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I am afraid of water. I always have been. I always will be. Don't get me wrong, I can swim, I love hot tubs and bath tubs and swimming pools where I can see the bottom. However, put me in a murky lake and I begin to resemble a feline being given a bath.

Ironically, my favourite movie growing up was "The Little Mermaid." Everything about it fascinated me. I wanted to live in the ocean and swim with the fish, have a clam shell bikini and brush my hair with an urchin. Everything I knew about aquatic life came from the Little Mermaid. So when we did get into the reef scene, you could say my learning curve was a little steep. Wayne and I always settled for freshwater tanks due to their cheapness, but always ended up bored with them as they are, well, boring! We had friends who had a salt water tank, and it made us want to jump in a little more, but we still couldn't justify the cost.

Kijiji has always been a friend of ours. We found both of our dogs there, I have a more established library because of it, and we have found it is a good place to unload unwanted items. It is also a great place to window shop. Our second dog was found by said window shopping, as was our first salt water tank.

It was an unreal deal and we didn't even really think about it. Buddy was renovating his basement and rather than move his tank in order to complete the renovations, and then move it back, he just wanted to sell it off. As he was in the situation he was in with regards to his renovations, we decided we didn't want to run into the same problem down the road, so the day after we bought the tank, we went to Costco to pick up flooring, and Home Depot to pick up paint. We did a very quick reno of our basement to accommodate our soon to be newest additions.

All I really remember about the move was that it was cold, and we all got deathly sick, we found out later (after getting sick again) that this was due to the lovely Palythoas. The tank was nearly overrun by Palythoas and Green Leather Fingers, so one day we decided to remove some of both in order to accommodate new corals; in doing so, we all got deathly ill. Again. So we did some research and found that they can emit a toxin that makes you feel like you have the flu, food poisoning, and a brain tumor all rolled into one. Thankfully it only lasts a few days. We suffered once again when we got rid of the Palythoas for good, but that was one of our first and biggest learning experiences. Research, research, research.

Another thing we learned pretty quick, was that our 90 Gallon tank was not nearly big enough.

During our extensive research we discovered Canreef, this became our new Kijiji with regards to anything fish related. Now that we knew, more or less, what we were looking for and had already had a few experiences with the tank, it was much easier to find what we needed. We bought a 225 Gallon tank that measures 72x30x24. This was fun getting into the basement through our narrow stair well. Another lesson learned, measure your hallways and doors prior to finalizing a deal! The stand that it came with was another thing. It was beautiful, but huge and heavy. No way was it fitting. So the tank sat in our basement on a blanket while we figured out what to do. With the help of Wayne's dad, we built a suitable wood stand. I was a bit nervous, not believing that it would be able to hold the weight of the full tank, but it has stood up thus far. I of course, wanting to be useful, used my artistic skills to paint the stand (haha).

Once the tank was on the stand (another fun endeavour), we got water, sand, and white rock. Then it sat. And sat. And sat. I think it sat for over a month before anything else got put in it. It drove me mad! We had this beautiful canvas and all the tools to turn it into an amazing piece of art, but it just sat there.

Slowly, it started to come to life. He experimented with different equipment. He changed the layout more timesthan I can count. We spent many of our evenings at other peoples homes picking up frags, or fish, or equipment. Our weekends were spent going from store to store. It became a lifestyle for us, him more so than me. For me it was about the end product, the beauty that I can watch. For him, it was about growing this biological environment and watching it flourish. We have had our share of tragedies however, the biggest being shortly after the initial set up. The valve on the CO2 canister failed and shot the entire contents of the bottle into the tank. We lost most of our tank. It was very disheartening, but it was amazing how fast the environment began to stabilize again.

We changed the look of the room a couple times before we were happy with it. We added a skirt to the stand and around the tank to give it the appearance of being in the wall. We spent lots of time looking for a chair to go in the room. It had to be just perfect. After a few weeks, we found a round "cuddle" chair that spins. This not only looks amazing, but is practical as it can be used for both the fish room, and the entertainment room.

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The hard part is over. Now we get to relax within a beautiful atmosphere, watch our coral grow, our fish swim through the current of the pumps, and our shrimp pick away at the rock. We are now part of a community that I couldn't have imagined existed. We meet new people all the time, whether we are being welcomed into their homes, or them to ours to purchase something to further our tanks or to just discuss the hobby while admiring someone else's creation. The community is amazing in that everyone is willing to help out everyone else. We have made some really good friends, and even if nothing else were to ever come of this new life style, the friendships we have made will have made it all worth it. Yes, that was really sappy, but I am a girl after all.

I enjoy testing the water, mixing salt, and feeding the fish. It was fun learning about all the different species of underwater life. It is much more vast than what I could have ever imagined.

