, I have a storage unit full of old equipment - some that has never seen water! I went, looked over all the old tanks, etc. and decided to just drop the cash and get the xxl. This thing is beautiful and I can not wait to get it running. In the pictures below you will see an empty tank ready to go. All of my older pumps that were new 11 years ago (and never used) are external pumps - the xxl is setup to be submersible - and wow - looking at the new tech vs 11 years ago is amazing - DC pumps, LED lighting, etc.! Seems to be a great time to "start over". Funny, 11 years ago, in college, I was attempting to build an led fixture - wanted nothing more than to create, try, use, etc. There were a lot of people saying it can't happen - no way. I didn't give up and i was looking back at some old posts - one guy said "don't let the naysayers get you down - I believe someday we will all be using led lighting..." That made me smile because he was right - and in a way - so was I. Only thing i was "wrong" about was the led's i was trying to use! But oh, well, guess i missed that opportunity to 'make' the DIY led light of the future....haha.....
I will be updating this as I move along. I am in no real rush, and I have plenty of time. I am reusing my old "live" rock - I had roughly 150lbs - I have since broken it all down and re-glued it the way I want to see it (in pic) and will be ordering another 150-250lbs for the other 2 'slots' to fill in the tank.
If any of you have any dry rock curing tips - I'd love to hear them. My thinking is run the tank with no lights for x time and.......haven't really settled in on 'what' to do there - again - time is of no issue. I will likely have water in this tank in the next 2-3 weeks as I have some work projects that have me tied up for next 2.
2022 - I have remarried and about 6 months ago started thinking about saltwater tanks again. After all, I have a storage unit full of old equipment - some that has never seen water! I went, looked over all the old tanks, etc. and decided to just drop the cash and get the xxl. This thing is beautiful and I can not wait to get it running. In the pictures below you will see an empty tank ready to go. All of my older pumps that were new 11 years ago (and never used) are external pumps - the xxl is setup to be submersible - and wow - looking at the new tech vs 11 years ago is amazing - DC pumps, LED lighting, etc.! Seems to be a great time to "start over". Funny, 11 years ago, in college, I was attempting to build an led fixture - wanted nothing more than to create, try, use, etc. There were a lot of people saying it can't happen - no way. I didn't give up and i was looking back at some old posts - one guy said "don't let the naysayers get you down - I believe someday we will all be using led lighting..." That made me smile because he was right - and in a way - so was I. Only thing i was "wrong" about was the led's i was trying to use! But oh, well, guess i missed that opportunity to 'make' the DIY led light of the future....haha.....
I will be updating this as I move along. I am in no real rush, and I have plenty of time. I am reusing my old "live" rock - I had roughly 150lbs - I have since broken it all down and re-glued it the way I want to see it (in pic) and will be ordering another 150-250lbs for the other 2 'slots' to fill in the tank.
If any of you have any dry rock curing tips - I'd love to hear them. My thinking is run the tank with no lights for x time and.......haven't really settled in on 'what' to do there - again - time is of no issue. I will likely have water in this tank in the next 2-3 weeks as I have some work projects that have me tied up for next 2.
