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#1
06-29-2006, 07:35 PM
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I fight through these bouts of "depression" every year as well, but I just can't give it up. My plans for this hobby extend YEARS into the future, and I use that as a goal to keep it up. I had a back injury earlier this year that forced me to do minimal maintenance for close to 6 weeks, and by then I just wanted to add a bucket of bleach because things were so bad. Almost all of my LPS were wasting away, a couple of my favourite acros RTN'd, and my most prized frag that was growing to beat the band fell into an anemone and by the time I found it was pure white...
 After contemplating the future, I decided to keep it going. My LPS are recovering, and last week I stuck to the original plan and got rid of most of my softies, tore down my 72 and amalgamated the rock and leftover livestock all into my 135. Wow! Now I have a tank that looks similar to one of the show tanks I saw that originally got me hooked. It's not perfect by any means, but amazing how a little rearranging can rekindle one's interest. Now I too am planning for a bigger tank. This won't happen for a year or two, but the thought process and challenge of setting up a new system to correct the shortfalls of my current one keeps me excited. Here's what really helped me refocus: In mulling it over with my girlfriend, she simply looked at me and said, "What will you do if you DON'T have a tank to care for?" All along I had thought she'd be thrilled to get rid of all this stuff, but she's so awesome, she'll support anything that brings me satisfaction and happiness. Now I just have to figure out a way to break the news to her about the bigger tank... hehe...  Keep your chin up and move forward my friend. I bet your friends come over and are in awe of your tank, I am... nice job. Do whatever it takes to get your mind wrapped around this hobby again and get back on it. Talent like yours should not go to waste. 
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135G Mixed Reef. Bullet 2, 25 gal refugium, 2 X250W MH + 4X 96W PC\'s, DIY Calcium Reactor, Coralife 1/6 HP Chiller, Phosban, Tunze, 2 closed loops & SQWD\'s, Seios, Coralife 4 stage RO/DI & a bunch of other expensive gadgets... I may never retire, but I'm gonnahavahelluvanaquarium! 
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#2
06-29-2006, 11:15 PM
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If the system is having problems, keeping the corals is only risking losing them altogether. I ended up selling some, but keeping some that I really wanted to keep. Guess what - they died, but the ones I sold off are still out there. Had I sold them all, those others would be around still. Having them "out there" increases their odds of sticking around. It's more important that these things live, than it is that they live "in our tanks." I do understand the dilemma though. Sometimes things are rare and hard to come by. The way around this is, keep frags. This has benefits on several levels. 1) We spread the wealth throughout the hobby. 2) With more frags floating around, the odds that pieces will survive are greater. 3) It's way more fun watching a little coral grow into a bigger coral, than it is to have a showpiece coral (or several showpiece corals). I don't want to be mean here, but I am going to be a bit blunt (sorry). But, your system is PACKED. As corals grow, they shade out their lower portions and block out portions of flow. Thus they're almost self-defeating in a closed system as they get bigger. Whatever you're most comfortable with is your decision of course, but if it were me, I'd seriously consider the fragging option.
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-- Tony My next hobby will be flooding my basement while repeatedly banging my head against a brick wall and tearing up $100 bills. Whee!
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#3
06-29-2006, 11:27 PM
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I had to move my tank recently. I fragged everything and distributed as many as I could before the move. I was concerned that I might lose them all during the move, and wanted to ensure they had a chance.
Fortunately for me, everything survived.
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#4
06-29-2006, 11:42 PM
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I think once you invest in an RO/DI unit, a lot of problems may start to go away. I actually couldn't believe you were using tap water. I use it too, but I finally got myself an RO/DI . If I had a tank of that size with that many acros, I would have RO/DI without a doubt. I think it's a big cause to your SPS problems. I can keep SPS fairly well in a 20g with tap water, so I am looking forward to the results with using RO/DI water. At this point in the game with that much money invested in livestock, your doing yourself an enormous favour by adding an RO/DI system.
Good luck !! Hope you stick around... that's one heck of a tank.
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20g BB Mixed Reef // Coralife 150w HQI // AquaC Nano // Koralia 1 & Seio 820 // Jager 200w // AC50
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#5
06-30-2006, 12:02 AM
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I have decided to keep on with it and move forward with my upgrade plans. I went out and bought a RODI unit today. I also picked up a few other goodies to make my life easier that can be easily adapted to the new setup once it gets rolling.
Tony, I know my tank is a bit on the full side which is why I want to upgrade. By adding in another approx 250 gallons of water and more than doubling the present lighting I believe that what I have would be very sustainable with room for them to grow as well. I am more than happy to do some fragging as some pieces need to be or they are toast anyway. I just need to figure out what to do with them. Thanks to all for your thoughts. I guess all I ready needed was a kick in the pants pep talk.  Where there is a will there is a way, and as it happens I have the will. Thanks again,
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 Greg
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#6
06-30-2006, 12:22 AM
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Thank god for the kick in the pants pep talk to keep you going eh Greg?
 Good luck and keep us posted on the progress of your tank with RODI. I think you'll be happy with your decision to get one
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Christy's Reef Blog My 180 Build Every electronic component is shipped with smoke stored deep inside.... only a real genius can find a way to set it free.
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#8
06-30-2006, 01:14 AM
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M2CW
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#9
06-30-2006, 02:46 AM
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 You have gotten me up and working on my reef some too! I am setting up a 50g tank in my fishroom right now, and plumbing it into my sump. Not sure if it will be a grow out tank, or nudibranch aiptasia treating tank, I need both! Start a new thread on your tank upgrade so we can follow along too.
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