After a bit of a break I'm back at it

digital-audiophile · #1 01-13-2011, 05:35 PM

So, I've kind of been out of the reef keeping world for almost a year and a half. In the spring/summer of 2009 I was the happiest I had ever been with my tank, I was running zeo and the tank was perfect, water was clear, fish were happy and I was stocking up on SPS that was growing and colouring up like crazy. Then in the fall same year I had a disaster. I came home from work and wondered why I didn't see the glow of the lights in the stairwell.. I went downstairs and found that a blown heater tripped a breaker. I had not been to the basement in well over 48 hours so it could have happened anytime during that period. No heat, no circulation, nothing (I wasn't smart enought to put redundant equipment on a seperate breaker) Anyhow.. it was a mess.. coral dead.. fish dead. I got the gear running again and went to bed, I spent the next night pulling out death.

I was lucky that my purple tang I had kept for 5 years was still alive.. barely.. along with two clowns and surprisingly their BTA. At this point I thought about draining the water and walking away because not only was I heart broken we had just had our second child and I was so up to my armpits in bottes and poopy diapers but I kept the tank going... but I neglected it bad.. I changed water maybe 3 times from then to this x-mas and the glass was covered with so much coraline that you couldn't even see in. Well... to make a long story longer, my folks came out to visit at xmas and my dad was disheartened when he saw the tank and asked why after it looked so good that I gave up on it. So each night while he was here he helped me scrape the glass clean with razors, helped my do a couple big water changes.. and all in all got it back to a respectable condition. Well now.. I have the bug again.. I forgot how nice it is to have a slice of the ocean in your home.

I've been lurking for the past week here as I always enjoyed coming to canreef. It is nice to see some familiar names in the posts, and also a lot of new folks which is always great to see new awesome tanks.

Delphinus · #2 01-13-2011, 05:38 PM

Welcome back Greg!

digital-audiophile · #3 01-13-2011, 05:46 PM

Thanks Tony.

I was so happy to see that you actually have water in your big tank now! I hadn't seen any new pics on FB so I thought it was still dry. Glenda and I were talking about you last night actually while struggling to get our daughter to stay in bed and go to sleep. We have a lot of respect that with your little ones you made the time to get the tank done. I hardly have enough energy to get myself into bed let alone work on renos after the kids are down.

Zoaelite · #4 01-13-2011, 06:24 PM

Welcome back, always good to have another reefer in the south side of the city now we just need a LFS

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christyf5 · #5 01-13-2011, 06:43 PM

welcome back!! looking foward to seeing pics of your revived reef

digital-audiophile · #6 01-13-2011, 06:43 PM

I tell ya, If I had the cash I would love to open a store in the deep south. Maybe if I win the lotto max this weekend

lastlight · #7 01-13-2011, 06:49 PM

Best of luck with the lotto and welcome back! Got a teaser pic for us from the peak of 2009?

Skimmerking · #8 01-13-2011, 07:44 PM

Welcome Back Greg stay awake man . lots of coffee and uppers will sort you out.

great to see you back on the track again .

Lance · #9 01-13-2011, 10:00 PM

Welcome back Greg. I'd wondered what happened to you. Expecting some pics when you get that tank back to its former glory.

digital-audiophile · #10 01-14-2011, 06:41 PM

I was looking through the computer last night and didn't find any old pictures.. I wish I would have taken more and saved some. Heck, I really have to get better at taking more pictures of my children first.. they are going to wonder when they grow up why they have no pics from when they were kids