The Little Mermaid had nothing on this experience, and while I am still a long way away from being able to experience underwater life in its proper sense, I can enjoy the majesties of it on a smaller scale from the comfort of my own dry home.

A little taste of paradise in our basement:

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Our 225 Gallon tank is polished with beveled edges. It measures 72x30x24. It has an external Overflow and Herbie gate set up. The majestic colors of the tank are seen with ATI 8 bulb SunPower T5 lighting, and the frag tank (set up within the sump) stays healthy with Sol Blue. The current is powered by 4 MP40W Powerheads. The tank stays clean and clear with the help of the Skimz SC450 Skimmer. The health of the tank is supplemented with the Reef Octopus Calcium Reactor, 3L Zeovit Reactor with pump assist, BRS Doser and Next Reef MR1 Shorty Carbon Reactor. Our underwater civilization stays at a cool 26­27 degrees Celsius with 2 Ebo Jager 300w heaters. Many of our tank functions and parameters can be monitored by the use of our GHL Profilux Controller.

The tank sits on a wooden stand built from 2x4's and 2x6's with a plywood top, glued and screwed together. To give the effect of a built in tank, we constructed a lower skirt with doors to cover the stand and sump, and an upper skirt on wooden dowels that can manually slide into an aluminum electrical mounting system.

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Our ever growing fish family currently consists of the following:

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Our scaley babies swim in and out of approximately 150 lbs of rock covered with a wide array of corals such as:

A partition of the sump has been set up as a frag tank due to limited space. To keep the frags growing healthy, they are lit with a Sol Blue and 40 degree optics. The photoperiod is between 2100 and 0600. There is a Tunze powerhead for circulation within the area. To keep the frags company and clean, our current sump fish is a Sailfin Tang.

The fish are fed twice a day, once between 4­6pm and again at 9pm. They are fed pellet food, but once every week or two; they get a treat consisting of frozen goodness.

The glass needs to be cleaned at least every 2 days for optimal viewing.

The Zeovit reactor runs 24x7 and is dosed at 1ml twice per day (9am dn 9pm). The dosing is done through the Profilux and BRS doser. It is pumped every day or two before the lights turn off.

Zeobak and Zeofood are administered twice per week in equal amounts. One squeeze of each is perfect four our tank. Zeolites are changed once per year. I noticed no advantages of changing them every few months as directed.

We use carbon to keep the water clear, it’s also recommended by the Zeovit guide. We use 2 cups of BRS ROX which are changed each month in the reactor.

The calcium reactor is a requirement for a tank of this size. Without this none of the parameters would stay in check. Overall it’s one of the best investments we have made. We use ARM course Media which is topped off every 3 months. This system uses about 2 10lb bottles of co2 per year. The PH is set at 7.0 and a slight stream for a drip rate.

We drain and dump approximately 1 gallon of skimmate per week on average. This is done 1 - 2 times per week. Once a month, the skimmer cup is removed to clean. The Skimmer has an old school ATO hooked up and a float sensor is mounted in the skimmer cup so the skimmer automatically turns off when it gets too full.

To keep our water crystal clean, weekly or bi­weekly water changes are done (depending on time/motivational constraints). The water change is approximately 60 Gallons, heated to the temperature of the tank and made to match the salinity. The water is pumped out of the sump into a drain and new water is pumped from another room back into the sump. The salt alternates between Reefers Best and Instant Ocean Salt.

Our fish and coral bask under an ATI SunPower 8 Bulb T5 fixture. Our choices of bulbs include 4x Blue+, 2x Purple+, 1x AquaBlue Special, 1x Coral+. Front to back the bulb layout is as follows: B+, C+, B+, P+, B+, AS, P+, B+. Our photoperiod is, two blue+ from 1100 - 2300 and the rest are on between 1400 - 2100. Bulb changes are planned for every 9 - 12 months. Tank Parameters are generally stable with alkalinity at 6.0 - 7.0, calcium at 400 - 430, magnesium at 1450, temperature at 26 - 27 C and salinity of 1.025 - 1.026.

One last thing before we go.

We would like to thank the astounding community that is Canreef. The wealth of knowledge and willfulness to share experiences make this hobby truly enjoyable. We have met amazing people on this board and shared many laughs. Having our tank featured here is truly an honor.

Mandie (The Wife). Thanks for putting up with my crazy fish extravaganzas and frag hunts. No bounds or budgets... PS. I love the write­up!

Dad, how cool is this? Thank you for your help and drive to make everything as perfect as possible. Without you, there wouldn’t be a tank to showcase.

Des, thanks for the frags! Your TOTM inspired me and really helped shape what I wanted in a tank. I'm proud to follow in your footsteps!

Harvey, you’ve achieved Yoda levels in this industry. So long, and thanks for all the fish! ;)

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