On Moving and Moving on.

[Cap'n]

So a few weeks ago we moved into our fixer-upper. We were getting a tank from an aquaintance of my wife's. The plan was to get the tank up and running and gradually add pieces from my tank during the time we had both houses, about 3 weeks. My wife's friend went on an extended vacation though, didn't tell us before she left and we couldn't get hold of her anywhere. So I move everything into a big tub thinking that I'll get the new tank "any day now". With the pressures of moving, renos the baby and OT at work the fish got neglected. It looked like the six-line wrasse died first and started a chain reaction. Out of a yellow tang, naso tang, 3 clowns, 2 green chromis, citron goby, 2 cleaner shrimp, peppermint shrimp and the six-line I have 1 clown left. They were dying as I changed the water, it was awful. All have been with me for quite a while; the chromis for over 3 yrs and the yellow tang was the first SW fish I ever bought close to 5 years ago. That's the hardest one for me to lose, and I don't want to replace her with a new version. My wife cried when she saw the yellow's body.

So I am getting out of the reef. I have minimal amounts of coral anyway and I was dreading the cost of lighting the new tank and I am trying to streamline my life a bit to concentrate time on renos and family. So I am going with an easier to maintain predator set-up based around a picasso trigger. Should be a good long-term tank to have in the house.

Thanks for all the reef info and advice.

[Beverly]

Sorry to hear about your calamity :cry: Glad you're going to keep your trigger. When things settle down, post some pics of your trigger tank. Take care :smile:

[Delphinus]

So very sorry to hear of it Tim. Unfortunately your tale sounds all too familiar after my last move last year (and a tank move from across the room six months later). I guess it's a spin of the roulette wheel as to whether something goes wrong enough, or not.

We feel your pain. So very sorry. :cry:

[EmilyB]

Sorry to hear that Tim. If you want any tips on trigger tanks feel free to come by.

[BlkWolfe]

Goodluck with the predators Tim

There'll be a couple frags waiting for ya when you come back to the reefs

[Funky_Fish14]

Very sorry to hear about this! Im glad you are staying in the hobby however!

I hope everything goes better for you in the future :biggrin:

Chris

[danny zubot]

Wow Tim, that sucks! I'm sure that predator tank will keep you busy enough though. Good luck man!

[OCDP]

really sorry to hear.
a fish that has been with you that long becomes like family.

in the meantime, have fun with your trigger tank.

[Cap'n]

Thanks everyone.

Bev, don't have the trigger yet, just one young clown. The picasso is a fish Lisa and I were're both intrigued with when I first got into SW, then after swimming with them in Hawaii it confirmed that I would get one someday. Didn't realize that day would be so soon!

Deb, I will definitely be looking for some advice, thanks for the offer.

I'm still going with live rock and whatever softies are still alive, but stay posted for cheap sales on any corals in danger of becoming food!

[danny zubot]

Just PM me when you want me to pick them up. :mrgreen:

[Cap'n]

Ummm...yeah, so I changed my mind. :redface:

After the trigger decimated any kind of invert life in the tank the hair algae just exploded! Although it is a neat effect as it waves in the current ( :rolleyes: ) I think I would rather see my rockwork. So the trigger was returned and I'm rebuilding my clean-up crew. I'm sticking with the damsels until they force me to get rid of them also. The purple tang is now happy to be the undisputed #1 in the tank.

Glad I tried the experiment, but I found that without the natural janitors a predator tank was more work and less pleasure than a reef. Maybe I'll try a blue-throat trigger in the future. For now, I just want to get the tank clean!

[EmilyB]

That's too bad Tim... :sad: I was hoping you were going to come by and learn some of the secrets to success for tanks without a cleanup crew. :wink:

[Cap'n]

I think I'm too lazy, Deb. I'd rather let the pros do it for me.

Besides, this is the excuse I need for my wife to get more corals and inverts!